A year in books: 2010

by Julia

I had the concentration span of a gnat this year, and I read comparatively less than I have in previous years. Like last year, I am writing this sweltering in a revolting Sydney summer, though this time I’m drinking bourbon, revisiting NIN’s Pretty Hate Machine, newly remastered. And so here we go!

The Complete list:

  • A Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
  • Hollywood Animal – Joe Eszterhas
  • Tess of the d’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
  • In Full View - Lily Brett
  • New York – Lily Brett
  • Between Mexico and Poland - Lily Brett
  • Palimpsest – Gore Vidal
  • Experience – Martin Amis
  • True Stories - Helen Garner
  • The Trial of Henry Kissinger - Christopher Hitchens
  • The Last Empire: Essays 1992 – 2000 – Gore Vidal
  • Who Wants to be a Billionaire? The James Packer Story - Paul Barry
  • The Rise and Rise of Kerry Packer – Paul Barry
  • Goodbye Babylon – Bob Ellis
  • Of a Boy - Sonya Hartnett
  • Jonestown: The Power and Myth of Alan Jones – Chris Masters
  • The Great Hangover – Graydon Carter (ed)
  • The Eclipse: Memoir of a Suicide – Antonella Gambotto
  • Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
  • The God of Driving - Amy Fine Collins
  • American Journeys - Don Watson
  • The Great American Bus Ride - Irma Kurtz
  • Just Kids – Patti Smith
  • The Member of the Wedding – Carson McCullers
  • Falling Man – Don DeLillo
  • Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – Jonathan Safran Foer
  • Things the Grandchildren Should Know – Mark Oliver Everett
  • The Missionary Position - Christopher Hitchens
  • No-one Left to Lie To – Christopher Hitchens
  • Fargo Rock City – Chuck Klosterman
  • All the President’s Men – Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward
  • Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ’72 – Hunter S Thompson
  • If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor – Bruce Campbell
  • Gone Baby Gone - Dennis Lehane
  • Mystic River – Dennis Lehane
  • Shutter Island - Dennis Lehane

    • Looking at this list, it’s interesting to see what patterns emerge. Typically I go through a big Lily Brett stage at least once a year, and I’m still obsessed with evil media barons. Some things never change! My reading plan for 2011 is quality over quantity, though I would like to read more than I did this year, and I’m taking part in an online book club dedicated to sci-fi novels written by women, which I think will be really interesting.

    Reading remains one of the things I love doing most.

    2 comments

    1 Inner West LIVE { 01.05.11 at 7:10 am }

    Book project 2010: update #26…

    I found your entry interesting thus I’ve added a Trackback to it on my weblog :) …

    2 A year in books: 2011 — Doom and Gloom { 12.30.11 at 8:49 am }

    [...] been keeping a list of every book I’ve read. The lists for 2009 and 2010 are here and here. This year I did substantially less reading and for that I blame the Internet and my now vanquished [...]

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