Top Ten Books for 2010

"Reading gives us someplace to go
when we have to stay where we are."
Mason Cooley

I am always curious what the top books of the year are so I checked out several lists to see what were listed. Based on what books were on the lists, and what I have read over the year, here is my favorite top ten of 2010.

Top Ten Books of 2010~~~

Fiction~~

1) Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

2) Room by Emma Donoghue **

3) A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan***

4) The Help by Cathryn Stockett*

5) Faithful Place by Tana French***

6) Our Kind of Traitor by John Le Carre***

7) The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachmann*

8) The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall*

9) Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War by Karl Marlantes***

10) Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson***

Non-Fiction~~


1) Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson

2) Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand**

3) Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook by Anthony Bourdain***


4) Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff*


5) The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot***

6) The Last Boy: Mantle Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood by Jane Leavy**


7) Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee


8) Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol I by Mark Twain*


9) Just Kids by Patti Smith

10) Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory by Ben Macintyre***

Mystery/Crime~~

1) Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane***


2) Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny***


3) Man from Beijing by Henning Mankill*

4) The Glass Rainbow by James Lee Burke***


5) The Devil’s Star by Jo Nesbo***


6) Midnight House by Alex Berenson***


7) The Red Door by Charles Todd*


8) Stieg Larsson Trilogy:
A) The Girl With  Tattoo**                                                            
B) The Girl Who Played With Fire**

C) The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest*

9) Still Missing by Chevy Stevens*

10) The Scent of Rain and Lightening by Nancy Pickard***



Romance/Paranormal Romance~~



1) Married by Morning by Lisa Kleypas


2) Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks

3) Summer Hideaway by Susan Wiggs**


4) Maybe This Time by Jennifer Crusie**


5) Happily Ever After by Nora Roberts


6) Pleasure of a Dark Prince by Kresley Cole***

7) Lover Mine: A Novel of the Black Dagger Brotherhood by J. R. Ward

8) Shadowfever (Fever Series #5) by Karen Marie Moning***

9) Dead in the Family (Sookie Stackhouse series #10) by Charlaine Harris***


10) The Darkest Passion by Gena Showalter***




The ones I read have an ***; I put a * by the ones that I want to read; and the ones I am not sure about, I put nothing.

I must say, I surprised myself with my taste for romance...I never realized how much I seem to enjoy the paranormal. Hey, a walk on the wild side every so often is never a bad thing...

Any of these on your top ten list for 2010? Which ones have you read? Do you agree with the books on the top ten? Which ones would you read?

Happy Reading!

Something Tells Me I'm Into Something Good~~

"Something tells me I'm into something good~~
Something good...." 

Herman's Hermits

That something good I'm into would be a book...and here are some that I was glad to dive into~~




The Thin Man by Dashell Hammett. (1934)

I had read this years ago, and thought it would be fun to do for book discussion. We had a great time. Of course, I warned everyone don't try and keep up with the characters and their cocktails. One of the things we talked about was how Hammett put together a great mystery with great characters and snappy banter in just two hundred pages. We also talked about Hammett's writing style, attention to detail, and how he carried his plot compared to some of today's top mystery writers; (no names) and surprisingly, not many compared that well. This book, written in 1934, was a big hit with everyone. If you haven't read this, come on ~~meet Nick and Nora Charles and their little dog Asta....who is spoiled rotten.

**This was the only Thin Man book Hammett wrote, there was never a sequel.

True Grit by Charles Portis (1968)
When I heard that they were remaking this movie, it struck me~~I had not read this book! It was wonderful. Yes yes it's a western, there is blood and gore, but it is also full of humor and friendship. In eighteen seventy -something, fourteen year old Mattie Ross tells us how she sets out after the men who killed her Daddy.
**Loved the movie and this is a terrific book!

Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane (2010)

I always love to catch up with old friends, and I was delighted to visit with Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro~~even if it may be the last time. Since the last time we hooked up, Kenzie and Gennaro are married with a four year old daughter, but still in the private detective business. We revisit some of the characters from Gone, Baby, Gone...hard to find someone who does the back side of Boston like Lehane.

It's a Book by Lane Smith (2010)

Not a book for young kids~~even though it looks like one. I gave this to several folks for Christmas and they loved it. Whether you are a techie or yearn for the simpler days, this is a great little book.

South of Broad by Pat Conroy (2009)
One of my favorite authors..... Pat Conroy came out with a book after a long absence of fourteen years. He takes us once again to his beloved Charleston and we lose ourselves in his group of characters. We follow them for twenty years, from the 1960's through the beginning of the 1980's. Through the good times, breakdowns~~revisit the racism and the effects on folks who are viewed as a different "class" in society. I love a good book about the South, and I enjoy how Pat Conroy writes. I hope he doesn't wait to long for the next one.


