2010 Reads in Review

I didn't review absolutely everything I read, so I've written some notes on each of the books I didn't review at the bottom of this post. Links are provided to all reviews, where applicable (some are combined reviews).

2010 Reads in Review:

January

1. Custer Survivor - John Koster
2. Fidelity - Grace Paley
3. First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria - Eve Brown-Waite
4. The Swan Thieves - Elizabeth Kostova
5. The Great Automatic Grammatizator & Other Stories - Roald Dahl
6. The Making of The African Queen - Katherine Hepburn
7. They Were Just People - Tammeus & Cukierkorn
8. Elephant a la Mode - T. Roy Nakai
9. I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You - Ally Carter
10. The Cat Inside - William S. Burroughs
11. Stealing Heaven - Elizabeth Scott
12. Veracity - Laura Bynum

February

13. Reach for the Stars - Serge Bloch
14. Mix and Mash Adventures in the Kitchen for Baby and You
15. Classic Starts: Great Expectations - Deanna McFadden
16. Potty Animals: What to Know When You've Got to Go - Hope Vestergaard & V. Petrone
17. Maybe I'll Sleep in the Bathtub Tonight - Levy & Buscema
18. Diamond Jim Dandy & the Sheriff - S. Burrell & B. Langdo
19. Mr. Darcy's Great Escape - Marsha Altman
20. The Wives of Henry Oades - Johanna Moran
21. If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period - Gennifer Choldenko
22. Benjamin Pratt & the Keeper of the School - Andrew Clements
23. The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brien
24. Home is Where the Wine Is - Laurie Perry
25. The Last Surgeon - Michael Palmer
26. Cherries in Winter - Suzan Colon
27. So Long, Insecurity - Beth Moore
28. Making Rounds with Oscar - David Dosa, M.D.
29. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats - T. S. Eliot
30. Island of the Swans - Ciji Ware

March

Not numbered - The Fox and The Hen by Eric Battut

31. Cesar Takes a Break - S. Thoms & Roge
32. Don't Stop Laughing Now - Various
33. Mr. Midshipman Hornblower - C. S. Forester
34. The Country House Courtship - Linore Rose Burkard
35. That Cat Can't Stay - Krasnesky & Parkins
36. The Invention of Everything Else - Samantha Hunt
37. Postcards from a Dead Girl - Kirk Farber
38. I'll Mature When I'm Dead - Dave Barry
39. Ecomazes: 12 Earth Adventures - Roxie Munro
40. The Lotus Eaters - Tatjana Soli
41. Flyaway - Suzie Gilbert
42. The House with a Clock in Its Walls - John Bellairs

April

43. Anastasia's Secret - Susanne Dunlap
44. Disaster Status - Candace Calvert
45. She's So Dead to Us - Kieran Scott
46. Storylines - A. Croft & M. Pilavachi
47. The Secret Holocaust Diaries - Nonna Bannister
48. Rumor Has It - Jill Mansell
49. Winging It - Jenny Gardiner
50. College in a Nutskull - compiled by Anders Henriksson
51. The Founding - Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
52. The Amazing Book of Useless Info - Noel Botham
53. Will Grayson, Will Grayson - John Green & David Levithan
54. Rhymes with Witches - Lauren Myracle
55. The Return - Daoma Winston
56. I Love Him, But
57. The Lunatic Express - Carl Hoffman
58. The Man Who Loved Pride & Prejudice - Abigail Reynolds

May

Not counted - Little Critter's Where Is My Frog? by Mercer Mayer

59. A Mango-Shaped Space - Wendy Mass
60. The Secret Lives of People in Love - Simon Van Booy
61. Shakespeare Wrote for Money - Nick Hornby
62. Non Campus Mentis - compiled by Anders Hendriksson
63. Life in Spite of Me - Kristen Anderson
64. The Prophecy - Dawn Mills
65. Faustine - Emma Tennant
66. Spaceheadz - Jon Scieszka
67. If You Follow Me - Malena Watrous
68. A Hundred Feet Over Hell - Jim Hooper
69. Eyes Like Stars - Lisa Mantchev
70. Appetite for Detention - Sloane Tanen
71. Dead End Gene Pool - Wendy Burden
72. F My Life - Valette, Passaglia, Guedj
73. Fireworks Over Toccoa - Jeffrey Stepakoff
74. Field Notes from a Catastrophe - Elizabeth Kolbert
75. Twenty Boy Summer - Sarah Ockler
76. The Secret Lives of Princesses - P. Lechermeier & R. Dautremer
77. The Making of a Duchess - Shana Galen
78. Sunrise in the West - E. Pargeter

