Some favorite books of the decade
Inspired by Jenn, I’ve made a list of some favorites among the books I’ve read that have been published since the year 2000. It’s not a list of the best books of the decade, or even the best books I’ve read myself—just those that I remember having read with particular pleasure.
Several of these books are here because they made me laugh. It was a tough decade.
Anil’s Ghost by Michael Ondaatje (2000)
The story of a woman forensic scientist in Sri Lanka. Gorgeous descriptions of temples and tropical landscape
A Primate’s Memoir by Robert Sapolsky (2001)
A smart and funny account of life among the baboons of Kenya.
Notes from the Hyena’s Belly by Nega Mezlekia (2001)
A pungent Ethiopian memoir.
How to Lose Friends and Alienate People by Toby Young (2002)
One of the funniest books I’ve ever read (and smarter and funnier than the movie).
Purple Cow by Seth Godin (2002)
A must-read for anyone in marketing and communications.
Instruments of Darkness by Robert Wilson (2003)
The first of a series of sharp neo-noir mysteries set in and around Benin.
Rats by Robert Sullivan (2004)
So good it inspired me to find the L-shaped alleyway downtown where Sullivan spent hours watching rat behavior. (And no, there are not actually more rats than people in New York City.)
Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace (2005)
Cerebral riffs, footnotes within footnotes, and a good case for not eating lobsters.
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel (2007)
A moving memoir of an odd and troubled family—told in pictures.
The Wild Trees by Richard Preston (2007)
Worth reading if only for the description of what it’s like to fall from a giant redwood (and survive).
The Drowned Life by Jeffrey Ford (2008)
Strange, eerie examples of “autobiographical fabulism.”
The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2009)
A moving, unsettling, and ambitious addition to an impressive body of work.
The Journal of Henry David Thoreau, ed. Damion Searls (2009)
A canny, creative abridgement of the 14-volume original.
