Books Read in 2010

This is the list of the 114 books I read in 2010, in the order that I read them. For an explanation of my rating system, see here.

There is not much rhyme or reason to whether I review a book or not.  Some of my favorite books go without a review, like both the Kate Atkinson books I read in 2010. 

If you have reviewed any of the book I reviewed, and you would like your review listed on mine, please leave a comment on my review post for that book with a link to your review and I will add it.

2010 BOOKS

The New Confessions by William Boyd (reviewed here; 4/5)

36 Yalta Boulevard by Olen Steingard (3.5/5)

One Fat Englishman by Kingsley Amis (reviewed here; 4/5) 

The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby (reviewed here; 4/5)

A Very Private Plot by William F. Buckley, Jr. (3/5)

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (3.5/5)

A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

The Flaneur: A Stroll Through the Paradoxes of Paris by Edmund White (reviewed here; 4/5)

Case Histories by Kate Atkinson (4/5)

O Pioneers! by Willa Cather (4/5)

Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion (reviewed here; 4/5)

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (3.5/5)

Eden Springs by Laura Kasischke (reviewed here; 3/5)

Women, Work & the Art of Savoir Faire by Mireille Guiliano (3/5)

The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan (2.5/5)

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler (4.5/5)

My Life in France by Julia Child (reviewed here) (4.5/5)

Homer and Langley by E. L. Doctorow (reviewed here) (2.5/5)

New Orleans Mourning by Julie Smith (3/5)

Portland Noir, edited by Kevin Sampsell (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell (3/5)

Where Angels Fear to Tread by E.M. Forster (reviewed here; 4/5)

An American Map by Anne-Marie Oomen (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

Titus Groan by Mervin Peake (reviewed here; 4/5)

Trading Up by Candace Bushnell (3/5)

Three Loves by A. J. Cronin (reviewed here; 3/5)

The Well and the Mine by Gin Phillips (reviewed here; 4/5)

The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells (reviewed here; 4/5)

City Limits: Walking Portland's Boundary by David Oates (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons (reviewed here; 5/5)

Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

Second Wind by Dick Francis (reviewed here; 3/5)

Leaving Brooklyn by Lynn Sharon Schwartz (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

The Marmot Drive by John Hersey (reviewed here; 3/5)

Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake (reviewed here; 4/5)

A Year in the World by Frances Mayes (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

A Small Fortune by Audrey Braun (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

The Wall in My Head: Words and Images from the Fall of the Iron Curtain, published by Words Without Borders Anthologies (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

L'Affaire by Diane Johnson (3/5)

Whose Body? by Dorthy L. Sayers (3.5/5)

Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney (5/5)

The Farmer's Daughter  by Jim Harrison (reviewed here; 3.5/5)


Citizen Vince by Jess Walter (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

The Red Tent  by Anita Diamant (2.5/5)

Corked by Kathryn Borel (reviewed here; 3/5)

The Grail: A Year Ambling & Shambling Through an Oregon Vineyard in Pursuit of the Best Pinot Noir Wine in the Whole Wild World by Brian Doyle (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (3.5/5)

Indian Summer by John Knowles (reviewed here; 3/5)

Missing Mom by Joyce Carol Oats (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

On Drink by Kingsley Amis (reviewed here; 3.5/5) 

Every Day Drinking by Kingsley Amis (reviewed here; 3/5)

How's Your Glass? by Kingsley Amis (reviewed here; 2.5/5)

The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (reviewed here; 4/5)

Clown Girl by Monica Drake (reviewed here; 3/5)

Under Orders by Dick Francis (3/5)

A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks (reviewed here; 4/5)

Angler Management: The Day I Died While Fly Fishing and Other Essays by Jack Ohman (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

Cover Her Face by P. D. James (3.5/5)

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas (5/5)

Lunatic Express: Discovering the World . . . via Its Most Dangerous Buses, Boats, Trains, and Planes by Carl Hoffman (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

Fer-de-Lance by Rex Stout (reviewed here; 3/5)

McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon by Joseph Mitchell (reviewed here; 4.5/5)*

Old Mr. Flood by Joseph Mitchell (reviewed here; 4/5)*

The Bottom of the Harbor by Joseph Mitchell (reviewed here; 4.5/5)*

Joe Gould’s Secret by Joseph Mitchell (reviewed here; 4/5)*

A Sudden Country by Karen Fisher (3/5)

