Saturday, January 1, 2011

The Best Of 2010, Books, Movies and Tunes


The Best of 2010


Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday season. I see many good things coming up for 2011. And I wish that 2011 will be the best year ever for happiness, success and good health for all of you. I have a number of projects planned and new challenges that I’m very excited about. Last year was very successful—I had three titles published: Damned and Desired (which is also available in print), Dragon Witch and Secret Soiree. All these stories are available at Ellora’s Cave. I expect this year to be even better. To start off the New Year I thought I’d do something fun. I love books, movies and music, so I looked up the Best Books for 2010, the Top Grossing Movies for 2010 and also the Top Selling Concerts for 2010. The results might surprise you. They surprised me.

Top Selling Concerts for 2010


Despite the worldwide recession and high unemployment rate, some musicians had a good year and no trouble selling tickets. These included Bon Jovi, AC/DC and U2. Yeah, I was surprised too. These 80s artists/bands are still going strong. Yeah! I’m an 80s chic. Bon Jovi was number 1 who sold $201.1 million worth in concert tickets in 2010. AC/DC $177 million for #2, U2 came in third for $160.9 million. Lady Gaga at 4th (I’m a fan of Lady Gaga too.) she did $133.6 million. #5 was Metallica, then Michael Buble who sold $104.2 for #6. #7 was a live show “Walking with Dinosaurs” for #140 million and Paul McCartney with $93 million for #8. The Eagles were at #9 - $92.3 million and Roger Waters and his Pink Floyd revival hit #10 with $89.5 million.

Top Grossing Films of 2010

1) Toy Story 3 ($825.4 million)

2) Alice in Wonderland ($825.4 million)

3) Inception ($825.4 million)

4) Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (no amount given)

5) Shrek Forever After ($739.8 million)

6) Twilight Saga: Eclipse ($693.5 million)

7) Iron Man 2 ($582.2 million)

8) Despicable Me ($539.9 million)

9) How to Train Your Dragon ($494.9 million)

10) Clash of the Titans ($493.2 million)

Interesting to note that many are children’s stories and all are sci fi or fantasy.

The Best Books for 2010

Finding the top fiction books for 2010 was not easy. It seems that everyone has their “top” list: Time, The New Yorker, New York Times, Barnes and Noble, Library Journal, National Book Award and Man Booker Prize and others. Fiction Award Winners does a compilation comparing all these lists and came up with the Top 5 Fiction Books for 2010. I give a very brief summary. Click on the link to read more:

1) Freedom by Jonathan Frazen. A portrait of a Midwestern family, trying to build a better world while struggling to grow and love as a family.

2) A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Eagan. Linked short stories of a former punk rocker and record executive and the passionate, troubled woman he employs.

3) To The End of the Land by David Grossman. A human drama of an Israeli mother and the cost of war.

4) The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell. Japanese empire 1799 and a young clerk trying to win the hand of a wealthy woman in Holland.

5) The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman. Set in Rome. It’s about the private lives of reporters, editors and executives of an international English language newspaper as they try to keep it afloat.

Other books that made the top 10 list:

Skippy Dies by Paul Murray. Prep school, boy’s school antics, quantum physics and an emotional read.

Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon. Ruthless and violent world of cheap horse racing.

Wilson by Daniel Glowes. A graphic novel of dark humor about a misanthrope named Wilson.

Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes. An epic war novel of Vietnam.

How to Live Safely in a Science Fiction Universe by Charles Yu. (debut) A humorous story about a son searching for his father through quantum space time. A time traveling technician tries to help people who have screwed with their time machines. (This is one I might have to check out. I’m a sci fi fan.)

The Passage by Justin Cronin. A suspense adventure where a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes a monstrous product from a military experiment.

Faithful Place by Tana French. The 3rd novel of the Dublin murder squad.

So are you going to select one of the top best sellers from 2010 to begin your reading list for 2011? Or stick with your favorite authors and genres? Did you get a Nook or Kindle for Christmas? If so, what are you planning to download?

This is my fav for the Top Commercials of the Year. Sometimes they do make commercials that are entertaining or are heartwarming. This one about seatbelts gets the point across in an amazing way with out being gross or sad.

6 comments:

Shawn said...

Totally understand Bon Jovi being on the list. This Ain't a Love Song is on my play list. I love writing the dark moment to that song. I just saw Inception last night on video. What a mind freak! I loved it. Haven't read any of the books on the list. I like to stick to paranormals, and medieval romances.

Kathy Kulig said...

Hi Shawn, I love Bon Jovi. He's a Jersey boy too. I grew up in Jersey. I want to see Inception. I've heard it's bizarre and good. And Paranormals are my fav. too.

Regina Carlysle said...

Hey Kathy! Just stopping by with good wishes for a kickass 2011. Hope you are planning to come to Romanticon again. Would love to see your smiling face!

Kathy Kulig said...

Same to you Regina. 2011 will be an awesome year. I was planning on coming to Romanticon as long as I can get the time off for work. I put in for Columbus Day weekend but see that it's the weekend before this year. I'm waiting to see if I can get approval. Fingers crossed. :)

Cris Anson said...

I wonder how many of those best-selling-book lists were compiled by women. I didn't see a single name from my extensive "auto-buy" list. Think there was a whisper of romance in any of them?

Kathy Kulig said...

No, I didn't see any books on my auto buy list. And I was surprised not to see the Girl with the Dragon Tatoo. That was on the NYT list forever. I'm reading Hunger Games now and it's blowing me away.