Top Ten for 2010

We have a new entrant into the top 5. This is what happens when you write a year-end account and then read five more books.

And, because I managed a personal best 41 books for the year, I have been talked into expanding my list to a top 10. What follows is a brief description of the last five books I read and my short top 10 list for the year.

Me Talk Pretty One Day, by David Sedaris.

This book was a candidate for top 10 and was hard to leave off. I really like Sedaris' writing and enjoyed this book thoroughly. His humor is clever and his essays are thoughtful and entertaining. I will now enter 2011 looking to exhaust his works as I did with Chuck Klosterman.

Monday Morning Quarterback, by Peter King.

Dave loaned me this book and it was a quick and fun read. The top 100 player list does not age well even one year later. I had a lot of fun poking fun of that list. Much of this information was taken from King's MMQB column, so I had read much of it, but it was still interesting. Ultimately unremarkable. King is best read as a source of news rather than a book of older columns (which are all very "newsy" and doesn't age well).

** Griftopia, Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con that is Breaking America, by Matt Taibi (Kindle).

This is the book that jumped into the top 5.

Shadow Season by Tom Picirilli (Kindle).

Another top-10 book. I really enjoyed this book. I was very well written and I very much enjoyed how the characters are flushed out so that you really feel like you understand that character's paradigm. The strength of this book was its character development. Some of the phrases that made me smile:

"Sometimes the girls want to hug him, the way people like to coo at babies or pick up midgets." (about a blind man).

"A blind man taking good care of his library. If the comment is silly, the fact is absurd."

Very, very well written and thought out. I also liked the story and enjoyed the pace and suspense.

Free Darko presents The Undisputed Guide to Pro Basketball History.

A book to keep near the throne. Interesting, but so much of what I read was already hashed out by The Book of Basketball that this was like picking up the crumbs. Interesting takes on Allen Iverson and Shaq.

Death to the BCS, by Dan Wetzel and Josh Peter (Kindle).

I hate the BCS and now I know they are lying to me. I always suspected it, but now I know. Dave said it was "damning" and he was right. This organization continues to keep college football from being all it could be. The entire bowl system is a joke.

TOP 10

10. Girl with a Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson and Shadow Season, by Tom Picirilli (Tie).

Fast paced, well told stories. Dragon Tattoo was one of the better page-turners I've read in a long time. Shadow Season is neck-and-neck and earned this spot with its clever phrasings and character descriptions (accomplished in much fewer pages).

9. Mistakes were Made (but not by me), by Carol Tavris.

Very good complement to Predictably Irrational and a real study in human behavior.

8. Consider the Lobster, by David Foster Wallace.

I have read a lot of Dostoevsky lately, so his essay about the Russian master really spoke to me. His other essays were well written, well-thought out and enjoyable. Only the one about being picky about grammar dragged on.

7. Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, by Dave Eggers.

My comments about this book from my previous post stand.

6. Animal Farm, by George Orwell.

Something had to fall once Griftopia made it's push.

5. Griftopia, Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con that is Breaking America, by Matt Taibi (Kindle).

Griftopia takes a very detailed look at the financial crisis of 2008 and how financial institutions ruined so much (it will make you ill); explains the systematic dismantling of regulations designed to enforce responsible practices (it will make you mad); details the irresponsible habits of state and local government (it will make you so very sad); and generally and thoroughly documents what is going on every day (it will make you spit).

I literally had to go on an "angry walk" after every chapter. I coined that phrase for just this book. I read entire chapters to Jen out loud. You have never seen so much head shaking or heard so many pained sighs.

My top 4 remain unchanged:

4. Predictably Irrational, by Dan Ariely (Kindle).
3. Hellhound on his Trail, by Hampton Sides (Kindle).
2. Guns, Germs and Steele, by Jared Diamond (Kindle).
1. The Second World War, by Winston Churchill.