Your Favourite Books of 2010

[LitNetIsGreat]

Your favourite books of 2010 and why? (New reads to you)

After a little thinking mine are probably as follows:

Favourite Fiction: On Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham
Favourite Non-Fiction: In Defence of Food by Michael Pollan

I greatly enjoyed the Maugham book. Quite simply I thought it was a great story, very well written and I enjoyed following the highs and lows of the protagonist throughout. It was one of these books where you completely ignore everything (and everyone) you until you have finished it. A very enjoyable novel.

In Defence of Food I read last week and can certainly identify with Pollan’s, no-nonsense, common sense approach to food and diet – local, organic, no crap (my triple, not Pollan’s, but sums-up his thinking somewhat). If you live in the western world, or eat a heavily westernised diet and don’t want heart-disease or cancer, you should probably read it too. As the cliché goes if you are going to read a book on food health it should most likely be this one.

Feel free to share yours and together we might come up with a few more books to add to the pile.

Edit: Here is Michael Pollan talking about his book if you are interested:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-t-7lTw6mA

[Silvia]

Grapes of Wrath, by J. Steinbeck. I developed very strong feelings towards the members of this family, and my attachment to some of them in particular grew so intense that it surprised me. I wish every novel could do that.
Some days ago a found a very cheap copy of Maugham's Of Human Bondage (4 euros) but resisted buying it, for I had previously set a limit in order not to buy every single book in the bookstore. Maybe, if it's still there, I might give it a go! It's a Bildungsroman, isn't it?

[LitNetIsGreat]

Grapes of Wrath, by J. Steinbeck. I developed very strong feelings towards the members of this family, and my attachment to some of them in particular grew so intense that it surprised me. I wish every novel could do that.
Some days ago a found a very cheap copy of Maugham's Of Human Bondage (4 euros) but resisted buying it, for I had previously set a limit in order not to buy every single book in the bookstore. Maybe, if it's still there, I might give it a go! It's a Bildungsroman, isn't it?

Yes I suppose you could say so - bitter lessons! :)

[richardparker]

as always Harry Potter :d
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[LitNetIsGreat]

Come on let's have some of your best books of 2010 - spread the joy.

[Seasider]

The Postman Always Rings Twice by James Caan
The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham by Selena Hastings
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
Beautiful Shadow by Andrew Wilson. Bio of Patricia Highsmith
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst
Nemesis by Jo Nesbo
Ur by Stephen King...the main character is a Kindle!!
Thai Cookery Secrets
The Hard Way Lee Child

There are others I've enjoyed...but all these via Kindle

[TheChilly]

My picks for favorite books of 2010:

1) "Imperial Bedrooms", by Bret Easton Ellis
2) "War and Peace", by Leo Tolstoy
3) "Glue", by Irvine Welsh
4) "Already Dead: A California Gothic", by Denis Johnson

[Emil Miller]

The Pit by Frank Norris
Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh
Sword of Honour by Evelyn Waugh
The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham by Selena Hastings
Mad World by Paula Byrne

I read The Pit to complete my reading of the trilogy which also comprises McTeague and The Octopus,
terrific writing about the conflict between men and money in 19th century America.
I bought both the Waugh books for the same reason as I had already read much of his work and wanted
to progress further with his novels.
I went into a bookshop to buy Paula Byrne's biography of Waugh because it had been well received and
I saw Selina Hastings biography of W S Maugham, so I bought them both: partly because I had read other
biographies on Maugham and I wanted to see if she revealed anything new but, apart from highlighting Thomas
Mann's homosexuality, which had already been hinted at in Donald Prater's book Thomas Mann a Life, Maugham's
promiscuity had already be adequately covered in the definitive Maugham biography by Ted Morgan

[KilgoreT]

Catch-22- Joseph Heller
For Whom the Bell Tolls- Ernest Hemingway
Things Fall Apart- Chinua Achebe
A Clockwork Orange- Anthony Burgess
The Grapes of Wrath- John Steinbeck
Into the Wild- Jon Krakauer

[baaaaadgoatjoke]

I think my choice for 2010 is The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway. I hated this one my first try and gave up after about 30 pages. I even made a thread here dissing it. The second time though. Wow. I didn't really get into it until about page 115 when Jake and Bill go down to Spain. At that point in the book, the terse dialogue and description stopped feeling empty and started to feel like an honest reflection of the way people interact with with each other and perceive their environment. I have to admit I'm a big believer in Iceberg Theory now.

