You know, everyone else is doing lists, so now that the year is over, so am I. Here are the best books I read in 2010!
- Howard Zinn – A People’s History of the United States. Either a long-overdue look at the disenfranchised and overlooked victims in America’s rise to power or a screed of anti-American socialist dogma. Take your pick, but I know which side I come down on.
- Warren Ellis – Crooked Little Vein. A trip through Weird America, introducing you to the things people do that you didn’t know people did.
- Max Brooks – World War Z. An oral history of the Zombie War. Enthralling, exciting, disturbing.
- Apostolos Doxiadis & Christos Papadimitriou – Logicomix. A graphic novel involving the search for ultimate truth. So involving that I had to read it several times in a row.
- Barry Hughart – Bridge of Birds. It’s rare that a book shoots right into the “favorite books” category, but this one did it.
- James Randi – Flim-Flam! This book is great to give to people who you want to be more skeptical in their lives. A harsh takedown of the ways we try to fool ourselves and others.
- Elaine Pagels, The Origin of Satan. Reading this was like taking a trip back to the early Church, and realizing that they were all just making it up as they went along.
- North, Bennardo, and Malki ! – Machine of Death. Personally, I’m hoping for HEAT DEATH OF THE UNIVERSE, but we can’t all get what we want.
- Robert Kirkman – The Walking Dead, Compendium 1. A really good zombie comic, something I don’t usually find myself reading.
- Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha – Sex at Dawn. A funny and very compelling look at the nature of human sexuality, at least before we invented agriculture and screwed everything up.
I don’t really have a “worst” list, because my baseline for “worst” is The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket, so this is more like my “Meh List.”
- Lois Gresh and Robert Weinberg – The Science of Supervillains. Much like their Science of Superheroes book, it focused more on why comic books get science wrong than what comics can teach us about science.
- Robert Heinlein – Starship Troopers. A love letter to militarism, thinly disguised as a science fiction novel.
- Terry Pratchett – Unseen Academicals. This isn’t Terry’s fault, it’s mine. The book is about soccer, and I really couldn’t care less about soccer.
- Henry Hitchings – The Secret Life of Words. I like words, but this was every bit as boring as people who don’t like words think that books about words might be.
- Robert Heinlein – I Will Fear no Evil. It would be a great story, if there was a story there. As it was, it was a memoir at best. A really weird memoir, but still….
- John Scalzi – The God Engines. A really cool idea that didn’t seem to come to life for me. If he explores it further, though, I will happily read it.
That’s it! How about you – what were the best, worst, and meh-est books you read this year?
Have a happy New Year, and keep reading!
– Chris
The Labyrinth Library 
Thanks for the lists, Chris.
I’ve been looking for some good books to read, and am going to keep the books you’ve mentioned in mind. You’ve got a nice blog going here. I shall continue to visit. 🙂
– Roshni
Having just read your other reviews of Pratchett books, I am astonished that you apparently missed the rest of the story in “Unseen Academicals.” I loathe soccer, and I liked the story of the redemption of the baker, the street boy, the candle dribbler, the fashionista, the goddess, the necromancer, and the game, all of which rose above a degraded history with some help but also through some effort of their own.
Don’t worry – I caught the redemptive plotlines. When I podcast the review, I hope you’ll rest a little easier. *smile* It’s just that the soccer aspect of it was like a fly stuck in my ear – concentrating on the good bits got challenging.