Friday, May 21, 2010

Lovereading - Books of the Decade

 

Lovereading - Books of the Decade

Lovereading - Books of the Decade

Your chance to see and find out more about the Books of the Decade as voted for by you?  Well I voted and am pleased to be able to share the results here with you.

In January I invited you to vote for the best book of the decade at Lovereading - Home Page

Below is the link http://lindyloumacbookreviews.blogspot.com/2010/01/lovereading.html

Out of the top ten titles, I have read seven, two are on my TBR shelf and one is on my wishlist. The two unread ones have now been moved to the top of my to read list and the final missing title I must try and locate a copy soon.

Here is the list plus links back to the original site and my reviews for the titles that I have already read.

Lovereading Top Ten

Number One

Click to view large image of cover in new window...

The Time Traveler's Wife
Audrey Niffenegger


Voted the Book of the Decade by Lovereading readers. Shortlisted for the RNA Romantic Film of the Year Award 2010. A huge book in every way. The protagonists meet each other at different times throughout their lives and you do...


Released: 06/01/2005                 My Book Review

Number Two

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The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini


Voted 2nd in the Books of the Decade by Lovereading readers. Voted as the Penguin/Orange Reading Group Book of the Year 2006 and 2007. This book seemed to come out of nowhere. It was the first Afghan novel to be written in...


Released: 07/06/2004             My Book Review

Number Three

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The Book Thief
Markus Zusak


Voted 3rd in the Books of the Decade by Lovereading readers. Shortlisted for the Newcomer of the Year Award at the Galaxy British Book Awards 2008. This is the story of a street of ordinary German people living in the horrors of...


Released: 01/01/2008    On TBR shelf

Number Four


The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
John Boyne


Voted 2009 Penguin Orange Readers' Group Book of the Year. Now a major film. Initially it is difficult to believe that the young son of the commandant of Auschwitz is as innocent as he is, then...


Released: 11/09/2008    The one title on the list that I have not yet got a copy of to read.

Number Five

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Girl with a Pearl Earring
Tracy Chevalier


Centring on Vermeer’s household in the 1660s in Delft, this speculative historical novel tells of his relationship with a servant girl, Griet, who became his assistant and the model for the painting of the title. Written in a simple style,...


Released: 03/07/2006   My Book Review

Number Six

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Chocolat
Joanne Harris


Into a small rural French village comes a mysterious woman, Vianne, her young daughter and the child’s invisible rabbit. They open a chocolate shop opposite the church. It is Lent and a strange war breaks out between the church and...

Released: 02/03/2000    My Book Review

Number Seven

The Lovely Bones
Alice Sebold


Related from heaven after a brutal rape, Susie watches her family grieve and disintegrate, watches her friends and indeed watches her killer and the sad detective working on her case. Over the years we live and cry with them for...

Released: 06/06/2003 Read in 2004 before I started reviewing books read.

Number Eight

We Need to Talk About Kevin
Lionel Shriver

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Narrated by a mother, Eve, in letters to her estranged husband, this is a truly horrific story of a 15-year old boy’s killing spree but it is more the tale of how he got there than of the crime itself....

 Released: 09/05/2006   My Book Review

Number Nine

The Shadow of the Wind
Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Barcelona, a city of secret police and secret love. In it a bookseller’s son finds a forgotten novel and stumbles upon a mystery as all copies of the author’s books are sought and destroyed by a sinister character...


Released: 02/04/2009     On TBR shelf

Number Ten

Small Island
Andrea Levy

Click to view large image of cover in new window...

Shortlisted for the Best of the Orange Best 2010 by the Orange Prize Youth Panel. A novel about racism, prejudice and injustice in the post war years in London as Jamaicans, escaping economic hardship, move to the Mother Country. Told from...


Released: 03/09/2009     My Book Review 

I would love to know how many of these you have read and what you thought of them? Did they deserve to make the top ten in your opinion?

16 comments:

  1. I have read 3 of the 10 books and have added the rest to my list. The three I have read are
    The Lovely Bones- This was an interesting book but I definitely would not have chosen it as a book of the decade.
    The Book Thief- This was an incredible read and yes I would have definitely voted for this one.
    The Girl With The Pearl Earring- While this was yet another Fascinating read I did not see it as book of the decade material.

