Top 10 Books First Read During 2010

[D_Davis]

I can see that, and understand. It's incredible how he keeps things going, and in how he juggles so many characters. I never once lost track of who was with who, and never confused by who was where, or why. That is a major accomplishment with this many characters. King truly does create an entire living and breathing community.

[Milky Joe]

1. Either/Or by Søren Kierkegaard
2. Dialectic of Enlightenment by Theodor Adorno & Max Horkheimer
3. The Concept of Anxiety by Søren Kierkegaard
4. In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway
5. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
6. The Concept of Irony by Søren Kierkegaard
7. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
8. Time Out of Joint by Philip K. Dick
9. Cane by Jean Toomer
10. Confessions by Jacob Boehme

[dreamdead]

Updated:

1. The Day of the Locust, Nathanael West
2. A Lost Lady, Willa Cather
3. Beloved, Toni Morrison
4. The Marrow of Tradition, Charles Chesnutt
5. Herland, Charlotte Perkins Gilman
6. Pembroke, Mary Wilkins Freeman
7. Their Eyes were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
8. The Awakening, Kate Chopin
9. Ceremony, Leslie Marmon Silko
10. Cane, Jean Toomer

[

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11. Falling Man, Don DeLillo
12. Daisy Miller, Henry James
13. McTeague, Frank Norris

]

[Benny Profane]

1. The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 - Wright
2. The Naked and the Dead - Mailer
3. The Idiot - Dostoevsky
4. Nine Stories - Salinger
5. Pale Blue Dot - Sagan
6. Of Love and Other Demons - Marquez
7. Red Harvest - Hammett
8. The Blood Oranges - Hawkes
9. White Teeth - Zadie Smith

1. The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 - Wright
2. The Naked and the Dead - Mailer
3. The Idiot - Dostoevsky
4. Nine Stories - Salinger
5. Pale Blue Dot - Sagan
6. Mysteries - Hamsun
7. Of Love and Other Demons - Marquez
8. Red Harvest - Hammett
9. The Blood Oranges - Hawkes
10. White Teeth - Zadie Smith

[Dead & Messed Up]

01. The Dhammapada (Tr. Gil Fronsdal, 2005)
02. Welcome to the Monkey House (Kurt Vonnegut, 1968)
03. Under the Dome (Stephen King, 2009)
04. Teatro Grottesco (Thomas Ligotti, 2006)
05. The House of the Seven Gables (Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1851)
06. The Walking Dead, Volumes 1 - 11 (Robert Kirkman, 2003)
07. The History of the Devil (Clive Barker, 1980)
08. Fragile Things (Neil Gaiman, 2006)
09. Jaws (Peter Benchley, 1974)
10.

[ContinentalOp]

1. Ripley Under Water by Patricia Highsmith
2. The Walking Dead Vol. 11: Fear the Hunters by Robert Kirkman
3. Ripley's Game by Patricia Highsmith
4. The Moving Target by Ross MacDonald
5. Under the Dome by Stephen King
6. The Barbarous Coast by Ross MacDonald
7. Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
8. The Boy Who Followed Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

1. Ripley Under Water by Patricia Highsmith
2. The Walking Dead Vol. 11: Fear the Hunters by Robert Kirkman
3. Ripley's Game by Patricia Highsmith
4. The Moving Target by Ross MacDonald
5. Under the Dome by Stephen King
6. The Barbarous Coast by Ross MacDonald
7. Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
8. The Good Guy by Dean Koontz
9. The Boy Who Followed Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
10. Time to Murder and Create by Lawrence Block

[Dead & Messed Up]

01. The Dhammapada (Tr. Gil Fronsdal, 2005)
02. Welcome to the Monkey House (Kurt Vonnegut, 1968)
03. Under the Dome (Stephen King, 2009)
04. The Road (Cormac McCarthy, 2008)
05. Teatro Grottesco (Thomas Ligotti, 2006)
06. The House of the Seven Gables (Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1851)
07. The Walking Dead, Volumes 1 - 11 (Robert Kirkman, 2003)
08. The History of the Devil (Clive Barker, 1980)
09. Fragile Things (Neil Gaiman, 2006)
10. Jaws (Peter Benchley, 1974)

Broke ten! Haven't done that in years. Everything after this is gravy.

