My Top 5 Reads For 2010

I have been thinking lots recently about books.  I absolutely love to read.  Earlier this year I bought myself a Kindle which has been fantastic.  Not just being able to store so many books but also being able to buy books almost instantly.  I hate running out of things to read and The Farm isn't close to any shops, let alone a book shop.  So, while I love words on paper, the idea of having access to so many books from home won me over.  I really can browse Amazon and then download a whole book in a minute or so.  Love, love, love it.  Its screen is easy to read and the battery last for a week or so if I don't have the wireless thingy on.

My Kindle also has wonderful rotating pictures, of all sorts of things and people, when the screen is asleep.

Jules Verne On My Kindle

Anyway - I have, as always, read stacks this year and thought I would share my top 5 books for 2010.

They are in no particular order except for the first which is my all time favourite for 2010.  I will be honest and say, that for me, it stood out head and shoulders above the rest!



1.  Must You Go : by Antonia Fraser

I adored this.  It is Antonia Fraser telling her own love story.  The book is about her relationship with the Nobel Prize winner and poet/playwright Harold Pinter.  It is littered with stories about their own relationship and details their friendships with the likes of Salman Rushdie.  Fraser is very obviously completely in love with Pinter but is not blind to his faults.  The way she details these, but makes it so blatantly clear she adores him regardless, was a high point.

It also chronicles a thirty year period and Fraser's views on the historical and political events that occur make for fascinating reading.  First and foremost though, it is about their relationship.  It is told with tenderness and the little stories about the poems he wrote for her and their obvious closeness were what really made this book for me. And, needless to say, it is absolutely beautifully written.



2. Wait For Me!: Memoirs: by Deborah Mitford, The Duchess of Devonshire

Again an autobiography.  This time it is Deborah Mitford detailing her life. Interesting bits include her childhood/ young adulthood as one of the famous/slightly notorious Mitford sisters and her experiences in wartime England. I found her stories around her friendship with JFK, particularly her experiences at the inauguration and funeral, fascinating.



3. The Millenium Trilogy: by  Stieg Larsson


Now I know that technically this is 3 books, but it is my blog and my booklist so I am going to count them as one! For the simple reason that I read them consecutively whilst in bed unwell.  I had managed to let these books pass me by for several years. Eventually I bowed to the pressure and was so glad I did.  How amazing are they? I am not going to explain anymore because pretty much everyone else would have already read them.  If not, get reading I say!



4. Fallen Skies: A Novel: by Philippa Gregory


This was a wonderful and somewhat bleak novel. It is still historical but more recent than Gregory's normal offerings. It chronicles the story of an English dance hall girl and her subsequent marriage in the years after World War I. Without giving away too many details, it does challenge the romantic stereotypes often seen in English Literature about WWI. There is not much Rupert Brooke type material here.



5. Jump!: by Jilly Cooper

I wasn't going to put this in but I can't help it. I have never been the sort of person to hide away daggy CDs or slightly trashy books so people will think I am more highbrow than I really am. I adore Jilly Cooper.  I think she is hilarious and bang on with her social commentary. She writes well but receives a huge amount of criticism in the literary world. All the while I am certain that she is laughing all the way to the bank. (At least I hope so). This is admittedly probably not her best effort but is still Jilly and hence in my eyes still a wonderful read.