Deaf Sentence by David Lodge (reviewed here; 4/5)

Small Island by Andrea Levy (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

Down River by John Hart (3.5/5)

Invitation to Provence by Elizabeth Adler (3/5)

Valley of the Dolls  by Jacqueline Susann (reviewed here; 2/5)

This is Water by David Foster Wallace (3/5)

The Idea of Perfection by Kate Grenville (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby (reviewed here; 4/5)

The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt by Rulke Langer (reviewed here; 4/5)

Saving Stanley: The Brickman Stories by Scott Nadelson (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

Every Bitter Thing by Leighton Gage (reviewed here; 3/5)

Venusberg by Anthony Powell (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

Housekeeping vs. The Dirt by Nick Hornby (3.5/5)

The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien (4/5)

The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Letham (reviewed here; 3/5)

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (reviewed here; 4/5)

The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham (reviewed here; 4/5)

Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child (3.5/5)

Peaceful Places, New York City by Evelyn Kanter (reviewed here) (3.5/5)

Burmese Lessons: A True Love Story by Karen Connelly (reviewed here; 3/5)

The Truth About Obamacare by Sally pipes (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike (3.5/5)

Food Lover's Guide to Portland by Liz Crain (reviewed here; 4/5)

Echoes by Maeve Binchy (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

Proof by Dick Francis (3.5/5)

The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux (4.5/5)

The Case Has Altered by Martha Grimes (3/5)

The Widows of Eastwick by John Updike (3.5/5)

Enquiry by Dick Francis (3/5)

I Shall Not Want by Julia Spencer-Fleming (3.5/5)

Origin by Diana Abu-Jaber (reviewed here; 4/5)

Olive Kitteridge is Elizabeth Strout (reviewed here; 3/5)

Another Way the River Has by Robin Cody (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

A Geography of Secrets by Frederick Reuss (reviewed here; 3/5)

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

The Return of the King  by J. R. R. Tolkien (4/5)

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (reviewed here; 3.5/5)

One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson (4/5)

Titus Alone by Mervyn Peake (reviewed here; 2/5)

The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch (reviewed here; 4.5/5)

The I Hate to Cook Book by Peg Bracken (reviewed here; 4/5)

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (3/5)

The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos (notes here; 2.5/5)

The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson (3.5/5)

Marie Antoinette: The Journey by Antonia Fraser (3.5/5)

The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte (3.5/5)

The Palace Council by Stephen Carter (3.5/5)


The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society  by Mary Ann Shaffer (reviewed here; 4/5)

NOTES

* Published in their entirety in a collection called Up in the Old Hotel, which also included five additional essays and two more short stories.

New Year's Resolution: Banish the Guilt!

New Year's resolutions are not for me.  Other than my perennial resolutions to eat less, drink less, swear less; be kinder to children, animals, and old people; and to keep my room clean, I don't make resolutions as a rule.

But there is a bookish resolution that has been nagging at me for a while.  So, inspired by a great essay, On Guilt and Reading, on Bella's Bookshelves, I am taking the Reading Resolution plunge.  My resolution is to tackle my Guilt List and stop taking books if I don't think I'll get to them within a month or two -- without feeling guilty about it!

Let me back up.  I never feel guilty about the (according to my LibraryThing tags) 1196 books on my TBR shelves. Or even the fact that I converted a spare bedroom to a library just to hold them for me. I figure that as far as time-sucking, money-gobbling hobbies go, buying more books than I can read is pretty benign.  I could have a boat, for example.

What I do feel guilt about is my stack of books from publishers, authors, and publicists that I don't get around to reading.  True, I didn't ask for all of them -- some just arrived out of the blue. But most of them are books I asked for or agreed to take and now, months later, they are still sitting there.  This "Guilt List" gets to me.

Right now, the books on my Guilt List are, in roughly the order I received them:

1. The Evolution of Shadows by Jason Quinn Malott
2. Soldiers in Hiding by Richard Wiley
3. Jumptown: The Golden Years of Portland Jazz 1942-1957 by Robert Dietsche
4. An Architectural Guidebook to Portland by Bart King 
5. The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott by Kelly O'Connor McNees
6. To the Woods: Sinking Roots, Living Lightly, and Finding True Home by Evelyn Searle Hess 
7. 42 States of Grace by Maureen Hovenkotter
8. Where the Crooked River Rises: A High Desert Home by Ellen Waterston
9. Fish With What You Find by Jim Gilsdorf
10. Because You Might Not Remember by Don Colburn
11. Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson

My resolution is to whittle this list down; to finish these books in a reasonable amount of time, although that may be longer than the generous people who gave them to me had in mind.  And, more important to my reading peace of mind, my resolution is to graciously refuse new books, unless I really know I will read them right away. 

