2010 in books

[katie__pillar]

It's time for my usual start to the year, my year in books 2010. Tick the ones you've read and talk to me about books in the comments.

This year I read 107 books, so broke the 100 mark by the skin of my teeth. Of those:

4 were rereads (*)
5 were nonfiction (N)
8 were graphic novels (G)

Comments

[katie__pillar]

Hmm, I'd definitely recommend Bluestockings (in fact you can borrow it if you like) and also the Looking Glass Wars trilogy - it's a different telling of Alice in Wonderland with warrior queens and the like. The Gravedigger's Daughter was excellent if slightly depressing and the same goes for Jean Rhys.

[fictionalfaerie]

NGL, totally embarrassed by how few of those books I've read.

[katie__pillar]

It's a pretty random list this year, I must admit. I was trying to diversify a bit but I seem to have read quite a lot of teen books about vampires even so.

[rhombal]

Yessss, Stargirl and The Princess Bride!

I think I've decided that the cover of Leviathan looks awesome - and therefore the book is awesome - and that Shiver sounds a bit silly. (And that I should probably start reading China Mieville.) Thoughts?

[katie__pillar]

Leviathan is AWESOME and you should definitely read it (Deryn Sharp is my hero), but yes Shiver is a bit silly, don't worry about that one so much. I enjoyed my China Mieville experience, even though I'm generally bad at books that take more than a couple of days to read (although Un Lun Dun is YA so it's only Perdido Street that took me a while). I have been recommended others of his but I keep forgetting which ones they are and having to re-ask my Mieville providers for the titles.

[klo_the_hobbit]

*cough* The Scar *cough* The City and the City is Toby's favourite, I've got a copy on my to read shelf but I haven't got there yet. Thumbs up for China!

[temaris]

Kraken has been the most accessible of his books for me -- Un Lun Dun I found faintly patronising -- the best children's books don't know they're children's books, whereas this one was painfully self-conscious about it, which made it teeter perilously close to patronising and twee in places.

Kraken I picked up in an airport and just inhaled over the next four hours. Really loved it, which makes me think I might give his other books another shot.

[tiphanism]

I have read almost none of those... which should I read?

[katie__pillar]

I've really been caning the obscure YA this year, I'm not overly surprised people haven't read them! I would recommend Willa Cather and Jean Rhys and definitely the Hunger Games trilogy. Post apocalyptic fun for all the family!

[donna_k]

What did you think of A Madness of Angels? I downloaded a sample chapter, but even though I love the sound of it, I'm having real difficulty getting into it. Should I persevere?

Didn't realise Looking Glass Wars was a trilogy. I just got the first one from the library, so I hope I'll be able to get hold of the others!

[katie__pillar]

No. I read the whole thing but I wasn't really taken and it was a bit of a struggle. I never really got into the story.

The rest of the LGW are great! Good luck getting hold of them (I have them if you need them.)