What I Read in 2010

I feel like quite the slacker - less than 100 books this year. Here they are with the number of stars I gave them.

Five stars means flawless.

Here they are:

 One star means complete waste of time, but I had to find out what happened.

*	Green Angel	Hoffman	May
*	Scars	Rainfield	May

  Two stars means it has some value, but a big flaw like good storytelling with crap writing, too dark a story with no emotional payoff, great writing but not very compelling story or a fun read but awfully embarrassing for a grown woman to be seen with.

**	Wintergirls	Anderson	February
**	Scratch Beginnings	Shephard	February
**	A Reliable Wife	Goolrick	March
**	When Irish Guys Are Smiling	Supplee	March
**	A Match Made in High School	Walker	March
**	The Grift	Ginsberg	April
**	Paul and Me	Hotchner	April
**	The Dead Tossed Waves	Ryan	April
**	Is It Night or Day	Chapman	June
**	Rose Sees Red	Castelucci	September
**	No Compromise: The Story of Harvey Milk	Aretha	November
**	Sir Charlie Chaplin	Fleischman	November
**	Yummy:the Last Days of a Southside Shorty	Neri	December

Three stars means I liked it a lot.

***	Princess of the Midnight Ball	George	January
***	The Frog Scientist	Turner	January
***	Girl Overboard	Headley	February
***	Panic in Level Four	Preston	February
***	Geekspeak	Tattersall	February
***	Spellbinder	Lalicki	March
***	The Trouble Begins at Eight	Fleischman	April
***	I am Not Myself These Days	Kilmer-Purcess	April
***	Chasing Lincoln's Killer	Swanson	April
***	Karma For Beginners	Blank	May
***	A Brief History of Montmaray	Cooper	May
***	My Invisible Boyfriend	Day	May
***	Three Junes	Glass	May
***	Savvy	Law	May
***	Gimme a Call	Mlynowski	May
***	The Irresistable Henry House	Grunwald	June
***	Sophomore Switch	McDonald	June
***	Extra Lives	Bissell	July
***	Prairie Tale	Gilbert	July
***	Bad News for Outlaws	Nelson	July
***	Fireboat	Kalman	August
***	Girl Who Played With Fire	Larsson	August
***	Rapture of the Deep	Meyer	September
***	Three Rivers Rising	Richards	September
***	The Replacement	Yovanoff	October
***	Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood	Cook	November
***	Annexed	Dogar	November
***	Painted Ladies	Parker	December

Four stars means I loved it.

****	Britten and Brulightly	Berry	January
****	Virginia Lee Burton: A Life in Art	Elleman	January
****	Liar	Larbalestier	January
****	Flygirl	Smith	January
****	I'm Down	Wolff	January
****	The Knife of Never Letting Go	Ness	February
****	Ghosts of War	Smithson	February
****	Somebody Everybody Listens To	Supplee	February
****	Knights of the Hill Country	Tharp	February
****	The Postmistress	Blake	March
****	A Girl From Yamhill	Cleary	March
****	Forest of Hands and Teeth	Ryan	March
****	My Own Two Feet	Cleary	April
****	The Lonely Hearts Club	Eulberg	April
****	My Enemy's Cradle	Young	April
****	Birthmarked	O'Brien	May
****	The Bedwetter	Silverman	May
****	Major Pettigrew's Last Stand	Simonson	May
****	American Wife	Sittenfield	May
****	The Passage	Cronin	June
****	Sisters Red	Jackson	June
****	The Clearing	Davis	July
****	God is in the Pancakes	Epstein	July
****	Backseat Saints	Jackson	July
****	Commuters	Tedrowe	July
****	Confessions of a Prairie Bitch	Angrim	August
****	The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo	Larsson	August
****	My Bonnie Lighthorseman	Meyer	August
****	The Wake of the Lorelai Lee	Meyer	September
****	Girl Stolen	Henry	October
****	Zombies VS Unicorns	Black and Larbalestier	November
****	The Nobodies Album	Parkhurst	November
****	Secret Subway	Sandler	November
****	Numbers	Ward	November
****	The Mockingbirds	Whitney	December

Five stars means flawless.

