I've gone through my notebook and looked at everything I read from 2010-2019. The following lists those books that stand out as exceptional. Those that will stick with me always. Maybe they were incredibly well written, or contained a story that I felt connected to, or broadened my view of the world. I've kept it to four (or less) for each year, though for some years this was difficult! Each is linked to either the Amazon page with a description, or the author's website. Throughout the year I hope to tackle some of these in reviews, along with the books I'm reading in 2020.
Note: Not all were published in the past decade, I just read them in the past decade! I've added published-in dates as well.
2010
Man Walks into a Room – Nicole Krauss (2002)
In Cold Blood - Truman Capote (1965)
2011
A Complicated Kindness – Miriam Toews (2004)
The Five People You Meet in Heaven –Mitch Albom (2003)
Hector & the Search for Happiness - Francois Lelord (2002)
2012
The Help – Kathryn Stockett (2009)
The Madonnas of Leningrad – Debra Dean (2006)
The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern (2011)
Kindred – Octavia Butler (1979)
2013
A Very Long Engagement – Sebastian Japrisot (1991)
The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde (1890)
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game - Michael Lewis (2003)
2014
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children – Ransom Riggs (2011)
Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore – Robin Sloan (2012)
The Art of Fielding – Chad Harbach (2011)
Code Name Verity – Elizabeth Wein (2012)
2015
Safekeeping: Some True Stories from a Life – Abigail Thomas (2000)
Blindness – Jose Saramago (1995)
Station Eleven – Emily St. John Mandel (2014)
Wait Till Next Year – Doris Kearns Goodwin (1997)
2016
A Darker Shade of Magic – V.E. Schwab (2015)
The Enchanted – Rene Denfeld (2014)
Tenth of December - George Saunders (2013)
The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans & Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics – Daniel James Brown (2013)
2017
Neverhome – Laird Hunt (2014)
The Empathy Exams – Leslie Jamison (2014)
We Have Always Lived in the Castle – Shirley Jackson (1962)
Exit West – Mohsin Hamid (2017)
2018
The Hate U Give – Angie Thomas (2017)
American War – Omar El Akkad (2017)
An American Marriage – Tayari Jones (2018)
Zealot: The Life & Times of Jesus of Nazareth – Reza Aslan (2013)
2019
Educated: A Memoir – Tara Westover (2018)
Homegoing – Yaa Gyasi (2016)
Americanah – Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche (2013)
The Water Dancer – Ta-Nehisi Coates (2019)