Books of the Decade

A lot of bloggers seem to be riffing on their top books of the decade.  Sadly, I lost track of all the books I'd read before I got on Goodreads, so I can only imagine how many books I read in the 2000s (what do we call that decade anyway?  The Zeroes? The Aughts? The Naughts?)

Anyway, I think the most significant changes I made to my reading habits were 1) starting library school -- I took three childrens/YA lit classes and got hooked on all the great authors writing for youth -- and 2) rediscovering the classics.  I've probably written before about how few classics I read in high school and college -- I'm really regretting not taking more lit classes (I sometimes fantasize about going back for another Master's!).  Anyhow, I'm really making up for lost time, and have discovered so many great classic authors and their works.  What really amazes me is how many classics I've read since I started on my quest -- my Goodreads list of "Classics Read" numbers 150; of those, I counted how many I'd read before 2000.  Only about 30, which means I've probably read One hundred and twenty classic books in the past ten years, most of them, really, since I got serious about it in 2005.  I've probably read more than 100 classics since 2005.  Wow.  I have another 150 classics on my to-read list, hopefully I'll make a pretty good dent in the list in the next ten years.  (Who am I kidding?  The list never gets smaller since I keep adding to it.  Oh, well, I suppose it's better than running out of books to read!)

These are the books first read this decade that I really think will stick with me. It was tough to choose, but I realize that all of these are books that I want to read over and over, so there you have it.  In alphabetical order by author, because I can't possibly rank them:

Persuasion and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen -- I love them both so much, I can't choose one over the other.

West with the Night by Beryl Markham --  Nonfiction that's as good as fiction.  This book is so wonderful, I tried to read it slowly to make it last longer.  Get the illustrated version if you can.

Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier -- now I'm fascinated by Vermeer.

Bleak House by Charles Dickens -- the ultimate Victorian writer.  You can't beat the cliffhangers and brilliantly intertwining plots and characters.  (Also a brilliant TV adaptation by the BBC!)

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman -- Fat Charlie is the son of a god and learns to deal with it.  The audio adaptation by Lenny Henry is hands-down my favorite audiobook of all time.  I bow to my librarian friend Melissa for recommending it.  I am forever in her debt.

Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell -- like Jane Austen, but with more pages so it lasts longer!

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. Heartbreaking and fascinating.

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones -- I seriously love this book as much as Harry Potter.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith --  Why did I wait so long to read this book.  Kicking myself! 

Travels with Charley in Search of America by John Steinbeck -- completely converted me to Steinbeck.

The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope -- I couldn't put it down, I've never read an 800 page book so fast.  And the timeliness of the financial scandals is pretty eerie.

The House of Mirth and Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton.  Both beautiful and tragic, but I can't choose one over the other.

So -- a great look back a great decade of reading!  I'm already immersed in some great books for 2010.