My Favorite Books - 2010

Here are my picks for the top three books read in 2010, all of which are described briefly below along with other favorites, under the categories of Fiction, Non-Fiction and Published Prior to 2010. I would love to know your favorites for 2010, so please comment:

#1 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

#2 Full Dark – No Stars by Stephen King

#3 The Woman Behind The New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR'S Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience by Kristin Downey (published in 2009)

TOP FIVE – FICTION 2010

Full Dark – No Stars by Stephen King

Four detestably satisfying tales of human depravity set in the context of everyday people. I haven’t read Stephen King in years, and perhaps that is why I relished this book. It is right up there with King's The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, but jucier - if you know what I mean!

Backseat Saints by Joshilyn Jackson
Joshilyn Jackson had me at “"It was an airport gypsy who told me I had to kill my husband." Backseat Saints, as well as all of Jackson’s books, are full of southern characters and culture (minus the caricatures), and plenty-o-plot, red herrings and suspense.

Little Bee: A Novel by Chris Cleave
Beautifully written story of a young girl from Nigeria (Little Bee), whose life, under horrifying circumstance, becomes entangled with those of an English couple visiting Nigeria on holiday.

Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok
A coming of age story, but the context in which it is told, the enormous cultural crevasse between China and America, makes it exceptional. If Jean Kwok can write beyond the reflection of her own history (she, like her main character Kimberly immigrated from China to Manhattan), we’re in store for more wonderful stories!

House Rules by Jodi Picoult
Picoult always takes on controversial topics, and presents them interestingly. She also writes lots of books, but it seems they’re always just a baby-step away from fabulous. House Rules is about autism and murder.

TOP FIVE - NON-FICTION 2010
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Story about a poor black woman whose cancerous cell samples were taken without her consent shortly before she died of cervical cancer in 1951, and were eventually grown in massive vats, leading to a cure for polio, breakthroughs in gene mapping and a multi-billion dollar industry.
Click on Read More Below...

One Hundred Things My Mother Taught Me A Million Times – Chapter 61

(This is the house I grew up in. Funny, I thought we were rich and our house was huge!)

#61– “Take good care of your teeth.”

Some of the things mom taught me a million times just seem so obvious, like #61, “Take good care of your teeth.” But when I was busy being a teenager, a college student, a wife and mother, and a career woman, taking care of my teeth didn’t seem that important – probably because I have superior teeth. Case in point (an idiom - my word of the day), my dental appointments go something like this...

Receptionist: “May I help you?”

Me: “I have an appointment.”

Receptionist: “Are you a new patient?”

Me: “No, I’ve been a patient of Dr. O’s for 20 years.”

Receptionist: “Well, I’ve been Dr. O’s receptionist for 20 years and I don’t remember you.”

Me: “I know. You never do. I’m the one that you never make any money off of.”

Receptionist: “Oh yes, I remember you now.” 

You would think she was paid a commission.

Actually the only person excited to see me is the dental hygienist, who always remembers that I’m such an easy cleaning job that she can plan her vacation and write poetry while working on me.  I also know that at some point I will become the dental equivalent of a cadaver. Click on Read More Below...