Minnesota Reads

1. Possession by A.S. Byatt: I can't say enough good things about this powerhouse of a novel. Byatt earns every one of “Possession's” 500+ pages by deftly crafting an intricate, thoroughly spellbinding story of parallel romances � two Victorian poets and the contemporary researchers who study them. Every bit as graceful, sophisticated and elegant as [...]

I thought that I’d have a hard time coming up with five good books this year. 2010 was full crap for me, reading-wise. But looking back, it was nice to see that I didn’t hate everything. Any little thing to starve off the jaded bitterness helps. 1. The Hunter by Julia Leigh: This was such [...]

These are the books that left the most lasting impressions on me this year. In no particular order: 1. Just Kids by Patti Smith — Just beautiful. 2. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green, David Levithan — This one made me so happy. 3. Anthropology of An American Girl by Hilary Thayer Hamann — [...]

Making a year-end best of list is the kind of exquisite torture that nerds of all stripes love to put themselves through. Some make arbitrary rules to extend the pain, others just dive in willy nilly with nary a second thought. I’m of the willy nilly party of list making. While this makes the list [...]

I read more books than I review, but since I reviewed less than 30 books in the last year, I think it's only fair that I don't give you the top 10 of those books. Instead I'm going to give you the top 5 books I read and the top 5 books I stopped reading. [...]

First, a few words: Sometime early in 2010, I promised myself that this list — which I totally love making and think about year-round — would be comprised of only things that were published in 2010. This seemed totally do-able. There were month-long pockets of reading where I believed bad writing was extinct, now, suddenly. [...]

1. Bag of Bones by Stephen King: It's not a new read, but it's definitely my favorite King book (and it gets better every time I read it). It doesn't improve with age in the same way The Great Gatsby does, but it has a sustainable storyline filled with memorable characters that I love coming [...]

These are my best 11 books of 09 (I think I made that clear in the title). The order of the books will be the first one will be the best and 11th will be the 11th best. 1. The Complete Maus: A Survivor’s Tale by Art Spiegelman 2. Mudville by Kurtis Scaletta 3. American [...]

10. The Fractured Fairy Tales of Lynn Roberts: Ms. Roberts, along with her illustrator brother, give us three charming renditions of some old classics. Cinderella as an 1920's flapper girl, Rapunzel as a long-haired hippie of the 1970's and Little Red, a brave little guy who gets the wolf to burp out Grandma with ginger [...]

2009 was a good year full of fantastic books, but I did run into books that I absolutely didn't enjoy. I found these books thanks to my old school's library, reading class, the Maud Hart Lovelace reading program, friends, my random pick, or read aloud. These books are in order from 10 to 1. A [...]

10. Hoot by Carl Hiaasen: I don’t think I’ve come across a Carl Hiaasen book yet that I haven’t enjoyed.As a young adult novel, Hoot has a slower pace and a thinner plot, but still a fun read. Like his adult novels,the characters are just as twisted, the humor is just as warped (that’s a [...]

My list is not that original, you may find many of these books on other best of lists for 2009, but hopefully that’s because they are good books. I’m behind the times with two of these titles – The Road and Push – but they both left lasting impressions on me this year. Here you [...]

1. Ray of the Star by Laird Hunt: Loved everything about this book! The writing is dynamic, the setting is exotic, and the plotline is filled with beauty and tragedy. [review] 2. The Invisible Mountain by Carolina De Robertis: This book is currently making the rounds with the ladies of my family. It is a [...]

1. State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America by Matt Weiland and Sean Wilsey: I love stories that create a sense of place, so this anthology of 50 essays by 50 authors, each about his or her own state, was a jackpot. Every three or four pages, you get a completely different tone and [...]

This year I read twenty books that earned my coveted 5-star rating. Here, in no particular order, are�the ten I feel were the best of those twenty. 1. In the Land of Invented Languages: Esperanto Rock Stars, Klingon Poets, Loglan Lovers, and The Mad Dreamers Who Tried to Build A Perfect Language: Arika Okrent [review] [...]