My favorite has to be Dina's Book by Herbjorg Wassmo. Wassmo is a Norwegian author, and this work is about a strong-willed, compulsive woman living in a remote Norwegian village in 1800s. The actions and thoughts of Dina made me question the strength of my morals, as I found myself condoning some of her actions which were - in theory, without character - despicable. Dina is by far the most gripping woman I have encountered in literature, and I can't recommend this book more (warning: hard to put down)
Anyway, I suggested this book to my grandma, who after reading suggested it to her girlfriend, and the three of us ended up talking about Dina the whole summer:) (With two sequels, making this a trilogy, but I'm not sure if the last two are released in English)

I'm going to say "Cutting for Stone" by Abraham Verghese. I didn't adore it as I was reading it; however, it has since really stuck in my mind.

"Wolf Hall" is a close second, but because it was two billion pages and I didn't finish it till New Year's Day, I'm not counting it for 2010!

Oh - so many books here that I love. I have to say "Cutting for Stone" and "The Help" were two of my faves but I also loved the Steig Larsson trilogy and even though it is a bit sad, would recommend "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" for any dog lover. I want a Sawtelle dog!

Edgar Sawtelle made me bawl my eyes out, even though I should have known beforehand (because of the Shakespearian storyline)... My dog would have been a Sawtelle REJECT.

Great thread, Fi, I love to hear about what others are reading! I will look for One Day.

Michelle, I'm reading Never Let Me Go right now and am about two thirds of the way through it. I can't put it down. Also, started Fall of Giants but had to return it to the library before I really got in to it. It's on my list of books to get back to.

Also enjoyed The Help, Snow Flower, Edgar Sawtelle, Elegance of the Hedgehog, and A Thousand Splendid Suns.

Steph, I'm putting The Blind Assassin on my list. Love Margaret Atwood and The Handmaid's Tale

I enjoyed Tana French's psychological thriller/detective story Faithful Place so much that I went back and read her two earlier books: The Likeness and In the Woods.

Deborah, I enjoyed The Likeness but In the Woods made me crazy with the ending! What did you think? (Although I don't want to spoil it for anyone who wants to read it...).

it's an old book, but i found ian mcewan's "enduring love" to be extremely haunting -- i couldn't stop thinking about it even after i was done. "the help" was also very good.

neil gaiman's "the graveyard book," which is technically for kids, but then again i think gaiman transcends ages :). of course, i'm also a total fangirl, so... oh, and on that note, is anyone here a fan of terry pratchett? the latest discworld novel "unseen academicals" brought football (soccer) to the discworld, and since i am a huge fan of both, i was a very happy camper!

i've actually also really been nostalgic for the books i read as a little girl. i just reread the "song of the lioness" series by tamora pierce, and madeleine l'engle's "a wrinkle in time" and "many waters." LOVE.

oh hey thanks for reminding me about tana french! i just read "in the woods" and i've been meaning to pick up her other books :).

I came in to say "anything by Henning Mankell" but Laura clearly beat me to the punch. I read more Sci Fi than anything else this year though, don't know if you guys are into that

I LOVE this thread, as I am also always looking for the next good book. Life is too short to waste on bad books!
Some recent titles that I liked/loved (in no particular order):
Healing Hearts: A Memoir of a Female Heart Surgeon, Kathy Magliato
Italian Shoes, Henning Mankel
Out Stealing Horses, by Per Petterson (translated from Norwegian)
Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortenson
Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell
The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls
The Middle Place, Kelly Corrigan
Blindness, José Saramago (translated from Spanish)
Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant, Daniel Tammet
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer
The History of Love, Nicole Krauss
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer
Still Alice, Lisa Genova
The Help
The Novel Bookstore, Laurence Cossé (transl. from French)
Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love, and the Search for Home, Kim Sunée
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz
Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction, David Sheff
The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery

Sorry about the long list! I keep track of everything that I read on Goodreads. If you are not already using it, I strongly recommend it. Every book is rated by hundreds of people, with often very detailed reviews. However, I particularly like that I can keep track of my reading in three categories: what I have read, what I am currently reading and of course the 'to read' list (which is going to get a lot longer with all of your excellent suggestions). You can also add friends so that they can see what you are reading and vice versa.