June

79. A Place for Delta - Melissa Walker
80. The Passage - Justin Cronin
81. Emma - Jane Austen
82. Bird Girl and the Man Who Followed the Sun - Velma Wallis
83. A Cottage by the Sea - Ciji Ware
84. The All-American Jump & Jive JIg - Hueston & Haley
85. Boyfriends, Burritos & an Oean of Trouble - Nancy Rue
86. Growing Wings - Laurel Winter

July

87. A Dog's Purpose - W. Bruce Cameron
88. Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover - Ally Carter
89. Prayers for Sale - Sandra Dallas
90. The Case of the Crooked Carnival by Michele Torrey
91. Kindred - Octavia E. Butler
92. Bellwether - Connie Willis
93. Doomsday Book - Connie Willis
94. Suggestion - Illegal Art
95. Take Good Care of the Garden & the Dogs - Heather Lende

August

96. Stash - David Klein
97. Benny & Shrimp - Katarina Mazetti
98. Moose Droppings & Other Crimes Against Nature - Tom Brennan
99. Little Chimp's Big Day - L. Schroeder & L. McCue
100. Snow White - The Brothers Grimm & Charles Santora
101. Man Gave Names to All the Animals - Dylan & Arnosky
102. Matthew & the Bullies - Sarah, Duchess of York
103. 1 + 1 = 5 - D. La Rochelle & B. Sexton
104. Ten on the Sled - K. Norman & L. Woodruff
105. Calvin Can't Fly: The Story of a Bookworm Birdie - Berne & Bendis
106. The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May and June - Robin Benway
107. Emma and the Vampires - Austen & Josephson

September

108. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind - William Kamkwamba & B. Mealer
109. Peter Pan & Wendy - J. M. Barrie
110. Why We Fight, ed. by Simon Van Booy
111. London's Strangest Tales - Tom Quinn
112. Ten Big Toes and a Prince's Nose - N. Gow & S. Costanza
113. The Coffin Quilt - Ann Rinaldi
114. Inside Hurricanes - Mary Kay Carson
115. Georgette Heyer's Regency World - Jennifer Kloester
116. Whisper on the Wind - Maureen Lang
117. For the King's Favor - Elizabeth Chadwick
118. Strange Happenings - Avi
119. A Memory Between Us - Sarah Sundin

October

120. Mr. Darcy's Obsession - Abigail Reynolds
121. The Making of a Gentleman - Shana Galen
122. Dewey's Nine Lives - V. Myron & B. Witter
123. Why Our Decisions Don't Matter - Simon Van Booy
124. Fables: Legends in Exile
125. The Puzzle King - Betsy Carter
126. Nightshade - Andrea Cremer
127. Jane Austen Rined My Life - Beth Pattillo
128. The Reapers Are the Angels - Alden Bell
129. Take a Chance on Me - Jill Mansell
130. The Summoning - Kelley Armstrong
131. The Christmas Gift - William Bennett
132. The Human Bobby - Gabe Rotter
133. The Awakening - Kelley Armstrong
134. The Ship of Brides - Jojo Moyes

November

135. Wake - Lisa McMann
136. Merry Sparkling Christmas - Spurr & Madden
137. The 12 Days of Christmas in Washington, D.C. - Ransom & Hollander
138. Richard Scarry's Best Christmas Book Ever - Richard Scarry
139. The Reckoning - Kelley Armstrong
140. Why We Need Love - Simon Van Booy
141. Detectives Don't Wear Seatbelts - Cici McNair
142. Under the Overpass - Mike Yankoski
143. Forecasts & Faith - Barbie Basset
144. Desiree - Annemarie Selinko
145. Fade - Lisa McMann
146. Before I Fall - Lauren Oliver
147. The Winter Sea - Susanna Kearsley
148. The Christmas Journey - Donna VanLiere
149. Water Tales - Alice Hoffman

December

150. Cosmic - Frank Cottrell Boyce
151. Two Tickets to the Christmas Ball - Donita K. Paul
152. Pemberley Ranch - Jack Caldwell
153. Voice of America - E. C. Osondu
154. Hercule Poirot's Christmas - Agatha Christie
155. The Clouds Roll Away - Sibella Giorello
156. Let it Snow - Johnson, Green & Myracle
157. Christmas Jars - Jason F. Wright
158. Beneath the 13 Moons - Kathryne Kennedy

159. Need by Carrie Jones

Notes on books not reviewed:

Eebee's Mix and Mash for Baby and You is a board book and DVD that has recipes to cook with very, very young children. I'm going to give this one to my niece, who is about to give birth to her first child. Very simple recipes that mostly involve cutting blocks of soft food and shaking them in closed containers -- a really cute book that I didn't deliberately skip reviewing.

