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Wednesday, January 12, 2011

New York Times Notable Books of 2010

Posted by Staff
At the end of every year, many organizations publish their 'best of' lists for books, movies, and audio.  We try to provide as many of these materials to our patrons as possible.  As an example, the NY Times compiles a list of 100 notable books for the year.  So many sound interesting!  But which ones to read?

We thought it would be interesting to provide staff ratings for as many books as possible from the fiction list, but as we scanned the list, we were all dismayed that we hadn't read many of these books (and collectively we read a lot of books).  What does this mean?  Hard to say.

Following are the ratings for those books we have read:
(one star - yuck, five stars - wow!):

Angelology by Danielle Trussoni   **** Alana T., * Amanda E.

The Ask by Sam Lipsyte   *** Alana T.

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen  no stars from both Deanne H. & Susan C.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson
        **** Annie H., **** Susan C.

Great House by Nicole Krauss   *** Susan C.
How to Life Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu   
        **** Susan C.

The Lost Books of the Odyssey by Zachary Mason   ***** Alana T.

The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli   * Susan C.

Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War by Karl Marlantes
        *** Susan C. 

Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross   no stars Susan C. 

Shadow Tag by Louise Erdirch   **** Sara S. 

Solar by Ian McEwan   **** Alana T.


Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart   * Amanda E.

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet by David Mitchell
        *****  Alana T.
 
The Three Weissmanns of Westport by Cathleen Schine   *** Susan C.

For the remaining titles, check out the mini-review at the NY Times website and, if you are interested, request the item from our catalog.

American Subversive by David Goodwillie
Bound by Antonya Nelson
Comedy in a Minor Key by Hans Keilson, translated by Damion Searls
Double Happiness: Stories by Mary-Beth Hughes
Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick
Fun with Problems: Stories by Robert Stone
Girl by the Road at Night: A Novel of Vietnam by David Rabe
How to Read the Air by Dinaw Mengestu
I Curse the River of Time by Per Petterson, translated by Charolotte Barslund with Per Petterson
Ilustrado by Miguel Syjuco
The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman
The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer
Lisa Robertson’s Magenta Soul Whip by Lisa Robertson
The Living Fire: New and Selected Poems, 1975-2010 by Edward Hirsch
The Long Song by Andrea Levy
Memory Wall: Stories by Anthony Doerr
The Nearest Exit by Olen Steinhauer
The New Yorker Stories by Ann Beattie
One Day by David Nicholls
The Privileges by Jonathan Dee
Room by Emma Donoghue
The Same River Twice by Ted Mooney
Selected Stories by William Trevor
Something Red by Jennifer Gilmore
Sourland: Stories by Joyce Carol Oates
The Spot: Stories by David Means
The Surrendered by Chang-rae Lee
To the End of the Land by David Grossman
Vida by Patricia Engel
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
What Becomes: Stories by A. L. Dennedy
Wild Child: Stories by T. Coraghessan Boyle

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