Submitted by Bethanne on Wed, 09/01/2010 - 8:19am 
September's Top 10 Reads
For many of us in the Western world, September is month that spells a return to school and work after summer weeks of sun and holiday. Sobering, yes -- but just like the morning after New Year's Eve, this sort of wake-up call often involves new resolve.
Why not resolve, this autumn, to read just a little bit more than you did last year? We've got quite a panoply of titles for you this month, from the much-vaunted novel "Freedom" by Jonathan Franzen to a lesser known but well praised nonfiction read called "The Tiger" by John Vaillant.
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Submitted by Bethanne on Mon, 08/02/2010 - 10:54am 
August's Top 10 Reads
Traditionally, August is publishing's sleepiest month, the doldrums in which nothing gets done and everyone is off in the Hamptons and there's nothing good to read.
Not so in 2010! I had a really tough time narrowing down this month's pile of galleys to these 10 books. While I certainly wouldn't have wound up with a Top 100, I could certainly have had a Top 25 list.
However, that would miss the point of creating this list, which is to select the strongest collection of books for our demographic. We don't want all of the books to be the same, yet we want each one to be among the best of its kind. That's why I'm listing them alphabetically by author name; this is not a ranking. It's a collection of books that are excellent.
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Submitted by Bethanne on Fri, 07/09/2010 - 9:22am 
July's Top 10 Reads
Greetings, patient readers. We've been offline for a couple of weeks -- but I want to assure you it's because we've got all kinds of new plans for this site, and we've been working very hard to put them into place. We're looking forward to sharing them all with you soon!
Today I can give you one peek behind the curtain -- an important part of our new content will be our monthly Top 10 Reads list, and below are July's Top Ten Reads. These are the best new books of the month -- the ones you'll want to pick up when wondering "what to read." Feel free to agree, disagree, or comment on these choices below.
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Submitted by Bethanne on Mon, 05/24/2010 - 10:38am
Friday Reads: Top Ten List for May 21, 2010
Look at this amazing list! We have a few titles that are hanging on and staying strong, likethe Pulitzer Prize-winning "Tinkers" by Paul Harding (last night's Twitter Book Club pick!). We have the ever-popular "Wolf Hall," this year's Booker Prize winner. And hmmmm...even though it hasn't been released yet, "The Passage" by Justin Cronin is up there. Methinks there are a few Friday Reads participants passing galleys around?
The Friday Reads Top Ten List for May 21, 2010
The Singer's Gun by Emily St. John Mandel
The Girl Who Played with Fire (Vintage) by Stieg Larsson
Diamond Ruby: A Novel by Joseph Wallace
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Submitted by Bethanne on Mon, 05/17/2010 - 10:53am
Friday Reads: Top Ten List for May 14, 2010
Well it's Stieg Larsson Week here at Friday Reads! All three of his Lisbet Salander novels are on our list. Some people are already digging into "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest," while others are playing catch up, discovering what they've been missing...
I'm glad to see that Neil Gaiman's "American Gods" remains at the top of the list for One Book, One Twitter (#1b1t, courtesy of @crowdsourcing and his merry band of readers), but I'm much happier to see that "Tinkers" and "Matterhorn" are right up there with it. Both are beautiful novels -- yet so different in subject, length, character, voice, and place that it's amazing to think they are each recent releases.
The Friday Reads Top Ten List for May 14, 2010
American Gods: A Novel by Neil Gaiman
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Submitted by Bethanne on Mon, 05/10/2010 - 11:50am
Friday Reads: Top Ten List for May 7, 2010
I'm delighted to see "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman (known as @neilhimself on Twitter) in the top spot on this week's Friday Reads Top Ten List because I sort of agitated for it to be so.
"Agitated?" Yes! This week inaugurated @crowdsourcing's One Book, One Twitter project (#1b1t is the hashtag), and I wanted to get as many #1b1t readers to show up in #fridayreads as I could. I sent out reminders throughout the day, and was thrilled to hear from many participants.
It's also great to see the Pulitzer-winning "Tinkers" on the list next to Joe Wallace's debut novel "Diamond Ruby" -- what better way to demonstrate the wide-ranging interests of Friday Reads tweeple?
The Friday Reads Top Ten List for May 7, 2010
American Gods: A Novel by Neil Gaiman
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Submitted by Bethanne on Mon, 04/26/2010 - 1:58pm
Friday Reads: Top Ten List for April 23, 2010
Recently a colleague said to me "The FridayReads Top Ten books are always the same ones!"
To me, that's the point -- and why I wanted to run this list. This is a crowdsourced bestseller list -- not what's selling, not what's "making numbers," but what people are actually stating that they're reading. If "Wolf Hall" and "The Help" show up here again and again it shows you that these are the kind of books that the avid readers who participate in the #fridayreads Twitter meme love.
Pretty soon we may be able to issue stickers for booksellers that say "30 Weeks on the Friday Reads Top Ten!" Just kidding. But just...
The Friday Reads Top Ten List for April 23, 2010
Wolf Hall: A Novel (Man Booker Prize) by Hilary Mantel
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Submitted by Bethanne on Thu, 02/25/2010 - 8:41am
Friday Reads: Top Ten List for February 22, 2010
I am putting this list up before I find another excuse for delaying it. After all, tomorrow is time for Friday Reads on Twitter (hashtag #fridayreads), and before I know it, it will be time for me to compile the next Top Ten List!
A word of explanation: This list consists of books that were mentioned more than once during the previous week's Twitter-based Friday Reads discussion. I try to list the titles from most- to least-mentioned, i.e.: "The Postmistress" got the most shouts, and "The Time Traveler's Wife" got at least two. However, my "counting" is highly unscientific as this time. The list is meant to be fun, a guide for reading, and not in any measure some kind of popularity contest, sales graph, or accurate gauge of what's good or bad.
The Friday Reads Top Ten List for February 22, 2010
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