As part of our Best Books of 2010 coverage, our editors weigh in on some of their personal favorites from the list.
I’ll say it: I think Lionel Shriver should have won the National Book Award. The smart, unsentimental expat’s 10th novel, So Much for That, asks the type of questions about health care that few legislatures are brave enough to face. Such as, whether an extra three months of life for a cancer patient—spent in and out of hospitals, enduring painful treatments—is worth the sacrifice of a life’s savings.
But despite the serious topic, the book isn’t dry: humor, dark or otherwise, lurks on almost every page. So Much for That does what a good novel should: manages to entertain you and make you think at the same time.
Read our full review of So Much for That here.
Check out books #16-40 on our “Best of 2010″ list here—look for the Top 10 in the next edition of BookPageXTRA. Which book from our list is your favorite?
Thanks for the book recommendation. I look for books that make me think and entertain me too. I’m putting it on my Christmas list! Right now, I’m reading “Carnal Weapon” a fictional suspense novel with a romance intertwined. The author Peter Hoffmann does a wonderful job of twisting a story set back in the 1950s when the French government employed young attractive women as industrial spies to seduce American engineers and scientists in order to obtain their trade secrets. It’s a real page turner!