Matterhorn: A Novel of Vietnam by Karl Marlantes (2010)                       
There have been several novels of Vietnam, some of the best, in my opinion, are: Tears of Autumn by Charles McCarry; The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam; The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien; We Were Soldiers Once...and Young by Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway; A Bright Shining Lie:John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam by Neil Sheehan....I add Matterhorn to that list. Vietnam was my era, my Dad did two tours there and some of the boys I went to school with are no longer here, so I always feel a connection~~whether that makes sense or not. While some may ask 'What more is there to say about Vietnam?'  this books shows that there will always be more to be said. The reminders of the horrors of war and what it does to people and countries should never be forgotten~~and Marlantes, in his first novel, gives us his first hand account of his experience during his tour there.

Some authors I was very happy to discover, heartily recommend and write a great series:

Lisa Gardener and her Detective D.D. Warren series. Can't believe I had never read her before! I picked up Say Goodbye at a yard sale and was hooked. Creepy, disturbing and  page- turners, while you may sit back and go "huh?" sometimes, Gardener ties up all the loose ends by the end and you end up with a satisfying read                                   

Andrea Camilleri. Meet Inspector Montalbano. He has the good luck to live in Sicily, enjoy good food, have a sense of humor that serves him well while he is investigating murder. He has a style that will make you smile as you read, sorry when you're done and so glad you have another one to pick up. A fun, enjoyable series! 

Donna Leon. Yes, murder abounds, but it takes place in Venice...where we get to tour beautiful Venice and its surroundings while the murder is being solved. How bad that can be? Once again we are treated to a delightful European detective,Commissario Guido Brunetti, who enjoys good food, good music, loves his wife and has a conscience when it comes to what's the right thing to do, and what isn't. Delightful series.

Nemesis by Jo Nesbo (2009)
While Steig Larrson trilogy of books were the big hit this year. I liked Nesbo better. Set in Norway, Detective Harry Hole is relentless and plodding in solving the robbery and murder that occurred in a bank. Complex, multi- layered and several different plots that somehow end up all tied together. By the way, just who is setting Hole up as the prime suspect in some of the goings on? Great series.

Revisiting with a real oldie but goodie~~Ellis Peters and her Brother Cadfiel series. I had forgotten how well written these were and that there's nothing like a visit to good old England in the mid 1100's.

**Reminder to self, read more historical novels this year.

.

A Bad Day for Sorry by Sophie Littlefield (2009)

I have been wanting to read this and I finally got around to it!
In her debut, Littlefield introduces us to one of the most interesting characters I've come across in awhile. Meet Stella Hardesty; a widow in her fifties, feisty, sassy, hard nosed, tough as nails, full of humor...and can she kick butt! Stella does not stand for cheating husbands, abusive boyfriends or husbands~~which will explain why she is a widow. She will help any woman who is stuck in that situation, or needs help and heaven help who she is after.  I had some laugh out loud fun with this one and am starting on the next.


I was into something good with any and all of these books...

Happy 2011 and Happy Reading!

Mystery/Thriller Summer Book Discussions

At least half mystery novels violate the law
that the solution, once revealed, must seem to be inevitable.
Raymond Chandler

The thriller is the most popular literary genre
of the 20th century.
Ken Follett


This summer we did some book discussions. I have been asked over the years to do summer book discussions, and this year I finally said okay, let's give it a go. We met every other Tuesday at 4pm, a group ranging from two to fifteen folks got together to discuss two of my favorite genres....mysteries and/or thrillers.  I thought it would be fun to read an author's first book, or the first book in a series of books. (And of course, some books that I had already read.)

We kicked it off the end of June with Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon. This is the first book of a fabulous series set in Venice. Inspector Guido Brunetti, the vice-commissario of police, has to solve the case of who killed the Maestro? Seems there are several suspects. In the end, it will come down to what is the right thing to do? We loved the setting of Venice,  the interaction between Brunetti with his family and his fellow police people. Leon gives you feeling you are there with the characters, and there in Venice. Leon's description of Venice made us all want to go. (We also loved the food described in the book.)  We could sense that Brunetti was going to be an even more interesting character as the series progresses. The best part of this discussion for me? That the folks there said they enjoyed this series so much they were going to continue on with it.

Next up was The Unlikely Spy by Daniel Silva. (I know, your surprised I have a Silva book included) This was Mr. Silva's first book and the one that got me hooked on his books. Set in England during WWII, the book is fiction, but it is based on real events. How does British Intelligence (MI5) confuse Nazi Germany about their D-Day plans when it seems they know about them? They also thought they had captured all the German Abwehr agents in England, but there seems to be some sleeper agents ready to be activated in England. One of those agents is determined to get the information to Germany no matter the body count.
We talked about Churchill and how he used people to achieve the safety of England: his friendship with history professor Alfred Vicary to convince him to work for MI5,  match his wits with the Nazis and hopefully keep MI5 one step ahead of them: U.S. Navel Officer Peter Jordan, because of his poor judge of character, ends up being blackmailed and used to spy. We enjoyed the twists and turns in the book. It was a page turner...many said they finished it in two days because they had to know how it ended. Big question for the group? Just WHO was the Unlikely Spy? We all had different answers and every time a different character was mentioned by someone, we would all think about it and realize.....
One of our members, who rarely reads this genre, liked it and had her other book club read this book too~~she told me they raved about it.
For those who were new to Mr. Silva, he now has several new fans.

