Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Best of 2010, Update 13

I've decided to split my running tabulation of the "Best of 2010" into two lists, one for fiction and one for nonfiction, because I'm a bit surprised at how difficult it has become for me to produce a meaningful, combined list. I am happy to find that my "instant ranking system" produces a truer picture than I've ever been able to come up with at the end of a year's worth of reading, and I think this tweak will help me keep the books in better perspective. I can even see the possiblity of expanding one, or both lists, to a Top 15 later in the year.

This is what the fiction list looks like right now after 21 fiction books read:
1. Cutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese (novel)
2. Matterhorn - Karl Marlantes (Vietnam War novel)
3. The Calligrapher's Daughter - Eugenia Kim (novel)
4. A Fair Maiden - Joyce Carol Oates (novel)
5. The Samaritan's Secret - Matt Beynon Rees (detective fiction)
6. Homer & Langley - E.L. Doctorow (novel)
7. Blind Submission - Debra Ginsberg (novel)
8. T Is for Trespass - Sue Grafton (detective fiction)
9. Get Out of the Way - Daniel Dinges (novel)
10. Transfer of Power - Vince Flynn (thriller)

And this is the nonfiction list, a Top 7 at this point because I've only read seven nonfiction titles to date:
1. Lies My Mother Never Told Me - Kaylie Jones (memoir)
2. Man of Constant Sorrow - Ralph Stanley & Eddie Dean (biography)
3. The Opposite Field - Jesse Katz - (memoir)
4. The Tennis Partner - Abraham Verghese (1998 memoir)
5. Game Change - John Heilemann & Mark Halperin (political nonfiction)
6. Goosetown: Reconstructing an Akron Neighborhood - Joyce Dyer (memoir)
7. Highest Duty - Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger (memoir)

1 comment:

I always love hearing from you guys...that's what keeps me book-blogging. Thanks for stopping by.