January 1, 2011

2010 Top Reads

This time last year, I was lamenting that 2009 had not been an outstanding reading year for me, and I was hoping that 2010 would be better. Well, that wish came true, and this year introduced me to many wonderful books. I had a hard time coming up with this list, because it was so difficult to cut some wonderful books off of it.

So here is my list of Top 10 Books Read in 2010. Same rules as always - no re-reads (I must have read it for the first time in 2010); books published in any year are accepted though. Fiction or non-fiction, Canadian or international, kids books, poetry - all are admissible in this list!

1. The Matter with Morris - David Bergen
2. Essex County - Jeff Lemire
3. The Book of Secrets - M. G. Vassanji
4. Sailor Girl - Sheree-Lee Olson
5. The Cellist of Sarajavo - Steven Galloway
6. Room - Emma Donoghue
7. Motorcycles and Sweetgrass - Drew Hayden Taylor
8. Streams of Faith - Lois M. Wilson
9. Yellowknife - Steve Zipp
10. Annabel - Kathleen Winters

And, in case you're interested, the books that made the longlist but had to be cut to come up with my top ten were (in no particular order): Light Lifting (Alexander MacLeod); The Boy in the Moon (Ian Brown); The Wife's Tale (Lori Lansens); and The Mistress of Nothing (Kate Pullinger).

A few random observations about this list:
  • All of the books (including the longlist) are Canadian!
  • I didn't read much non-fiction in 2010. I should probably work on that this year...
  • Not only was the quality better, but after a slow-ish start I ended up reading more books in 2010 than in 2009.
  • I have not yet read the 2010 Giller or GG winners, but both books are sitting on my TBR list and I should get to them in the next month or so.
I haven't posted any new reviews in the past few weeks - I'm actually part-way through 3 different books right now, including one that I left behind in the airport when traveling over the holidays!

Wishing everyone a happy 2011 filled with wonderful books to read!

2 comments:

John Mutford said...

From those on your list that I've read, I'd say nice picks (though I wasn't a fan of Book of Secrets.) I'm glad to see your number 2-- have you read any of the Canada Reads contenders?

Kate said...

John - other than Essex County, the only other Canada Reads contender that I've read is Unless. I'm not a huge Carol Shields fan, so when I say that I liked Unless better than any of her other books, that isn't much of a recommendation! I do want to read The Best Laid Plans as I sat next to Terry Fallis for lunch at the Sleeping Giant Writer's Festival in August and he is quite entertaining in person.