*****	Someone Knows My Name	Hill	January
*****	Evolution of Calpurnia Tate	Kelly	January
*****	Day of Tears	Lester	January
*****	The Help	Stockett	February
*****	Fortune's Folly	Fagan	March
*****	Nurture Shock	Bronson	May
*****	The Leisure Seeker	Zadoorian	June
*****	Gods in Alabama	Jackson	July
*****	One Day	Nicholls	July
*****	The Invisible Bridge	Orringer	July
*****	Sorta Like a Rock Star	Quick	July
*****	Free Range Kids	Skenazy	July
*****	Lucy	Gonzales	August
*****	Room	Donoghue	September
*****	Revolutionary Road	Yates	October
*****	How I Live Now	Rosoff	November
*****	Incarceron	Fisher	December
*****	Moonlight Mile	Lehane	December

Thank you American College Testing...

Here are some brief reviews of books I did not finish. How can this possibly be useful to anyone but me?

Here is the first set -
THE THINGS A BROTHER KNOWS by Dana Reinhart. She is a favorite since HARMLESS and I loved her HOW TO BUILD A HOUSE. This one is about a high school kid who has a big brother who comes home from the war a changed man. I didn't expect it to be so rich. I only read the first few chapters, but so far great secondary characters and no preachy tone. Well played, Reinhart.

BRAIN JACK by Brian Falkner was quite fun, the bit I read. I will certainly be looking at this one for summer reading next year. If for no other reason than he wrote this on his website - "The first copy of The Project (previously titled "The Most Boring Book in the World") arrived yesterday." Bwahaha... I think I love you Mr. Falkner. This kid shuts down the internet and a bunch of other bad things happen when we play to many videogames. Or maybe the exact opposit. I can't tell yet.

HALF BROTHER by Kenneth Oppel seems more middle school appropriate, but I love the idea! Two scientists adopt an orangutan and his human brother narrates the story. I have heard people rave about Oppel for quite some time and have never gotten around to readin him. My loss.

 Ignore that picture of HALF BROTHER, I already mentioned it. Move along...

THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE by Jandy Nelson has such a beautiful start I haven't been able to bring myself to return it to the library until my copy comes from Amazon. (Sorry independent bookstores, but you don't exist in my town anymore!) It is the story of a girl whose older sister dies suddenly and she is left with a gaping hole in her life. So sad and lovely. And there are some boys. Of course this is her first novel so I am going to have to wait forever for her to write something else. Grrr...

THE MOCKINGBIRDS by Daisy Whitney is another one that I can't bear to return. The premise is this girl finds herself the victim of a date rape and the way Whitney describes it is not too detailed, but packs a punch. And the main character Alex has such a realistic teenage response. It isn't "Oh my God what happened to me," it is more "Oh my God, what will people think if they find out and how can I do damage control?"

 WICKED GIRLS by Stephanie Hemphill is in interesting take on the Salem Witch Trial. I don't know if it is proximity or what but I have never been that interested in reading about the trials. I just can't get past the horror of what happened and I find it sad that these girls are somehow made immortal through it. That being said, the writing is fantastic and I can't wait to get my hands on YOUR OWN SYLVIA which is a topic that fascinates me!

HUSH, HUSH by Becca Fitzpatrick is one that I could say goodbye to and not look back. While I appreciate Fitzpatrick's use of punctuation in her title - she hardly needs me to read this one. Girls who loved TWILIGHT (ever heard of it?) will love this love story of a girl and a fallen angel. It is a great idea and the writing is clear, just not my cup of blood? Human tears? Angst? Whatever it is that fallen angels drink...

Okay the last three are:

HAPPYFACE by Stephen Emond - it is written as a journal with drawings. It was funny and there is a mysterious mystery but I didn't fall into it like some of the others.

SHIP BREAKER by Paolo Bacigalupi is fascinating. In the future Nailer works as a scavenger on the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and just manages to keep body and soul together. When he is exploring a ship he finds a young girl who may be his ticket to a new life. I haven't returned this one either and am looking forward to finishing it.

IMMORTAL BELOVED by Kate Tiernan was one that I took on student recommendation and felt very superior to if just from reading the jacket copy. Well shut my mouth, Kate Tiernan, I was hooked and danged if I am not going to finish this one too.

Once again, an embarassment of riches.

Next post will have the summer reading list possibilities!