Notable Reads of 2010

2010 is coming to a close, and I'd thought I'd celebrate by wrapping up some of the more notable books I read this year.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

First off, when I get off my butt and decorate my library with notable book covers, this is going to be the first to go up. But man, what a book. I'm not sure what made it so awesome for me. The decadence? The sin of it all? The setting? When I finished it, I sat for a good half hour just enjoying the aftertaste. On a side note, Baz Luhrmann is directing a movie adaptation of it, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire (may have to see that one).

Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures by Robert K. Wittman

I may have to save most of my comments for a later FBI related post, but this was a really fun autobiography of the man in charge of recovering lost art, working most notably on the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum heist. I also got to see him speak and meet him, and he was a really cool guy.

She (Penguin Classics) by H. Rider Haggard

I love a good Victorian yarn as much as the next person, and this one tops my list. It was a close call between this and King Solomon's Mines, but Ayesha decided it. She Who Must Be Obeyed...indeed. Also, for your viewing pleasure, I've included one of Penguin's covers for this book (this one will also be added to my library wall).

The Hunger Games: Book 1 by Suzanne Collins

This series was a huge phenomenon this year (obviously). I picked it up rather late, which ended out working in my favor - massive cliff-hangers, anyone? As a whole I enjoyed the entire series, but the first was by far the best.

Changes (Dresden Files, Book 12) by Jim Butcher

Followers of the series know what poor Harry had to go through in this book. If you still haven't read the series, please just go out and buy the first book, Storm Front . You'll thank me later :)

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

I am now officially hooked on detective fiction. Probably would have never picked it up if it weren't for the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list, but of course I'm glad I did. I also read The Long Goodbye, considered by most Chandler's masterpiece, but I think Marlowe's inner struggles were too much for me. I also felt the pacing of this one was better. Now, any target shooting with crazy heiresses has been crossed off my to-do list.

Other Notables: I read the entire Percy Jackson & the Olympians series (including the first of the new series The Lost Hero) which were tons of fun, and was introduced to Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody mysteries (love love love!).  On the romance front, Zoe Archer's Blades of the Rose series was my favorite of the year, with exotic locales and paranormal elements (a great twist on your usual regency). My two favorite indie books were Radium Halos (A novel about the Radium Dial Painters) by Shelley Stout and Boomerang by Alan Hutcheson.

If you'd like to see my whole list of books read for the year, click here (my official tally on Goodreads).

Spotlight on Series: The Dresden Files

Alternate title: "Yes, please, I have way too much time on my hands so I'd be delighted to read a series of 11 books that's showing no signs of slowing down."

A year or so ago I happened to catch a few episodes of "The Dresden Files" on a marathon. It was a SciFi original series that, unfortunately, only lasted one season before it was cancelled. Flash forward to January of this year - I was going through my TiVo Season Passes and lamenting that SciFi couldn't even play reruns of the show for my enjoyment, when I ambled over to IMDB to learn more (I have the unfortunate habit of looking up any movie or TV show I watch for interesting facts). Turns out, the series was based on a series of books by Jim Butcher.

I immediately bought the first one, Storm Front, and downloaded it to my Sony Reader. By May, I had read the entire series (including the latest book, which was released that month). And that was trying to stretch it out as long as I possibly could. I'm not sure what made this series so deliciously awesome, but I'll try and put my finger on it.

The main character, Harry Dresden, is a wizard for hire in the city of Chicago. This is modern day Chicago though, so don't expect everyone to believe he's a wizard. You might be thinking, gee, this sounds an awful lot like a recent young adult series that took over the entire world, and you'd be slightly right. The Dresden Files is a Harry Potter for grownups. Yup, evil forces are always trying to take over the world and it seems like Harry Dresden is the only one who can stop them. Also like HP, you've got a great cast of mythological creatures (such as vampires, ghosts, zombies and werewolves) and other occult references. But what Harry Potter doesn't have is a millenia-old talking skull named Bob that has an addiction to cheap romance novels. That in itself should give you an idea of what you'd be expecting from this series.

I loved the "snarkiness" of Harry Dresden, who is really just sick of dealing with all of this crap with bad guys trying to take over the world, all the while he can hardly afford to pay his rent. But when push comes to shove, he's a guy you can count on. He's constantly struggling to portray himself as a good guy (he's had some black marks against him in the past), and some of the best parts of the series are when he realizes that what he's about to do, even though he knows it's right, will push him back in bad-guy territory in the eyes of others.

I've recommended this series to many people, and almost all of those who tried it out enjoyed it as much as I did. The rest stumbled around book four, but kept with it and said that the series picks up after that. Here's the series order (links go to amazon.com)

#1- Storm Front

#2- Fool Moon

#3- Grave Peril

#4- Summer Knight

#5- Death Masks

#6- Blood Rites

#7- Dead Beat

#8- Proven Guilty

#9- White Night

#10- Small Favor

#11- Turn Coat

Book #12, Changes (Dresden Files, Book 12), comes out in April 2010, and looking at the description it is sounding really good. I'm honestly not sure how I'm going to make it that far. Anyway, if I still haven't convinced you to give this series a shot, feel free to check out the TV show, which is available for free viewing on Hulu.com (note: the TV series was aired out of order, and the pilot was meant for later in the series. "Storm Front" was meant to be the pilot, and should be viewed first).

I really enjoyed this series, and I hope you do to! This series is available at all bookstores, and is also available in ebook from the major retailers.

Genre: Fiction - Fantasy