Una, I felt the same way about the ending of In the Woods. The lack of resolution was disappointing and this was my least favorite of the three books.

Hanna, you definitely should read her next two books. Each sequel is better than than previous one.

chouette, this is the first I've heard of Goodreads. Do you use it mostly to keep track of your books? Do the groups work like a forum?

Hanna, thanks for the heads up on TP's new book. I'll add it to my list! My favorite escapist reading!

Looking forward to reading Terry's take on soccer

Last two years I read mostly nonfiction (current military) and reread some other books I already have.

Another escapist-fast reading book - I recommend something that came out in 2003. Anthony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential". It's a fascinating look behind the scenes at the restaurant industry. It's written in a pretty brash manly style, with salty language here and there, and of course it's a biased account of one individual. I know several people who cook in restaurants, or attempted to run a restaurant, or successfully run several, so this was extra intriguing. I love learning about behind the scenes stuff. Also gives you something to think about when you yourself go out to eat.

Both "Never Let Me Go" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns" stuck in my head for a long time after I read them. "The Kite Runner" was also very good.

For non-fiction, I liked:
John Adams
The Omnivore's Dilemma
Love and Louis XIV: The Women in the Life of the Sun King

I'm starting on "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius." Anyone have any feedback on it?

Kim your book club might like "Colony" by Anne Rivers Siddons.

I'm really enjoying this list. I wonder if we should start a thread where people could share they could share their thoughts on books they currently read, so we could keep a running list of current books in addition to this one for favorites from the past year. Would anyone else be interested?

So happy this thread got started- Thanks Fi!!
I just reread an old classic "Catcher in the Rye"- absolutely the best and most moving book I have read all year- and I read a book a week.

reading- "A Tree grows in Brooklyn".
Also anything Alexander McCall Smith writes,
many more- I will post later

So many books, so little time. Fi, thanks for starting this thread; I'm adding several of these to my Amazon wish list.
Steph, your idea to continue sharing book recs is a fine one (assuming it's consistent with forum etiquette and acceptable to Angie, of course).

Beth, I loved the first half of "Genius" and then felt it started to ramble. Another book I recently read was "What Is the What", which Dave Eggers authored for the subject of the book. He is a great writer, but I think his editors fear to edit him and some of his writing drags for that reason.

Wow - thank you for all your suggestions and contributions! Thank you to those who also suggested some non-fiction titles!

Steph I would definitely be keen to start a "What I am Reading" thread - might be a good distraction for those who are doing SYC!

For those of you on Twitter and Facebook there is a great page/thread called FridayReads, where every Friday you tweat or post what you are reading. Heaps of people around the world contribute.

@Michelle - I also like Sara Paretsky and have read all her series. I read the latest one last week. I'm guessing you either know or would enjoy the Marcia Muller 'sharon Mccone series and Sue Grafton's Kinsey Malone series.

I enjoyed the swedish trilogy too starting with girl with the dragon tattoo. I love mystery series. My favourite series apart from the female protagonists listed above are Mark Billingham's Tom Thorne, Ian Rankin's Rebus and Lynda La Plante's Anna ...? series. Open to more recommendations.

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett!

I HIGHLY recommend Mondo Canine by Jon Winokur for any dog lover. Its a collection of short stories-some funny, some heartbreaking. It also has many ancedotes and quotations by famous people about their dogs...Ive read many 'dog books' over the years and this is my absolute favorite!

Great thread! I'm a real bibliophile. Freedom by Jonathan Franz is great; glad I read it despite the off-putting media hullaballoo. Agree that the The Help and the The Hunger Games series were excellent. My very favorite book was from 2001, The Constant Gardener. I just saw the movie but it didn't catch the nuances of the novel, at all! Whether or not you saw the movie, read the book! and check out Off Season by Anne Rivers Siddons. It's the only book that made me gasp out loud.