Dennis LeHane has one of my favorite duos in a mystery series, Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro. Set in Dorchester, Mass, we get to meet these two private detectives in A Drink Before the War~~the kickoff to this terrific series. Great discussion on how an investigation into a missing cleaning woman led to involvement with prostitution, blackmail, gang-warfare, corruption and murder. We chatted about Kenzie and Gennaro, their cast of friends, how some of the things the two uncovered affected some of us and LeHane's writing style. For me, Le Hane reminds me of the noir style of writing:  hard-boiled, cynical, snarky characters surrounded by smokey shades of grey. (Think Raymond Chandler) One great comment by one of our group was "This doesn't happen in real life!"  This led to another great discussion on what is real life and what isn't.
If you watched the move, Gone, Baby, Gone, you have met Kenzie and Gennaro. This movie was based on book four of the series.

Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. As you can guess, this one was the hit of the summer book discussions. Over fifteen people showed up. The discussion was about how popular the trilogy has become. Set in Sweden, we meet Mikael Blomkvist. He has just finished being the defendent in a high profile trail...where he was found guilty. When he is offered the job of finding Harriert Vanger, who disappeared forty years ago, well, he has nothing else to do...We agreed that while the names took some getting used to, the style of Larsson writing was intelligent and some said it was the best book they had read in the last five years. The character who was the groups favorite was without a doubt was Lisbeth Salander, who Blomkvist hires to help him on the case. Salander is brilliant, a computer genius,  antisocial and has a lot of emotional baggage. We loved her. Mikael Blomkvist was a good secondary--not that that was Larsson's intent. Blomkvist, never realizing what Salander felt for him, made some of us want to shake him and say "wake up!" The book has many twists and underlining plots, family secrets and discovering what did happen to Harriet Vanger~~all made for a great discussion. I had warned some readers that they needed to get past the first 100 pages before the book took off. I assured them that the payoff would make it all worth while.  I promised we would do book two in the late fall and book three in the late winter...if I can get the copies.

Scott Turow is probably one of my favorite legal thriller writers. Years ago, I read Presumed Innocent and enjoyed it...full of political corruption, betrayal, courtroom drama and of course, murder, what was there not to like? I thought since Turow had come out with a sequel to it, Innocent, (twenty years later) if would be fun to reread it and then catch up with the characters in the sequel. The group were surprised with how they got hooked right away. We talked about the insight he gave into the justice system and how using the present tenth made us feel we were right there watching what was going on. One group member said they felt like yelling "look out!" during one section of the book. The best part? We all agreed that we were shocked and surprised by the ending. (Well, not me because I had read it before.)  Seemed nobody expected the ending to be what it was at all while reading the book, and when they found out  who the murderer was, they were shocked. 
I will say that the movie based on the book, starring Harrison Ford, is terrific too.

We finished up the summer book discussion with Nemesis by Jo Nesbo. This was another great series many in the group became hooked on. Who robbed a bank, shot the cashierand just disappeared into thin air? Outside of trying to remember the characters and keeping the names straight, it was a great read. Norwegian Detective Harry Hole takes us on a whirlwind of a  ride from Norway to Brazil, as he tries to find the killer....and prove himself innocent in the mysterious death of someone he knew. There were multi-layered plots that did end up connecting toward the end. The big part of the discussion was the comparison between this book and the Larsson book. Several felt this book was better then Larssons and look forward to continuing to solve murders with Harry Hole.
Unfortunately this was book three in the series. The first two books were being translated into English and there weren't sufficient copies for me to get for the group. Nobody thought they had missed anything from not having read the first two.
**When Nesbo isn't busy writing books, he plays in the Norweigian rock band, Di Derre.

One question about the two European authors, Larsson and Nesbo, was the concern that anything was lost in translating the books from Swedish and Norwegian to English? From everything I read about both of them, the answer seems to be no. The translators seem to have done a superb job of translating both books.

We had some great discussions with these books. In fact, we had such a great time, many in the group requested we continue the mystery/thriller book discussions...and we will.
If you are looking for a new series, check some of these out. Want to read a popular author's first book, here you go with some good ones. Any one of them I would highly recommend. 

Up next will be The Poet by Michael Connelly on October 19th at 4pm.This was Connelly's first book and it was one that you couldn't put down....