As far as nonfiction I'll go with What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell. It's a collection of vignettes that range from birth control to Enron. I always find his stuff thought provoking, even when it's not the most academic or thorough.

Other great reads were Cat's Cradle (which I almost chose instead of SAR), Siddhartha, Animal Farm, and Of Mice and Men.

[faithosaurus]

Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice. I like how she puts her point of view on how God and the Devil are with one another and their interactions while the Devil was still an archangel and so forth. Also, her interpretation of Heaven and Hell.

[JuniperWoolf]

I discovered Margaret Atwood this year, and read a ton. My favorite was Oryx and Crake.

[Desolation]

Oh, I see, favorite book that I've read in 2010, not necessarily favorite book that was released in 2010.

Finally finishing Anna Karenina was a big deal for me. The discovery of Stendhal was also pretty pleasant.

Ultimately, though, my favorite thing that I read this year was definitely Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce.

[AlfredtheGreat]

Anna Karenina and Into the Wild (again)

[grace86]

I eased back into reading after graduating last December, so nothing on my list is of the most mind boggling or philosophical nature, but I really did enjoy some:

Fiction

Things Fall Apart - Achebe
Lady Chatterley's Lover - Lawrence
Wuthering Heights - Bronte
Jane Eyre - Bronte
The Face of Deception - Johansen

Non Fiction

Mountains Beyond Mountains - Tracey Kidder
The Blue Sweater - Jacqueline Novogratz

The fiction I enjoyed for their story but also because I gained a lot from reading them...as well as the non fiction. Both of those are about people who came from humble backgrounds but used what they learned to help those around the world in need.

[Tallon]

Truman - David McCullough
White Teeth - Zadie Smith
The Razor's Edge - W. Sommerset Maugham
The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Leguin
More Than Human - Theodore Sturgeon

[The Comedian]

I wish I kept a list of the stuff I've read this year. I'll have to remember to do so for 2011. But here goes. . .on a shaky memory.

Fiction: The Razor's Edge - W. Sommerset Maugham
I really enjoyed the characters and the narrator in this book. I'd gotten into Maugham after reading The Moon and Sixpence, which is an equally good book. I think, as fiction goes, I'm more of character/description guy than a plot guy, and the character of Elliot in The Razor's Edge was the most memorable for me.

Non-fiction: Summer World by Bernd Heinrich
One of my favorite living writers, Heinrich is a joy for any amateur biologist, stream-side saunter, or backyard birder. He's more science than philosophy, and he (mostly) leaves his politics at the door. But every one of his books will inspire you to investigate the small, natural wonders of your world.

Comics & Graphic Novels: Hellboy (ongoing)
Lovers of old-style pulp, Gothic-style art, obscure folk tales, and self-effacing humor can unite in their love for Hellboy. I've never been disappointed in an issue of this title. What's that? Oh, you've seen the movie? Well, I've seen Apocalypse Now, so that means that I've read Heart of Darkness, right? :reddevil:

[Rores28]

Your favourite books of 2010 and why? (New reads to you)

After a little thinking mine are probably as follows:

Favourite Fiction: On Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham
Favourite Non-Fiction: In Defence of Food by Michael Pollan



In Defense of Food should be required reading in public schools along with The Omnivore's Dilemma.

Fiction: Hamlet
Runner's up: Brothers Karamazov, Notes from Underground, Blood Meridian


Non-fiction:

Omnivore's Dilemma - Michael Pollan

important for the individual and society
insightful
very well-structured
well-written
effortlessly blends the spiritual and practical


Runner's up

The Moral Landscape - Sam Harris

Pros
extremely important for individual and society
decently structured
decently written
Cons
some lack of neuroscience info
many of the endnotes should have simple been a part of the text



Understanding Comics - Scott McCloud
If you read comics this is a must read... and maybe even if you don't.



