Winding Down 2010

Yes, it's Sunday afternoon and I'm holed up on the couch under a soft, blue blanket (thanks Andrea) fighting off the earache and cough that have been dogging me since I returned from Ohio. Outside the wind is absolutely howling and it'll be in the '30's shortly so I should be outside watering the greens. Instead I'm reading and contemplating the "best" lists that everyone's been publishing for the end of the year.

Have you ever tried to make a list of your top ten reads? I thought it would be easy but I'm already at 16 titles that MUST be on the list. Hmmmm - and this is only out of 95 read this year. I didn't even break the 100 mark like I'm sure my buddy Maryellen did. Shame on me.

When thinking of personal favorites I realize that the criteria can be very different than it would be for a best written list. Often one reads a book at just the right moment in time and it simply gets you in the gut or the heart or the memory. Once in a while we read something that teaches us a history lesson that we wouldn't have been complete without. Sometimes, we just need a book that makes us sigh with delight or laugh out loud. My list will have all of the above. Here goes: oh, this is tough!

1. Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes
2. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
3. The Book of Night Women by Marlon James
4. A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore
5. Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
6. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
7. Great House by Nicole Krauss
8. Noah's Compass by Anne Tyler
9. Another Country by James Baldwin
10. Mr. Chartwell by Rebecca Hunt

Honorable mentions go to Born Round, The Leisure Seeker, The Three Weissmans of Westport, Nightfall and The Widower's Tale. So, come on, tell me yours. I really want to know!