2010 Wrap-Up

It's still January, so I'm not so late on the 2010 State of the Reading report :) Here are the books I read in 2010, with links to reviews (or brief reviewlets if I didn't do a full review). I always get to the end of the year and look at my books by the star rating I gave them in LibraryThing and can't figure out why I'm overgenerous. So these are roughly in order of the best to the...least best...in each category.

The Very, Very Best: Fall Asleep Forgetting, Mr. Chartwell, An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England
Mystery: The Vanishing of Katharina Linden, Stieg Larsson, Louise Penny, The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag
Juvenile: Joy of Spooking: Unearthly Asylum, The Diamond of Drury Lane, The Red Blazer Girls

I still haven't managed to read my September Early Reviewers book, The Paris Wife. It's dreadful. I shall have to slog through so I can get a review up.

Books read by category

Literary Novels

Fall Asleep Forgetting by Georgeann Packard (will get a review up as soon as I can)
Mr. Chartwell by Rebecca Hunt
Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England by Brock Clarke (have I not reviewed this??? another great book club pick)
The Clouds Beneath the Sun by Mackenzie Ford

Plain Heathen Mischief by Martin Clark (book club pick, and a good one! disgraced preacher meets slick con man...hilarity and soul-searching ensue)
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
The Tale of Halcyon Crane by Wendy Webb


Mysteries

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson (Everyone else has gushed about them, and yes, they are THAT good)
Louise Penny's The Three Pines mysteries (a new favorite series), The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny, Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny
The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant
The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley
Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indridason

Heat Wave and Naked Heat by Richard Castle: Must-reads for fans of the television show. Pretty much just plain fun.
Death at the Alma Mater by G. M. Malliet
The Anatomy of Ghosts by Andrew Taylor
The Seventh Witch by Shirley Damsgaard

Port Mortuary by Patricia Cornwell (in which Cornwell actually seems to...gasp!...care about Scarpetta, Marino, and Lucy again!)
Killer Cruise by Laura Levine
Killing Bridezilla by Laura Levine
Murder at Mansfield Park by Lynn Shepherd
Apple Turnover Murder by Joanne Fluke
Scone Cold Dead by Kaitlyn Dunnett
murder@maggody.com by Joan Hess
St. Patrick's Day Murder by Leslie Meier

Juvenile
Unearthly Asylum by P. J. Bracegirdle
The Red Blazer Girls: The Vanishing Violin by Michael Beil
The Diamond of Drury Lane by Julia Golding (review coming this weekend, I promise. Well, I hope, anyway)
The Case of the Gypsy Goodbye and The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline by Nancy Springer

The 39 Clues: Books 7-10
Grim Hill: The Family Secret by Linda DeMeulemeester

The SIsters Grimm: The Inside Story by Michael Buckley
Alison Dare: The Heart of the Maiden by J. Torres and J. Bone
Fablehaven: Keys to the Demon Prison

Nonfiction
Whip Smart by Melissa Febos