State of the Blog, Part Two: The Authors

It is a new year, and time to assess my reading progress for the year just closed.  I approach this "winter" assessment with trepidation and excitement, since it lets me see how much progress I did -- or didn't make -- in 2010 and let's me plan ahead for 2011.  Out with the old! In with the new!

This is the second of my quarterly blog assessment posts.  This first part addressed the book lists. Part Three, coming soon, will deal with the challenges I participated in last year and joined (or plan to) this year.

My list of authors is in the right-side column.  I plan to add a few authors this year, including P. D. James and Dorothy L. Sayers.

NOTE: If you are reading the books of any of my favorite authors, please leave a comment here or on the post for that author (click on the name below or in the right-hand column) and leave a link to any related post. I will add the links on the author's page. 


I am changing the format of this post and only listing the books I read in 2010, rather than details for each author. In 2010, I read a total of 23 books by my favorite authors. The big winners were Dick Francis and Nick Hornby.

Kingsley Amis
One Fat Englishman (reviewed here)
On Drink (collective review of all 3 drinking books here)
Every Day Drinking
How's Your Glass?


Kate Atkinson
Case Histories
One Good Turn

William Boyd
The New Confessions (reviewed here)

Lee Child
Gone Tomorrow

A. J. Cronin
Three Loves (reviewed here)

Dick Francis
Second Wind (reviewed here)
Under Orders
Proof
Enquiry

Jim Harrison
The Farmer's Daughter (reviewed here)

Nick Hornby
The Polysyllabic Spree (reviewed here)
Juliet, Naked (reviewed here)
Housekeeping vs. The Dirt

David Lodge
Deaf Sentence (reviewed here)

Jack Ohman
Angler Management: The Day I Died While Fly Fishing and Other Essays (reviewed here)

Anthony Powell
Venusberg (reviewed here)

Julia Spencer-Fleming
I Shall Not Want


John Updike
The Witches of Eastwick
The Widows of Eastwick

On the other hand, I didn't read a single book by Saul Bellow, Cara Black, James Lee Burke (which surprises me), M. F. K. Fisher, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Penelope Fitzgerald, Richard Ford, John Lescroart, Elinor Lipman, Ian McEwan, Philip Roth, Martin Cruz Smith, William Styron, Anne Tyler, Simon Winchester, or P. G. Wodehouse (which really shocks me). The year went by so fast!

Teaser Tuesday: Strangers and Brothers

With success behind him, George remarked more often about a partnership "being not too far away."  For the first time, he showed some impatience about his oewn future: but he was no longer worried over Martineau.

-- Strangers and Brothers by C. P. Snow.

I am sucked into this story about a progressive young lawyer forging his career.  Even though the book was written in 1940 and set in 1928 in England, his work as a new lawyer in a small firm sounds so much like what my lawyer friends and I all went through. The long hours, case panic, difficult partners -- it's all the same!

This is the first book in Snow's 11-volume "Strangers and Brother's" series.  This volume is now published under the title George Passant, but I have an older edition with the Strangers and Brothers title. 

 

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

 

Mailbox Monday and Giveaway

It's the first Mailbox Monday of the year! Did anyone making Reading Resolutions for 2011? Do your mailboxes reflect them?

Please be sure to sign up for the giveaway, below.

MAILBOX MONDAY

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week. (Library books don’t count, but eBooks & audiobooks do). Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists!

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia at The Printed Page, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring meme (details here). I am very pleased to host this month.

Please leave the link to your Mailbox Monday post with Mr. Linky. If you do not have a blog, leave your mailbox list in a comment.

GIVEAWAY

Thanks to book publicist extraordinaire, Mary Bisbee-Beek, I have THREE advanced reading copies of House Arrest by Ellen Meeropol to give away this week.

