1. Room by Emma Donoghue. I didn't plan on reading this book when I bought it. I actually bought it for a white elephant book exchange party that I ended up not being able to attend. I had heard good things, so decided I would just keep it and read it, and boy am I glad I did because I LOVED this book. The narrator, Jack, was born in an 11x11 room and lives there with his mother, who, similar to the father in Life is Beautiful, tries to make their captivity as positive as possible for the sake of her child. Their relationship is touching, and Jack's voice is as real and poignant as any I've heard in a long time.
2. One Day by David Nicholls. This book is almost every bit as fun as you've heard. I loved reading about Dexter and Emma and their long friendship-almost-romance. Emma is witty and entirely lovable, while Dexter is charming despite his many flaws. This book kept me laughing each night as I lay in bed telling myself "just 10 minutes more -- then I'll turn out the light."
3. The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Okay, so you've probably read this book by now or know at least 5 people you have. Yes, it is probably now a bit overhyped, but I truly enjoyed this book when I read it over the summer. While the character of Skeeter didn't do too much for me, Stockett's real achievements were the black maids Aibileen and Minny, whose stories were both hilarious and achingly sad. I want to teach this book as a companion piece to To Kill a Mockingbird SO BADLY.
4. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. You'll notice in my list below that I read quite a few young adult novels this year, two of which were the first 2 Twilight novels. Well, out of the 23 books I read, Twilight sits at #22 and New Moon sits at #23. However, rest assured that I was delighted by the rest of the young adult books I read, and by none more than the first book in the Hunger Games series. I CAN'T WAIT for this to be made into a movie and hope that they pick a worthy actress to play the part of Katniss Everdeen (maybe True Grit's Hailee Steinfeld or The Social Network's Rooney Mara?)
5. I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb. I read She's Come Undone a few years back after my friend Leslie lent it to me, and I absolutely LOVED it, so I was excited to finally buy and sink my teeth into Lamb's 900+ page story of twin brothers, one who suffers from schizophrenia. Yes, it was a long read, but a very rewarding one, and, while I think I prefer She's Come Undone, Wally Lamb is such a gifted writer that any book by him is just great.
6. The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall. This story of a Mormon polygamist family is easily the quirkiest book I read this year. It was lots of fun too, for the most part. Udall's gift is to endow each of his characters with a great deal of humanity even when one could easily cast off the whole lot as a bunch of insane weirdos. Golden Richards is humorous enough as the bumbling husband trying to keep his four wives and 28 children together while being tempted by infidelity, but the character who really broke my heart in this book was his son Rusty. I imagine anyone who gets into Big Love would like this book as well.
7. Little Bee by Chris Cleave. The first 2/3 of this book would probably make my top 5 for the year, but I was a bit disappointed in the way this book ended. However, the narration by the Nigerian refugee "Little Bee" was exquisite. This book reminded me a lot of the great essay "On Seeing England for the First Time" by Jamaica Kincaid. Both are great commentaries on British colonialism and include a terrific combination of humor and bitterness.
8. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. I was pleased to see this nonfiction book on a bunch of top 10 lists for the year and definitely believe it deserves a spot on mine. While it drags in places, this true account of the life of the woman whose tissue sample spawned the first line of productive cells (the He-la line of cells) was fascinating. I learned a lot about medical care during the time of segregation and medical consent laws, just for starters, and was very impressed by Skloot's diligence in getting to know the Lacks family and getting to the bottom of the story of Henrietta.
9. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. I read this book quite late, I'll admit. I've been meaning to read it for a few years, but was finally motivated to pick it up when I took a new job in Wilson County and found it on the 9th grade protected reading list and realized that I would actually be teaching it my honors freshmen. (This was also my motivation for reading Blood Red Horse, The Secret Life of Bees, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and I, Robot and for re-reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, which would have surely made my top 10 list had I not read it before, which disqualified it.) I loved it! Yes, this is the kind of book you can read in a couple of hours and isn't especially challenging, but it is very well written nonetheless and is PERFECT for ninth grade students. I got to teach it in November, and my students ate it up. We had some really good conversations about sexual violence, cliques, peer pressure, and depression, and I know it was the one book that almost all my kids actually READ and UNDERSTOOD.
10. The Swallows of Kabul by Yasmina Khadra. This story of sexual oppression in Afghanistan is just heartbreaking. I would recommend it to any who got into Khaled Hosseini's books and also enjoy a poetic touch in novels. Khadra is a beautiful writer, and, while Swallows may not have had the happy ending of, say, The Kite Runner, it feels a bit more true to life when one considers what it living under Taliban rule is really like.
Here's the complete list of what I read this year:
The Help by Kathryn Stockett -- 2009
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot -- 2010
Room by Emma Donoghue -- 2010
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins -- 2008
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins -- 2009
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins -- 2010
The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson -- 2009
I, Robot by Isaac Asimov -- 1950
I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb -- 1998
Little Bee by Chris Cleave -- 2009
The Bedwetter by Sarah Silverman -- 2010
The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall -- 2010
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Steven King -- 1999
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer -- 2005
New Moon by Stephenie Meyer -- 2006
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd -- 2002
The Swallows of Kabul by Yasmina Khadra -- 2005
Blood Red Horse by K.M. Grant -- 2006
Re-read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon -- 2003
One Day by David Nicholls -- 2009
Rabbit, Run by John Updike -- 1960
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson -- 1999
Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns -- 1984
I LOVED the first two books in the Hunger Games series, but was disappointed by the final book.
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