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2010 Year in Review: Kimberly’s Picks

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Compared to previous years, I read a lot in 2010 – about 30 more books than I read in 2009.  Last year, I posted a run-down of the memorable books of the year, and I’m doing something similar for 2010.  Once again, these aren’t books that were necessarily published in 2010, just ones I read in 2010.

Best Book of 2010
Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness

This was an easy pick – it’s both the best book published in 2010 and the best book I read in 2010.  No other book even comes close to its combination of spectacular writing, important themes, and fascinating plot (I often say that these three things make up the Best Book Trifecta).

Best Book of 2010 – Runner Up
The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex

Published in 2007, this book was such a delightful and refreshing surprise.  It’s interesting and oh so funny.  It’s not often I laugh out loud while reading, but this one made me do just that page after page.  I can still recall favorite lines, even though I’ve yet to read it more than once.  Do yourself a favor: read this book and be happy.

Best Audiobook
His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman

2010 was the year I decided to give the audiobooks of my most favorite books ever a try, and I’m glad I did.  Pullman narrates and the dialogue is brought to life by a full cast.  All the characters sounded right and everything just worked perfectly.  I’ll definitely be listening to these again soon.

Best Audiobook – Runner Up #1
Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd  

So lovely and heartbreaking – a coming of age story that breathes new life into the coming of age genre.  Wonderful combination of beautiful writing and excellent narration. 

Best Audiobook – Runner Up #2
Feed by M.T. Anderson

The story was good, but the audio production was amazing.  It’s also the only audiobook I’ve listened to that was able to use sound effects without sounding incredibly cheesy.  In fact, the sound effects made the audiobook.  Kelly raved that it was the “best audiobook ever,” and that’s pretty close to the truth.  Read her Twitter-style review here. 

Worst Narration
Tie: First Light by Rebecca Stead and Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson

Both pretty good stories (First Light in particular) made almost unbearable by poor narration – bad accents, voices that sound much too old for the characters, hokey inflections.  Too bad.

Best Graphic Novel
Fables by Bill Willingham

2010 is the year I really dove into graphic novels.  There have been some definite clunkers (Scott Pilgrim) but also some definite winners (Brain Camp).  My favorites by far, though, have been the Fables comics by Bill Willingham.  They’re full of clever ideas and interesting, three-dimensional characters, and I’ve been so impressed by how the story has developed.

Book I Most Look Forward to Giving to Patrons
Delirium by Lauren Oliver

This one doesn’t publish until 2011, and I’m so excited to be able to tell my patrons about it.  It’s a book whose subject matter (dystopian love story) is so in style right now, but it’s also not predictable and the writing is excellent.  Look for more on the book from us at STACKED in 2011.

Biggest Disappointment   
Across the Universe by Beth Revis

It wasn’t a bad book, but I was so psyched to read it after the stellar first chapter and so let down by the rest of it.  The concept is interesting and the cover is, in my opinion, terrific, so I know this one will sell itself, but I wanted so much more from it.

Worst Book Read in 2010

Going Bovine by Libba Bray
So bad.  Just so so bad.  I know many who love it, but no one could convince me that the book has any redeeming qualities.   The poor narration (I listened to it on audio) made it worse, but I would have disliked it intensely in print format as well.  Honorable Mention goes to Last Summer of the Death Warriors.

Most Anticipated of 2011

I loved the Abhorsen Chronicles when I was a teenager and am so thrilled that a prequel about Chlorr of the Mask is planned for release in 2011.  Looks like I’d better get started re-reading.

Most Anticipated of 20??

Who knows when this will be published.  Sigh.  At least I have the (what looks to be) awesome HBO series to look forward to in the spring.   

