Best Books of 2010?

(photo by Jeffrey Beall, http://www.flickr.com/photos/denverjeffrey/304220561/)

The last week of December is always time to review, and everyone everywhere is putting out their "best" lists. Here's one you may not have seen that may answer that burning question, "What titles have librarians recommended this year?" The EarlyWord blog gives these answers.

(photo by Larry Page, http://www.flickr.com/photos/96029422@N00/3913113032/)

Other best lists are done by Publisher's Weekly, NPR, and Entertainment Weekly, to name a few. EarlyWord comes to the rescue with links to best books for children from 2010.

In looking back at my Shelfari shelf, I discovered that I'd read and recorded more books than I realized, and many of them were good. My love of series continues with these:
Margaret Coel's newest Wind River addition, The Spider's Web;
Alexander McCall Smith's latest Ladies #1 Detective Agency novel, The Double Comfort Safari Club, and
Sue Grafton's latest in her alphabet series, U is for Undertow.

(By DanielZanetti (Own work) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)

Two authors I follow had new books out this year:
Anne Tyler, with Noah's Compass (I liked it, but not as well as a couple of her others, most notably The Accidental Tourist and Back When We Were Grownups), and
Sandra Dallas, with Whiter Than Snow (I liked it, but not as well as her best--Tallgrass).

The great thing about books is that they're new to me if I haven't read them yet, regardless of when they were published, and I made a couple discoveries from years past: Louise Erdrich's, Plague of Doves and
Ivan Doig's The Whistling Season.

(photo by Linking Paths, http://www.flickr.com/photos/linking_paths/1315032351/)

Could I pick one? Mmm...no; each was right for the time I read it. And that's my New Year's wish for you, whether you are reading paper or ebooks or reading aurally, may you find the right book at the right time! What books are on your "best" list this year?