Book Lists ’10

Below are the lists of books I hope to read in 2010.  This includes a general list, audiobooks for listening, my annual Abraham Lincoln book, religious and spiritual readings for Lent, books by international authors for my Around the World for a Good Book project and the monthly offerings of my book clubs.  At the bottom of the page I will list the books I’ve actually read thus far this year as I’ve read them. You can also check out how I did the last couple of years on my Book Lists ‘08 and Book Lists ’09 pages.

I will try to adhere to Nancy Pearl’s Rule of 50, so I don’t waste time on books I don’t like, and maybe make it through every book here. More likely I’ll discover new books and newly released books and read them instead. I will add new books to the comments as I discover them. If you have any reading suggestions let me know in the comments.  I’ll be adding new books to read in future years all the time

While these are the books I’m reading this year, you can also look at a list of my favorite books of all time.

Books to Read in 2010

13 Things that Don’t Make Sense: The Most Baffling Scientific Mysteries of Our Time by Michael Brooks

A Brilliant Teacher: Lessons Learned from One Family’s Journey Around the World by Steve Rhine

A People’s History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story by Diana Butler Bass

Boilerplate : history’s mechanical marvel by Paul Guinan

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West by Dee Brown

Coop : a year of poultry, pigs, and parenting by Michael Perry

Dancing in the Dark: A Cultural History of the Great Depression by Moris Dickstein

Diary of a Williamsburg hostess by Helen Jones Campbell

Free Range Children by Lenore Skenazy

Gaining Ground: A History of Landmaking in Boston by Nancy S. Seasholes

Get Out!: 150 Easy Ways for Kids & Grown-Ups to Get Into Nature and Build a Greener Future by Judy Molland

How We Know What Isn’t So: The Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life by Thomas Gilovich

Huck’s Raft: A History of American Childhood by Steven Mintz

In Transit: An Heroi-Cyclic Novel by Brigid Brophy

Instant Egghead Guide: The Mind by Emily Anthes

Inventing the Charles River by Karl Haglund

Iron and Silk by Mark Salzman

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes

Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv

Mapping Boston by Alex Krieger

Massachusetts Troublemakers: Rebels, Reformers, and Radicals from the Bay State by Paul Della Valle

Origins of the specious : myths and misconceptions of the English language by Patricia T. O’Conner

Out of our heads : why you are not your brain, and other lessons from the biology of consciousness by Alva Noë

Reading in the Brain: The Science and Evolution of a Human Invention by Stanislas Dehaene

Sacagawea’s Child: The Life And Times Of Jean-Baptiste (Pomp) Charbonneau by Susan M. Colby

Sesame Street Unpaved: Scripts, Stories, Secrets, and Songs by David Borgenicht

Shades of Grey: A Novel by Jasper Fforde

The Boston Irish by Thomas H. O’Connor

The Dead Father by Donald Barthelme

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

The F-Word by Jesse Sheidlower

The Historian : A Novel by Elizabeth Kostova

The history of love by Nicole Krauss

The Invention of Air by Steven Johnson

The Iowa Baseball Confederacy: A Novel W.P. Kinsella

The Miracle Has Landed: The Amazin’ Story of How the 1969 Mets Shocked the World by Matthew Silverman

The No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley

The Union of Their Dreams: Power, Hope, and Struggle in Cesar Chavez’s Farm Worker Movement by Miriam Pawel

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Travel as a Political Act by Rick Steves

Waiting on a Train: The Embattled Future of Passenger Rail Service–A Year Spent Riding across America by James McCommons

Wanderlust: A History of Walking by Rebecca Solnit

Audiobooks

Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson (A)

Blindspot: A Novel by Jane Kamensky & Jill Lepore

Don Quixote de la Mancha by  Miguel Cervantes

How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer

The Battle for God by Karen Armstrong

The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow

The Food of a Younger Land by Mark Kurlansky

The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner

The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008 by Paul Krugman

Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Journey to Change the World… One Child at a Time by Greg Mortenson

The Given Day: A Novel by Dennis Lehane

Atmospheric Disturbances: A Novel by Rivka Galchen

Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr by Nancy Isenberg

The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy by David Hoffman

The Places In Between by Rory Stewart

The Case for God by Karen Armstrong

Lincoln Day

Angels and Ages: A Short Book About Darwin, Lincoln, and Modern Life by Adam Gopnik

Lenten Reading

Poverty of Spirit by Johannes Baptist Metz

The Human Poetry of Faith by Michael Paul Gallagher

Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality by Donald Miller

Young Children and Spirituality by Barbara K. Myers

Ambassadors of Reconciliation: New Testament Reflections on Restorative Justice and Peacemaking by Ched Myers

Patience with God: Faith for People Who Don’t Like Religion (or Atheism) by Frank Schaeffer

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

Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church by Bishop Geoffrey Robinson

Around the World for a Good Book

Algeria: Fantasia : An Algerian Cavalcade by Assia Djebar

Cameroon: The Story of the Madman : A Novel by Mongo Beti

Chile: The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

Colombia: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Denmark: Smilla’s Sense of Snow by Peter Høeg

Israel: See Under: Love by David Grossman

Kiribati: The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific by J. Maarten Troost

Mexico: The Law of Love by Laura Esquivel

Netherlands: The Book of Everything by Guus Kuijer

North Korea: The Aquariums of Pyongyang by  Kang Chol-Hwan

South Korea: Silver Stallion by  Ahn Junghyo

Sweden: Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell

Book Clubs

January: W&M Alumni – Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell

KLS – The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

February: W&M Alumni – River of Heaven by Lee Martin.

KLS

March: W&M Alumni – Netherland by Joseph O’Brien

KLS – Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornsby

April:W&M Alumni – Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann

KLS – Interpreter of Maladies By Jhumpa Lahiri

May: W&M Alumni – The Gathering by Anne Enright

KLS –

June: W&M Alumni – Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann

KLS – I’jaam by Sinan Antoon

July:W&M Alumni – Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance by Atul Gawande (A)

KLS – Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

August: W&M Alumni – That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo

KLS – A Slight Trick of the Mind by Mitch Cullin

September: W&M Alumni – Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffeneger

KLS –  Didn’t meet.

October: W&M Alumni – Into Thin Air by Jon Krakaeur

KLS – Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi

November: W&M Alumni – Cheerful Money by Tad Friend

KLS

December: W&M Alumni – The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

KLS

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Books Read in 2010

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