Best of 2010, Update 22

I haven't done a Best of 2010 update since the night I was sitting in an Owensboro, KY, motel (June 23) waiting on a jam session to get cranked up out by the pool, so let's see what happens (obviously, I do these on the fly, folks).

Up for consideration this time are 5 novels: Taroko Gorge (Jacob Ritari), Whiter Than Snow (Sandra Dallas), Home, Away (Jeff Gillenkirk), Careless in Red (Elizabeth George) and Running Dark (Jamie Freveletti). I'm a little surprised that my nonfiction reading is down this year but, for a variety of reasons, 2010 is rapidly turning a year of novels for me.

So, after due consideration, this is what the fiction list looks like after 52 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. Remarkable Creatures - Tracy Chevalier (historical fiction)
5. Drood - Dan Simmons (historical fiction)
6. The Secret Speech - Tom Rob Smith (historical thriller)
7. Far Cry - John Harvey (police procedural)
8. Home, Away - Jeff Gillenkirk (baseball novel)
9. Whiter Than Snow - Sandra Dallas (historical fiction)
10.Careless in Red - Elizabeth George (police procedural)

And the nonfiction list from a total of 15 read remains:

1. Lies My Mother Never Told Me - Kaylie Jones (memoir)
2. Man of Constant Sorrow - Ralph Stanley & Eddie Dean (biography)
3. Losing My Cool - Thomas Chatterton Williams (memoir)
4. Jane's Fame - Claire Harman (on the evolution of Jane Austen's reputation)
5. The Opposite Field - Jesse Katz - (memoir)
6. The Tennis Partner - Abraham Verghese (1998 memoir)
7. Game Change - John Heilemann & Mark Halperin (political nonfiction)
8. Damp Squid - Jeremy Butterfield (on the evolution of the English language)
9. Unfinished Business - Lee Kravitz (memoir)
10. Top of the Order - Sean Manning, Ed. (baseball essays)

Three of the five books crack the list: Home, Away at number 8, Whiter Than Snow at number 9 and Careless in Red at 10, squeezing The Devil Amongst the Lawyers, A Fair Maiden and Johnny Porno off the list for good. So these are the best 20 books of the 67 books I've read so far this year, with almost half a year to go. Now for some nonfiction...