It's been five books since my last update and, since the end of August comes in just a couple of days, this will represent my Top 10 lists exactly two-thirds of the way through 2010.To be considered again this time are three novels and two nonfiction titles:The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno (Ellen Bryson), Percival's Planet (Michael Byers), Beatrice and Virgil (Yann Martel), Roger Maris: Baseball's Reluctant Hero (Tom Claven, Danny Peary) and Identical Strangers (Elyse Schein, Paula Bernstein) .
And, just as last time, only one of the three fiction titles cracks the list: Beatrice and Virgil jumps into the shaky number 8 slot. So now, of 62 fiction titles, these are my 10 favorites:
1. Cutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese (novel)And the nonfiction list, from a total of 22 read, changes a bit with Roger Maris: Baseball's Reluctant Hero moving into what should prove to be a pretty secure number 5 slot and Identical Strangers entering at an extremely shaky number 10:
2. Matterhorn - Karl Marlantes (Vietnam War novel)
3. The Calligrapher's Daughter - Eugenia Kim (novel)
4. The White Garden - Stephanie Barron (literary alternate history)
5. Shadow of the Swords - Kamran Pasha (novel about the Third Crusade)
6. Remarkable Creatures - Tracy Chevalier (historical fiction)
7. Drood - Dan Simmons (historical fiction)
8. Beatrice and Virgil - Yann Martel (novel with a punch)
9. The Secret Speech - Tom Rob Smith (historical thriller)
10. Far Cry - John Harvey (police procedural)
1. Lies My Mother Never Told Me - Kaylie Jones (memoir)
2. War - Sebastian Junger (about the daily lives of our soldiers in Afghanistan)
3. Man of Constant Sorrow - Ralph Stanley & Eddie Dean (biography)
4. Losing My Cool - Thomas Chatterton Williams (memoir)
5. Roger Maris: Baseball's Reluctant Hero (biography)
6. Jane's Fame - Claire Harman (on the evolution of Jane Austen's reputation)
7. Composed: A Memoir - Rosanne Cash (memoir)
8. The Opposite Field - Jesse Katz - (memoir)
9. The Tennis Partner - Abraham Verghese (1998 memoir)
10.Idential Strangers (memoir)
And there you have the best 20 books of the 84 I've read so far this year - with only four months for others to make the final lists.
Interesting list, Sam. You've made me want to go out and try them ...!
ReplyDeleteI left Cutting For Stone behind in the US. Thwack!
ReplyDeleteThere are some good ones, particularly up toward the top of both lists, Warden. It's been a pretty good reading year for me so far.
ReplyDeleteIs "thwack" the sound your head makes when you slap it really, really hard? :-)
ReplyDelete