Top Ten Books I Read in 2010

I have read 68 books in 2010!
Mostly a delightful experience, some weeks it was a drag. But the bad ones just make you appreciate the really good books.

It was hard to pick just my top ten, but here goes:
(They are in no real order)

TOP BOOKS OF 2010:

Still Alice by: Lisa Genova
Woman 50 diagnosed with early on set Alzheimer’s. She is a brilliant Harvard professor. Book told from Her, Alice’s, perspective. It’s about husband relationships, family, hardships. It is a fabulous book with a great look inside this awful disease. Beautifully written.
What I learned: you can be strong even in the heart of a terrible circumstance.


The Art of Racing in the Rain by: Garth Stein
Good, moral person in very heavy circumstances, loves his dog; book told from dog perspective
What I learned: keep your standards high even if other around you don't!

Girl in Translation by: Jean Kwok
Well written, Chinese girl & mother come to US with help from aunt. Hard life; how they live; school, learn, work. Difference from Chinese culture and ours. Very good.
What I learned: keep pressing forward, you can get to the other side, keep moving

Every Last One by: Anna Quindlen
There are some difficult parts to the book, BUT I loved it! It is a REAL think piece! It is how my brain works, thinks; this book deals with death, how everyone reacts to it. Book about a mother with 3 children; their different needs and how she sees and deals with them.
What I learned: listen to your instincts, be strong, choose wisely, press forward

The Happiness Project by: Gretchen Rubin
Non-fiction - Highly recommend! I will read again. I recommend this book to everybody. It is a delightful read, very thought provoking.
What I learned: Keep improving!

Eat Pray Love by: Elizabeth Gilbert
If you saw the movie, this is NOT the movie! Movie = yuck, Book = great!
Sad, sad divorce; she goes to Italy-eat/food, India-an ashram; Bali–-balance/love Non-fiction. Very insightful.
What I learned: so glad to understand and know why I am on this earth; what the purpose of it all is, without that knowledge you could drown. If you want to know more, go to: mormon.org


Unwind by: Neal Shusterman
Sci/fi no more abortion, but at 13 yrs old parents can consent to have their child unwound. All would be better if the child used its parts on others than be whole…that is the premise. 3 kids run away; story is about their life. Choices, forgiveness, going too far in any direction. I really liked it! YA Fiction
What I Learned: glad I am loved

The Maze Runner by: James Dashner
Sci fi YA – I really enjoyed this book! Future; boy wakes up and finds himself in an odd community of teens. They live in an area, just outside the gates is a huge maze that they have to figure out. They do not know why they are they, but are trying to understand and figure out how to get out. This is in the same vein as The Hunger Games. The second book is The Scorch Trials. Out Oct 2010
What I learned: sometimes it is nice to read Young Adult Fiction

Heir to Sevenwaters by: Juliet Marillier
Read the other 3 earlier books. Clodagh’s baby brother gets kidnapped, she meets Aidan & Cathal; she must find her brother & falls in love
What I learned: it is so nice to go back to a series that you love and find out that the next book is just as good.

Heart’s Blood by: Juliet Marillier
Fairies; humans; girl in bad situation, runs away, finds job in castle; kind like re-telling of beauty & Beast
What I learned: nothing, really; just enjoyed the story; oh and romance in books is really romantic and ugly beasts in books can really be handsome.

These next 2 books were so good, they had to be mentioned:

Pictures of Hollis Woods by: Patricia Reilly Giff
Really YA book. Very short. LOVED. Many years ago, little girl from ages 6 – 10 going through the foster care system. How she copes, what happens to her, people she meets. I loved it. Very short. Please read.
I just fell upon this book; I felt lucky.

Crank by: Ellen Hopkins
Daughter visits missing father; while there meets boy who shows her meth amphetamine…the monster, insight into teenage mind and choices, drugs, lieing, quick read; recommend to mothers. I do not think it is appropriate for teenagers. Teenagers are very impressionable. I think it great for mothers to read the books and and great discussions with their children.


Non-Fiction Honorable Mentions. I really loved these books!
Born to Run by: Christopher McDougall
Enjoyed 9! Full of info running information. I really enjoyed it.Guy, runner, finds hidden people in Mexico, wants to race

Not Without Hope by: Nick Schuyler
2 pro nfl & 2 others got together; fishing; stuck anchor; capsized boat; storm one survived

Easy/enjoyable….I know will not appeal to the masses:
The Second Short life of Bree Tanner by: Stephenie Meyers
I know, I know; but I really liked this book and it got me to re-read her whole series again. I really liked that too.

