Best of 2010 book lists
"Best books of 2010" 鈥� here come the lists, earlier than ever this year.
Oprah holds a copy of Jonathan Franzen's "Freedom," the novel appearing at the top of many "best of 2010" book lists.
George Burns/AP
Halloween hadn鈥檛 even ended this year before Christmas decorations made their appearance. Not even that progressive holiday creep-back, though, prepared me to see lists of the year鈥檚 best books start coming through in early November, with no apologies to those few unfortunate authors with books scheduled for release in the final sixth of the year.
The Seattle Times took on the task of 鈥渕ushing together鈥� the gate-jumpers. Book editor Mary Ann Gwinn picked out titles that showed up on each of the three 鈥淏est of 2010鈥� list she鈥檚 received so far, from , , and 鈥� assembling a best-of list for the first time, .
鈥淢ay I just say that librarians think differently from retailers?鈥� of the Library Journal list.
Three books made all three lists, she noted: One was 鈥淔reedom鈥� by Jonathan Franzen (a book of which Monitor critic Yvonne Zipp was less than enamored; she wrote that brilliant writing and caustic wit couldn鈥檛 save it from 鈥渁 film of disdain so thick it almost comes off on your hands鈥�). The second was Isabel Wilkerson鈥檚 鈥淭he Warmth of Other Suns,鈥� and the third was 鈥淭he Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks鈥� by Rebecca Skloot, a hit with Monitor readers as well as critics.
I find it interesting to add one other comparison: ,鈥� judging the latter by sales instead of starred reviews. The top 10 bestseller list includes four of the 10 books that had also been among the editors' top picks. That鈥檚 more synchronicity than we saw on the professional lists above. (Amazon鈥檚 鈥渃ustomer鈥� and editorial crossovers included Franzen and Skloot once again, plus Stieg Larsson鈥檚 鈥淭he Girl Who Kicked The Hornet鈥檚 Nest鈥� and 鈥淭he Big Short鈥� by Michael Lewis.)
If it鈥檚 any consolation, timelines have jumped the gun on Franzen before. Zipp wrote in her review of 鈥淔reedom鈥�: "It鈥檚 been called the book of the century 鈥� even though we鈥檙e only 10 years into it."
What鈥檚 on your list of 鈥淭he Best Books of The First Five-Sixths Of 2010鈥�?
Rebekah Denn blogs at .
Join the Monitor's book discussion on and .