Top book picks for 2010

Author Gail Godwin (whose own novel “Unfinished Desires” will be published this January) says she eagerly anticipates Ian McEwan’s “Solar” (March, Nan A. Talese), and will soon be “immersing” herself in “The Red Book,” the newly unveiled, self-illustrated, private journal of Swiss psychologist Carl G. Jung, published last year. “I also have treated myself to the brand new, two-volume ‘Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary,’ ” says Godwin, “which includes virtually the entire vocabulary of English from Old English to the present day.”

At Boston’s Brookline Booksmith, where Godwin will speak on Jan. 26, co-owner Dana Brigham has family books in mind. Brigham notes Gail Caldwell’s memoir “Let’s Take the Long Way Home” (August, Random House), a book about “midlife, independent women, wonderful dogs and a particularly special friendship.”
Brigham also singles out Roger Rosenblatt’s “Making Toast” (February, Ecco), a memoir about life with his grandchildren following his 38-year-old daughter’s sudden death: “It may sound sad but it’s touching, funny and revelatory.”

In Denver, book buyer Cathy Langer of the Tattered Cover Book Store has her eye on Wyoming writers whose books hold particular appeal for the Colorado region. Mark Spragg’s “Bone Fire” (March, Knopf) deals with difficult life in the modern West, and Laura Bell’s “Claiming Ground” (March, Knopf) tells the author’s unconventional story of soul-searching through sheepherding. “[Claiming Ground] is a very interesting story about a woman who took great risks and lived a difficult but fulfilling life,” says Langer. “Very wonderful, fabulous writing.”

David Kynaston’s 2009 book “Family Britain, 1951-1957,” sequel to “Austerity Britain, 1945-1951” (2008), pops up on the reading list of Terry Teachout, author of “Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong.”

Teachout says he’s also interested in Selina Hastings’s biography, “The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham” (May, Random House), which he calls a “highbrow tell-all about the scandalous private life” of the “Of Human Bondage” author.

And in tune with his own work, Teachout is looking forward to Ricky Riccardi’s “What a Wonderful World: The Magic of Louis Armstrong’s Later Years” (May, Pantheon). “This promises to be one of the most significant books yet written about the greatest jazz musician who ever lived,” says Teachout.
Katie Ward is an intern at the Monitor.

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