*About the Notable Books for Adults
Since 1944, the goal of the Notable Books Council has been to make available to the nation’s readers a list of 25 very good, very readable, and at times very important fiction, nonfiction, and poetry books for the adult reader.
2010 Selection(s)
The Anthologist: A Novel
by Nicholson Baker, published by Simon & Schuster , ISBN 9781416572442
A charming failure, poet Paul Chowder struggles to regain his muse and his girlfriend while watching deadlines slip by.
Await Your Reply: A Novel
by Dan Chaon, published by Ballantine , ISBN 9780345476029
This chilling exploration of the modern meaning of identity follows three people on the fringes of society.
Brooklyn: A Novel
by Colm Tóibín, published by Scribner , ISBN 9781439138311
A young Irish woman faces heart-wrenching decisions in this unabashedly romantic and deceptively simple story of immigration and belonging.
The Convalescent
by Jessica Anthony, published by McSweeney's , ISBN 9781934781104
Rovar Pfiegman, bus dwelling meat salesman, fulfills his destiny as the last of the last of his clan, in this oddly imaginative tale.
Generosity: An Enhancement
by Richard Powers, published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux , ISBN 9780374161149
In this postmodern indictment of the biotech industry, a student’s unnerving happiness seems to hold the key to banishing despair from the human genetic code.
Let the Great World Spin: A Novel
by Colum McCann, published by Random , ISBN 9781400063734
Phillipe Petit’s highwire walk between the Twin Towers provides the backdrop for this rich portrait of the unlikely connections among a group of New Yorkers in the 1970s.
Little Bee: A Novel
by Chris Cleave, published by Simon & Schuster , ISBN 9781416589631
The compelling voice of a refugee illuminates the life-changing friendship between two women that began with a horrifying encounter on a secluded Nigerian beach.
A Mercy: A Novel
by Toni Morrison, published by Knopf , ISBN 9780307264237
Four women—white, mixed race, black and Native American—become a makeshift family under the care of a "good" man in colonial America.
Spooner
by Pete Dexter, published by Grand Central , ISBN 9780446540728
A boy struggles to navigate the vagaries of the world with the lifelong guidance of his stepfather in this funny and heartbreaking tale.
Tinkers
by Paul Harding, published by Bellevue Literary Press , ISBN 9781934137123
In this lyrical novel, the life of a dying man is examined through the smallest moments of time and memory.
The Vagrants: A Novel
by Yiyun Li, published by Random , ISBN 9781400063130
The execution of a dissident woman reverberates through her small town in the aftermath of China’s Cultural Revolution.
The Year of the Flood: A Novel
by Margaret Atwood, published by Doubleday/Nan A. Talese , ISBN 9780385528771
In the near future, two women survive an apocalyptic event in a queasily enthralling work.