OTHER TOP BOOKS IN 2010:
The Enemy by: Lee Childs Don’t know 9 really enjoyed
Gone Tomorrow by: Lee Childs Jan 10 9 really enjoyed
The Killing Floor by: Lee Childs Jan 10 9 really enjoyed
Worth Dieing For by: Lee Childs Dec 10 really enjoyed
One Amazing Thing by: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni Mar 10 Liked 8-9
The School of Essential Ingredients by: Erica Bauermeister april 10 Enjoyed 9
Secrets of Eden by: Chris Bohjalian may 10 Enjoyed 8 well written
A Plague of Secrets by: John Lescroart July 10 9 Enjoyed!
Glass by: Ellen Hopkins July 10 LIKED 9 sequal to Crank
Stolen by: Lucy Christopher August 10 9 REALLY LIKED!
City of Tranquil Light by: Bo Caldwell Oct 10 Liked a Lot 9
The Housekeeper and the Professor by: Yoko Ogawa Oct 10 Like a Lot 9
Lost by: Alice Lichtenstein Oct 10 Liked 8
Mockingjay by: Suzanne Collins Oct 10 Liked a lot! 9-10


YUCK! DO NOT READ:
Listen by: Rene Gutteridge feb 10
Mini shopaholic by: Sophie Kinsella Nov 10 DNF 1
Fall of Giants by: Ken Follett Nov 10 ok…6-7
Listen by: Rene Gutteridge feb 10 Yuck 2; slow, could have been good
Dexter by: ?mar 10 sorry 3
Perfection by: Julie Metz June 10 awful 3 NF
Before You Know Kindness by: Chris Bohjalian June 10 a drag 3 can’t even remember
Thirteen Reasons Why by: Jay Asher June 10 3 whinny
Burned by: Ellen Hopkins
Dr. Stranger by: Meg Mullins
Peony in Love by: Lisa See
Why I Became a Famous Novelist by: Steve Heley Sept 10
Last Night in Montreal by: Emily St. John Mandel sept 10 dark 3
McNally’s Alibi by: Lawrence Sanders

Books from August to December

SORRY!

I didn't realize I had not put books up in 4 months!!

Here's my catch-up:

(Oh, and I have HIGHLIGHTED the really good books!)

Dr. Stranger
by: Meg Mullins
Read: August 10
Rating: 4 or 5
I really liked her first book, the Rug Merchant. I did not like this one so much. I think I liked 75 pages in the middle. It is about a family that was going to adopt a baby. The father died the day before. They got the baby. They mother couldn’t cope, so she sent it off to another house. The little boy for the original family couldn’t emotionally let the baby go. He looked his whole life to find that baby. He finally finds him when the baby was 21 years old. It was not so satisfying.

Pictures of Hollis Woods
by: Patricia Reilly Giff
Read: August 10
Rating: LOVED 10
Really YA book. Very short. LOVED. Many years ago, little girl from ages 6 – 10 going through the foster care system. How she copes, what happens to her, people she meets. I loved it. Very short.

Peony in Love
by: Lisa See
Read: Sept 10
Rating: DNF 3 (Did Not finish)
Very Chinese culture filled with this opera “Peony in Love”. Wanted to like it, just didn’t.

Why I Became a Famous Novelist
Author: Steve Heley
Read: Sept 10
Rating: DNF 4

Read that this was a very funny book. It just plodded for me. It was ok, but I was not excited to read it so I quit!

The Maze Runner
Author: James Dashner
Read: Sept 10
Rated: Really LIKED! 9
Sci fi YA – I really enjoyed this book! Future; boy wakes up and finds himself in an odd community of teens. They live in an area, just outside the gates is a huge maze that they have to figure out. They do not know why they are they, but are trying to understand and figure out how to get out. This is in the same vein as The Hunger Games. The second book is The Scorch Trials. Out Oct 2010

Lilly’s Crossing
Author: Patricia Reilly Giff
Read: Sept 10
Rating: ok 4
Wasn’t so good. I read it because I saw on many of her other books how great this one was. WW2. little girl; no friends until she finds Albert. Father off to war, grandmother watching her; mother dead. Ugh.

Last Night in Montreal
Author: Emily St. John Mandel
read: sept 10
Rating: dark 3
Too dark for me; wanted to like it and for it to be better. Woman was raised by her father that took her away from her dangerous mother so she spent her life running. As an adult, she realized that she did not know how to “stay”. She felt compelled to run and leave without notice. She made a big impact on the people she stayed with; kind of haunted them; left them grieving. The story hinges around the last man she lived with; when she left how he tried to find her; what he went through.

McNally’s Alibi
Author: Lawrence Sanders
Read: Sept 10
Rating: boring 3
Ugh; another book not so good! I have enjoyed Sander’s other books, this one just didn’t do it for me. I did enjoy the first 20 pages. Same protagonist; he is funny and somewhat enjoyable but really I don’t agree with nor like his lifestyle. He lives with his parents; he is probably in his 30’s, he has a girlfriend that he does not want to marry; doesn’t want the responsibility but sure wants the perks. Really, that is gross to me. GROW UP! I really hope to like my next book!!