THE BOOK: House Arrest is set in Western Massachusetts and on an island in Penobscot Bay, Maine.  The story is told from the alternating points of view of Emily, Pippa, Sam, and Gina. House Arrest explores the meaning of family loyalty when beliefs conflict, and questions the necessity of sometimes breaking rules to serve justice.

The author, Ellen Meeropol, is fascinated by characters on the fault lines of political upheaval. Previous work includes a dramatic script telling the story of the Rosenberg Fund for Children which has been produced in four U.S. cities, most recently in Boston. Elli is the wife of Robert Meeropol, youngest son of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. This is her first novel. She is a former nurse and independent bookstore event coordinator.

RULES: The contest is open until Sunday, January 9, 2011. To enter, do any or all of the following, but you must leave a comment for each one:

1. Leave a comment on this post. You must include a way to contact you (email or website address in your comment or available in your profile). If I can't find a way to contact you I will draw another winner. (1 entry)

2. Blog about this giveaway. (Posting the giveaway on your sidebar is also acceptable.) Leave a separate comment with a link to your post. (1 entry)

3. Subscribe to my rss feed, follow me on blogger, or subscribe via email (or tell me if you already are a subscriber or follower). Leave a separate comment for this. (1 entry)

4. Tweet this post on Twitter. Leave me a separate comment with your twitter user name. (1 entry)

5. Stumble this blog, digg it, technorati fave it, or link it on facebook. Leave a separate comment. (1 entry)

There are a lot of ways to enter (maximum of five entries), but you must LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT for each one or they will not count. I will use random.org to pick the winners from the comments.

This contest is open to entries from the U.S. and Canada only. The deadline for entry is midnight in your time zone on Sunday, January 9, 2011. I will draw and post the winner's name in my Mailbox Monday post on January 10, 2011.

MY MAILBOX

Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson. This is the fourth book in her Jackson Brodie series, which is my favorite mystery series. Thanks, Hachette Books!



And a big Thank You to Overlook Books who hosted a pre-Christmas giveaway of my favorite P. G. Wodehouse "Collector Editions." I was very excited to win!

A Pelican at Blandings



A Prefect's Uncle



The Man Upstairs (Collector's Edition coming soon)



I am ready to start participating in the Wodehouse Challenge.

Opening Sentence of the Day: A Study in Scarlet

In the year 1878 I took my degree of Doctor of Medicine of the University of London, and proceeded to Netley to go through the course prescribed for surgeons in the army.

-- A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Thanks to Steve Anderson, who I had coffee with when I was considering getting an iPhone, I learned that I could download a kindle app to my iPhone and have a book with me in my pocket.  So I downloaded the first Sherlock Holmes book.  I wanted to start with a free e-book, in case I didn't like it.

But I do.  It was pretty intuitive, and I learned how to set the color to "sepia" so the background is offwhite and the text is brown, so it is a little softer to look at.  And I figured out how to bookmark the page where I stop, so I can go back to it. I don't think I'll be giving up my print books any time soon, but it is fun to have.  It came in handy when I was waiting for a friend for breakfast the other day.

Opening Sentence of the Day: Strangers and Brothers

The fire in our habitual public-house spurted and fell.

-- Strangers and Brothers by C. P. Snow.

Better than the first sentence is the name of the chapter: "Firelight on a Silver Cigarette Case."

This is the first book in Snow's 11-volume "Strangers and Brother's" series.  This volume is now published under the title George Passant, but I have an older edition with the Strangers and Brothers title.

State of the Blog, Part One: The Lists

Christmas is sadly over, the new year approaches, and it is time for me to assess my reading progress for the year.  I approach this "winter" assessment with trepidation and excitement, since it lets me see how much progress I did -- or didn't make -- in 2010 and let's me plan ahead for 2011.  Out with the old; in with the new!

This is the first of my quarterly blog assessment posts.  This first part addresses the book lists. Part Two, coming soon, will take a look at the author lists.  Part Three will deal with the challenges I joined this year.

My List of Lists is over in the right-side column. These are Prize Winners, Must Reads, and other lists of books I have read or intend to read for some reason or another. Also in the right-side column is a list of my favorite authors. I add to both lists from time to time.

NOTE: If you are working on any of these lists, please leave a comment here or on the post for the list (click on the title below or in the right-hand column) and leave a link to any related post. I will add the links on the list post. 

In 2010, I read aaround 45 books from my various book lists. I got the most bang for my book buck by finishing The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien, so I could scratch The Lord of the Rings off several lists, and The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas, which was also on several lists. 