[Benny Profane]

1. The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 - Wright
2. The Naked and the Dead - Mailer
3. The Idiot - Dostoevsky
4. Nine Stories - Salinger
5. Pale Blue Dot - Sagan
6. Mysteries - Hamsun
7. Of Love and Other Demons - Marquez
8. Red Harvest - Hammett
9. The Blood Oranges - Hawkes
10. White Teeth - Zadie Smith

1. The Sot-weed Factor - Barth
2. The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 - Wright
3. The Naked and the Dead - Mailer
4. The Idiot - Dostoevsky
5. Nine Stories - Salinger
6. Pale Blue Dot - Sagan
7. Mysteries - Hamsun
8. Of Love and Other Demons - Marquez
9. Red Harvest - Hammett
10. The Blood Oranges - Hawkes

[Kurosawa Fan]

1. The Master and Margarita - Bulgakov
2. Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
3. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer
4. The Financial Lives of the Poets - Walter
5. Escape from the Deep - Kershaw
6. The Poisonwood Bible - Kingsolver
7. Mirage: Napoleon's Scientists and the Unveiling of Egypt - Nina Burleigh
8. The Book of Basketball - Simmons

[EvilShoe]

1. The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
2. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace
4. The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera
5. The Crossing - Cormac McCarthy
6. Friday Night Lights - H.G. Bissinger
7. The Hotel New Hampshire - John Irving
8. Cities of the Plain - Cormac McCarthy
9. Perfume - Patrick Süskind
10. Tender is the Night - F. Scott Fitzgerald

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11. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce
12. Brighton Rock - Graham Greene
13. Glamorama - Bret Easton Ellis
14. All the Pretty Horses - Cormac McCarthy
15. Atonement - Ian McEwan
16. The Demolished Man - Alfred Bester
17. A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller Jr.
18. The Master and Margherita - Mikhail Bulgakov
19. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
20. Roger's Version - John Updike
21. The Neon Bible - John Kennedy Toole
22. The Illustrated Man - Ray Bradbury

]

[Hugh_Grant]

Since I couldn't read anything (new) for pleasure until a few weeks ago, this list is woefully short. I could, however, add a long list of post-colonial short stories!

1. At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances -- Alexander McCall Smith
2. Portuguese Irregular Verbs --Alexander McCall Smith
3. After the Wall (Zonenkinder) -- Jana Hensel
4. The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs -- Alexander McCall Smith

[Benny Profane]

1. The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
2. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace
4. The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera
5. The Crossing - Cormac McCarthy
6. Friday Night Lights - H.G. Bissinger
7. The Hotel New Hampshire - John Irving
8. Cities of the Plain - Cormac McCarthy
9. Perfume - Patrick Süskind
10. Tender is the Night - F. Scott Fitzgerald

[

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11. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce
12. Brighton Rock - Graham Greene
13. Glamorama - Bret Easton Ellis
14. All the Pretty Horses - Cormac McCarthy
15. Atonement - Ian McEwan
16. The Demolished Man - Alfred Bester
17. A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller Jr.
18. The Master and Margherita - Mikhail Bulgakov
19. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
20. Roger's Version - John Updike
21. The Neon Bible - John Kennedy Toole
22. The Illustrated Man - Ray Bradbury

]

I may be one of the few people who likes #10 more than #2, not that the latter is anything to sneeze at.

[EvilShoe]

I may be one of the few people who likes #10 more than #2, not that the latter is anything to sneeze at.

I don't think I'll ever like Tender more than Gatsby, but the latter is definitely a great novel. Will re-read it one day. Stays with me.

