book a week geek

Instead of pretending I have a great excuse for why I have been MIA (I don’t) I will just give you this, my list of 2010 reads.  Also instead of pretending I will return to blogging in 2011 with a fucking vengeance, I will say nothing.  I might return, or I might not.  I have been spending a lot of time being social (me!  social!) and not enough time reading and not enough time sitting quietly.  One of my New Year’s resolutions is to have more fun, and another is to be more grounded, and somewhere in-between those there is the perfect place for me (I bet there are unicorns there, and potato chip buffets), and I think I will resolve to spend a little more time finding that balance.

Anyway, I came here for a reason, and it is this:

1. Octavia Butler-Parable of the talents
2. Ann Packer-Dive from Klausen’s Pier
3. Ursula LeGuin-Always coming home
4. Maile Meloy-Half in love
5. Eduardo Galeano-Book of embraces
6. Matt Ruff-Set this house in order
7. Rebecca Skloot-Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks
8. Rigoberta Menchu-I, Rigoberta Menchu
9. Mario Vargas Llosa-The feast of the goat
10. Lydia Davis-The end of the story
11. Samuel Logan-This is for the Mara Salvatrucha
12. John D’Agata-About a mountain
13. Julie Klausner-I don’t care about your band
14. Mark Danner-Massacre at El Mozote
15. Joan Didion-Salvador
16. Louise Erdrich-Shadow tag
17. Larry McMurtry-Lonesome Dove
18. Allegra Goodman-Other side of the island
19. Laura Esquivel-Like water for chocolate
20. Dagoberto Gilb-Magic of blood
21. Stieg Larson-Girl with the dragon tattoo
22. Stieg Larson-Girl who played with fire
23. Dagoberto Gilb-Woodcuts of women
24. John Edgar Wideman-Brothers & keepers
25. Gloria Anzaldua-Borderlands/La Frontera-the new Mestiza
26. Vincent Lam-Bloodletting & miraculous cures
27. Bitchfest
28. Lee Martin-The bright forever
29. Jose Saramago-Blindness
30. Michael Ondaatje-In the skin of a lion
31. Robert Olen Butler-Good scent from a strange mountain
32. Maile Chapman-Your presence is requested at Suvanto
33. John Steinbeck-East of Eden
34. Nathan Englander-Ministry of special cases
35. Jane Smiley-Thousand acres
36. H.G. Bissinger-Friday night lights
37. Stieg Larson-Girl who kicked the hornet’s nest
38. Toni Morrison-Song of Solomon
39. Alice Fulton-Nightingales of Troy
40. John Edgar Wideman-Fatheralong
41. Daniel Alarcón-Lost city radio
42. Suzanne Collins-Mockingjay
43. Alma Guillermoprieto-The heart that bleeds
44. Roberto Bolano-2666
45. Daniel Alarcón-War by candlelight
46. Edward Jones-The known world
47. Laura Eldridge-In our control; the complete guide to contraceptive choices for women
48. Nicole Krauss-Great house
49. David Rakoff-Half empty
50. Ian Frazier-Travels in Siberia
51. Alain de Botton-A week at the airport
52. Theodore Dreiser-Sister Carrie
53. Michael Ondaatje-Divisadero
54. Octavio Paz-Labyrinth of Solitude
55. Nick Reding-Methland
56. Jamaica Kincaid-My brother
57. Amy Goodman-Standing up to the madness: ordinary heroes in extraordinary times
58. Tom Rachman-the Imperfectionists