JD's 2010 Book List

Well, it wasn't a great year for quantity! I'm way down from last year's 48 book count with a mere 36 (and a total of 15,403 pages average 42.3 pages a day). And two of those aren't even fiction. Ouch. Still, there were a great deal of wonderful books this year. Some of them, like Heart of Darkness and Kraken were the sort that simply enchanted me with words. Some of them, like The Lions of Al-Rassan and The Way of Kings engrossed me completely in their worlds and people. Two authors managed to perform the rare "back-to-back", getting me to pick up a sequel as soon as I set down the book (I'm looking at you Daniel Abraham and Pierre Pevel). There are some gems in there I'd forgotten about too. Agent to the Stars and The Exile Kiss in particular made me smile as I glanced through the list.

It wasn't all tea and roses though. I wrote a rare terrible review (down from two last year though, so either I'm learning or getting more forgiving!), and there were plenty of books too mediocre to care enough about to write a review. There were, of course, amazing books that I never got around to reviewing too. The top of my damn-I-should-have-reviewed-that list are: The Magicians (super fast: I didn't like it nearly as much as everybody else), The Name of the Rose (being bored has never been so engrossing), and The Warded Man (!).

1. Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad) - 102 pgs - Finished 1/7/2010
2. Boneshaker (Cherie Priest) - 416 pgs - Finished 1/8/2010
3. Odd and the Frost Giants (Neil Gaiman) - 128 pgs - Finished 1/9/2010
4. The Magicians (Lev Grossman) - 416 pgs - Finished 1/22/2010
5. Riddle of Steel (Roleplaying) - Finished 1/23/2010
6. The Makers (Cory Doctorow) - 416 pgs - Gave up at page 350 on (2/15/2010)
7. The Steel Remain (Richard Morgan) - 432 pages - Finished 2/24/2010
8. The Name of the Rose (Umberto Eco) - 600 pages - Finished 3/7/2010
9. Agent to the Stars (John Scalzi) - 365 pages - Finished 3/11/2010
10. The Exile Kiss (George Alec Effinger) - 315 pages - Finished 3/17/2010
11. The Windup Girl (Paolo Bacigalupi) - 300 Pages - Finished 4/7/2010
12. Divine Misfortune (A. Lee Martinez) - 320 Pages - Finished 4/15/2010
13. A Betrayal In Winter (Daniel Abraham) - 384 Pages - Finished 4/30/2010
14. An Autumn War (Daniel Abraham) - 366 Pages - Finished 5/5/2010
15. The Price of Spring (Daniel Abraham) - 352 Pages - Finished 5/22/2010
16. The God Engines (John Scalzi) - 136 Pages - Finished 5/22/2010
17. Houses of the Blooded (John Wick) - 428 Pages - Finished 5/21/2010
18. Anathem (Neal Stephenson) - 960 Pages - Finished 7/1/2010
19. Territory (Emma Bull) - 432 Pages - Finished 7/15/2010
20. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Stieg Larson) - 608 Pages - Finished 7/26/2010
21. The Lions of Al-Rassan (Guy Gavriel Kay) - 528 Pages - Book ruined. Finally Finished 11/17/2010
22. The Affinity Bridge (George Mann) - 356 Pages - Finished 8/3/2010
23. Kraken (China Mieville) - 528 Pages - Finished 8/18/2010
24. Dies the Fire (S.M. Sterling) - 592 Pages - Finished 9/7/2010
25. The Evolutionary Void (Peter F. Hamilton) - 704 Pgs - Finished 9/16/2010
26. Use of Weapons (Iain M. Banks) - 512 Pgs - Finished 9/21/2010
27. Getting Naked (Patrick Lencioni) - 240 Pages - Finished 9/30/2010
28. Way of Kings (Brandon Sanderson) - 1008 Pages - Finished 10/7/2010
29. Raving Fans (Ken Blanchard) - 160 Pages - Finished 10/12/2010
30. Deathstalker (Simon R. Green) - 528 Pages - Finished 10/22/2010
31. The Cardinals Blades (Pierre Pevel) - 309 Pages - Finished 11/2/2010
32. The Alchemist in the Shadows (Pierre Pevel) - 336 Pages - Finished 11/3/2010
33. Elantris (Brandon Sanderson) - 496 Pages - Finished 11/17/2010
34. Green (Jay Lake) - 368 Pages - Finished 11/29/2010
35. Iron Angel (Alan Campbell) - 512 pgs - Finished 12/15/2010
36. The Warded Man (Peter V. Brett) - 480 Pgs - Finished 12/27/2010

And because Lisa demands it, here are my top 5 for 2010:
(In no particular order, and again excluding sequels to make my life easier)
1. The Warded Man
2. Lion's of Al-Rassan
3. The Windup Girl
4. Kraken
5. Way of Kings