2010 Favorites: Jen’s Picks

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I read a lot this year. At the time of this post, I’m currently on my 244th book on the year (including 32 picture books). Going back through my Goodreads list was actually a lot of fun, especially when I noticed that my favorites covered the spectrum of genres, from dystopian to contemporary and historical fiction to nonfiction. I adored books published this year and devoured older books that I finally got my hands on. And I fell in love with young adult, middle grade, and adult books alike.
As 2010 was the year I started to listen to audiobooks (also known as the year my commute improved INFINITELY), I have included my five favorite audiobooks of the year, as well. While I’m most definitely not finished reading for the year, here are my literary highlights of 2010.
THE TOP TEN:
10. Sugar and Ice, by Kate Messner
Kate Messner is rapidly becoming one of my favorite middle grade authors. This story of Claire Boucher, a small town New York girl plucked from her maple farm and dropped into the world of competitive skating, is charming. Messner truly knows how to portray middle-schoolers, and her characters and situations are realistic and vivid. I especially appreciate the ‘realness’ of Claire, her friends, and her family. Claire loves math and is fascinated with Fibonacci numbers. Her family is close and loving, all pitching in to accomplish the tasks associated with running a maple farm. And her best friend Natalie is an amateur beekeeper. In a time when so many books seem to glorify materialism, Messner provides a bright spark of warmth, love, and humanity.
9. Monsters of Men, by Patrick Ness
Ness’ conclusion to the amazing Chaos Walking trilogy was much more satisfying to me than Suzanne Collins’ Mockingjay. As Todd and Viola approach their final confrontation with the cruelly compelling Mayor Prentiss, the Spackle take a more central role in the action.
8. Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie, by Jordan Sonnenblick
Thirteen year old Steven must cope with both adolescence and grief when his five year old brother Jeffy is diagnosed with leukemia. A combination of sad, poignant, heart-breaking, and funny, Steven and Jeffrey will stay in your heart. (The sequel, After Ever After, is also highly recommended.)
7. The Red Umbrella, by Christina Diaz-Gonzales
Diaz-Gonzales tells the story of fourteen year old Lucia, who, with her younger brother, becomes part of Operation Peter Pan, a movement which sent more than 14,000 children to the United States to live with friends, relatives, homes, or foster familes after Fidel Castro’s regime took hold of Cuba. This book was full of heart, humor, and the simple daily events of growing up, filtered through an intriguing historical event.
6. Anna and the French Kiss, Stephanie Perkins
A charming, sparkling love story filled with realistic characters, clever dialogue, and palpable chemistry. Perkins is an author to watch. You can find my full review here.
5. Before I Fall, by Lauren Oliver
Oliver’s debut novel manages the difficult task of humanizing a mean girl, Sam, who must repeat the same day over and over in order to atone after her death. The ‘Groundhog Day’-like repetitions, while similar, each manage to have a nuance and originality of their own, making the gradual transformation of Sam ring true.

4. Mostly Good Girls, by Leila Sales
Sales writes a poignant tale of best-friendship torn apart that is so much more than the misleading pair of legs on the cover. The writing is fresh, witty, original, and utterly hilarious, and the anecdotal style of the chapters works very well.
3. Penny Dreadful, by Laurel Snyder
Magical and enchanting. Laurel Snyder creates a character to fall in love with in Penny, the young girl who can not help but wish it was magic that caused her family to move from a large, lonely house in the city to an inherited property in Tennessee when her father abruptly quits his job. As the family interacts with a large, quirky cast of characters, the reader is witness to the true power of friendship, love, and determination.
2. The Help, Kathryn Stockett
It’s shocking to read this story of 1960s Mississippi and realize how far our society has come in the past 50 years. When young Skeeter Phelan sets out to write an expose of how black maids are treated in her community, lives are rocked. I was enraptured by the 3 distinct voices in this story. Stockett truly brings Skeeter, Miss Celia and Aibileen to life.

My #1 favorite book of the year: Room, by Emma Donoghue
Stunning, heartbreaking, and emotional, Room features some of the most amazing writing and perhaps the most vivid voice I have ever witnessed in print. Narrated by 5 year old Jack, Room tells the story of Jack and his Ma, who was abducted by Old Nick seven years ago and imprisoned in his fortress-like garden shed. While this premise may sound depressing, to Jack, the room they live is his entire world, and witnessing his world-view, love for his mother, and utter innocence and honesty is an emotional journey for the reader. It is ultimately a story of love, despair, discovery, and hope, one that will stay with me forever.

AUDIOBOOKS

5. The Goose Girl, by Shannon Hale
My first experience with Full Cast Audio, this was a lush production of Shannon Hale’s adaptation of the traditional Goose Girl fairy tale. When Ani is betrayed and her identity taken over by her lady in waiting, Selia, Ani must somehow reclaim her true identity–in the meantime hiding in plain sight as a goose girl. Ani is a multi-layered character who overcomes her limitations in order to triumph, and the voice cast is top notch. Shannon Hale writes beautiful, vivid prose, and her phrasing paints stunning pictures.

4. Dairy Queen, by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
DJ Schwenk is a tomboy, not too smart, and responsible for helping run her family’s dairy farm. But everything changes when she decides to try out for the football team and starts crushing hard on the quarterback of her rival team, Brian Nelson. Narrator Natalie Moore has a fantastic Wisconsin acc
ent and an open, engaging voice.
3. Life as We Knew It, by Susan Beth Pfeffer
When an asteroid hits the moon, no one knows how much life is going to change. But Miranda tells the whole story of her family and the country’s struggle to survive in her diary, mixing the mundane concerns of adolescence with the greater food shortages and volcano eruptions threatening the world. Narrator Emily Bauer has the perfect innocent, confiding tone for this story.

2. I Am the Messenger,by Marcus Zuzak
Zuzak is simply amazing. When Ed Kennedy receives a playing card with four addresses on it, he has no idea how his life is about to change. Soon he is sent on a mission, traveling throughout his downtrodden city in order to help random strangers with their problems, serving as a guardian angel while simultaneously helping himself. You can find my full review here.