The Vertical Farm - Dickson Despommier
Pros
A potentially crucial innovations for individuals and society
Cons
Not particularly well written
Sort of like reading a very long article in Scientific American (if that is a con)

[dfloyd]

I have read most of those listed on this thread. But I did read one newly puiblshed book which is comendable: the Booker prize winner, Wolf Hall. This is an intelligently written, highly enjoyable book.

It makes me feel old when I realize I read the Maugham books 50 years ago, although I did listen to an audio book of the Razor's Edge this year. I loved the character Elliot as created by Maugham. Elliot as portrayed by Clifton Webb in the 1945 movie was also memorable. A touch of ironic humor was achieved by Maugham when he had Elliot embroider his coronet on his underwear.

I bid on a limited edition copy of Maugham's Of Human Bondage at auction this year, but dropped out when the bid went over $300. I had just read it for the second time last year, so I was too familiar with the book to spend that much soon after just reading it.

[stlukesguild]

Dante- The Inferno- translated by Robert Pinsky
Dante- The Inferno- translated by Jean and Robert Hollander
Richard Somerset-Ward- The Story of Opera
Yves Bonnefoy- Curved Planks
Italo Calvino- The Complete Cosmicomics
Wang Wei- Laughing in the Mountains: The Poems of Wang Wei- translated by Willis and Tory Barstone

[Emil Miller]

I bid on a limited edition copy of Maugham's Of Human Bondage at auction this year, but dropped out when the bid went over $300. I had just read it for the second time last year, so I was too familiar with the book to spend that much soon after just reading it.

That's interesting, I wonder what 1st editions cost. I have a book of Maugham's art collection with comments on the paintings by Maugham which I bought new in 1962, the year when it was published. Last month it was priced by an auctioneer at £150 or $236. I shan't be selling it though.

[LitNetIsGreat]

In Defense of Food should be required reading in public schools along with The Omnivore's Dilemma.

Non-fiction:
Omnivore's Dilemma - Michael Pollan

Currently reading The Omnivore's Dilemma I think both books belong together, great books which highlight the utter madness of the modern food industry.

A lot of books to ponder and look into on this thread, great stuff.

[dfloyd]

I was tring to get was a finely printed limited edition, not a first edition. It was published in an edition of 1500 copies in 1938 (?). I have no interest in first editions since they are generally inferior copies, cheaply printed and bound. The only thing that makes them valuabl (but not to me) is the date. I recently saw a copy of Fitzgerald's Tender Is the Night which was a first edition, unsigned. It looked like it came from a garage sale, but it went for $7,500 with a torn dust jacket.

[Mr.lucifer]

I have read most of those listed on this thread. But I did read one newly puiblshed book which is comendable: the Booker prize winner, Wolf Hall. This is an intelligently written, highly enjoyable book.

It makes me feel old when I realize I read the Maugham books 50 years ago, although I did listen to an audio book of the Razor's Edge this year. I loved the character Elliot as created by Maugham. Elliot as portrayed by Clifton Webb in the 1945 movie was also memorable. A touch of ironic humor was achieved by Maugham when he had Elliot embroider his coronet on his underwear.

I bid on a limited edition copy of Maugham's Of Human Bondage at auction this year, but dropped out when the bid went over $300. I had just read it for the second time last year, so I was too familiar with the book to spend that much soon after just reading it.

You're old as the hills but you still have the spirit of a young man.

[IceM]

I read Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man earlier this year and found it magical. Some of the passages were just beautiful in structuring and imagery.

Maybe my favorite non-fiction book was Walden. I'm a major buff for Romantic philosophy.

[manolia]

I read some pretty good books this year.

Favorite fiction (hard to pick less than these)
"Slaughterhouse 5" – K Vonnegut
"The crying of lot 49" – Thomas Pynchon
"A prayer for Owen Meany"– John Irving
"What a carve-up" - J Coe
"The stranger" - A Camus
"Dune" – Frank Herbert
"The grapes of wrath" and "East of Eden" - J Steinbeck

Non Fiction
"A brief history of time" – Stephen Hawking

[Veho]

Notes From Underground, The Gambler - Dostoyevsky
The Catcher in the Rye - Salinger
The Outsider - Camus
The Color Purple - Alice Walker
One Day - David Nicholls
The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham
The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories - Angela Carter

[Sancho]

Some of these are from 2009 (I like to wait for the paperbacks)

Novels:

Freedom, by Jonathan Franzen
Loved the character development of Patty (The autobiographer)

Juliet Naked, by Nick Hornby
Hey, it’s Nick Hornby. What else can I say?

