Sunday, December 26, 2010

Sunday Salon: The Best of 2010 in Books


1. Best book of 2010?
Three-way tie:

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

2. Worst book of 2010?

Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes

3. Most Disappointing Book of 2010?

Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love)

4. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2010?

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu

5. Book you recommended to people most in 2010?


Skellig by David Almond

6. Best series you discovered in 2010?

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

7. Favorite new authors you discovered in 2010?
Roald Dahl, Quentin Blake, Michael Morpurgo, David Almond, Salman Rushdie

8. Most hilarious read of 2010?

The BFG by Roald Dahl

9. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2010?

Amazon Adventure by Willard Price

10. Book you most anticipated in 2010?

And the Pursuit of Happiness by Maira Kalman

11. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2010?

The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney (Caldecott Winner 2010)

12. Most memorable character in 2010?

Oscar, the cat who anticipates when an elderly person is
about to die in Making Rounds With Oscar by David Dosa

13. Most beautifully written book in 2010?

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

14. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2010?

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin


15. Book you can't believe you waited UNTIL 2010 to finally read?


Nancy Drew: The Secret of the Old Clock (first Nancy Drew!)


If you want to fill out this survey, head over to The Perpetual Page-Turner and add your link to the list!

29 comments:

  1. I love seeing these sort of surveys! When it comes to most influential book, I think it's a tie between The Happiness Project and The Creative Habit. I think 2011 will be the year I finally pick up Skellig to read. Thanks for sharing with us your favorite books of the year. Hope you're having a great holiday weekend.

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  2. Loved your Tops List. I ended Let the Great World Spin and Making the Rounds with Oscar as well.

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  3. Great list! I loved Making Rounds with Oscar.

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  4. Let The Great World Spin: it's on my Nook now from the library. So you're saying I should move it up on my list, I'm guessing? ;)

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  5. I'm definitely reading Let the Great World Spin in 2011!

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  6. I LOVE your list! I remember when you started The Three Musketeers, and thinking to myself I should read that because I never did. Now that it's one of your favorites, it's going in the TBR pile for sure! And I just happen to buy Midnights Children last week too! The book that you list, though, that I have the fondest memories of is The Secret of The Old Clock! I use to read Nancy Drew on Sunday afternoons lying on my bed as a little girl. They all were so good!

    Thanks for sharing your best, worst and special choices!

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  7. Fabulous post, as always Debbie. I agree with some of your choices. The Three Musketeers was a wonderful read of course. Oscar the Cat is great choice for the most memorable character of the year. I read this book earlier in the year, and probably wouldn't have thought of him, but you've made an inspired choice. The BFG was certainly hilarious. And I'm so excited to see Skellig, Amazon Adventure and Hunger Games make your list. I'm keen to get to Skellig sometime. It sounds very interesting. The movie version was on tele here last night- but I didn't get to watch it. I read The Lion and The Mouse last week- it's great beyond the cover too isn't it?

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  8. I think you win the prize for eclectic reading list. Love it. Let the Great World Spin is going to be on my top ten list as well.

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  9. I have not read any of the books on your best list. But a couple of them I want to read and January is a perfect time to do that. The weather is cold and the holidays are over.

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  10. Great list, and so nice to see The Hunger Games on so many blogs. I'm always amazed when I meet people that haven't even heard of Suzanne Collins. I'm planning on reading Rushdie's The Ground Beneath Her Feet in 2011 (which I've had on my tbr pile for over 10 years!). I've never read any of his books before, so I'm glad you're a fan of his!

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  11. Thank you for reminding me of The BFG! I need to reread that at some point. How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu might be the book I'm looking forward to most to read in 2011.

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  12. So glad to hear the Hemingway and Rushdie books are good. I plan to read them both in 2011!

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  13. A Moveable Feast is one of my all-time favorites. I'm so glad you loved it!

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  14. I'm hoping to read a Salman Rushdie this upcoming year. I hope I have as much luck with him as you did!

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  15. Great answers! I haven't read a lot of them, but I have a question- Did you read and like Eat Pray Love? I've been wanting to read it because of the movie but it's too bad the 2nd book was disappointing.

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  16. I love the BFG. Old childhood fave there! The Hunger Games was also one of my fave series discovered in 2010. I really want to read Making Rounds With Oscar, I keep hearing such wonderful things about it.

    Great list!

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  17. Oh, I used to love Nancy Drew when I was younger! I wish I could remember the name of the first one I read. I remember the cover BUT it was one of the revamped covers, not one of the classic ones like they have now. I should reread and discover ones I never got to :)

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  18. I have to agree on Let The Great World Spin. It was one of those quiet, but great books.

    I've wanted to read How to Live Safely... ever since I heard the author in an interview.

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  19. I've been curious about Moveable Feast and now that I've seen it on a number of favorites lists i might have to track down a copy for myself. I remember reading the BFG out loud to our boys when they were small and we all loved it! Great pick. And I also had a hunch that Committed would be disappointing - I'm glad I gave that one a pass this year.

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  20. Wow, awesome list! 225 books read?! This IS hard to narrow down to only ten, so I like your splitting them according to genre and so on.

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  21. Wow, 225 books read? That's fabulous. This is such a neat list and how fun that you are now discovering Nancy Drew. Wishing you a fabulous reading year in 2011!

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  22. those all look great! I've added me to my ever-growing TBR pile!

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  23. I really enjoyed this wrap up of your reading favorites and not so favorites from 2010!

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  24. I loved Let the Great World Spin as well. Nice list. Looking forward to reading more reviews from you in 2011!

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  25. LOVED The Happiness Project. Had an influence on me last year. I am dying to read Let the Great World Spin!

    Thanks for joining in with me!

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  26. I haven't read the BFG since primary school! Will have to track it down for a reread ;-) Nice list - looks like a great year!

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  27. I read Committed this year as well. I was liked it, but I was disappointed in comparison to Eat, Pray, Love. It wasn't as fast paced as I thought it would be. But I did like it.
    I'm still searching for the first book of The Hunger Games series. It's not in stock anywhere that I've looked that isn't online.

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  28. Great list! Looks like we had a couple of answers in common (Eat, Pray Love as most disappointing, for example). I love Roald Dahl too. So funny, and great for kids & adults to read together!

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