1. Born to Run, by Christopher McDougall
McDougall tells the story of the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico, an ancient tribe known for both their reclusion and their amazing long-distance running skills. Mixing together historical details with scientific facts about the benefits of barefoot running and the narrative of a modern-day 50 mile race through the Mexican desert, McDougall crafts a smart, engaging, and fascinating story. As a runner, I was riveted. As a reader, I was impressed.

Audiosynced: First Light by Rebecca Stead

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I quite enjoyed When You Reach Me, Rebecca Stead’s 2010 Newbery winner, so I was pleased to pick up another of her novels, First Light, on audio from my library. The story sounded interesting. One half of it follows an American boy, Peter, who travels with his scientist parents to Greenland for a few months where they plan to study global warming. Upon arriving in Greenland, he begins to get weird headaches and starts to see things he hasn’t before. He also suspects something is very wrong with his mother.
The second half follows Thea, a girl who lives under the ice as part of a society that fled the surface generations ago due to some unnamed persecution. Thea’s and Peter’s stories (told in alternating viewpoints between the two) eventually intersect, and what ensues is part adventure, part science fiction.
I had such hopes for this book. I didn’t expect anything earth-shattering – just a good read. And I think it would have been a good read had I read it with my eyes and not my ears.
The narration pretty much ruined the story for me. It was voiced by two separate narrators: female for Thea’s story and male for Peter’s. Thea’s character was supposed to have an English accent, but for some reason a narrator with an American accent was chosen. She was not to be discouraged by this fact, though. She valiantly attempted to speak all of Thea’s dialogue in an English accent. It was bad, folks. Not pretty at all.
Peter’s narrator (also an American) doesn’t get a free pass. While Peter himself has an American accent, his mother is English, and the narrator did a pretty bad hatchet job with it. Peter’s sections still weren’t as terrible, though, since luckily his mother didn’t speak all that often.
Add to this the fact that the female narrator’s attempts to voice characters with deeper vocal registers also failed (even the grandmother sounded odd, not just the males), and you have a deeply unsatisfying audiobook. (Also, it irritated me to no end that Thea’s name was pronounced tay-uh by both narrators, when I read it as thee-uh on the back of the case. My pronunciation is probably just completely wrong, but I like being able to pronounce things incorrectly in my head when I read.)
Maybe I’ve been spoiled by (American female) Barbara Rosenblat, who can voice both English and male characters like nobody’s business. Maybe I’ve been equally spoiled by Jim Dale, whose voice is so expressive he could make me think a bad accent was completely intentional (all his accents are terrific, though).
I’ve listened to audiobooks where the narration was merely so-so, and I was able to hear the book shine through it. This was not one of those instances. I think the writing and the story of First Light are good, and the book’s demise in audio is very unfortunate. Definitely pick this one up in print.

AudioSynced, October Edition

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Welcome to another month of AudioSynced, your roundup of reviews, news, and other audiobook related stories from October 1 until now. If you’ve got something audiobook related on your blog, share it in the comments and I’ll add it! Next month, make sure you head over to Abby (the) Librarian‘s blog where she’ll be hosting.

News:

This month marked the launch of new audiobook publisher Iambik. The founder was also the founder of LibriVox. To learn more, check out this release and their website.

Have you checked out Audible yet? If you haven’t perhaps the idea of two free audiobook downloads will convince you. Just head to this site and sign up. It’s easy to use and the amount of titles they have available is incredible.

Views:

Julia of Spine Label shares with readers what makes an audiobook awesome. She’s serving on the “Awesome Audiobooks” committee for YALSA, which creates a list of the best of the best. Check it out.

On SLJ’s Practically Paradise blog, Susan shares her plea for audiobooks at her school and discusses how she uses them (and how the kids respond).

Devourer of Books offers her take on how to best choose an audiobook for those who haven’t tried one yet. Practical and helpful!

Jenn at Jenn’s Bookshelves has featured haunted books over the last few posts of hers, and in her final post, she’s offering up the opportunity for 9 people to win spooky audiobooks by some of the biggest names in creepy stories. Enter to win here through November 12.

Reviews:

We’re back! Jen shared a review of Marcus Zusak’s I Am the Messanger here at STACKED.

Abby brings us two reviews this month. First up is the middle grade title The Broken Bike Boy and the Queen of 33rd Street and then she shared a review of Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan.

Lee over at Reading with My Ears has gotten back into the swing of posting this month, bringing us 5 reviews! Check out reviews of The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, Stephen King’s The Long Walk, Rachel Ward’s Numbers, non-fiction pick (still sitting on my to-be-read pile) The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind, and Laura Amy Schlitz’s The Night Fairy.

Rhapsody in Books gives us a review of Jon Stewart’s Earth on audio this month.

Have news or reviews to share this month? Pop ’em in the comments to be added!