2010 Between the Covers

BOOKS I READ IN 2010

* denotes a book I recommend.

– denotes a book I didn’t finish.

MOST MEMORABLE

Runner up: The Franzen, which I have defended at great length already.

MOST DISAPPOINTING

  • Skippy Dies (Murray) – A young boys’ boarding school story that tries to be funny and flops.
  • Remainder (McCarthy) – Intriguing premise; bizarre follow-through. It’s also very hard to care about a main character who barely cares about himself.
  • The Slap (Tsiolkas) – The story seemed so promising! And I’ve read very little about Australia since The Thornbirds in high school. This, however, is a shallow, angry, misanthropic look at suburban life there that is better left untouched.
  • Lit (Karr) – Nowhere near as good as her first memoir, Liar’s Club. As an adult, Karr seemed less sympathetic and more self-absorbed.
  • The Imperfectionists (Rachman) — not because it was bad but because I expected so much and was underwhelmed with the results. Same as with the Wells Tower and Adam Langer.

MOST SURPRISING, PLEASANTLY:

BOOKS I READ WITH THE WORDS “SACRED,” “HUNGER,” AND/OR “GAMES” IN THE TITLES

  • Sacred Hunger
  • Sacred Games
  • Hunger Games

They were all good, too! Maybe there’s some juju there in those words.

You can also tell from this list that I’ve gotten a lot better at putting down sub-par books. Once upon a time, I found that to be much more difficult, and I would read through to the end anything I had started just to be a good girl. Now I’m a total rebel. Take that, patriarchy!

One thought on “2010 Between the Covers”

  1. That’s too bad that Adam Langer’s book disappointed. He’s a really nice guy—our kids went to daycare together back in Bloomington, Indiana. I, too, really enjoyed “The Possessed.” I have a BA in Russian Studies and nowadays get to use my (pretty rusty) Russian a lot in the ER of the Jewish hospital where I work. Like the author, I lived in Central Asia for a spell; she really nailed that experience and made it funny enough to laugh about, from a distance. On a mostly unrelated note, you featured the cover of “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” but didn’t review it. It’s the most interesting book I’ve read in years.

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