I read a lot of library books, and I try to keep track of them all on Goodreads. One thing that makes it fun is going back over the year and looking at my reviews. The ones listed below got 5 stars from me in 2010. They’re listed in the reverse of the order in which I read them, and linked to my reviews:
- Under Heaven, Guy Gavriel Kay
- Delusions of Gender, Cordelia Fine
- The Big Short, Michael Lewis
- Confessions of a Public Speaker, Scott Berkun
- Bomb Power, Gary Wills
- Travel as a Political Act, Rick Steves
- The End of Overeating, David A Kessler
And looking at those titles now, I feel pretty good about those selections. I’d read any of them again, and recommend all of them very strongly. The detailed reviews still all hold true as well if you’re interested in a more detailed take.
I also have a big list of 4-star ratings, 27 in total. I think last year I picked a couple to highlight, but this year I’m just listing titles and slotting them into some ad-hoc categories:
Fiction:
- Quirky modern/near-future: Lifecycle of Software Objects, Five Odd Honors, For the Win, Going Bovine
- Steampunkish: Changeless, Johannes Cabal the Necromancer, The Kingdom Beyond the Waves
- Fantasy: Spellwright, Crypt of the Moaning Diamond
Non-Fiction:
- Food: Best 30-minute Recipe, Cooking for Geeks, Bottomfeeder
- Politics: Death & Life of the Great American School, Blackwater, Return of Depression Economics, Waiting on a Train
- Self-help/improvement: Switch, Auto Repair for Dummies, Chain Mail Jewelry, Find Your Focus Zone
- Personal/historical narrative: Bike Snob, Tokyo Vice, Apples are from Kazakhstan, Cleaving
- History: The Lexicographer’s Dilemma, The Imperial Cruise, Hackers
- Pink brain, blue brain – in a category all by itself! A bit science, a bit self-help (?), a bit personal narrative.