The Best Books

Ten titles worth reading from the last ten years.

New Year's Eve 2009 will see the end of one of the most politically charged and aesthetically challenging decades in human history. What easier way to make sense of the endless ricochet of event and analysis than with a list?

Our contributors have chosen their top ten creative works of the decade, from artworks to albums, which we will publish on a daily basis.

Talk about a tough list to create. I have enough trouble trying to pick out the 10 best books I read in a single year, never mind going back a full decade. The books below are my favourite titles from the past 10 years, but all of the authors here have others worth checking out. This, my 10 selections could very easily expand into 50 or more great reading ideas.

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make A Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell (Back Bay Books, 2000)
Gladwell explains the three rules of “social epidemics” beautifully by using the examples of New York City’s crime rate plummeting, Sesame Street, Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood, teen suicide, and smoking. Easy to read and understand, it's not hard to see why this first book by Gladwell has remained a consistent top seller since it came out ten years ago and why everyone rushes to get each of his new books.

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King (Pocket, 2000)
A phenomenal insight into one of the greatest storytellers of our time. The book contains more than just solid and inspirational advice for writers. King also takes the reader on a biographical journey where we discover almost as much about the man as we do about his greatest passion -- writing. Truly a book that I will continue to re-read more often than any of his great novels.

Long Time Gone by Denis Hamill (Avon, 2002)
Returning to Brooklyn to bury his father, Danny Cassidy continually flashes back some 30 years to 1969 when he was a suspect in the murder of a police officer who was also his girlfriend's father. He can’t remember the night in question and the novel brilliantly switches back and forth between 1969 and 2002, unraveling buried secrets and an intriguing subplot of interpersonal relationships. A great introduction to the incredible talent of Hamill.

Snowmen At Night by Caralyn Buehner and Mark Beuhner (Dial Books, 2002)
This beautifully illustrated rhyming story wonderfully explains why snowmen look droopy and a little disheveled some mornings. It's obvious, isn't it? After dark, the snowmen engage in vigorous nocturnal snowmen games in the deserted streets and down at the local park. A fantastic book that my son and I have re-read countless times over the years.

Bad Move by Linwood Barclay (Bantam, 2004)
The first novel by humorist Barclay reveals his penchant for writing powerfully compelling mystery tales. Bad Move kicks off the hilarious four book “Zack Walker” mystery series. Barclay then went on to write two stunning stand-alone thrillers with no humour that were pure thrill rides. But this is where his journey as a fiction writer started and should be where one begins to discover this wonderful writer.

Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling (Raincoast, 2005)
This penultimate book in the Harry Potter series was another critical step in the overall seven book story arc (Harry and Ginny get together, Ron and Hermione continue their roundabout courtship dance, Snape "betrays" Dumbledore, and Potter finally becomes an "adult" through the firm decisions he has to make) – but the book is also memorable for the three million copies sold in the first 16 hours of its release and for the controversy, hype, and excitement of adults and kids alike with the midnight book launches around the world.

The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis (Emblem Editions, 2007)
This satirical tale of a burnt-out political adviser's life being thrown into turmoil when an unlikely candidate he supports unexpectedly becomes popular with the voters won me over on the first page and Fallis's classic John Irving-style dark humour had me giggling throughout the book. Here is also a great example of an author using social media and podcasting to democratize the slush pile, as this fantastic self-published novel won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour before landing a well-deserved publishing deal for the author.

Rollback by Robert J. Sawyer (Tor Books, 2007)
This is a science fiction love story even more powerful than The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. An expensive combination of genetic modifications and surgery lead to a man in his eighties gaining the health and "life" of a 20-year-old, while his 87-year-old wife remains the same age. A thought-provoking novel about love, the human lifespan, and aging. The perfect novel to give to someone who thinks they wouldn't like science-fiction.

Here After by Sean Costello (Your Scrivener, 2008)
Costello's sixth novel, about the search for a missing child, is a heart-wrenching, breathtaking roller coaster ride. Costello is as talented a writer as his career has been diverse. He went from rejecting a successful mass market deal in the late 1980's over editorial integrity issues to self-publishing a dark humoured novel and then a thriller, to finally landing a contract with a small press northern Ontario publisher resulting in this, his latest novel.

The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown, 2009)
Connelly's 1996 The Poet, introduced Jack McEvoy and turned me into an instant fan of his novels, most of which involve Detective Harry Bosch. The Scarecrow brings McEvoy back to the forefront as the main character/narrator in this gripping thriller/mystery involving a shrewd hacker. Since Connelly never disappoints this reader, it's only natural that my favourite novel of his would be the last one that I read.