Short Fiction:

Too much Happiness, by Alice Munro
I don’t think amazing is too strong a word. This short story collection is amazing.

True-Life Novel:

Half-Broke Horses, by Jeanette Walls
I reviewed it in the book-review section of this forum. I liked it.

Nonfiction:

The Good Soldiers, by David Finkel
Washington Post reporter covers the 2-16 Infantry’s (2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, US Army) year in eastern Bagdad. It’s an unbiased and unsentimental look at the surge from the foot-soldier’s perspective.

[Paulclem]

The best non-fiction I read this year were Anthony Beevor's Stalingrad and his book on the Rusian War Correspondant and Author Vasily Grossman - A Writer's War. Both are fantastic books which were well written with lots of interesting information that deepened my understanding of what happened, particularly regarding the Russian angle.

I have discovered a new author Phiip Kerr who writes about a Berlin Privat Eye Bnie Gunther. Great stories that have been compared to Chandler. The Berlin/ Nazi German and post war occupation settings add a great dimension.

I also really enjoyed Iain M Banks Surface Detail. Entertaining and thoughtful sci fi using the Culture civilistion and the premise that the mind can be "uploaded" onto supercomputers - Minds - who run the Culture. Great stuff.

[laymonite]

This is much easier to answer than the dreaded and anxiety-eliciting "What is your favorite book" question!

Fiction Prose:
Lolita (Nabokov)
The Virgin Suicides (Eugenides)
Blood Meridian (McCarthy)
Wise Blood (O'Connor)
Winesburg, Ohio (Anderson)
The Executioner's Song (Mailer)

Poetry:
Leaves of Grass (Whitman)
Une Saison en Enfer (Rimbaud)
Paradise Lost (Milton)

Non-Fiction:
A People's History of the United States (Zinn)
The Dilemma of Human Identity (Lichtenstein)
Action Writing: Kerouac's Wild Form (Hrebeniak)

[sixsmith]

Fiction: A number of contenders, naturally, however I cannot go past David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet. I'll refrain from proffering my standard cloying approbation vis a vis Mitchell and simply state that he is a novelist who can do more or less as he pleases. I, like Sancho, was also greatly impressed by Jonathan Franzen's Freedom. However, it must be said that the greatest testament to his remarkable gift for characterisation is the fact that it generally withstands his own meddling presence.

Commendations also to Willa Cather's remarkable O Pioneers and Brian Moore's wonderfully bleak The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne.


Non-fiction: Slim pickings here (numerically speaking) but I'm giving a nod to David Sedaris' Me Talk Pretty One Day. Sedaris is undeniably witty but he has the rare ability to be self-deprecating without any hint of irony and as such, his vignettes provoke genuine laughs rather than knowing chuckles.

[Big Dante]

I would have to say mine was To Kill a Mockingbird.

[prendrelemick]

Now, I was going write down all the books I read this year, I just never got round to it.

I enjoyed The Maytrees. by Annie Dillard, (finished last night.)
And re-reading Vanity Fair.

[mal4mac]

La Bête Humaine by Emile Zola - not just because it provides a superb account of the French railways grinding to a halt in an arctic snowstorm... certainly read it on the train/plane going home for the holidays... it'll make any grinding journey a lot more exciting...

[Emil Miller]

La Bête Humaine by Emile Zola - not just because it provides a superb account of the French railways grinding to a halt in an arctic snowstorm... certainly read it on the train/plane going home for the holidays... it'll make any grinding journey a lot more exciting...

One of Zola's best, the ending is absolutely spellbinding.

[Sancho]

Holy crap! I forgot! This one, quite possibly, was the finest literary work of the year:

Be Ready When the Sh*t Goes Down, a survival guide to the apocalypse, by Forrest Griffin

It’s a sort of post-apocalyptic version of Machiavelli’s The Prince, as written by a mixed-martial-arts professional fighter... or maybe it’s more of an updated version of, Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche.

