Here’s my annual list of my ten favorite books read in the year. As always, this is merely the best books I read this year not books published in 2010. For previous years see 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2006. You may also want to check out My Favorite Books of All Time or see Every Book I’ve Ever Read cataloged in Library Thing.
- The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
- Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
- A Slight Trick of the Mind by Mitch Cullin
- The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
- Netherland by Joseph O’Brien
- Coop : a year of poultry, pigs, and parenting by Michael Perry
- A City So Grand by Steven Puleo
- Packing for Mars by Mary Roach
- Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr by Nancy Isenberg (A)
- From the Pews in Back: Young Women and Catholicism by Kate Dugan and Jennifer Owens
Books published in 2010 in bold. (A) is for audiobook.
January
- Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
- The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
- Massachusetts Troublemakers: Rebels, Reformers, and Radicals from the Bay State by Paul Della Valle
- Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel Cervantes (A)
- The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner (A)
February
- How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer (A)
- The Historian : A Novel by Elizabeth Kostova
- Blindspot: A Novel by Jane Kamensky & Jill Lepore (A)
Shades of Grey: A Novel by Jasper Fforde- Culture Shock! Netherlands by Hunt Janin & Ria Van Eil
- Angels and Ages: A Short Book About Darwin, Lincoln, and Modern Life by Adam Gopnik
- Building of the Mother Church : the First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston, Massachusetts by Joseph Armstrong and Margaret Williamson
- Lincoln and the Decision for War: The Northern Response to Secession by Russell A. McClintock (A)
- Netherland by Joseph O’Brien
March
- Where? On Huntington Avenue : a narrative of Northeastern by Rudolph M. Morris
- Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornsby
- The Case for God by Karen Armstrong (A)
- Young Children and Spirituality by Barbara K. Myers
- The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World’s Largest Unsolved Art Theft by Ulrich Boser
- The Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse (A)
- Catholic Does Not Equal the Vatican: A Vision for Progressive Catholicism by Rosemary Radford Ruether
- From the Pews in Back: Young Women and Catholicism by Kate Dugan and Jennifer Owens
- The Battle for God by Karen Armstrong (A)
April
- Patience with God: Faith for People Who Don’t Like Religion (or Atheism) by Frank Schaeffer
- Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (A)
- Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality by Donald Miller
- The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008 by Paul Krugman (A)
- Interpreter of Maladies By Jhumpa Lahiri
- The Union of Their Dreams: Power, Hope, and Struggle in Cesar Chavez’s Farm Worker Movement by Miriam Pawel
- Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr by Nancy Isenberg (A)
- Amsterdam by Geert Mak
- The Book of Everything by Guus Kuijer
- The Dream Room by Marcel Möring
- The Gathering by Anne Enright (A)
May
- My ‘Dam Life by Sean Condon
- The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
- The Assault by Harry Mulisch
- Treason’s Harbour by Patrick O’Brian (A)
- Pedal Power by J. Harry Wray
The Embarrassment of Riches by Simon Schama
June
- Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
- I’jaam by Sinan Antoon
- The Dead Republic by Roddy Doyle
The Dream of Perpetual Motion by Dexter Palmer- The Way of Boys: Raising Healthy Boys in a Challenging and Complex World by Anthony Rao & Michelle Seaton
July
- Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson (A)
- The Game From Where I Stand by Doug Glanville
- Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance by Atul Gawande (A)
- 13 Things that Don’t Make Sense: The Most Baffling Scientific Mysteries of Our Time by Michael Brooks
- Out of our heads : why you are not your brain, and other lessons from the biology of consciousness by Alva Noë
- Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem (A)
- That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo (A)
- Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
- Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (A)
- Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffeneger
August
- Chasing Oliver Hazard Perry: Travels in the Footsteps of the Commodore Who Saved America by Craig Heimbuch
- Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy by Barbara Ehrenreich (A)
- The Purpose of the Past by Gordon S. Wood (A)
- The Boston Irish by Thomas H. O’Connor
- A Slight Trick of the Mind by Mitch Cullin
- On Deep History and the Brain by Daniel Lord Snail (A)
- Coop : a year of poultry, pigs, and parenting by Michael Perry
- The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific by J. Maarten Troost
September
- Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel (A)
- The Law of Love by Laura Esquivel
- Anne of Avonlea by L.M Montgomery (A)
- Beneath the Lion’s Gaze by Maaza Mengiste
October
- The Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper (A)
- The Story of the Madman : A Novel by Mongo Beti
November
- The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
- Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Journey to Change the World… One Child at a Time by Greg Mortenson (A)
- Silver Stallion by Ahn Junghyo
- Origins of the specious : myths and misconceptions of the English language by Patricia T. O’Conner
- The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow (A)
- A City So Grand by Steven Puleo
- Wanderlust: A History of Walking by Rebecca Solnit
- Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson
- Do It Anyway by Courtney E. Martin
December
- The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen (A)
- Huck’s Raft: A History of American Childhood by Steven Mintz
- The Given Day: A Novel by Dennis Lehane (A)
- In Transit: An Heroi-Cyclic Novel by Brigid Brophy
- The Places In Between by Rory Stewart (A)
- Packing for Mars by Mary Roach
