Here they are, my top picks for 2005. No, they weren’t all perfect 10/10s, but they’re the ones that I loved the best, that made me look at the world in a new way, that kept me thinking about them for months after I’d turned the last page, that made me laugh and/or cry. Simply, they’re the ones that stuck.

Top 10 Fiction Reads of 2005

(Note: These are books I read in 2005, not necessarily books that were released in 2005)

10. Life & Times of Michael K by J.M. Coetzee
9. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
8. Nora Jane: A Life in Stories by Ellen Gilchrist
7. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
6. The Turning by Tim Winton
5. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
4. The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar
3. Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
2. Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson
1. Specimen Days by Michael Cunningham

Top 10 Non-Fiction Reads of 2005

(Note: Again, these are books I read in 2005, not necessarily books that were released in 2005)

10. Nice Girls Don’t Get Rich by Lois P. Frankel
9. The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki
8. Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
7. Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her by Melanie Rehak
6. America by Jon Stewart
5. Mistress Bradstreet: The Untold Life of America’s First Poet by Charlotte Gordon
4. The Shadow of the Sun by Ryszard Kapuscinski
3. Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell
2. Harvest for Hope by Jane Goodall
1. Acquainted with the Night: Excursions Through the World After Dark by Christopher Dewdney

Worst of…Or not

I’d intended to do a ‘Worst of’ list for 2005, but I tossed aside a large number of clunkers, and since I didn’t finish them, they never made it onto my list, nevermind managed to earn a review. Having said that, there was only one book that I read from start to finish last year that truly set my teeth grinding, especially because I’ve enjoyed so many of his other books: The Twelfth Card by Jeffery Deaver. I might have wept a little from telling myself ‘It’s bound to get better’ just one time too many.

Happy reading in 2006!