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 a lovely, haunting read. I love Leigh’s deft style and use of language. She layers her simple story of man vs. beast with vivid imagery and emotionally complex characters. Even with the inevitability of evisceration, The Hunter is stunning and suspenseful. {Review}

2./3./4. The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins: I’ve been searching my brain trying to figure out why these books are on everyone’s ‘best read’ lists. Everyone who reads them, loves them. I haven’t heard one bad thing about them. What I liked best about these books is that there is no hope. . . no hope AT ALL, for a happy ending for Katniss & Co. Readers know that within the first 20 pages, and yet we all devoured these books. Collins gives us such rich canvas of harrowing geography and hellish politics. Then she plops a bunch of unlikable and emotionally detached characters into it, chief among them, a sixteen year-old girl. Gutsy and brilliant. {Review}

5. Matched by Ally Condie: I’m still thinking about and processing this one. I still have a burning ember of rebellion within me, so I love reading about other girls who find it within themselves to stand alone for something they believe it. It’s a sci-fi love story that I think just about everyone could enjoy. And not quite as far-fetched of a future either. {Review}

6. White Apples by Jonathan Carroll: Carroll’s The Ghost in Love was my number one pick last year. His writing strums my heartstrings. I feel welcome and loved when I read his words. White Apples has a similar theme to TGIL, what happens when we do not accept to die, the consequence of living beyond death and the fall-out of such a huge glitch in the cosmic system. I find it difficult to write about White Apples because it was much more abstract to me than TGIL. To summarize, poorly I might add, White Apples is about our fight, not against evil, but against the chaos the can utterly destroy our soul. It explores the possibility that the goal of chaos is to keep us away from taking our place among the divine. Complex and completely engrossing. My love for Mr. Carroll swells.