Julie's scant top 10 in 2010

Well, as I mentioned before, 2010 seems to have been a year of poor book choices: although I read 90-some books by my Goodreads count, I am including only 7 on my end-of-year list. There were a number of books that I enjoyed that get honorable mentions for being fun reads, but they don't make the cut; however, taken all together, I have 9 books plus a three-book series.

In no particular order, here are my seven books, with a one-line summary of each:

1. When You Reach Me, Rebecca Stead

Newbery winner, with a Madeleine L’Engle-like story. I can’t come up with higher praise.

2. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot

A non-fiction account of the woman behind the cells used in research, and the journalist’s search for her.

3. The Book Thief, Markus Zusak

A powerful story about life in a small German town during WWII, and the importance of reading.

4. Going Bovine, Libba Bray

A hallucinatory road trip involving a hypochondriac dwarf, a punk angel, and a boy with mad-cow disease.

6. Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins

A satisfying conclusion to the best series I’ve read in a long time.

7. The Lost Books of the Odyssey, Zachary Mason

Supposedly a translation of 44 short texts that offer variant versions of the Trojan War myth, many of them melancholy musings about heroism, love, and home.

Honorable mentions:

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

The Magicians, Lev Grossman

City of Bones series, Cassanda Clare