THE LISTS

1899 TOP 100

Books read so far: 8/100
Books read in 2010: one, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
Books I hope to read in 2011:

1. The Moonstone by Willkie Collins
2. Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz

Books on my TBR shelf: 19

All-TIME TOP 100

Books read so far: 76/100
Books read in 2010: 2 and 2/3

1. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
2. Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion (reviewed here)
3. The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien (one-third of The Lord of the Rings)
4. The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien (the last third of The Lord of the Rings)

Books I hope to read in 2011:

1. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John le Carre
2. White Teeth by Zadie Smith

Books on my TBR shelf: 14

ANTHONY BURGESS

Books read so far: 30/99
Books read in 2010: 2

1. A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood (reviewed here)
2. Titus Groan by Mervin Peake (reviewed here) 
3. The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux

Books I hope to read in 2011: a couple, but I don't know which ones yet
Books on my TBR shelf: 19

BBC'S BIG READ

Books read so far: 58/100
Books read in 2010: 6 and 2/3 (wow!)

1. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
2. Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake (reviewed here)
3. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons (reviewed here)
4. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
5. The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien (one-third of The Lord of the Rings)
6. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (reviewed here)
7. The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien (the last third of The Lord of the Rings) 

Books I hope to read in 2011:  Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Books on my TBR shelf: 6

BOOK CLUB

Books read so far: 19/19
Books read in 2010: 4

1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
2. The Red Tent  by Anita Diamant
3. Small Island by Andrea Levy (reviewed here)
4. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (reviewed here)

Books I hope to read in 2011: six, but Cutting for Stone is the only one I know so far
Books on my TBR shelf: none

COLLEGE BOARD

Books read so far: 75/101
Books read in 2010: one (Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney)
Books I hope to read in 2011:

1. The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James (I am reading this now)
2. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Books on my TBR shelf: 20

COSTA BOOK OF THE YEAR

Books read so far: 6/24
Books read in 2010: 3

1. The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (reviewed here)
2. Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney 
3. Small Island by Andrea Levy  (reviewed here)

Books I hope to read in 2011: Felicia's Journey by William Trevor
Books on my TBR shelf: one

EASTON PRESS

Books read so far: 57/100
Books read in 2010: 2

1. The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
2. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas 

Books I hope to read in 2011:

1. The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James (I am reading this now)
2. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Books on my TBR shelf: 20

EDGAR AWARD

Books read so far: 8/56
Books read in 2010: 3

1. New Orleans Mourning by Julie Smith
2. Citizen Vince by Jess Walter (reviewed here) 
3. Down River by John Hart

Books I hope to read in 2011: The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John le Carre
Books on my TBR shelf: 6

ERICA JONG

Books read so far: 33/100
Books read in 2010: 4

1. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbon (reviewed here)
2. Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion (reviewed here) 
3. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (reviewed here) 
4. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

Books I hope to read in 2011:

1. Orlando by Virginia Woolf
2. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein
3. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Books on my TBR shelf: 22

FRENCH CONNECTION

Books read so far: 48/113 (and counting -- there are more books to add to the list)
Books read in 2010: 5

1. The Flaneur: A Stroll Through the Paradoxes of Paris by Edmund White (reviewed here) 
2. L'Affaire by Diane Johnson
3. My Life in France by Julia Child (reviewed here)
4. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas 
5. Corked by Kathryn Borel (reviewed here)

Books I hope to read in 2011:

1. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein
2. Death in the Truffle Wood by Pierre Magnan
3. The Messengers of Death by Pierre Magnan 
4. The Food of France by Waverley Root

Books on my TBR shelf: 24

GUILT LIST

Books read so far: I don't keep track, because I delete them after I read them
Books read in 2010: same
Books I hope to read in 2011: 11 more (but my resolution is to not freak out about it)

1. The Evolution of Shadows by Jason Quinn Malott
2. Soldiers in Hiding by Richard Wiley
3. Jumptown: The Golden Years of Portland Jazz 1942-1957 by Robert Dietsche
4. Another Way the River Has: Taut True Tales from the Northwest by Robin Cody   
5. An Architectural Guidebook to Portland by Bart King 
6. The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott by Kelly O'Connor McNees
7. To the Woods: Sinking Roots, Living Lightly, and Finding True Home by Evelyn Searle Hess 
8. 42 States of Grace by Maureen Hovenkotter
9. Where the Crooked River Rises: A High Desert Home by Ellen Waterston
10. Fish With What You Find by Jim Gilsdorf
11. Because You Might Not Remember by Don Colburn

