While we loved fiction in 2010, it’s the year’s non-fiction books that gave us a chance to really spread out and move from drunken adventures across Europe on justification as to why we didn’t continue our studies in Russian literature on an academic level.
1. And The Pursuit of Happiness by Maira Kalman
It may have not been the most inspiring year for America, but Ms. Kalman’s book of drawings made us want to revisit everything that is truly great about this country. One of the most beautiful books to come out in a long time.
2. Everything Is Going to Be Great: An Underfunded and Overexposed European Grand Tour by Rachel Shukert
I think we may have gotten a little ahead of ourselves when we said this was the funniest book of the year, considering it had just come out.
Thank goodness for end of year lists where we can look back and say we were right.
3. The Possessed by Elif Batuman
If you ever thought you wanted to study Russian writers like Isaac Babel or Tolstoy for a living, read this amazing book first.
4. How did you get This Number by Sloane Crosley
2010 might not be remembered as the year that Sloane Crosley bucked the “sophomore slump” label, but it really should be. Nearly as funny as I was Told There’d Be Cake, and much more confident.
5. Girls to the Front: The True Story of the Riot Grrrl Revolution by Sara Marcus
Of all of the revolutions to bubble up out of the musical underground in the 1990s, the Riot Grrrl movement was the one whose voice was the loudest, and who had the biggest and arguably most important impact. Sara Marcus spared no detail in this account, and it deserves your attention.
6. When They Come for Us, We’ll Be Gone by Gal Beckerman
A work that was enjoyable to read, and of the utmost importance. The world owes Mr. Beckerman a thanks for making this amazing book happen.
7. I Don’t Care About Your Band: What I Learned from Indie Rockers, Trust Funders, Pornographers, Felons, Faux-Sensitive Hipsters, and Other Guys I’ve Dated by Julie Klausner
Since the Sex and the City and the creepy culture it seems to have created is slowly going the way of the dinosaur, we vote for Julie Klausner’s book to become the new handbook to teach people exactly how bloody the dating battlefield of New York has become.
8. And the Heart Says Whatever by Emily Gould
We hereby enact a law stating that no longer should Emily Gould be known as the ex-Gawker writer who had the cover story in the New York Times Magazine. She shall now be recognized as the clever memoirist who knows that nobody is innocent–including herself–and it’s all thanks to this superb memoir.
9. Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian by Avi Steinberg
We like anybody who works in a prison library for two years. If they can write a memoir as good as this one about it, we like them even more.
10. Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954-1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes by Stephen Sondheim
I don’t feel like we really need to give any reasons for why this is on the list.
Also of note: Listen to This by Alex Ross, The Road by Vasily Grossman, Half Empty by David Rakoff,
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