2010 in Books

What could possibly be more cringey, self-indulgent and pretentious than blogging about all the books you've read in the previous year? Erm, how about doing it two years running? 

Having ignored all common sense considerations of how much of a prize pillock it probably makes me sound, I sat down at this time last year to write up a list of all the books I read in 2009. Having successfully ignored the fact that it can be of no possible interest to anyone else, I may as well carry on in this ill-advised tradition that I've started. So anyhoo, that's enough of my jibber-jabber, without any further ado here's the list complete with random comments here and there:

Blood's a Rover James Elroy (Concluding what is probably the best trilogy I've read)

Pop. 1280 Jim Thompson
Freakonomics Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
The American Wife Curtis Sittenfeld (Superb, much better than I was expecting, it almost makes George Bush seem a likable and sympathetic character which is no mean feat. If the publishers are reading this (and I feel sure they're hanging on my every word), please change the awful chick-lit cover, it doesn't do the book justice at all)
Persepolis Marjane Satrapi
Darkmans Nicola Barker (Captivating and confusing but very enjoyable)
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets David Simon (If like most right-minded folk you enjoyed The Wire then you'll find this fascinating if a bit familiar in places)
The Tenderness of Wolves Stef Penney
Johnny Come Home Jake Arnott
But Beautiful Geoff Dyer (Fantastic, an amazing little book. If you have any interest in Jazz or approaches to writing non-fiction then I can't recommend it enough )
The White Tiger Aravind Adiga
The Spire William Golding
Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel

War Sebastian Junger

Midnight's Children Salman Rushdie (One of those books that had been on the shelf for ages)

Holidays in Hell P. J. O'Rourke

The Underground Man Mick Jackson

Alone in Berlin Hans Fallada

The Stars in the Bright Sky Alan Warner (I'm gradually resigning myself to the fact that he'll probably never match his first novel, 'Morvern Callar'. That said, he's still an astounding writer and I'll always read his new books come what may)

Unreasonable Behaviour Don McCullin (Autobiography doesn't normally interest me at all, but I'll make an exception for Don McCullin who's seen and accomplished more in his lifetime than most of us)

A Most Wanted Man John Le Carré (I was in Berlin on holiday, who else are you going to read in a city of cold-war spies? Not one of his best, but good fun all the same)

On Photography Susan Sontag (Heavy going, but plenty to think about)

Wildwood: A Journey Through Trees Roger Deakin (A beautiful, peaceful book that will make you want to go and sleep in a hedge)

Ordinary Thunderstorms William Boyd (More 'Restless' than 'Any Human Heart' unfortunately)

and our faces, my heart, brief as photos John Berger (A fascinating, thought-provoking little book, one of those I know I'll dip back into time and again. Many thanks to Jessie Campbell for such an enjoyable gift and for finding the one book I couldn't actually skim-read my way through)

Lady Barberina Henry James (Not my cup of tea at all. Mr James and I don't get on)

Paris, Trance Geoff Dyer

Up in the Old Hotel Joseph Mitchell (Brilliant collection of articles about New York in the 1930s and 40s)

Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi Geoff Dyer

Le Grand Meaulnes Alain-Fournier

The Plot Against America Philip Roth (I didn't enjoy 'Indignation' at all last year but I'm glad I gave him a second chance. This was great, very readable and reminded me a little of 'Middlesex' which is one of my favourites)

GB84 David Peace (Grim, nasty, brilliant little book. I haven't read a bad David Peace novel yet, might have to try his Tokyo novels this year)

How I Escaped My Certain Fate Stewart Lee

What I Loved Siri Hustvedt (A recommendation from a girl I met, and one of the best books I read this year. It reminds me a bit of 'We need to talk about Kevin' which is no bad thing at all, whilst still being very distinctive)

Birdsong Sebastian Faulks (Another one of those that I'd meant to read for ages)

The Daughter of Time Josephine Tey

One Day David Nicholls (Recommended by my friend Katie, good fun and quite resonant if a bit depressing in places. It'll be interesting to see how well the film version works)

Restoration Rose Tremain 

Phew, I think that makes 38 in total for this year which isn't too bad considering I had to find time to move house twice. Then again, I was single for most of 2010 which gave me a bit more reading time than usual (every cloud and all that...). I also started commuting to work which helped as well. I managed to mix in a bit of non-fiction here and there although I was less successful on the classics front. Despite enjoying Dickens so much last year I didn't get around to trying another. 

Geoff Dyer is rapidly becoming one of my favourite writers and I'm currently reading 'Working the Room' so he'll be featuring on next year's list already. I really can't recommend him highly enough, like Anna Funder (Stasiland) and Iain Sinclair he manages to meld together fiction and non-fiction to create something altogether different.

I don't really have any reading resolutions for 2011 as such. I'd quite like to have another crack at Tristam Shandy again and some more classics I guess. Other than that, I'll probably just muddle through, picking books on instinct and recommendation – it seems to have worked okay so far. Right then, that's quite enough of this wittering for another year...