My Top 14 Favorite Books Read in 2010

Whenever possible I've linked them to my reviews.

Fiction

1. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet - David Mitchell
2. Room - Emma Donoghue
3. The Help - Kathryn Stockett
4. Ship Breaker - Paolo Bacigalupi
   
5. The Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
   
6. Little Bee - Chris Cleave
7. Remarkable Creatures - Tracy Chevalier
   
8. Behemoth - Scott Westerfeld
   
9. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate - Jacqueline Kelly
   

Non-Fiction

1. The Story of Stuff - Annie Leonard
   
2. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot
   
3. The Evolution of God - Robert Wright
   
4. At Home - Bill Bryson
   
5. Justice - Michael Sandel

Ship Breaker

by Paolo Bacigalupi

Nailer is a Gulf Coast kid with a nasty job; he crawls through air ducts on abandoned oil tankers, scavenging copper wiring for his company. It's awful, miserable, toxic work, but it's a living, and also a coveted job among the "beach rats." What's worse, his home life is ruled by his abusive addict father. Nailer works hard to make quota every day and dreams of someday stumbling upon a really choice bit of scavenge, something that will make him rich enough to buy his way to a better life.

Then one day he hits the jackpot.

Of course, things are never as simple as they seem. I won't give away any more of the plot, but I will say that it's a thrilling, well-crafted and satisfying story. Like any other type of fiction, truly great science fiction features deep, memorable, flesh-and-blood characters. After reading Paolo Bacigalupi's short stories in "Pump 6" and his novel, "Windup Girl," I feel like his fiction has reached new heights with "Ship Breaker."