Anyway, I bought the book on the strength of the cover art, which is a photograph of Forrest standing in the desert, giving the camera crazy eyes, wearing a loin cloth duct taped around his waist and a pair of home-boy basketball shoes. He’s holding a meat cleaver in one hand and a stuffed squirrel in the other, blossoming in the background is a mushroom cloud. My hand involuntarily reached for the book when I saw it. The inscription on the back says:


“This book is an unholy abomination. It will make you dumber for having read it. Judging by the content, you would think he grew up eating paint chips. I swear that wasn’t the case.” –Forrest’s Mom

Forrest believes, once the sh*t goes down, there will be leaders and there will be followers and you definitely want to be in the leader’s camp (I’m tha mastah and you mah slave). So here’s some of Forrest’s advice on gaining a post-apocalyptic following:


All you have to do is stage a famine or crisis or war. Anytime people feel threatened, they tend to come together and place blind faith behind their leader. Just look at the faith we placed behind George W. Bush after 9/11. Enough said. (p216)

And, once in charge, here’s some of Forrest’s sage advice on keeping your lieutenants and followers in line:


Another thing you can work on is your accent. When you have a foreign accent, it creates the illusion of superiority and knowledge. The goal is to choose an accent that best represents your belief system. If you are trying to create a religious community that has Hindu or Buddhist roots, you may want to speak like a Vedic Indian or wise Asian. If you base your belief system on a military concept, Texan, German, and Russian accents will help create an effect of power and militaristic credibility. The only accents you do not want to use are Canadian, Swedish, and of course French. Choosing one of these accents will get you stoned to death or burned at the cross. If you are not sure what accent to take on, just switch it up every few years like Madonna. (p 205.)

http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae197/mollyandbruno/ForrestGriffen.jpg

It was a lot of fun to read.

[Buh4Bee]

All fiction:

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
The Help by Kathryn Stockett (popular bookclub reading)
A Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde)
The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway
Of Mice and Men Faulkner
The Bookseller of Kabul
For Whom the Bell Tolls Hemingway
The Leopard
This Side of Paradise Fitzgerald
The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise by Julia Stewart

[Hyacinthine]

An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison -- It's a memoir of what Jamison calls the "madness" of bipolar disorder. I'm fascinated with mental illness, especially its connection to creativity, and Jamison touches on that a bit. She also very eloquently gets across both the sorrow and even sometimes joy that bipolar disorder can bring.

Metamorphoses by Ovid

[TheFifthElement]

Fiction: A number of contenders, naturally, however I cannot go past David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet. I'll refrain from proffering my standard cloying approbation vis a vis Mitchell and simply state that he is a novelist who can do more or less as he pleases.
Couldn't agree more sixsmith, but I guess you know that already :D The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet is one of my standout reads of 2010. I've also been incredibly impressed with Tom McCarthy, particularly Remainder but to be honest there's not a lot to choose between Remainder, Men in Space or C.

Also Disgrace by J M Coetzee, In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut, Room by Emma Donoghue, Angle of Repose and The Spectator Bird by Wallace Stegner and Black Rain by Masuji Ibuse.

It's been an excellent reading year :D

[Wilde woman]

Fiction:
Lysistrata - Aristophanes
Menaechmi - Plautus
The Golden A s s - Apuleius
Beowulf - Anonymous (Liuzza translation)
Grettir's Saga - Anonymous (Fox & Palsson translation)
Troilus and Criseyde - Geoffrey Chaucer
The Spanish Tragedy - Thomas Kyd
Winter's Tale - Shakespeare
Antonio and Mellida - John Marston
Antonio's Revenge - John Marston
Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia-Marquez
Grendel - John Gardner
Bash - Neil LaBute
The Penelopiad -Margaret Atwood

Theory/Criticism:
Illuminations - Walter Benjamin
How to Do Things with Words - J.L. Austin
The History of Sexuality (Vol. 1) - Michel Foucault
The Secular Scripture - Northrop Frye
Empire of Magic - Geraldine Heng

[LitNetIsGreat]

There's some good stuff going on there Mrs Wilde (apart from Ten Thousand Years of Solitude, well I didn't like that any way). I've not read all of those but of the ones I have I like. I've come back to the Foucault a few times, mostly to slot into essays and stuff, but Rebecca is an old favourite and I quite enjoyed The Penelopiad. Shakespeare speaks for himself and Beowulf and Grendel are good fun. I've been meaning to read Kyd for a while but have never got around to him or more likely forgot. How do you rate Kyd, does he come close to Shakespeare?

