Library Staff Picks Best Books of 2010

The "Good Reads" section on the library's website always lists book recommendations year round. But for the first time, Jenny Davis, the library's Collection Development Coordinator, organized a "Best of 2010" list to round off the year.

"We're always putting out lists, but we decided to do something different for the end of the year," she said.

Davis emailed the entire staff asking for submissions and received several responses, she said. Unable to pick from the multiple suggestions, Davis selected the books that were submitted first. She said many staff members submitted more than two books and she had to ask them to narrow the list down to the top two.

"It was really difficult to knock it down to just two!" said Jacky Averill, the Children's Books librarian. Averill originally submitted 10 books.

"I tend to choose children's books that would work well during Story Time," she said. "They've got beautiful illustrations that you can see from 14 feet away."

Averill said she loved "Red, Green, and Blue" because of its incorporation of several fairy tales and subtle "cultural literacy clues" that enriched the children's book.

Davis said she ultimately selected her two choices because she was a fan of the authors.

"Fiction is definitely my favorite genre," she said. "And these two authors have got me hooked on their books."

Here is the compiled list of the "Best Books of 2010":

2010 Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book
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Caroll's Pick

This moving story about the birth of an artist is also a celebration of childhood, imagination, and the strength of the creative spirit. Ryan weaves sound poems and thought-provoking questions into her exquisitely crafted prose while Ss's delicate drawings transport readers to the lushness of the Chilean rainforest. Illustrations.

Told entirely in the language of the energetic, pragmatic five-year-old Jack, "Room" is a celebration of resilience and the limitless bond between parent and child, a brilliantly executed novel about what it means to journey from one world to another. …More

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks 
By Rebecca Skloot

Roz's Pick

Skloot brilliantly weaves together the story of Henrietta Lacks--a woman whose cells have been unwittingly used for scientific research since the 1950s--with the birth of bioethics, and the dark history of experimentation on African Americans.

Red, Green, Blue: A First Book of Colors 
By Alison Jay 

Jacky's pick

On a gray and rainy day, a boy discovers a rainbow of colors in the magical world of nursery rhymes. Full color.

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Jenny's pick

Mitchell, a Man Booker Prize finalist for "Cloud Atlas", returns with a story set at the turn of the 18th century around Dejima, an artificial island located in Nagasaki Bay and used as a trade outpost by the Dutch East Indies Company.

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Elisa's pick

To stop Egyptian god Set from going after their father, siblings Carter and Sadie embark on a dangerous journey across the globe--a quest which brings them ever closer to the truth about their family, and their links to a secret order that has existed since the time of the pharaohs.

By Nightfall 
By Michael Cunningham

Cristina's pick

Peter and Rebecca Harris: mid-forties denizens of Manhattan's SoHo, are admirable, enviable contemporary urbanites with every reason, it seems, to be happy until her much-younger look-alike brother shows up for a visit. Like his legendary, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, "The Hours," Cunningham's masterly new novel is a heartbreaking look at the way we live now.

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 Everett's pick

From the author of the all-time bestselling "Star Wars" novel, "Heir to the Empire," comes this thrilling, fast-paced space adventure.

Roz's pick

With more than 1,000 recipes from "Sunset" magazine's 110-year history, this cookbook represents the best of American cooking, both in its traditional cookery and its culinary inventiveness.

An Oprah Book Club Selection 
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Jenny's Pick

From the National Book Award-winning author of "The Corrections" comes a darkly comedic novel about family. Franzen's intensely realized characters struggle to learn how to live in an ever-confusing world--one with the temptations and burdens of liberty, the thrills of teenage lust, the shaken compromises of middle age, the wages of suburban sprawl, and the heavy weight of empire.

White Cat 
By Holly Black 

Cristina's pick

"The White Cat" introduces Holly Black's new world! Cassel has always known he killed Lila, but now the pieces are starting not to fit.

Molly's pick

13 Words 
By Lemony Snicket 

Jacky's pick

"New York Times"-bestselling author Snicket teams up with a noted artist to present a beautiful adventure woven from a practical introduction to 13 words, including such marvels as Bird, Dog, Panache, and Haberdashery. Full color.