[Skip navigation]

Readers Advisory - Best of 2010 Book List

  • 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff - general nonfiction
  • The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff - general fiction
  • A Pearl in the Storm by Tori Murden McClure - biography
  • A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan - linked short stories, wonderfully distinctive characters, 2010
  • All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren - general fiction
  • Ask Me No Questions by Marina Budhos - young adult fiction, 2007
  • At Home by Bill Bryson - nonfiction, 2010, history of the world through examining domestic objects in a 19th
  • century English house
  • Atonement by Ian McEwan - general fiction
  • Attack of the Trekkies
  • Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon - adult fiction thriller/crime/mystery, 2009
  • Blackout and its sequel, All Clear by Connie Willis - science fiction, 2010, WWII time travel
  • Blind Descent by Nevada Barr - mystery
  • Bloody Jack Series by L. A. Meyer - young adult historical fiction
  • Burn by Nevada Barr - mystery
  • By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham - character study of a midlife crisis, 2010
  • Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins - young adult
  • Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams read by Jenna Lamia, book on CD - young adult audience, 2009
  • The Colorado Kid by Stephen King - mystery
  • Columbine by David Cullen - nonfiction, reporting, 2009
  • Crank by Ellen Hopkins - young adult
  • Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay - mystery
  • Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie - mystery
  • Deep Survival and Everyday Survival by Laurence Gonzales - nonfiction, 2003, 2008, survival psychology
  • Dragon's Lair by Elizabeth Haydon and Jason Chan - fantasy fiction, ages 8 to adult, 2008. This is volume 3 of 5 in The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme series.
  • Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert - biography
  • Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life by Neil Strauss - nonfiction, outdoor/domestic survival skills
  • Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Allison Goodman - young adult fantasy (Asian)
  • Expiration Date by Duane Swierczynski - science fiction, 2010, time travel with hard-boiled mystery flavor
  • Faithful Place by Tana French - mystery, 2010, Ireland
  • The Forest of Hands and Teeth and its sequels by Carrie Ryan - teen fiction, atmospheric/allegorical zombie novels, 2009-2010
  • The Forever War by Joe Haldeman - science fiction
  • Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd edited by Holly Black - young adult short stories
  • Glass by Ellen Hopkins - young adult
  • The Good Son by Michael Gruber - elite soldier rescuing his Polish/Pakistani mom, 2009, unusual characters and narrative; also his older Shakespeare mystery, The Book of Air and Shadows
  • Great House by Nicole Krauss - stories linked by a writing desk, power of memory, 2010
  • The Hand that First Held Mine by Maggie O’Farrell - 2010 contemporary/1950s/1960s dual family story
  • The Hare with the Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal - nonfiction, 2010, wealthy Jewish family history tracing a netsuke collection
  • The Help by Kathryn Stockett - adult historical fiction, 2009
  • The Hidden Brain by Shankar Vedantam - nonfiction, 2010, psychology of unconscious vs. conscious brain
  • High on Arrival by Mackenzie Phillips - biography
  • Homer & Langley by E. L. Doctorow - character study of two famous hoarders, 2009
  • Hope's Boy by Andrew Bridge - biography
  • I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith - general fiction
  • Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot - adult nonfiction, 2010
  • Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir - general fiction
  • Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea - adult novel set in contemporary Mexico and U. S. A., 2010
  • The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer - Hungarian/Jewish architecture student in Paris, love story, Holocaust novel, 2010
  • The Irresistible Henry House by Lisa Grunwald - character study, “practice baby” in home economics college program, 2010
  • Jane by April Lindner - young adult
  • Katharine of Aragon by Jean Plaidy - general fiction
  • Kitten's First Full Moon (Caldecott winner) by Kevin Henkes - children's fiction, ages 2-5, 2004
  • Lady Carliss and the Waters of Moorue by Chuck Black - young adult fantasy fiction, 2010. This is # 4 in The Knights of Arrethtrae series.
  • Leviathan and its sequel, Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld - teen, 2009-2010, alternate WWI fantasy/sf, Darwinists vs. mechanists
  • Losing It by Valerie Bertinelli - biography
  • Lucy by Laurence Gonzales - science fiction
  • Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town by Nick Reding - general nonfiction
  • Miss Hargreaves by Frank Baker - reprint of satire in which a fictional character appears to bedevil her creator, 2010, c1940
  • Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins - young adult
  • Nomansland by Lesley Hauge - adult/young adult science fiction, 2010
  • Old World Murder by Kathleen Ernst - mystery
  • One Big Table by Molly O'Neill - nonfiction
  • Operation Mincemeat by Ben MacIntyre - nonfiction, 2010, WWII espionage, misinformation re Sicily Invasion
  • The Other Family by Joanna Trollope - charmingly sympathetic family novel, 2010
  • Packing for Mars by Mary Roach - nonfiction
  • Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood (Graphic Novel) by Marjane Satrapi - general nonfiction
  • The Poacher's Son by Paul Doiron - mystery
  • Push by Sapphire - general fiction
  • Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier - historical fiction, 2010, women fossil hunters in Victorian England
  • Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam - biography
  • Rolling Thunder by Chris Grabenstein - mystery
  • Royal Road to Fotheringay by Jean Plaidy - general fiction
  • Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix - children's fiction, ages 8-14, 1995
  • Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman - general fiction
  • The Serialist by David Gordon - mystery
  • Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn - mystery, Victorian (Lady Julia Grey series #1)
  • Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See - general fiction
  • Sookie Stackhouse Series by Charlaine Harris - mystery
  • Spies of the Balkans by Alan Furst - WWII historical espionage, 2010
  • The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman - nonfiction
  • Star Island by Carl Hiassen - mystery
  • Still Alice by Lisa Genova - adult fiction, 2009
  • Stiltsville by Susanna Daniel - 1960s to contemporary character study/portrait of a marriage, 2010
  • The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie and its sequel The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag by Alan Bradley - mystery, 2009-2010, World War II, great heroine, good teen recommendation; and for their fans, I Capture the Castle and Three Bags Full
  • That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo - portrait of a marriage, 2009
  • The Thieves of Manhattan by Adam Langer - satire, suspense, publishing scam that goes wrong, 2010
  • The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield - general fiction
  • The Yard Dog and its sequel, The Insane Train by Sheldon Russell - mystery, 2009-2010, WWII railway
  • Then Came the Evening by Brian Hart - Idaho regional fiction, ex-con and his family trying to make good, 2010
  • Thief and its sequels by Megan Whalen Turner - teen, heroic fantasy, newest 2010, about thief/king
  • Tourist Season by Carl Hiaasen - mystery
  • Troubled Waters by Shanon Shinn - fantasy
  • True Confections by Katharine Weber - general fiction
  • Uglies by Scott Westerfeld - young adult
  • Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay - fantasy, 2010, alternate ancient China volume 3 of 5 in the The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme series
  • War, by Sebastian Junger, and the documentary video Restrepo - nonfiction, 2010, why soldiers fight, Afghanistan
  • Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson - fantasy epic
  • Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley - mystery (Flavia de Luce series #2)
  • Where the God of Love Hangs Out by Amy Bloom - linked short stories, sympathetic characters, 2010
  • Wolf Hall (Booker winner) by Hilary Mantel - historical/biographical fiction, 2009, Thomas Cromwell in Tudor England, great character study
  • Zeitoun by David Eggers - nonfiction, 2009, Syrian immigrant during Katrina