[Winston*]

1. Catch 22 (Heller)
2. Dune (Herbert)
3. The Plague (Camus)
4. More than Human (Sturgeon)
5. Occupied City (Peace)
6. The Transmigration of Timothy Archer (Dick)
7. My Dead Body (Huston)
8. The Shotgun Rule (Huston)
9. The Killer Inside Me (Thompson)
10. An Artist of the Floating World (Ishigiro)

[

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11.Ender's Game (Scott Card)
12. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Larrson)[/LIST]

]

Would feel weird ranking:

The Histories (Herodotus)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Bauby)

[ContinentalOp]

1. Ripley Under Water by Patricia Highsmith
2. The Walking Dead Vol. 11: Fear the Hunters by Robert Kirkman
3. Ripley's Game by Patricia Highsmith
4. The Moving Target by Ross MacDonald
5. Under the Dome by Stephen King
6. The Barbarous Coast by Ross MacDonald
7. Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
8. The Good Guy by Dean Koontz
9. The Boy Who Followed Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
10. Time to Murder and Create by Lawrence Block

1. Ripley Under Water by Patricia Highsmith
2. Black Money by Ross MacDonald
3. The Walking Dead Vol. 11: Fear the Hunters by Robert Kirkman
4. Ripley's Game by Patricia Highsmith
5. The Moving Target by Ross MacDonald
6. Under the Dome by Stephen King
7. The Barbarous Coast by Ross MacDonald
8. Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
9. The Good Guy by Dean Koontz
10. The Boy Who Followed Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

[

Show Spoiler

11. Time to Murder and Create by Lawrence Block

]

[Hugh_Grant]

1. At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances -- Alexander McCall Smith
2. Portuguese Irregular Verbs --Alexander McCall Smith
3. After the Wall (Zonenkinder) -- Jana Hensel
4. The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs -- Alexander McCall Smith

1. When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa -- Peter Godwin
2. Scribbling the Cat: Travels with an African Soldier --Alexandra Fuller
3. At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances -- Alexander McCall Smith
4. Portuguese Irregular Verbs --Alexander McCall Smith
5. After the Wall (Zonenkinder) -- Jana Hensel
6. The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs -- Alexander McCall Smith

[Melville]

Update to mark 30 books read:

1. The Unnamable, Beckett - 10
2. We, Yevgeny Zamyatin - 10
3. Molloy, Beckett - 10
4. Blue Eyes, Black Hair, Duras - 9
5. Malone Dies, Beckett - 9
6. Le Grand Meaulnes, Alain-Fournier - 8.5
7. Dance of Death, Strindberg - 8.5
8. Story of the Eye, Bataille [reread] - 8.5
9. The End of the Affair, Greene - 8
10. 100 Selected Poems, E.E. Cummings - 8
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11. The Malady of Death, Duras - 8
12. The Lankavatara Sutra, Anonymous - 8
13. Solaris, Lem - 8
14. Sonnets to Orpheus, Rainer Maria Rilke - 8
15. Billy Budd and Other Stories, Melville - 7.5
16. The Concept of Anxiety, Kierkegaard - 7.5
17. The Long Goodbye, Chandler - 7
18. Go Down, Moses, Faulkner - 6.5
19. Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales, Kingsland (translator) - 6.5
20. Emily L., Duras - 6.5
21. Strait is the Gate, Gide - 6.5
22. The Best Short Stories of J.G. Ballard, Ballard - 6
23. Romeo & Juliet, Shakespeare - 6
24. The Trouble with Being Born, Cioran - 5.5
25. The Painted Bird, Kosinski - 5.5
26. Moderato Cantabile, Duras - 5
27. Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston - 4.5
28. Twelfth Night, Shakespeare - 4.5
29. Don Pablos the Swindler, Francisco de Quevedo - 4.5
30. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett - 2

]

May as well make a list of comics too.

