2011
I'm not sure I can tie these books together in a cohesive way like I did with 2010's list, except that I enjoyed them all. Plain and simple. For books like Shades of Grey, Ella Minnow Pea, and Death with Interruptions, I enjoyed the author's creativity and clever wit. They were playful, intelligently written, humorous books that all held an undercurrent of the sometimes disturbing realities that plague societies. Blind Descent and Half Broke Horses are books based on adventurers, proving that real life can indeed be stranger than fiction! I hope if you don't end up reading these five books, you'll find others that you enjoy as much as I enjoyed these.
1) Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
2) Blind Descent by James Tabor
3) Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
4) Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls
5) Death with Interruptions by Jose Saramago
2010
I'm excited about these five books because they represent a good spectrum in terms of genre. There's a memoir, military non-fiction, young adult fiction, and even an academic book. Despite this, there is one underlying theme in all these books, they made me think differently about something. For the Glass Castle, it was homelessness and mental illness. For Generation Kill, it was the military. For the Hunger Games it was about the delicacy of life. For the Forest of Hands and Teeth, it was about indoctrination and reality. And for Mindless Eating, it was how I thought about food and my eating habits. I hope you'll be inspired to read these amazing books and that they'll teach you something you didn't know about your world and yourself. Happy reading!
1) The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
2) Generation Kill by Evan Wright
3) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
4) The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
5) Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink
For more good books, click on these links for...
Pajiba's Cannonball Read 2012
Publisher's Weekly Bestsellers
The Daily Beast's Top Books for 2010 (created by compiling everyone else's top book lists)
NPR's Complete List
Fiction Award Winners (tons of lists to pick from!)
