J. Quinn Mallott is the author of The Evolution of Shadows and the publisher and editor in chief of The Project for a New Mythology literary magazine.
As an old bookseller, I know these kinds of lists are supposed to focus on books that were published this year. But, as a writer, and as someone who hordes books, I have to admit I don’t much pay attention to publication dates. So, here is a short list of the best books I read in 2010, but they weren’t all published this year. To me, the list seems pretty thin. My excuse is that I spent the last year writing a new novel and a lot of my reading consisted of research for that book, so I’m not including those books in this list. That would be boring. Another thing to keep in mind is that I read books slowly, and in clusters. I’ll have three or four books in a stack all at various stages. I’ll often set one down for long periods (to let what the author has done percolate in my subconscious), and I’ll read part of another book then another and finally back to the first one I started. So, included in this list are some books that I’ve been reading and that I’ll probably finish in the next two or three weeks, but I wouldn’t think to include them in a list of books read in 2011.
Sex At Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality
Perhaps the single most shocking and thoroughly entertaining non-fiction book I read this year.
An excellent debut from a fellow Unbridled author, and a wonderful look at a difficult relationship between a father and son. A perfect book gift for men who occasionally read fiction, and have fathers. So, then, it’s good for all men.
You Couldn’t Ignore Me If You Tried: The Brat Pack, John Hughes, and Their Impact on a Generation
This book landed right in my generational sweet spot and has me planning a John Hughes 80’s teen flashback party. Too bad I can’t fit into my parachute pants anymore (if your image of “parachute” pants is synonymous with “Hammer pants” and “You Can’t Touch This” you’re in the wrong half of the 80’s).
The Bullpen Gospels: Major League Dreams of a Minor League Veteran
This was my spring baseball book, and I’d put it right up there with The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn: just as insightful and honest about baseball as that classic, but much, much funnier.
Into Their Labors Trilogy: Pig Earth, Once in Europa, and Lilac & Flag
John Berger is one of those writers I have been book-stalking for years. An astoundingly empathetic writer, these three novels deal with the loss of the peasant working class in Europe and their often rough and self-destructive assimilation into the modern, mechanize and monetized world.
An intense little novel about an aspiring writer in 1930’s Los Angeles, who falls in love with a waitress who spurns him.
The Country Where No One Ever Dies
This is one of the books I’m about to finish. Vorpsi is an Albanian writer living in Paris. So far I’m thoroughly enjoying this one.
A strange, surrealist novel recommended to me by Colin Dickey (author of Cranioklepty), and another in my as-of-yet-unfinished but only a few chapters to go pile.
Laird Hunt, in my opinion, is one of the smartest and most inventive literary novelists in America right now, so if you’re not up for this one, check out The Impossibly, or Indiana, Indiana. If you read Ray of the Star don’t tell me, it’s next on my list of books to be read when I get done with this one.
A reread from years ago. Colette is good to return to every now and then. It’s like eating chocolate chip cookie dough at 2 am in the morning at 40 years old. You don’t want to do it every night because then you’ll get fat. But every once in a while, it’s good to indulge in those decadent pleasures of the past.
That's kind of how 2011 looks for me.
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