The Cult's 'Top 10' Books of 2010
It's that time of year again at The Cult when we appropriate Valentine's Day (close enough) for our own celebration as book smitten fiends. That of course, means publishing our second annual Top Ten list of books from the previous year. It's not only fitting to post this on V-day, but pragmatic too, as I get a lot of books in December and need a month or so to finish up my year-end reading.
These go to eleven.
Or rather, this list goes to eleven, but let me explain. Friday, a friend mentioned a book to me with such an intriguing title that I immediately looked it up and read an excerpt. After reading a couple of pages, I downloaded it and finished it over the weekend. (Thanks, Richard!) As it turns out it was released in 2010 and I would feel remiss in not adding it to the list. I promise not to let this evolve into a top twenty or thirty over time, but in this case, this list goes to eleven.
Caveats: This list is based on my own highly personal and promiscuous reading habits and does not necessarily reflect our other voracious readers at The Cult, nor are they Chuck’s personal favorites or recommendations. I notice there are quite a few short story collections this year, and I wouldn’t say I’m inclined towards that form in particular, it was just an amazing year for story collections. So without further ado…
(In alphabetical order!)
"Sunset Park" by Paul Auster
I enjoyed this nostalgic paen to a Brooklyn neighborhood with its topical but understated observations on the American housing scandal- but with some reservations. The ending was abrupt and kind of unsatisfying and the birth-control choices of a seventeen year-year old character, creepy and unrealistic, but overall this short novel was an elegant and deeply engrossing study of a small slice of America with compelling characters.
Read More On 'Sunset Park' Here
"Slut Lullabies" by Gina Frangello
The title of this one grabbed my attention and the first sentence hooked me and I was useless until I finished it. I don't have super enough superlatives to convey how perfect these stories are; every story is meaty and complicated and satisfying. If you are tired of "slice of life, no resolution" stories, this collection is the antidote.
Frangello doesn't shirk away from the sordid and contemptible in human affairs but she also doesn't condemn, and I think that lilt of empathy that shines through is remarkable.
Read More On 'Slut Lullabies' Here
"The Ones That Got Away" by Stephen Graham Jones
I'm a huge fan of Stephen Graham Jones and was eagerly awaiting this collection since I'm in awe of his 2005 collection Bleed Into Me. I was freaked the hell out at first because this is nothing at all like that meditative, haunting and heart-breaking book, this is HORROR. Think Shirley Jackson, early Stephen King kind of horror where you're lulled in by the ordinary and completely unprepared when the blood and gore hits the fan.
Jones simply can't write a bad sentence and I love so much that he chose to explore this genre. It's hard to find a really well written story that satisfies that need to be terrified and horrified every once in a while.
Read More On The Ones That Got Away' Here
"Great House" by Nicole Krauss
Kruass is a fantastic novelist and I've been waiting for Great House for years it feels. The story revolves around a desk as it impacts the lives of four different characters and Krauss explores their stories in a meticulous yet seemingly arbitrary way. One of Krauss's many skills is the deft way she elevates what could be a cumbersome gimmick, but each individual story is absorbing and fully realized.
There are so many ways that grief and loss are dealt with in this book that as a reader you almost forget that the heartbreak isn't your own.
Read More On 'Great House' Here
"The Orange Eats Creeps" by Grace Krilanovich
The Orange Eats Creep reads more like a poem than a novel, and a hallucinatory one at that. There's not much of a story which is either really frustrating (as two people I recommended the book to complained) or kind of inconsequential once you sink into the writing. I loved it, and I loved not knowing what was real and what was imagined and I'm going to keep recommending it even if someone throws it at me in rage. It has that kind of polarizing reaction.
Read More On 'The Orange Eats Creeps' Here
"Sourland: Stories" by Joyce Carol Oates
I can't remember where I read it, but a review described one of the stories in this collection as "lacerating" and, well, they're all pretty much lacerating and difficult and depressing. Reading this collection in one sitting seems suicidal to me, but reading them is a must. Just pace yourself.
I honestly am in awe that anyone can understand desolation to this degree and somehow get it on a page.
Read More On 'Sourland: Stories' Here
"Foreign Bodies" by Cynthia Ozick
Apparently this is based on a book by Henry James which I haven't read (The Ambassadors), and there is definitely an old-fashioned feel to this kind of storytelling which I've rediscovered this year after going on a Philip Roth bender. There is a lot of attention to small, telling details, an assumption that the reader is paying attention and has patience, and a wonderfully slow and sickening reveal.
