2010 in Reading

It's strange to think that this little corner of the internet started out more or less as a place to talk about books: books that were fighting for my attention, the relationship between my own nostalgia and Somerset Maugham, the literary events I once had the energy to attend in my wilder days. In four years it's become an entirely different beast, a very sloppy and lazy beast with an increasing reliance on photographs and only a passing whiff of the books I tuck into my bag every day. This year was so chock full of extracurricular goodness anyway that -- apart from the two readings where I made googly eyes at David Mitchell -- reading (and readings) took the back seat. I started more books than I could finish, but of those I did finish, I wanted to share with you ten in particular that I would count as favorites in 2010.

(This all stems from a latent desire of mine to be asked to contribute to surveys like these, which in turn comes from the Jimmy Rabbitte bathtub interview. Nobody asked, Terry, but I'm going to tell you anyway.)

Of my five favorite books published in 2010, three were about music. Patti Smith's award-winning memoir Just Kids, the story of a friendship and an artist discovering herself, caused me to view her music in a whole new light. Then there was A Wizard, A True Star, Paul Myers' in-depth look at Todd Rundgren's years in the producer's chair (where he helped shape XTC's Skylarking and Patti Smith's Waves, among numerous other needle-worn albums), as well as Jennifer Egan's complexly constructed novel(?) A Visit from the Goon Squad, about aging musicians and their relationship with the passage of time. The other two books both had their own issues with the passage of time, featuring characters on the hunt for immortality: Scarlett Thomas's Our Tragic Universe, which inspired me to write about heroes, and Gary Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story, a book I haven't even finished yet, but which I would have included on this list based on the first chapter alone.

(l-r: Just Kids by Patti Smith, Our Tragic Universe by Scarlett Thomas, A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan, A Wizard, A True Star by Paul Myers, Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart)

It was also the year I got to know Dawn Powell through both her collected letters and her novel Turn, Magic Wheel, a cutting and witty portrayal of 1930's New York arts society. I also finally read Mary McCarthy's The Group, a juicy book that friends have been recommending for years. There were also some live ones. I first heard of C.E. Morgan thanks to the New Yorker's 20 Under 40 list, and when I discovered she was born in Cincinnati on the very same day I was taking my first breath just an hour north, I felt compelled to read All The Living, her short novel about a woman in Kentucky whose finds solace in a church piano. Thanks to the praise of several friends, I picked up Kevin Fanning's How I Learned To Love You From So Far Away, a self-published chapbook of stories about our relationship with technology, and it had me rethinking every picture I take of a sunset. Finally, 2010 was the year I would read Ford Madox Ford's perfectly crafted novel The Good Soldier and come to realize exactly why this is the book Joan Didion re-reads each time she starts writing a new novel.

(l-r: The Group by Mary McCarthy, Turn, Magic Wheel by Dawn Powell, The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion by Ford Madox Ford, All the Living: A Novel by C.E. Morgan, How I Learned To Love You From So Far Away by Kevin Fanning)

And just so I'm not leaving the rest out (I never finish a book I'm not enjoying to some extent, unless it's for a book group), a complete list of all the books I read in 2010 can be found on Goodreads.

What did you read and love in 2010?

Comments

[Kat]

I'm reading Our Tragic Universe right now and loving it. I'm halfway through. Of Scarlett Thomas' books, I've only read The End of Mr. Y and this one, but I adored Mr. Y and so far like this a lot as well. So good to see someone else who's read a book from her!

[Zan McQuade]

I love Scarlett Thomas. The ideas behind Mr. Y and OTU kept my mind whirling for months. You should also read PopCo; while the ideas aren't as contemplative, it's still a fantastically engaging read.