2010 Countdown Challenge

I did not finish the 2009 Countdown Challenge, because I discovered that it was impossible for me to get my hands on books published in 2009 without spending a fortune. So why am I here again, doing my list for next year's challenge? Because I love the idea of this list anyway and I couldn't resist making it. I am, however, allowing myself to skip the 2010 section and add 10 books elsewhere in the list instead. I know that it's not playing by the rules but I hope that Michelle, our kind host, won't mind too much... All details are here.

Completed: 40/55 as of 6 October 2010

2010
1. Room by Emma Donaghue
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2009
1. Geektastic by Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci
2. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
3. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
4. Catching Fire (The Hunger Games #2) by Suzanne Collins
5. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
6. The Piano Teacher by Janice Y.K. Lee
7. Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella
8. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
9. The Carbon Diaries 2017 by Saci Lloyd

Alternates:
Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer
The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister
Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Time of Your Life by Joss Whedon
The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

2008
1. The Tales of Beetle the Bard by J.K. Rowling
2. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
3. Bad Science by Ben Goldacre
4. The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J. K. Rowling
5. The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen
6. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
7. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
8. Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella

Alternates:
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan
2666 by Roberto Bolano
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer
The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry
The Miracle at Speedy Motors by Alexander McCall Smith
Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews

2007
1. No Time for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay
2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus, volume 1 by Joss Whedon et al.
3. The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs
4. In the Woods by Tana French
5. The Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci
6. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
7. Let the Right One in by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Alternates:
The Luxe by Anna Godbersen
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Un Lun Dun by China Mieville
Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews
Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips
The Good Husband of Zebra Drive by Alexander McCall Smith
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney
Matrimony by Joshua Henkin
Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell

2006
1. Morrigan's Cross by Nora Roberts
2. American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
3. Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
4. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
5. Chicken with Plums by Marjane Satrapi
6. Size 12 is not Fat by Meg Cabot

Alternates:
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry
Enna Burning by Shannon Hale
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by M.T. Anderson
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith
The Birth House by Amy McKay
Wicked by Gregory Maguire
New Moon by Stephanie Meyer
Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl
The Road by Cormac McCarthy

2005
1. Uglies by Scott Westerfield
2. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
3. The Ivy Chronicles by Karen Quinn
4. Gods in Alabama by Joshlyn Jackson
5. The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar

Alternates:
Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos
Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel
No country for old men by Cormac McCarthy
Looking for Alaska by John Green
13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
Inkspell by Cornelia Funke
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
The Girls by Lori Lanssens
Something Blue by Emily Giffin
Pretties by Scott Westerfield

2004
1.
2. What Mothers Do, Especially When it Seems like Nothing by Naomi Stadlen
3. Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
4. In the Company of Cheerful Ladies by Alexander McCall Smith

Alternates:
Moloka'i by Alan Brennert
Small Island by Andrea Levy
Case Histories by Kate Atkinson

2003
1. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Alborn
2. I'm not Scared by Niccolo Ammaniti
3. Fables, volume 2: Animal Farm by Bill Willingham

Alternates:
Eragon by Christopher Paolini
Ill Wind by Rachel Caine
The Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith
The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy
Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

2002
1. The Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith
2. Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
Alternates:
Fables 1 by Bill Willingham
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
Unless by Carol Shields

2001
1. Dead until Dark by Charlaine Harris

Alternates:
Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
Skipping Christmas by John Grisham
Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie