2010 Annual Awards

As I stated last year, picking winners is very difficult for me because I tend to like most of what I read and its hard to pick my favorites. I've found that as I get older I am starting to get pickier about what I read, often going with familiar authors that I can pretty much count on.  Even when they deteriorate I'll tend to stick with them.  However, I still do force myself to read new stuff with the inevitable result that I find new authors that soon become old favorites.

As a reminder, I pick my winners based on how much I enjoyed the overall reading experience, not based on how well written it may be or how other critics, friends or the overall blogosphere may feel about a particular entry.

So without further ado, here are the winners for 2010:


                                          
                                                                  Best Nonfiction:
                                            Eisenhower, Soldier and President
                                                           by Stephen E. Ambrose

                                                               Best Classic Fiction:
                                             The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
                                                                 by C.S. Lewis

                                                             Best Historical Fiction:
                                                            Speaks the Nightbird
                                                           by Robert McCammon

                                                                   Best Mystery:
                                                              The Last Templar
                                                                by Michael Jecks

                                                                 Best Adventure:
                                                                  The Sculpter
                                                              by Gregory Funaro

                                                             Best Western Fiction:
                                                                        Fallon
                                                               by Louis L'Amour

                                                             Best General Fiction:
                                                The Book of Air and Shadows
                                                              by Michael Gruber

                                                         Best Young Adult Novel:
                                                        The Little White Horse
                                                            by Elizabeth Goudge

                                                                   Best Horror:
                                         The Haunted Air (Repairman Jack #6)
                                                             by F. Paul Wilson

                                                             Best Science Fiction:
                                      On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington #1)
                                                             by David Weber

                                                                 Best Fantasy:
                                                The Authurian Saga (4 books)
                                                              by Mary Stewart

                                                             Best Short Story:
                                                  The Wisdom of Solomon
                                                           by Jeffrey Archer

                                          Sleeper Award: (Unexpected Success)
                                                           Power Down
                                                             by Ben Coes
                                   ---------------------------------------------

                                     Grand Award Winner:
                                            Speaks the Nightbird
                                                     by Robert McCammon
 
                                                             Runner up:
                                                     New York, A Novel
                                                    by Edward Rutherford
                   --------------------------------------------------------------------
A few notes on my reading year: I read 109 books this year, and listened to 2 audio books. That equals over 39,000 pages (not counting audio books of course).

Happy New Year to all!