[Wilde woman]

Hi Neely,
I admit that the vast majority of my titles there are from my reading lists for class; only about three (including Rebecca and the Penelopiad) were novels I read on my own.


I've been meaning to read Kyd for a while but have never got around to him or more likely forgot. How do you rate Kyd, does he come close to Shakespeare?

For me, Kyd is more excessively theatrical than Shakespeare, though I rather like spectacle, so I enjoy his works on quite a different level than Shakespeare's. The Spanish Tragedy is worth reading, especially if you have any regard for Hamlet...the parallels between the two are quite apparent, and you can really see how Shakespeare developed his drama and made it much more subtle. In general, I'd say there's much less ambiguity (esp. with the villain characters) in Kyd than in Shakespeare, and we get more insight into the villain's PoV. And the final scene in Spanish Tragedy is amazing!!

[Kafka's Crow]

For me, Kyd is more excessively theatrical than Shakespeare, though I rather like spectacle, so I enjoy his works on quite a different level than Shakespeare's. The Spanish Tragedy is worth reading, especially if you have any regard for Hamlet...the parallels between the two are quite apparent, and you can really see how Shakespeare developed his drama and made it much more subtle. In general, I'd say there's much less ambiguity (esp. with the villain characters) in Kyd than in Shakespeare, and we get more insight into the villain's PoV. And the final scene in Spanish Tragedy is amazing!!

Loads of blood and gore there. You clearly can see what made Shakespeare different from these dramatists after reading these works. It is more in line with the classical or Greek stuff. Basic things, jealousy, betrayal, infidelity, revenge, murder and loads and loads of blood. I read Kyd's play around 20 years ago and have forgotten most of it but still I remember blood and revenge.

This year I read almost all of the Flashman books. They are amazing. John Charity Spring MA is the most unforgettable villain I have ever met. He left me in stitches. A heartless, kindless villain who quotes Seneca and Virgil while destroying his victims! Someone straight from Lit Net into Fraser's books.
I have read 10 out of the 12 Flashman books in recent months and loved each and every one of them, specially Flash for Freedom because it is about Flashy and the one and only John Charity Spring MA (Oxon):
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_8?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=flashman&sprefix=flashman

[arrytus]

It always interesting to read where people are at. It's almost like reminiscing perusing these lists.

[arrytus]

Illuminations - Walter Benjamin



hurrah

[aliengirl]

I enjoyed reading these books last year.

Fiction

Prose

1984 ~ Orwell
The Jungle ~ Upton Sinclair
A Tale of Two Cities ~ Dickens
Emma ~ Jane Austen
Crime and Punishment ~ Dostoevsky
The Shadow Lines ~ Amitav Ghosh
Life of Pi ~ Yann Martel
Look Back in Anger ~ John Osborne
Waiting for Godot ~ Samuel Beckett
The Hairy Ape ~ Eugene O'Neill
Pygmalion ~ G.B. Shaw
St.Joan ~ G.B. Shaw

Short Stories

Selected Stories of Anton Chekhov
Malgudi Days ~ R.K. Narayan

Poetry

The Wasteland ~ T.S. Eliot

Non-Fiction

Walden ~ Thoreau
Istanbul ~ Orhan Pamuk
City of Djinns ~ William Dalrymple
Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman ~ Richard P. Feynman

[Snowqueen]

I haven't read much last year, but thoroughly enjoyed reading Catalina by Somerset Maugham.

[callmeMrTibbs]

Fiction would have to both of Franzen's epics: Freedom & The Corrections, along with Byatt's 'The Children's Book

Non-fiction, The Kaiser's Holocaust by Erichsen and Olusoga

[sports24x]

harry poter..

[qimissung]

Hands down The Road by McCarthy which will be always be a beloved favorite now, Heart of Darkness, and The Elegance of the Hedgehog.

[Jozanny]

In terms of fresh reads, I have to elect Stephen Baxter's Ark. Now, it is a franchise work, a sequel to Flood, but Baxter takes his genre and his science seriously, so I find it a master work within the genre.