Books on my TBR shelf: 11

JAMES TAIT BLACK MEMORIAL PRIZE

Books read so far: 8/96
Books read in 2010:

1. The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry; for my Battle of the Prizes, British Version  challenge
2. The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux

Books I hope to read in 2011: 3

1. G by John Berger; also for my Battle of the Prizes, British Version challenge
2. Brazzaville Beach by William Boyd
3. White Teeth by Zadie Smith

Books on my TBR shelf: 10

LT EARLY REVIEWERS

Books read so far: 29/33

Books read in 2010: 8

1. A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood (reviewed here)
2. Maimonides: and the Biblical Prophets by Israel Drazin
3. Homer and Langley by E. L. Doctorow (reviewed here)
4. The Wall in My Head: Words and Images from the Fall of the Iron Curtain, published by Words Without Borders Anthologies (reviewed here)
5. Short Stories, Book I by Anton Chekhov (reviewed here)
6. A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks (reviewed here) 
7. Burmese Lessons: A True Love Story by Karen Connelly (reviewed here)
8. Peaceful Places, Los Angeles by Laura Randall (reviewed here)

Books I hope to read in 2011:

1. Just Enough Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse
2. American Terroir by Rowan Jacobsen  

Books on my TBR shelf: 4

MAN BOOKER PRIZE

Books read so far: 22/43
Books read in 2010:

1. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
2. The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch (reviewed here)

Books I hope to read in 2011:

1. G by John Berger (for my Battle of the Prizes, British Version challenge)
2. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
3. How Late it Was, How Late by James Kelman or Shindler's List by Thomas Keneally

Books on my TBR shelf: 13

MLA'S 30

Books read so far: 23/30
Books read in 2010: 1 and 2/3

1. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
2. The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien (one-third of The Lord of the Rings) 
3. The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien (the last third of The Lord of the Rings) 

Books I hope to read in 2011: maybe David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Books on my TBR shelf: 4

MODERN LIBRARY

Books read so far: all of them!
Books read in 2010: zero (finished this list a couple of years ago)
Books I hope to read in 2011: none
Books on my TBR shelf: zero

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

Books read so far: 27/64
Books read in 2010: Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (reviewed here)
Books I hope to Read in 2011:

1. Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon
2. The News from Paraguay by Lily Tuck
3. Them by Joyce Carol Oates
4. Morte d'Urban by J.F. Powers

Books on my TBR shelf: 15

NBCC AWARD

Books read so far: 16/34
Books read in 2010: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Books I hope to read in 2011:  

1. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel 
2. Counterlife by Philip Roth

Books on my TBR shelf: 11

NOBEL LAUREATES

Authors read so far: 20/106
Books read in 2010: Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney
Books I hope to read in 201: Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset
Books on my TBR shelf: 32 (but most by authors already read)

OBSERVER'S TOP 100

Books read so far: 59/100
Books read in 2010: 3 and 2/3

1. Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
2. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler 
3. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
4. The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien (one-third of The Lord of the Rings) 
5. The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien (the last third of The Lord of the Rings) 

Books I hope to read in 2011:

1.  The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James (I am reading this now)
2.  David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

Books on my TBR shelf: 15

ORANGE PRIZE

Books read so far: 3/15
Books read in 2010:

1. Small Island by Andrea Levy (reviewed here)
2. The Idea of Perfection by Kate Grenville (reviewed here)

Books I hope to read in 2011: maybe none
Books on my TBR shelf: 2

OREGON BOOKS

Books read so far: 3/20
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2011: maybe none
Books on my TBR shelf: 2

PEN/FAULKNER

Books read so far: 7/30
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: 3

1. The Human Stain by Philip Roth (which I am reading now)
2. Soldiers in Hiding by Richard Wiley (also on my Guilt List)
3. Seaview by Toby Olson

Books on my TBR shelf: 12

PULITZER PRIZE

Books read so far: 41/85
Books read in 2010:

1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
2. Olive Kitteridge is Elizabeth Strout (reviewed here)

Books I hope to read in 2010: at least 2 (for the Battle of the Prizes Challenge) 

