ALA 2010 Notable Books List
Submitted by anrobe on Sun, 05/16/2010 - 12:53
- 2010 Notable Books for Adults List
- Fiction
- Anthony, Jessica. The Convalescent. McSweeney’s. 9781934781104
- Rovar Pfiegman, bus dwelling meat salesman, fulfills his destiny as the last of the last of his clan, in this oddly imaginative tale.
- Atwood, Margaret. The Year of the Flood: A Novel. Doubleday/Nan A. Talese. 9780385528771
- In the near future, two women survive an apocalyptic event in a queasily enthralling work.
- Baker, Nicholson. The Anthologist: A Novel. Simon & Schuster. 9781416572442.
- A charming failure, poet Paul Chowder struggles to regain his muse and his girlfriend while watching deadlines slip by.
- Chaon, Dan. Await Your Reply: A Novel. Ballantine. 9780345476029.
- This chilling exploration of the modern meaning of identity follows three people on the fringes of society.
- Cleave, Chris. Little Bee: A Novel. Simon & Schuster. 9781416589631.
- The compelling voice of a refugee illuminates the life-changing friendship between two women that began with a horrifying encounter on a secluded Nigerian beach.
- Dexter, Pete. Spooner. Grand Central. 9780446540728.
- A boy struggles to navigate the vagaries of the world with the lifelong guidance of his stepfather in this funny and heartbreaking tale.
- Harding, Paul. Tinkers. Bellevue Literary Press. 9781934137123.
- In this lyrical novel, the life of a dying man is examined through the smallest moments of time and memory.
- Li, Yiyun. The Vagrants: A Novel. Random. 9781400063130.
- The execution of a dissident woman reverberates through her small town in the aftermath of China’s Cultural Revolution.
- McCann, Colum. Let the Great World Spin: A Novel. Random. 9781400063734.
- Phillipe Petit’s highwire walk between the Twin Towers provides the backdrop for this rich portrait of the unlikely connections among a group of New Yorkers in the 1970s.
- Morrison, Toni. A Mercy: A Novel. Knopf. 9780307264237
- Four women—white, mixed race, black and Native American—become a makeshift family under the care of a “good” man in colonial America.
- Powers, Richard. Generosity: An Enhancement. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. 9780374161149.
- In this postmodern indictment of the biotech industry, a student’s unnerving happiness seems to hold the key to banishing despair from the human genetic code.
- T’ib’n, Colm. Brooklyn: A Novel. Scribner. 9781439138311.
- A young Irish woman faces heart-wrenching decisions in this unabashedly romantic and deceptively simple story of immigration and belonging.
- Non-Fiction
- Cullen, Dave. Columbine. Twelve. 9780446546935.
- This fine work of investigative journalism challenges the myths and misconceptions of the Columbine tragedy.
- Eggers, Dave. Zeitoun. McSweeney’s. 9781934781630.
- This powerful account explores the devastation of post-Katrina New Orleans through the eyes of a Syrian-American who remained and endured the resulting chaos and confusion.
- Finkel, David. The Good Soldiers. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. 9780374165734.
- An embedded reporter describes the human cost paid by an Army battalion on the streets of Iraq in language that is searing, visceral and immediate.
- Grann, David. The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon.Doubleday. 9780385513531.
- An intrepid reporter sets out to uncover the mysterious fate the last of the great Victorian explorers in this thrilling adventure.
- Guibert, Emmanuel. The Photographer: Into War-torn Afghanistan with Doctors without Borders. First Second. 9781596433755.
- Using mixed visual media, this stunning memoir vividly depicts the struggles and accomplishments of a humanitarian mission in an unforgiving terrain.
- Holmes, Richard. The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science. Pantheon. 9780375422225.
- This lively, stellar group biography animates the engrossing accounts of the research that inspired a sense of awe in poets and scientists alike.
- Keefe, Patrick Radden. Snakehead: An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld & the American Dream. Doubleday. 9780385521307.
- Human trafficking and its subsequent effects on the American economy and social structures are documented in this fast-paced panoramic expose.
- McDougall, Christopher. Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen. Knopf. 978-0307266309.
- One journalist’s quest to discover the secrets of the reclusive Tarahumara Indians leads to an exciting and dangerous endurance race.
- Norman, Michael and Elizabeth M. Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. 9780374272609.
- In-depth, brutal and moving this narrative provides multiple perspectives into a tragic WWII episode in the Philippines.
- Salisbury, Lainey and Aly Sujo. Provenance: How a Con Man & a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art. Penguin. 9781594202209.
- This enthralling page-turner describes how archivists uncovered one of the most extensive frauds in recent art history.
- Small, David. Stitches: A Memoir. Norton. 9780393068573.
- Stark drawings give voice to the horrors of a child who find redemption in art while growing up in a repressed and disturbed family.
- Thompson, Nicholas. The Hawk and the Dove: Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the Cold War. Holt. 978-0805081428.
- The remarkable half-century friendship and rivalry between two influential strategists who helped shape American policy is brought to life in this insightful dual biography.
- Poetry
- Alexie, Sherman. Face. Hanging Loose Press. 9781931236706.
- Autobiographical poems experimenting with various styles and forms explore childhood, fatherhood, and the trials, perks and humor of minor celebrity.
- Dunn, Stephen. What Goes On: Selected and New Poems 1995–2009. Norton. 978039306775
- Completely accessible poems written in ordinary language deal with cats, love, barfights, desire, melancholia and relationships.
