2010 Reading List

THE BEST (and worst) BOOKS I READ IN 2010

TOP PICKS
Guns, Germs and Steel (Jared Diamond) - Non-Fiction
The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver) - Fiction



HONORABLE MENTION
Angela's Ashes (Frank McCourt) - Non-Fiction
Seabiscuit: An American Legend (Laura Hillenbrand) - Non-Fiction
The Scramble for Africa (Thomas Pakenham) - Non-Fiction
Half of a Yellow Sun (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie) - Fiction
The Constant Gardener (John le Carré) - Fiction
Interpreter of Maladies (Jumpa Lahiri) - Fiction



 "New Age Spirituality Dressed Up As Bad Fiction Award"
The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)



"Most Overrated (and oversized) Book of All Time Award"
 Don Quixote (Miguel de Cervantes)



COMPLETE 2010 READING LIST


NON-FICTION


Biographies, Autobiographies & Memoirs

  • Angela's Ashes - Frank McCourt (1996)
  • Before Night Falls - Reinaldo Arenas (1992)
  • Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud - Cornel West (2009)
  • How Can Man Die Better: Sobukwe And Apartheid - Benjamin Pogrund (1990)
  • Living Poor: A Peace Corps Chronicle - Moritz Thomsen (1969)
  • Long Walk to Freedom - Nelson Mandela (1995)
  • Seabiscuit: An American Legend - Laura Hillenbrand (2002)
  • The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin - Benjamin Franklin (1791)
  • Waiting for Snow in Havana - Carlos Eire (2003)
  • Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement - John Lewis (1999)
Philosophy & Spirituality
  • Autobiography of a Yogi - Paramhansa Yogananda (1946)
  • Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia - Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)
  • Man and His Symbols - Carl Jung, et. al. (1964)
  • Song of the Stars: The Lore of a Zulu Shaman - Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa (1995)
Economics, History, Political Science & Sociology
  • Civil Disobedience - Henry Thoreau (1849)
  • Gross National Happiness: Why Happiness Matter for America and How We Can Get More of It - Arthur C. Brooks (2008)
  • Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies - Jared Diamond (1997)
  • Illicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers, and Copycats are Hijacking the Global Economy - Moisés Naím
  • Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America - Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)
  • The Black-White Achievement Gap: Why Closing It Is the Greatest Civil Rights Issue of Our Time - Rod Paige & Elaine Whitty (2010)
  • The Prince - Niccolo Machiavelli (1532)
  • The Rape of Nanking - Iris Chang (1997)
  • The Scramble for Africa: White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 - 1917 - Thomas Pakenham (1992)
  • Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace... One School at a Time - Greg Mortensen & David Oliver Relin (2006)
  • Trust: Reaching the 100 Million Missing Voters and Other Selected Essays - Farai Chideya (2004)
  • What Went Wrong: Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response - Bernard Lewis (2002)



FICTION

Africa Interest

  • Cross Country - James Patterson (2008)
  • Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2006)
  • So Long A Letter - Mariama Ba (1981)
  • The Constant Gardener - John le Carré (2001)
  • The Last King of Scotland - Giles Foden (1998)
  • The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver (1998)

Classics

  • A Midsummer Night's Dream - William Shakespeare~(1600)
  • A Passage to India - E. M. Forster (1924)
  • Beauty and the Beast - Jeann-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont (1756)
  • Don Quixote (The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha) - Miguel de Cervantes (1605/1615)
  • Little Women - Louisa May Alcott (1868/1869)
  • Moby-DIck (The Whale) - Herman Melville (1851)
  • Uncle Tom's Cabin - Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852)
  • Wuthering Heights - Bemily Brönte (1847)

Modern
  • Atonement - Ian McEwan (2001)
  • Chronic City - Jonathem Lethem (2009)
  • Foundation and Earth - Isaac Asimov (1986)
  • Interpreter of Maladies - Jumpa Lahiri (1999)
  • Searching for Tina Turner - Jackie Luckett (2010)
  • The Alchemist - Paolo Coelho (1988)
  • The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison (1970)
  • The Celestine Prophecy: An Adventure - James Redfield (1993)
  • The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown (2003)
  • The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Men Who Hate Women) - Steig Larsson (2005)