Being Friday, it's time for the Top 5. So I wandered back through my reading list for 2010 and pondered what were the standouts for the year. It has been a strange year of reading (too many text books and scholarly articles) and without referring to my list, nothing really stood out in the way titles did in 2009. However on going back I did remember some gems. The following list is based primarily on the "I can't put it down" or the "I NEED to know what happened next" criteria.
Still Alice by Lisa Genova was recommended to me by the ladies at the Village Bookshop, Matakana and it was certainly right up there. Fifty-year-old Alice Howland, a Harvard professor of cognitive psychology, is at the top of her game. Her kids are grown, her marriage secure, her career on fire, when - after mere months of forgetfulness - she finds herself in the rapidly downward spiral of early onset Alzheimers' disease. With no cure or treatment, Alice struggles to find meaning and purpose in her everyday life as her concept of self slips away. Lisa has a new book due out next year and I am looking forward to that.
Billy T: The Life and Times of Billy T James by Matt Elliott. Of course, I know what happens in this story of one of our favourite comedians. But I still couldn't put it down. This isn't just a tale of a larger than life character, but also of the comedy and entertainment scene in New Zealand. An exceptionally enjoyable insight.
Cry of the Taniwha by Des Hunt. In my humble opinion, this is Des Hunt's best book to date. Matt Logan isn't looking forward to spending the school holidays in Rotorua with his grandmother and her new husband. Matt has taken his metal detector along, and when he and Juzza - the boy next door - unearth a handcuffed skeleton, a dangerous chain of events begins to coil around them. Des is one of my favourite Kiwi authors, especially for the reluctant boy readers (although there is something in here for everyone). A brilliant mix of one of the biggest bangs in New Zealand history with current culture with some good old fashioned adventure storytelling.
Return of the Prophet by Greig Beck. Speaking of big bangs, this book starts with one and the action doesn't stop until the last page. During experiments to enrich uranium in a secret laboratory buried below the ancient Persian ruins of Persepolis, a freak accident with new laser technology accelerates atoms to a speed of light and forces particle collisions that generates the most powerful entity in our universe, a black hole. This is not my usual type of read but I really enjoyed both it and it's predecessor. Boys (and girls) own adventure for grownups.
Room by Emma Donoghue. I have only just finished reading this Man Booker award winning 2010 novel (as in 11pm last night so it definitely comes under both categories to get on this list). It's Jack's birthday, and he's excited about turning five. Jack lives with his Ma in a room, which has a locked door and a skylight, and measures 12 feet by 12 feet. He loves watching TV, and the cartoon characters he calls friends, but he knows that nothing he sees on screen is truly real - only him, Ma and the things in room. Until the day Ma admits that there's a world outside...Told in Jack's voice, "Room" is the story of a mother and son whose love lets them survive the impossible. I will review it in more detail in the new year, but is a book that is meaningful in it's simplicity. It's power is in resisting over-dramatising the situation and simply telling the tale.
Well that's five so all I am left with is honourable mentions for the Millenium Trilogy (Steig Larsson), Freeing Grace (Charity Norman), The Project (Brian Falkner), Ape House (Sara Gruen) and Navigation (Joy Cowley).
And that's it for 2010. Have a very Happy New Year's Eve. Stay safe and I look forward to talking to you all again in 2011.
Ka kite
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