Favorite books of 2010

It’s time for those Ten Best Books of 2010 lists—except that in my case I can’t narrow it down to ten, and I’m more interested in letting you know about books I enjoyed than those I thought were “best.”

Some of the books below I’ve already reviewed or blogged about, but others I haven’t mentioned at all. Some are new and some are quite old. I have omitted some favorites that I reread this year and considered only books that were new to me.

I’m sure that in some cases I’ve been influenced by factors outside the book itself. For instance, Henry David Thoreau: An American Landscape showed me how an idea I’d had myself and nearly abandoned as unworkable could be carried off deftly. And my choice of Super Sad True Love Story was reinforced by seeing Gary Shteyngart interviewed at the Brooklyn Library, and by his wonderful book trailer. ("I so much prefer early Ian MacEwan to late Ian MacEwan” has become a running joke in my home.)

Here’s the list, with the books in the order that I read them. I’m struck, among other things, with how much of the fiction I enjoyed this year is classified as “speculative.”

• The Rings of Saturn by W.G. Sebald
• Beneath the Lion’s Gaze by Maaza Mengiste
• Dreams in a Time of War by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
• Reality Hunger by David Shields
• The Ask by Sam Lipsyte
• Just Kids by Patti Smith
• The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
• Henry David Thoreau: An American Landscape edited by Robert L. Rothwell
• The City & The City by China Miéville
• The Secret History of Science Fiction edited by James Patrick Kelly and John Kessel
• The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
• Hitch-22 by Christopher Hitchens
• Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart
• Charm City by Madison Smartt Bell
• The Well in the Rain by Tony Curtis
• Lavinia by Ursula K. LeGuin
• Without Stopping by Paul Bowles
• Nemesis by Philip Roth
• The Diary of Samuel Pepys ed. Richard LeGallienne
• Eternity and Other Stories by Lucius Shepard

Plus a last-minute post-Christmas addition:

• Saffron and Brimstone by Elizabeth Hand