Ozick's post-war saga of family deceit and contrivances is oddly hypnotic. Odd, because, though, it's hard to empathize with their motivations, it's impossible to look away from the havoc they wreak.
Read More On "Foreign Bodies' Here
"Nemesis" by Philip Roth
Did I mention that I'm on a Roth bender? I devoured Nemesis. It read like an outraged rant, (erm, yes, it's Roth) and I have a thing for epidemics in novels. Some favorites: Blindness by Jose Saramago, The Plague by Camus A Prayer for the Dying by Stewart O'Nan and The Andromeda Strain by Michael Chrichton...
There is something incredibly compelling about how a community or/and an individual reacts when having to balance a threat of such proportions. Roth's meditation doesn't dethrone O'Nan, Camus or Saramago but is a definite contender.
I'd recommend this one to both new and similarly obsessed Roth fans.
"The Mind's Eye" by Oliver Sacks
Oliver Sacks writes brilliant books that reflect on the existential implications of neurological anomalies. If you haven't read "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" or "An Anthropologist from Mars," I urge you to do so immediately. You will never take anything for granted again.
In The Mind's Eye, Sack's subject is vision and how varying degrees of "blindness" affect the brain. He explores the plasticity of the brain as well as psychosocial adaption. It's probably his most personal book as he shares his own experience with ocular cancer with candor and courage.
Read More On 'The Mind's Eye' Here
"The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
I'm a huge fan of meticulously researched non-fiction that reads like fiction (Into Thin Air, Columbine) and Skloot's delivered that and more in this remarkable odyssey of one woman's inadvertent yet significant contribution to medical research.
Skloot honors Lack's life and legacy in this broadly encompassing study of medical research and medical ethics, history, racism, and family ties with diligence and compassion. She properly celebrates Lacks while tackling the moral implications of consent and dignity in that behemoth that is the medical "industry".
Read More On "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" Here
"Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart
This book is such an outrageous and hilarious and brilliant depiction of technology and its effect on our humanity. I'm resistant to any book that begins 'Dear Diary" and I was ready to hate it, but three pages in and I was utterly and gleefully absorbed in this Dystopian love story.
The love story aspect is sad, but so unabashedly honest that you can't help but root for his "lovers," though you probably wouldn't want to know either of them in real life. His real triumph is nailing a world gone crazy with social "networking" excess. And it's a grim world regardless of how lovingly or cleverly it's presented.
Read More On "Super Sad true Love Story" Here
***
This Top 10 does not constitute Chuck Palahniuk's favorite books of the year. This is a very personal list by me, Mirka Hodurova, and the first person that identifies the writer in the frame in the image below gets a PRIZE! (EDIT: It's Ranier Maria Rilke, it's been figured out by gypsysoul08!)
Happy Reading!
Comments
HP Lovecraft?
Nope. But good guess, I know that the photo is pretty out of focus.
yea, it is. I so want to believe that its Vincent Price, but he was not a writer! I will wait and see who, if any one, gets it.
Well, if no one gets it, I'll toss out a hint.
In the meantime, do you have any books to recommend to the cult?
sure, does it have to be recent?
I really love No one belongs here more than you by Miranda July, 2007.
Not at all, and you're in great company! Check out the thread our Writer's Workshop admin posted about that very book: http://chuckpalahniuk.net/forum/1000029/no-one-belongs-here-more-you
Recommendations:
The Grove by John Rector
Pretty Little Dead Things by Gary McMahon
Angel Dust Apocalypse by Jeremy Robert Johnson
The City And The City by China Mieville
The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep And Never Had To by DC Pierson
The Adderall Diaries by Stephen Elliott
And there's always Transubstantiate by Richard Thomas -that was My favorite read of 2010 and I read it before I ever interacted with him or knew that he was a moderator here.
Is the gentleman in the picture JD Salinger? Stonewall Jackson?
Guy in picture: Albert Camus? Is he on your bookshelf?
I think it's F. Scott, but I don't know why I should think that.
As to book lists... Only book I read this year that came out this year was the enjoyable Transubstantiate by Mr. Wickard Thomcat.
I see Musicophilia by Oliver Saks....ties in with the "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat" both of which I have and the poll is right, they're excellent reads.
As for recommendations, The Instructions by Adam Levine was a good read, reminded me of David Foster Wallace a bit. At over 1000 pages, its a challege though, no matter how good it is.
I would love to read those books.
I'm sure I'll get around to to Sacks book. I've read most of his other mass market works (I think he may have academic stuff I've never even heard of) and they're just incredible; fascinating case studies and combined with his writing skill. They're almost poetry.