Don't Stop Laughing Now is a book of funny essays written by a variety of authors and published by a Christian publisher. Some essays I'd read elsewhere -- possibly things that have been passed around on the internet -- and they're all tremendously entertaining. This was an old book from my bookstore days.

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot - Silly poems about cats (but also insightful) that I read along with a friend . . . possibly during National Poetry Month? Half the joy of this book is in its illustrations by Edward Gorey. This one's on a shelf of favorite classics.

The Amazing Book of Useless Info - Not only useless but frequently inaccurate info so brief as to often leave out critical info that makes sense of the facts. Not recommended.

I Love Him But - A book of quotes about husbandly quirks by the wives of the men who drive them crazy. I love this little mini book; it's a reread.

Shakespeare Wrote for Money by Nick Hornby - I can't believe I didn't review this. Hornby's final book of columns for Believer magazine, another book that weighed down my wish list with suggestions (most notably, Field Notes from a Catastrophe, which was fabulous if terrifying). Of particular interest was Hornby's discovery of Young Adult books.

Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev - A lively YA book about a girl who lives in a magical theatre. I loved this adventurous, romantic and very delightfully unique book and put the second Theatre Illuminata book on my wish list immediately, but haven't yet acquired a copy.

Appetite for Detention by Sloane Tannen - A picture book geared to teenagers and about teens, quite funny but in kind of a rude way. Photos of fluffy chicks and teen-themed settings (lockers, classrooms, etc.) make the book really adorable if a bit bizarre.

F My Life by Valette, Passaglia and Guedj - Funny horror stories about real-life bad experiences gathered from a website by the same name. Unfortunately, there are some that are truly hilarious but the vast majority are raunchy. This book turned my stomach and I would definitely not recommend it.

Growing Wings by Laurel Winter - A YA book about a girl who begins to grow wings and goes to live in a hidden house where other winged people (often deformed because their wings were cut or bound to try to keep them from growing) live together. I found that the conflict I'd hoped for never materialized; this was a very disappointing book.

Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover by Ally Carter - The Gallagher Girls spy series is loads of fun; my son and I share them. In this one, Cammie travels to Boston to join her friend Macey on the campaign trail. I can't recall, but I'm pretty sure I thought this one lacked the level of humor of the other books. I like them all, though.

Suggestion by Illegal Art - A group called Illegal Art went around (in New York, I think) with big boxes that said, "Suggestion", asking people to write anything they'd suggest. Some of the suggestions were really funny, some sad, some incredibly stupid (or not suggestions at all) with poor spelling, punctuation and grammar that would make English teachers want to stab their own eyeballs. Interesting idea, not as revealing as I'd hoped.

Fables: Legends in Exile - The first in the Fables graphic novel series by Bill Willingham, a mystery in which one of the characters disappears and is thought dead. The Big Bad Wolf sets out to solve the crime. I really enjoyed this first installment and probably didn't review for lack of time and energy.

Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie - An elderly man gathers his offspring for Christmas to annoy them by threatening to cut them out of his will (for grins) and then is viciously killed in a locked room. Hercule Poirot investigates. I'm not an Agatha Christie fan but I thought this was a surprisingly fun read.

Let it Snow by Johnson, Green and Myracle - Three interconnected YA Christmas romances set during a blizzard. I gobbled this book up. The stories are light and really quite delightful but I had to keep flipping back to refamiliarize myself with characters when I began each new story. Definitely recommended for a light seasonal read. I'm hanging onto this one for a reread.

Christmas Jars by Jason F. Wright - When a newspaper reporter who was abandoned as a baby finds a jar of coins in her burgled home and discovers that similar jars of money mysteriously show up on doorsteps during the holiday season in her town every year, she sets out to investigate and finds a surprisingly welcoming home and a family with a unique story that interconnects with her own. I liked this sappy Christmas book but the writing is kind of wobbly and it's not one I'd reread.

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