1. Pim & Francie: the Golden Bear Days, Al Columbia - 8.5
2. The Night Kitchen, Sendak - 8.5
3. I Was Killing When Killing Wasn't Cool, Al Columbia - 8
4. You Are There, Tardi & Forest - 8
5. The Biologic Show, Al Columbia - 8
6. The Complete Peanuts, 1973-1974, Schulz - 8
7. Buddy Does Seattle, Bagge - 7.5
8. Misery Loves Comedy, Brunetti - 7
9. Criminal (deluxe edition), Brubaker & Phillips - 7
10. The Golem's Mighty Swing, Sturm - 7
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11. Ultra Gash Inferno, Maruo - 6.5
12. Lullabies from Hell, Hino - 6.5
13. Pyongyang: a Journey in North Korea, Delisle - 6
14. Fun Home, Bechdel - 6
15. A Contract with God, Eisner - 6
16. Why I Hate Saturn, Kyle Baker - 6
17. MW, Osama Tezuka - 5.5
18. Explainers, Feiffer - 5.5
19. Child of Palestine, Naji al-Ali - 5.5
20. In Pictopia! Moore & Simpson - 5
21. Kick-Ass, Millar & Romita jr. - 4.5
22. Uzumaki Vol. 1, Ito - 4
23. A Drifting Life, Yoshihiro Tatsumi - 3.5
24. Promethea: Book 3, Moore & Williams - 1

]

[endingcredits]

1. Shadows on the Hudson, I.B Singer [9/10]
2. VALIS, P.K Dick [4/10]
3. The Man in the High Castle, P.K. Dick [5/10]
4. Gimpel the Fool, I.B Singer [10/10]
5. Harmonium, W. Stevens [8/10]
6. Pictures from Brueghel and Other Poems, William Carlos Williams [4/10]
7. Lie Down in Darkness, W. Styron [6/10]
8. Legs, W. Kennedy [3/10]
9. Incognito, E. Brubaker and S. Phillips [7/10]
10. Criminal, E Brubaker S. Phillips [8/10]

[dreamdead]

Update to mark 30 books read:

Dude, WTF with the Promethea rating?

[Melville]

Dude, WTF with the Promethea rating?

It's an inane, pedantic tour of obnoxious mysticism. It has a vapid, glib, smug tone. Almost the whole of it consists of the characters providing superficial, obvious, insipid explanations of what's occurring; if a book is going to spend its entire length explaining some mystical or philosophical system (rather than exploring it in some interesting narrative or formal way—no, the gimmicky layouts don't count), I want it to give me the depths and breadths of that system, rather than leading me through it as if I were a moron, treating every point in the most obvious, repetitive, and inconsequential way. It's one of the most irritating books I've ever read. I'd point to concrete examples, but I sold the book to a used bookstore immediately after finishing it.

[lovejuice]

Dude, WTF with the Promethea rating?

his rating of fun home on the other hand is just about right.

[ledfloyd]

1. Catch 22
2. 2666
3. Henderson, The Rain King
4. The Handmaid's Tale
5. Chronic City
6. Generation Kill
7. Austerlitz
8. Herzog
9. Inherent Vice
10. The White Tiger

finally gotten to ten on the year. i've been rereading too much. hopefully i can ramp it up for the second half of the year. i enjoyed all those books except for the last two. and the top four are all great.

[Heidi]

best read of 2010 so far

[Raiders]

I'm starting 2666 tonight.

[Benny Profane]

1. The Sot-weed Factor - Barth
2. The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 - Wright
3. The Naked and the Dead - Mailer
4. The Idiot - Dostoevsky
5. Nine Stories - Salinger
6. Pale Blue Dot - Sagan
7. Mysteries - Hamsun
8. Of Love and Other Demons - Marquez
9. Red Harvest - Hammett
10. The Blood Oranges - Hawkes

1. The Sot-weed Factor - Barth
2. The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 - Wright
3. The Naked and the Dead - Mailer
4. The Idiot - Dostoevsky
5. Nine Stories - Salinger
6. Pale Blue Dot - Sagan
7. Mysteries - Hamsun
8. Beloved - Morrison
9. Of Love and Other Demons - Marquez
10. Red Harvest - Hammett