So far I’ve talked about my favorite nonfiction/memoir picks and my least favorite reads of 2010. I’ve already wrapped up a whole bunch of challenges, so I figured I’d throw all my random thoughts together in this post. There are a lot of questionnaires I’ve been seeing floating around on the blogosphere, so I’m going to steal a few questions from Teresa at Shelf Love and Jenners at Life…With Books, plus make up some of my own.
All the stuff linked below leads back to the original post/review.
Favorite author I met this year: Jonathan Franzen!!! (Yeah. I made that question up specifically so I could say that, because I love the man. lol)
Favorite New-to-Me Author: Sherman Alexie. I could kick myself for not having read his stuff sooner. He’s fabulous.
Favorite Reread: I only reread 2 books this year; I’m working on a third reread at the moment. Happy to report that Animal Farm by George Orwell and The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen are still awesome 10-15 years after my initial reads. I definitely need to do more rereading next year.
Most Disturbing: Story of the Eye by Georges Bataille. Lots of violence and sex. And eyes. And eggs…
Most Pleasant Surprise: The Crime of Father Amaro by José Maria Eça de Queirós. I thought it would be serious like the movie, and perhaps a little dry. Boy, was I wrong!
Most Disappointing: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender. I was waiting to read it for about half a year before it was even published. It had potential, but ultimately it was a big letdown.
Favorite new authors you discovered in 2010: The vast majority of books I read this year were by authors that I hadn’t read before. I love that. Oscar Casares, Jennifer Egan, Sherman Alexie, Danielle Evans, Elfriede Jelinek, John Steinbeck. I also have to give a shoutout to Patti Smith!
Favorite cover of a book you read in 2010:
Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2010: The Grapes of Wrath. I finished the book in about 4.5 days, and I think I’m gonna have to go on a Steinbeck reading spree in the near future. His ability to describe human suffering is breathtaking. It is now one of my favorite books of all time.
Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2010 to finally read: To Kill a Mockinbird by Harper Lee. Apparently, I’ve been living under a rock all these years. Why the hell did I wait so long?! I loved this book.
Favorite review I wrote: My review for A Visit from the Good Squad by Jennifer Egan. It’s a PowerPoint!
Challenges I didn’t finish: My self-imposed challenge to read all the Pulitzer winners for the years ending in 0. I read 3 of the 8 on my list. Advise and Consent is hella old, massively long, and it’s a political thriller. All of these factors took away my will to live. I also tried reading Laughing Boy by Oliver La Farge, but the one copy my library owns has mystery stains on about half the pages. I already didn’t want to read the book, but those stains sealed the deal.
I still need one more book to finish the Flashback Challenge, but it’s for the children’s book category, so that won’t take long at all.
My favorite fiction reads will go up at the end of the week, and then next week we can return to our regularly scheduled programming. I can’t believe it’s almost 2011. 🙂
Feminist Texican Reads 
You’re the entire reason I finally read Franzen, all your love for him 🙂
Awww, that’s really cool! 🙂
Great wrap-up, a lot of interesting titles mentioned. You really do have a lot of enthusiasm for Franzen don’t you… heh
Lol, I guess so! It’s funny, though, because in real life my literary obsession is with Junot Diaz. My friends all just roll their eyes at me now. I’m surprised I’ve managed to keep my crush on him in check on this blog. 😛