I always thought about writing about henrietta lacks. I actually used her cells in cell bio (HaLa) and learned it was cervical cancer cells. Cells from her cervix are actually mass produced to this day without her consent and its just mind boggling. Can you imagine dying from complications related to cervical cancer and having your cervical cells being immortal? Crazy, right?
Anyways, I walk through Barnes and Noble a few months ago and find this books and I was like, no shit?
In unrelated news, I had this friend once in school who was going to take care of a patient with a cervical fracture, and he was like, "She broke her pussy?"
(cervical, meaning vertebrae)
Anyways, wiki henrietta lacks....or read the book
I once offered a woman a cervical massage. The police were not amused.
Sorry for the OT.
I see Creeps made the list. You are braver than I for recommending it so tirelessly.
Hemingway?
I kinda think Sallinger would be too obvious, but that's what I'm going with.
Last year I asked you to pick three of your ten for me and I loved two of the three, so I want you to do it again!
Nice list Mirka,
I'll have to read the Krilanovich. Love it or hate it works always provide that chance for amazing discovery.
Ok, that photo looks like it could be F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Baudelaire?
I liked this list. Is the author Joseph Conrad?
Looks to me like James Joyce almost...
Or Franz Kafka.
As for recommendations, The Instructions by Adam Levine was a good read, reminded me of David Foster Wallace a bit. At over 1000 pages, its a challege though, no matter how good it is.
Hey good eyesight there, I can't believe you made out 'Musicophilia'! That's another excellent read from Sacks. My copy of 'The Mind's Eye' is out on loan.
I started 'The Instructions' but it didn't engage me fully at the time. I might take another pass.
The Grove by John Rector
Pretty Little Dead Things by Gary McMahon
Angel Dust Apocalypse by Jeremy Robert Johnson
The City And The City by China Mieville
The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep And Never Had To by DC Pierson
The Adderall Diaries by Stephen Elliott
And there's always Transubstantiate by Richard Thomas -that was My favorite read of 2010 and I read it before I ever interacted with him or knew that he was a moderator here.
Is the gentleman in the picture JD Salinger? Stonewall Jackson?
Thanks for the recommendations. 'city' and "Aderrall' were on the top ten last year actually.
I'm glad to know that you're a Sacks fan, too. Pick this one up for sure, it's just as remarkable as his others. I agree that his writing tends towards the poetic. In this one there's a footnote where he writes something like 'One evening after partaking in Cannabis, I noticed...". I'm not sure why but I found it so charming.
Anyways, I walk through Barnes and Noble a few months ago and find this books and I was like, no shit?
You should check it out, not only is the story incredible and yeah, kind of crazy, the author does such a damn find job. I'm sorry that she beat you to it! It's not just about the medical marvel of her immortal cells, but also about her descendants and how they found out.
Can you recommend any other books in this vein? I'm already a big Sack fan as you can see, and I've also read 'The Brain That Changes Itself' by Doidge. That's a hellava a readable book, and fascinating.
Thanks! And no, it's not Conrad. In fact, no one has guessed correctly yet.
I'll have to read the Krilanovich. Love it or hate it works always provide that chance for amazing discovery.
Ok, that photo looks like it could be F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Thanks! Let us know what you think when you read "Orange'. After I finished it I went a-googling to read reviews and interviews because it's a really crazy book. I love that it's so audacious and such a pleasure to read, but I can completely understand why someone might think the EXACT opposite!
Last year I asked you to pick three of your ten for me and I loved two of the three, so I want you to do it again!
Salinger is a very good guess! Not because he ever slouched in a photo like that but because you know what a fan I am of his. But no, that would have been way too obvious. I only have two author photos framed, this guy and Flannery O'Conner.
I love picking books for people.
For you, specifically, I think you'd like:
SUPER SAD LOVE STORY
SLUT LULLABIES
Great House
The first two are in caps because it feels right. 'Great House' is a little more dignified. I think you'd like 'Sourland' a lot, too.
I AM brave because I do know that someone is going to throw their copy at me and demand I buy it off them. (This kinda already happened.) I really dug it, and I like the chances she took and I love her writing. Most of it. I don't think it's perfect, but I do think it's an amazing read.
I'd love to see your top ten or top five, even.
I keep thinking the picture is of one of my favorite authors Aldous Huxley, but there appears to be a beard and I don't recall ever seeing Huxley sporting beard.
Steinbeck...Depression scoliosis?
Pychon?