1. One of Ours by Willa Cather
2. Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler

Books on my TBR shelf: 25 (thanks, in part, to a great Christmas present)

RADCLIFFE'S TOP 100

Books read so far: 91/100
Books read in 2010: 4 and 2/3

1. Where Angels Fear to Tread by E.M. Forster (reviewed here)
2. O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
3. The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells (reviewed here)  
4. The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien (one-third of The Lord of the Rings) 
5. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (reviewed here)  
6. The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien (the last third of The Lord of the Rings)  

Books I hope to read in 2011:

1. The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James (I am reading this now)
2. Orlando by Virginia Woolf
3. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein

Books on my TBR shelf: 6

RCR TOP 10

Books read so far: 10/10 (it's my list)
Books read in 2010: Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbon (reviewed here)
Books I hope to Read in 2011: one change this year is a big step already
Books on my TBR shelf: who knows?

WELL-STOCKED BOOKCASE

Books read so far: 35/60
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to Read in 2011

1. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
2. Them by Joyce Carol Oates

Books on my TBR shelf: 14

List of the Day: NBCC Award

First awarded in 1976, the National Book Critics Circle Award is an annual award given by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote the finest books and reviews published in English.

The main awards fall into six categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Memoir/Autobiography, Biography, and Criticism. Awards are not given to titles that have been previously published in English, such as re-issues and paperback editions.

This is the list of fiction winners.  So far, I've read exactly half, 17 out of 34.  Those I have read are in red.  Those currently on my TBR shelf are in blue.

2009 Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

2008 2666 by Robert Bolano

2007 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

2006 The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai

2005 The March by E.L. Doctorow

2004 Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (reviewed here)

2003 The Known World by Edward P. Jones

2002 Atonement by Ian McEwan

2001 Austerlitz by Winfried Georg Sebald

2000 Being Dead by Jim Crace

1999 Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem

1998 The Love of a Good Woman by Alice Munro

1997 The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald

1996 Women in Their Beds by Gina Berriault

1995 Mrs. Ted Bliss by Stanley Elkin

1994 The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields

1993 A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines

1992 All the Pretty Horses by Cormac Mccarthy (reviewed here)

1991 A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

1990 Rabbit at Rest by John Updike

1989 Billy Bathgate by E. L. Doctorow

1988 The Middleman and Other Stories by Bharati Mukherjee

1987 The Counterlife by Philip Roth

1986 Kate Vaiden by Reynolds Price

1985 The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler

1984 Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich

1983 Ironweed by William Kennedy

1982 George Mills by Stanley Elkin

1981 Rabbit is Rich by John Updike

1980 The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard

1979 The Year of the French by Thomas Flanagan

1978 The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever (reviewed here)

1977 Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

1976 October Light by John C Gardner

NOTE

Last updated on December 30, 2010

OTHERS READING THE BOOKS ON THIS LIST

(If you would like to be listed here, please leave a comment with links to your progress reports or reviews and I will add them here.)

Review of the Day: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

The ever-perky Juliet Ashton is in a slump after the success of her book, Izzy Bickerstaff Goes to War, a collection of her popular, London-during-the-Blitz newspaper columns.  Looking for love – and an idea for a new book – leaves Juliet torn between a post-war fling with a dashing American publisher and her first-hand investigation of the German occupation of the Channel Island of Guernsey.


The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is told through a series of lively letters among the many characters, primarily Juliet, her editor, and a group of Guernsey residents who survived the war.  Juliet is delightful and witty without being cloying, the islanders are quirky and charming, and the supporting characters do their part as straight men to the comedians.

There are a few places where the epistolary structure teeters – where an important story point or key transition too perfectly arrives in the morning post, just in time to move the narrative forward.  But the book is so short and the story moves along at such a quick pace that it is easy to rush past without noticing these minor flaws.

Mary Ann Shaffer wrote the book after years of researching the not widely known history of Guernsey’s occupation during World War II.  She includes horrific details of the war, including slave labor, executions, collaboration, and concentration camps, but telling the story from the post-war perspective provides needed distance, and the humor and cheerfulness of her characters make the darker themes tolerable.  Shaffer’s niece, Annie Barrows, finished the book when her aunt became too ill to complete it.

OTHER REVIEWS

So Many Precious Book, So Little Time

(If you would like your review of this book listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.)