2010: A Tedious and Brief Review

I read.   A lot.  I wasn't always like this, but it occurred to me that may I do read a lot when my best friend told me that I read more books than anyone else she knows.  During 2010 I completed 43 books (not including a few that I started and have yet finish), which while less than probably a number of boggers, is a respectable number, I think.

But, gentile blog readers, you ask, didn't you do that Top Ten Tuesday where you had more than ten favorites of the year?  Yes, but I realized I had left some off, plus wanted to include some additions, plus give some quick reasonings and list my least favorite books of the year.  Warning, this is a bit of a long post...

These are just some of my favorite(and least) books I read in 2010.  Here's hoping I'll be nearly this luck in finding great reads in 2011!

Fiction

Priority - Iselin C. Hermann: Along with the two novels by Sagan (especially Bonjour Tristesse) this was probably the novel that I enjoyed the most and has stuck with me the most.  This simple tale of a love and longing through letters and post cards is probably one of my favorite fiction books I've read in years.

Bonjour Tristesse and A Certain Smile - Françoise Sagan:  Two stories about young women in France trying to find themselves.  Both wonderful.

Dimanche and Other Stories - Irene Nemirovsky: Thoroughly enjoyable short stories set in the author's contemporary 1930's Europe before her own tragic end.

Almost Transparent Blue - Ryu Murakami:  I went into this book thinking I'd hate it.  I finished it with a greater appreciation

Audition - Ryu Murakami: Having seen the film (which I didn't like), I kinda knew where this story was going, but I was still blown away by the ending and the scariness of the story.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Trilogy - Stieg Larsson: Yes, it's overly long.  Yes, the first 30-40 pages of the first book are insanely boring and overly complicated compared to the rest of the plot...but I still enjoyed the novels and hope there will be a few rumored sequels released.

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins:  This could have been much better and reminded me of a soft-of Battle Royale for children/young adults.  I didn't feel it was  as shocking or wonderful as some reviewers seemed to think, but it was nonetheless enjoyable enough to make my list.

Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson:  This was good novel that I read due to the controversy surrounding it back around Banned Book Week.  Even if you know what the story is really about, it's still very compelling on the first read.

Non-Fiction

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America - Erik Larson:  Larson strikes a good balance between two parallel stories: the gruesome serial killer Dr. H.H.Holmes and the simultaneously ongoing Columbia Exposition in Chicago.

Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven - Susan Jane Gilman: Gilman writes this memoir about two recent college graduates taking a trip to China almost as if its fiction, and it's sometimes hard to imagine that it happened happened to her



Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art - Laney Salisbury & Aly Sujo: I enjoy art and I had no idea about this until I read this book. At times it felt like I was reading a good novel rather than non-fiction.

90-Day Geisha: My Time as Tokyo Hostess - Chelsea Haywood:  I haven't reviewed this one yet officially on this site, but the memoir of a young Canadian model who spent three months as a hostess at a bar in Tokyo was enjoyable.

Were You Born on the Wrong Continent? How the European Model Can Help You Get a Life - Thomas Geoghegan: I'm not sure I'm going to get to reviewing this one formally on this blog, but I'd recommend a read.  It balances memoir and economics very well in showing a comparison between US and German systems.

These are just some of my favorite books I read in 2010.  Here's hoping I'll be nearly this luck in finding great reads in 2011!  As for my least favorite books....

:( Least Favorites :(

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - Seth Grahame-Smith: While it definitely had it's moments and an interesting idea, the book just fell short of the mark with an almost too passive characterization of the Great Emancipator and the sometimes bad photoshopping didn't help, either.  Although, it does have a great title and cover-art.

The Auschwitz Violin - Maria Àngels Anglada (Trans. Martha Tennent): This wasn't terrible, but I was expecting this to be better.  So, it's kinda a meh.  I did read an ARC copy so maybe that had something to do with it, but I felt that the story was just too weak and overall undeveloped even for such a short book.  

Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins: Probably the most controversial book on the list.  Yes, I really enjoyed The Hunger Games and it's sequel, but part three of the trilogy just fell flat.  I expected more after the good first two books.  The book's ending seemed out of place.  I didn't mind the not-necessarily-happy-ending; but the lead character seemed to change dramatically very quickly.  Plus the killing of formerly important characters without much fanfare kind of bothered me.  Again, not terrible, but just meh.  

Flygirl - Sherri L. Smith:  I haven't reviewed this book for this site, but the plot revolves around a young, light skinned African-American women in the 1940's wanting to fulfill her dream of helping the war effort and becoming a WASPS pilot during World War II who would have to pass as white.  I really wanted to like this one.

This sounded like a great book, but I was wrong.  The plot and characters were  mostly flat and somewhat predictable.  The passing aspect of the story seemed underdeveloped or, at times, almost forced, which made it not work.  Plus there's a small subplot where a characterhas to cheat to get through a skills exam, but then goes back and actually learns the skill, which I suppose is supposed to make it ok(?)  Considering that I felt this book was more geared to younger kids, that is an odd lesson to teach.  I was excited about this book when I picked it up and even while reading the first half, but just felt disappointed by the time I finished it.

Granted, I also didn't realize this was a YA book until after I read the whole thing, which may have partially effected my view of the book.... but if it did, it didn't by much. It kind of felt like it was written for someone younger than even YA.

To Nourish & Consume - Ryan O'Reilley:  If I had to pick the worst book I read last year, this is likely it.  In a small way, it may be the way the book sounded when I first heard about it: a modern-day love triangle for Generation X (or maybe it was Y?  Or Z?  are we on Generation Z now or have we skipped to Double-A?)  Plus, look at that cover art...Three pairs of legs on the sand, one facing away from the couple...you totally can see how that novel is about a love triangle, right??? 

Remember the saying "don't judge a book by it's cover?  Instead of love triangle, I got a book about a young man returning home to a small Michigan lakeside town to write a novel, kinda try (I guess) figure out life, put up with a father who was apparently upset that his son left home to follow his own dreams instead of staying home and following in the father's footsteps (which, *spoiler* he kind of ends up doing by the end of the book anyway...or at least I think that's what was happening).  

But, you ask, what of the love triangle?  It's there, but mostly in flashbacks and at the very end of the book.  It honestly seemed almost tangential to the story.  The characters were mostly two dimensional or stock (annoying rich kids and a kid described as being from the other side of the tracks becomes friend and may end up liking each other?)    Plus there's a chapter at the end where the author clearly skips most of a day and then tells us the action by having two characters fill each other in.  It didn't work.

Plus, it felt like there were just filler scenes here and there and dialog that didn't help the story move forward.  Did I need to have most of chapter spent having two musicians show up and ask if they could sing for their dinner/drinks at a restaurant when they're never heard from again?  Not so much.  I'd skip it.