It’s time for another list of the top something of the decade, and this time I’ve chosen books. But not just any books. You see, even getting to this point was a struggle. All the top selling lists were clogged with Harry Potter and Twilight. Ick, I know. But any list put together by “experts” are books that I hadn’t read. I was at an impasse. So I looked over my bookshelf, and found inspiration. This is my list of the book’s of the 2000s that I read in the 2000s. That are currently on my bookshelf. I do read more than 8 books a decade.
1. Steven Galloway – The Cellist of Sarajevo
Love. Love. Love. While I was reading this, I was writing a history paper about Slobodan Milosevic, i.e. exactly the time period this book was written about. I loved that this book gave me a more humanistic perspective on all my academic facts. Unfortunately, the real Cellist of Sarajevo is not nearly as pleased with this book.
2. Audrey Niffennegger - The Time Traveller’s Wife
Again, hearts all around. I read this book when I was in Holland with parents, so perhaps I associate it with positive feelings of traveling. Also, when I got sick of all my relatives speaking Dutch, I could pick up this book and they would stop talking to me. I’m so social.
The movie wasn’t near as good as the book (isn’t that just the story of life?) What made it worse is that there were 12-ish year old girls behind me and they kept gigging and making stupid comments throughout. So do yourself a favor: read the book and avoid annoying pre-teens.
3. Dan Brown - Angels and Demons, The DaVinci Code, The Lost Symbol
Dear Dan Brown, I heart you and your super smart books that in turn, increase my knowledge about a subject, if not make me a little paranoid about the Illuminati. I discovered in The Lost Symbol that Robert Langdon and I drink the same type of coffee (Sumatra). I’m not really sure how that relates to the actual books, but it makes me feel smarter as I drink my morning coffee. And look for ambigrams.
4. Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Love in the Time of Cholera
BOOO. This book is all hype and no payoff. One of the greatest love stories my foot! I’ve tried to read this book 4 times, and each time give up around page 50. I think I need to learn Italian and read it in the original. I’ve trudged through Martha Nussbaum, and can’t get trough this.
5. Mark Haddon - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time
I’m lukewarm about this book. On the one hand, it was really cute and a good story, but I don’t feel like I gained anything from it, unfortunately. It was a mediocre.
Well, there you have it. What are your favorite books from the 2000s? Or even just your favorite book of all time?