    I was very surprised that I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb was not on the list. That was one I would have definitely voted as the top 10 of the decade:)
    Thanks for such a great post, I am very happy to have new books to add to my TBR List:) This was featured at:
    http://tilwereadagain.blogspot.com/2010/05/book-bloggy-happenings-1.html

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  2. Similarly to you, I've read 7 and have had 2 of the others (Chocolat and Small Island) on my TBR shelf at home for years. The last one, Boy in the Striped PJs, I've heard about, but need to read.

    Of the 7 I've read, 4 are on my favorite books of all time list and some of the other introduced me to authors I've grown to love. This is seriously a wonderful list!

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  3. p.s. The Book Thief and Shadow of the Wind (your 2 TBR) are two of my favorite all time reads. I hope you get a chance to pick them up soon.

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  4. Thanks Bobbie, I will see if I can get the link on to the post, to lead back to your site. I am wondering if some of the books got as many votes as they did, due to having been made into films?
    The title you mention by Wally Lamb I haveto say I have never heard of, asthis was a UK site vote so maybe not published in UK?

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  5. Welcome to my Blog Avid Reader and thankyou for commenting.
    I highly recommend that you move both Chocolat and Small Island to the top of your TBR mountain. Two very different novels but both well worth reading.
    I have put The Book Thief and The Shadow of the Wind near the top of my mountain and hope to get to them soon.
    I am so pleased that you enjoyed Lovereadings LIst. Did you get a chance to visit the site?

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  6. 'The Book Thief' deserves its place at 3! A very beautiful book. I've seen the movie versions of Chocolat and Girl with the pearl earring - enjoyed them both! Should pick up the books now :-)

    P.S: Here from Bookreviews and glad to have 'discovered' your blog, Lindy!

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  7. Welcome, Priya I am delighted you found me and commented. I hope you will call by again. I am really looking forward to reading the three titles I have not yet read from this list .

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  8. Hi, I found you through bloggy happenings, I love this list. I have read 5 of the 10, nut I think 4 of the ramaining 5 are on my wish list

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  9. I've actually read this post 3 times already. I'm surprised I've read only 3 books in this list !

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  10. Becky - welcome and thanks for commenting. Which title is missing from your Wishlist out of interest?

    Booklover - Maybe the titles are not all available in your part of the world? Which three have you read?

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  11. Hi Lindy,

    I'm just getting around to visiting people's blogs this week (we won't talk about the week I've had at work!) and thought I would respond to your post.

    I've read The Kite Runner, The Lovely Bones, and of course, The Book Thief, which is one of my all time favourite books.

    I have The Time Traveller's Wife sitting waiting for me on my shelf sometime this year. From the remainder of the list, I would like to read Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and Shadow of the Wind .

    Lindy, I didn't realise that you lived in Italy and are an ex-pat Brit! After several months of leaving comments, I've only just discovered that and I feel like an utter doofus!

    That is wonderful - would love to visit Italy one day. And Greece. Spain. Czechoslovakia. France.

    Damn. I just want to go everywhere!

    Amanda - http://desertbookchick.com

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  12. Good to see you here Amanda and thanks for your comments on The Lovereading - Books of the Decade. I am really looking forward to The Book Thief after recent comments.
    Yes I am lucky enough to be living The Good Life in Italy :) http://lindyloumac.blogspot.com

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  13. Ciao! I just finished The Time Traveler's Wife and came here to see people's thoughts. I thought it was lovely. Very wistful and very well written. My friend asked me, 'Is it sad?' I still don't know my answer!

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  14. http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/3308482/

    Some Birds - the link above will give you some interesting comments on The Time Traveler's Wife. I think it was a very unusual and special book and yes I think sad in some ways, the separations for instance.
    Are you going to read all the titles on this list?

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  15. I have read 8 of the 10 books and the other two (Chocolat and Boy in the Striped Pyjamas) I have seen the movie. I doubt I will go back now and read those two. I don't enjoy reading books once I know the story. I really enjoyed all those books/movies, except for The Shadow of the Wind. I really didn't like that one at all.

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  16. I absolutely agree with you about not reading books after seeing the film! Did you see my Shadow of the Wind review, why did you not like the book out of interest? I recommend to you the sequel to Chocolat, 'The Lollipop Shoes' which I have also recently read.

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