Top Books of 2010

Around the start of the year, my friend Rhiannon asked me to make a list of my must-read books (or something to that effect) from 2010. It's taken me awhile to get around to it, but here are my favorite reads from the past year:

Waiting: True Confessions of a Waitress
By Debra Ginsberg
I picked this up at a Half Price Books in Austin shortly after moving back home to Texas. This "part memoir, part social commentary, part guide to how to behave when dining out" intrigued me because I've worked in food service through the years. When I was younger, I also loved the idea of becoming a waitress when I was old enough to work a part-time job...the closest I got were my two jobs in bakeries.

Aside from amusing anecdotes about her wide variety of waitressing jobs, I also felt like I got an excellent perspective of what it's like to be a waitress - the good and the bad. And it definitely makes me think twice how I act towards a server who may not be top-notch. People are HORRIBLE and sometimes as a customer you're just caught in the aftermath. It happens, deal with it.


Shutter Island
By Dennis Lehane
I read this after the movie came out and after I listened to a coworker go on and on about how fantastic it was. This was one of three books I finished after my body freaked out, shut down and I thought I had mono for a few days. Really, my body was saying "Hey idiot, I need to recover from near-frostbite at SXSW and working seven straight months of 17-hour days!"

I flew through this book in two days, and while most of it I could predict, there were enough twists and turns that I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a thriller - esp. because the ending caught me completely off guard, which I appreciated. Now, to watch the movie version...

House of Night series
By P.C. and Kristin Cast
The next two books in my stack both belong to this series. I may be biased because 1. it's set in Tulsa and 2. I interviewed the authors when I worked for the TV show, but it fulfills my need for cheesy young adult reading and makes me miss a place I called home for five years.

The series is about a vampire (wait - hear me out) finishing school. Basically, humans are 'marked' as a vampire and are then required to go to a special school. It's one part Twilight, one part Harry Potter and a whole lot of FUN to read. The series is supposed to have nine books total, I've only read three...but I enjoy them immensely.

Me Talk Pretty One Day
By David Sedaris
This was my first Sedaris and it definitely didn't disappoint. My only worry now is nothing else will live up to it since I started with what many say is his best collection of essays. David Sedaris writes sarcastic, witty memoirs that make you step back and go "There's NO way that actually happened." But, I fear most of it actually has. Sedaris is a must-read for anyone who is a writer themselves or simply loves nonfiction. I found this book extremely hard to put down.

Love is a Mix Tape
By Rob Sheffield
I love music books. And I love reading authors who "get it." There were so many times reading this recounting of a real-life love story that I wanted to scream "YES! That's IT!" Rob Sheffield understands how music affects and infects a person in only the way a true music lover can.

I also love how this book is structured: he made mix tapes for a woman who he eventually marries and retells their love story, one mix tape at a time. He shares anecdotes of what was happening in their lives at the time the tape was made or why a certain song helped define that specific period of time. The music love in me loved it to pieces. It was one of the few books that made me cry as well.

The War for Late Night
By Bill Carter
I was heavily invested in the NBC Late Night debacle of early 2010 for a variety of reasons. This book came out in early November and I devoured every single page as slowly as I possible could because I enjoyed reading it that much.

Bill Carter is a television reporter for the New York Times and covered much of this story as it unfolded. Between his interviews then and his interviews done for the book, he creates a "behind the scenes" approach to the build up and fall out over the Tonight Show. For a Conan-devotee and talk show junkie like me, it was a must-read. I think it's great for anyone who was interested in how this situation played out or who is a fan of late night television.


And with that, on to the books I didn't enjoy so much:

The Lovely Bones
By Alice Sebold
The novel was decent, but I thought the ending was severely lack-luster. Not nearly as dramatic as it was built up to be.

Prep
By Curtis Sittenfeld
This was another $1 find at Half Price Books. It came off as a "Perks of Being a Wallflower" goes to preparatory school novel, but didn't hold up as one. I stuck through nearly half the book before giving up at perhaps the most dramatic incident yet. The narrator annoyed me too much to care what happened to her.

Texas - Land of the Big Hair
By Sonya Bernhardt
Supposedly written by a Houston socialite, this is another book I found for cheap at Half Price Books. (Lesson has been learned!) I struggled through the first 40 pages of endless description and no real action before giving up. I wanted to like this "inside look" at high society in my hometown...but I just didn't live up to its potential.


Finally, books I'm excited to read in 2011:

Gatsby's Girl
By Caroline Preston
I actually just finished this one and LOVED it. Excellent, fast-paced story and a must-read for anyone who is a Fitzgerald fan.

Coffee at Luke's
By Jennifer Cruise
The Gilmore Girls Companion
By A.S. Berman
As a Gilmore Girls junkie, I'm super excited to read this collection of essays and breakdown of each episode, respectively. My only problem is deciding which one to read first.

The Looking Glass Wars
By Frank Beddor
After finally tracking down all three books in this retelling of Alice in Wonderland, they've tragically been collecting dust on my bookshelf for months. Once I finish one of the two Gilmore Girls books above, I plan to dive into this trilogy.

And that's that. What were your favorite books of 2010? What are you looking forward to reading in 2011?