Lost
Author: Alice Lichtenstein
Read: Oct 10
Rating: Liked 8
Marriage; man has dementia; he was brilliant architect; now very difficult; wife trying to care for him alone. He leaves the house and gets lost. There is a search. Also side story of one of the rescue people; about his life. It is a sad story, but I liked how the author ended it; tied it up.

Mockingjay
Author: Suzanne Collins
Read: Oct 10
Rating: Liked a lot! 9-10
3rd in series the Hunger Games. Really liked this series. About war, relationships, hardships; power, control. Deep in the future; girl must be the face of a rebellion.

Still Alice
Author: Lisa Genova
Read: Oct 10
Rating: LOVED! 10
Woman 50 diagnosed with early on set Alzheimer’s. She is a brilliant Harvard professor. Book told from Her, Alice’s, perspective. It’s about husband relationships, family, hardships. It is a fabulous book with a great look inside this awful disease. Beautifully written.

Crossfire
Author: Dick Francis
Read: Oct 10
Rating: fine 7
Usual Dick Francis. Guy in Afghanistan is wounded; loses his foot; comes home to hard, awful mother and step father. They are in financial trouble…blackmailed…the mother is a horse trainer. The son (guy, Thomas Forsyth) tries to help and solve all problems.

City of Tranquil Light
Author: Bo Caldwell
Read: Oct 10
Rating: Liked a Lot 9
I loved this author’s firs book The Distant Land of my Father. This book was VERY hard to get into until around page 75…then it turned good. I was glad I persevered. It is about Mennonite missionaries from America traveling and living in China. The span of time is 1909 forward. I loved the lessons learned. The story is so similar to Ammon in the book of Mormon. I recommend reading this book. Just hold on for the first little bit; it is worth it.

The Housekeeper and the Professor
Author: Yoko Ogawa
Read: Oct 10
Rating: Like a Lot 9
You never know their real names. Japan; told by the housekeeper. She is sent by her agency to watch and care for a many with only an 80 minute memory. He was a brilliant mathematician many years ago before a terrible accident that took is memory. He only remembered things from 1976(?). It’s a story of love and caring, helping, forgiving. It’s short and I liked it.

Fall of Giants
Author: Ken Follett
Read: Nov 10
Rating: ok…6-7
WAY too long – it’s a 985 page book! Really! The story would have been fine to good in a 350 page book. It was like reading a history book! Ok, Ken, I know you researched and you like WW1. I finished the book because I usually really like Ken Follett (Pillars of the Earth; one of my favorites). I thought it would get better. I hated to quite just before it “caught on”. Really, if you like the first 200 pages, then you will like the book. It is a HUGE story of WAY too many characters. The writing is fine, but not luscious. I didn’t slurp up his sentences. I didn’t find myself reading parts allowed to Kerry. I did find myself skipping all the long and boring conversations between people talking about how the war was moving on; and war strategies. That helped me finish the book. There are TWO more books like this coming. What a drag.

Mini Shopaholic
Author: Sophie Kinsella
Read: Nov 10
Rating: DNF 1
So saddened by this book. I have LOVED all of Sophie’s books. This one I just could not stomach even though it was the same character. She now has a daughter that is terribly spoiled; a husband that does not seem to connect. He only seems to connect with his business. She seems like an idiot mother, unaware and raising a daughter that will be a menace to society. Then there was the language. I just can’t read that. Can’t even think of parents speaking that way to each other in a most casual way. Really, disgusting. I stopped reading it. I did skip huge hunks to get a gist of the story; that was only ok. It wasn’t even a nice try.

Book Thief
Author: Markus Zusak

Read: Nov 10
Rating: hmm 7 Very Good
WW2; Germany. It’s hard, war is hard, war is bad, there are bad people, they do bad things, it is all hard on the kids. The writing was excellent! I just couldn’t give it a bigger number because by the end of the book, it was a sad drag. I really enjoyed the beginning. I thought it would be a faster read than it was. The book is written from the point of view of “death”. Interesting. There is a little girl; loves her mother and brother, her mother is forced to leave the girl with another German home. The mother, I think was communist and was taken “away”. The brother died. The girl is sad. Her foster mother is a hard woman, the foster father is kind and gentle and teaches her how to read. He has amazing patience. She takes a fallen book, then steals another book….the book thief. It is the story of that girl, her foster family, her friends, the war and death. I would recommend. Please read it and tell me what you think.


The Passage


Author: Justin Cronin
Read: Dec 10


half way through...enjoying...very long