I've decided I need to check out the Orange Creeps book. It sounds very strange.
I'm also tempted to pick up Slut Lullabies and Sourland at some point.
I have a problem with new books, that problem being they have to negotiate their way into my queue, which at any given time is around ten books long.
Too much to read, never enough time.
the Real question is: what's in that lockbox/cigar box looking thing on the shelf there below the picture?
Pot? Tampons? Bookmarks? What? Or is just a music box that opens and starts playing nice little dingle dingle song?
I'm just going to keep guessing...
Thomas Mann?
Thomas Jefferson.
I have a problem with new books, that problem being they have to negotiate their way into my queue, which at any given time is around ten books long.
Too much to read, never enough time.
Welcome to the club. Or the mess. See below.
Pot? Tampons? Bookmarks? What? Or is just a music box that opens and starts playing nice little dingle dingle song?
It's a cigar box and it has a lot of really old receipts, photos, a pen, and a cassette tape.
I really cleaned up that photo. The real deal..and this is just one bookshelf, table, stack..
Get involved in the 'Show us Your Bookcase' thread, Mirka. And wow me.
Sinclair Lewis
Matt, link me.
Chester, no, but dammit, I am going to frame a photo of Sinclair. I have been remiss, he's a hero of mine.
Mirka, Show ME the money!
Wow. So many more books on my shelves now. Well, not really on my shelves, more like, stacked on top of other books and on top of the case, but, ah, well. I need to do an updated photo soon.
My last 5 guesses:
tennessee williams,
william faulkner,
raymond chandler,
raymond carver,
or don draper.
That photo looks older, like 1915 or so, but it looks like Jack Kerouac. Maybe he had a time machine?
I love that you quoted me as Des, for some reason it made me seem all warm and fuzzy. To be honest I didn't even look at the photo, I just guessed your favorite.
I knew you would pick Super Sad. I almost named that and asked you to pick two, but I knew you would pick it, so I didn't want to take that away from you. I will get on top of those soon. THANKS!
Hi Mirka!
I'm new here and I got directed to this site via CP's FB page. Awesome list! Will definitely check out Slut Lullabies.
Hmm...my guess is Rainer Maria Rilke.
Mirka,
Off the top of my head, there are not med books like the H. Lacks story that come to mind.
But there are many stories....
http://www.esquire.com/features/henry-molaison-brain-1110
Also:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCisaP09yFU
There is so much about the brain that we don't know.
Also, if you ever can, read the story about how insulin was sequenced and about the first successful time it was used (up until about 100 years ago, kids were still dying of diabetes)
Nice long weekend this week I will pick up one I am thinking I will start with The Ones that got away
Hi Mirka!
I'm new here and I got directed to this site via CP's FB page. Awesome list! Will definitely check out Slut Lullabies.
Hmm...my guess is Rainer Maria Rilke.
Welcome, and thank you!
Also, you are CORRECT! That is indeed Ranier Maria Rilke! I consider him my patron saint because we share a December 4 birthday. His 'Letters to a Young Poet' has been like a bible to me.
The prize is three books off YOUR wishlist of 10 books. The way it works is you can send me a list of ten books you want or connect me with your wishlist at Amazon or IndieBound and I will choose three to get for you!
You can put 'Slut Lullabies' on your list...
You can email me at mirka AT chuckpalahniuk.net
such a great list, and some of my favorites for 2010 were on it too (and many of these I review up at Then Nervous Breakdown, so feel free to visit my profile there to see what i wrote about:
http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/author/rthomas/ )
TOP BOOKS (in no order) - SSC = short story collection
It Came From Del Rio by SGJ
The Ones That Got Away by SGJ (SSC)
Sarah Court by Craig Davidson (SSC)
Daddy's by Lindsay Hunter (SSC)
The Physics of Imaginary Objects by Tina May Hall (SSC)
In The Mean Time by Paul Tremblay (SSC)
The Wilding by Benjamin Percy
Stay God by Nik Korpon
Cienfuegos by Chris Deal (flash collection)
I'm 2/3 of the way through The Instructions and I love it.
I'd have to dig through my reviews. So much I haven't read, including a handful of books I really wanted to get to, but put aside to read books for the site. Like the two new Coupland books.The new David Mitchell.
But I dug Ellroy's new memoir, and the Brett Ellis book. And as if he doesn't get enough praise around here, I really dug It Came From Del Rio. I also liked Solar a lot, probably because it was something different for me. Liver by Will Self. Dude is a talented wordsmith. Lot of solid stuff.