Best Best Books Lists of 2010 of 2010

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Best Best Books Lists of 2010 of 2010

POSTED: Thursday, December 30, 2010, 3:00 PM

Filed Under: Arts | Critical Mass Books

This week, Shelf Life columnist Justin Bauer listed his favorite books of the year. Which got us wondering what everybody else was saying on the subject... The Guardian: Critics and readers were polled, and the resulting list has a few nice surprises (and is nicely presented). I gotta check out Damon Galgut's In A Strange Room. The Daily Beast: Emma Donoghue's Room tops their fiction list; Michael Lewis' The Big Short wins nonfiction. Skepticblog: Michael Shermer lists the Top Science Books of 2010. Includes Mary Roach's Packing for Mars, Stephen Hawking's The Grand Design and Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. The Sunday Times/Times Literary Supplement: They ran a bigger list in their paper-paper, but what they have here is good stuff. A.S. Byatt, John Ashberry, Helen Simpson, Julian Barnes and more name their favorites. NPR's Monkeysee blog: Bob Mondello calls Stephen Sondheim's Finishing the Hat his favorite book of 2010. Ofeibea Quist-Arcton picks Daniel Lanois' Soul Mining. Mara Liasson prefers James T. Kloppenberg's Reading Obama, Guy Raz likes Jonathan Franzen's Freedom, Lynn Neary goes for Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad, and more people pick more books. Lots of good stuff here. Also: Rachel Symes does Weird and Wonderful Books: 2010's Hidden Gems. Includes Shane Jones' Lightboxes and David Lipsky's fascinating Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip With David Foster Wallace.

Reddit/Bookit: Redditors talk about books they read this year (not necessarily 2010 releases). Also: Favorite short stories, all time. New York Times/Sunday Book Review: Five fiction (Franzen, Egan, etc.), five nonfiction (Sondheim, Isabel Wilkerson, etc.). Those lists are solid, probably unimpeachable, but there's plenty of room for discussion in their 100 Notable Books of 2010 list. Also: Michiko Kakutani's Top 10, Janet Maslin's Top 10, Dwight Garner's Top 10 and the Best Illustrated Children's Books. Foreign Policy: Their bloggers — a Harvard prof, a CEO, etc. — list their faves, just not all on one page. Matt Taibbi's only on there once. Same with George Bush. USA Today: Short and sweet list — five fiction picks, five nonfiction. Franzen, Patti Smith, more. The Daily Green: Best Green-Living books of the year. Toxic make-up, eco-sex, stuff like that. See Also:

The Season of Windblown Hair — Or, the Zeitgeist of Book Covers Publishers Weekly examines book jacket trends. Lots of flowers, keys and hands.
How to Make a Bestselling Book Trailer The Curse of the Drinking Class put together a funny, smug article and divide it up as much as possible. Lots to click through, but worth it.
Top Ten Books Most Popular Books lists the all-times international best-sellers. Tolkien, Rowling, Orwell and more.
Free e-books at Library.nu.
Will e-Books Spell the End of Book Covers? Erin Moriarty of CBS's 48 Hours ponders.

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