The Daily Monocle

Huzzah my friendly bookworms! The first year of books has passed at The Daily Monocle. We've seen all sorts of different genres--different authors with different styles. We've seen the good, the bad, the awesome and the ugly (and yes, the awesomely ugly). We've been able to watch The Daily Mononcle grow from a single word into a full fledged blog. And through it all, we've stayed steady.

This is a post recounting all of the books I've read this year, which ones I recommend to everyone, and an account of the trends I spotted during 2010. And who knows? Maybe we'll make some trend predictions for 2011.

You can find my original "52 Book Challenge" post by clicking the link.

Complete list of books I read during 2010: (and undoubtedly, there will be a few more added to this before the end of the year... I have a week, afterall. :D)
1. Who is Mark Twain? - Mark Twain
2. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
3. On Writing - Stephen King
4. The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane - Katherine Howe
5. The Nanny Diaries - Emma McLaughlin
6. Captain Alatriste - Arturo Perez-Reverte (English translation)
7. The Angel Maker - Stefan Brijs (English translation)
8. Overclocked: Stories of the Future Present - Cory Doctorow
9. John Dies at the End - David Wong
10. Switching Time - Richard Baer
11. Sweeney Todd - Robert Mack
12. A Woman of No Importance - Oscar Wilde
13. Lady Windermere's Fan - Oscar Wilde
14. Little Book of Pandemics - Peter Moore
15. The Art of the Hunchback of Notre Dame
16. Lost Boys - Orson Scott Card
17. Xenocide - Orson Scott Card
18. Children of the Mind - Orson Scott Card
19. Solitaire - Kelley Eskeridge
20. Repo Men - Eric Garcia
21. Starstruck: When a Fan gets Close to Fame – Michael Joseph Gross
22. City of Bones – Cassandra Clare
23. The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
24. Catching Fire – Suzanne Collins
25. Twilight – Stephanie Meyer
26. Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse – Edited by John Joseph Adams
27. The Fruit of the Fallen – J. C. Burnham
28. The Blindspot – Jane Kamensky and Jill Lepore
29. James and the Giant Peach – Roald Dahl
30. Murder on the Orient Express – Agatha Christie
31. Finding Emmaus – Pamela S. K. Glasner
32. Pirate Latitudes – Michael Crichton
33. The Singer – Calvin Miller
34. Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro
35. Next – Michael Crichton
36. Fortuna – Michael R. Stevens
37. The Handmaid's Tale – Margaret Atwood
38. Tuck Everlasting – Natalie Babbitt
39. The Know it All - A. J. Jacobs
40. The Angels are the Reapers – Alden Bell
41. The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi
42. About Jenga - Leslie Scott
43. Mudbound - Hillary Jordan
44. The Know It All - A. J. Jacobs
45. Thomas Riley - Nick Valentino
46. Revolution - Jennifer Donnelly
47. Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins
48. Hold Me Closer, Necromancer - Lish McBride
49. Matched - Ally Condie
50. The Clockwork Three - Matthew Kirby
51. The Man Who Loved Books Too Much - Allison Hoover Bartlett
52. Pathfinder - Orson Scott Card
53. Of Love and Evil - Anne Rice
54. Wither - Lauren DeStefano -- Review Coming Soon!
55. The Stepford Wives - Ira Levin
56. Zombies vs. Unicorns - Holly Black & Justine Larbalestier
57. Delirium - Lauren Oliver -- Review Coming Soon!

Top Five Books of the Year:
(in no particular order)
1) The Angels are the Reapers - Alden Bell
2) The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi
3) Pathfinder - Orson Scott Card
4) Wither - Lauren DeStefano
5) Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
(hmmm... I think I like post-apocalyptic/dystopias... and Orson Scott Card. :p)

Honorable mentions:
Solitaire - Kelley Eskeridge
Matched - Ally Condie
(again with the dystopias...)

Falling trends:
Vampires (finally!)

Trends at their peak:
Zombies
Dystopia/Post-Apocalyptic (brought on by the Mayan 2012 prophecy, no doubt)
First-person, present-tense, narration
Contemporary/Historical Fiction parallels (see: Finding Emmaus, Revolution)

Rising trends/predictions for 2011:
Superheroes (yes, actual novels about superheroes... not just comics)
Angels
Graphic novels
Hybrid books (i. e. books with multimedia options)
Aliens (good, old fashioned alien abduction stories)
Cover art: random objects floating on an abstract background

What will 2011 bring for The Daily Monocle?
MORE reviews!
MORE author interviews!
MORE giveaways!
MORE opportunities for you to get involved.

Thanks everyone for a wonderful year! We will resume our posting after the new year. :)

-J. P.