you're the top

I discovered many of my favorite books, music and movies in 2010.

Here are my Top Ten in each category:

Books:

10. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Mark Haddon)

9. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (Jonathan Safran Foer)

8. The Metamorphosis (Franz Kafka)

7. Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him (Danielle Ganek)

6. Psyche in a Dress (Francesca Lia Block)

5. My Friend Leonard (James Frey)

4. Less Than Zero (Bret Easton Ellis)

3. Bright Shiny Morning (James Frey)

2. , said the Shotgun to the Head (Saul Williams)

1. A Million Little Pieces (James Frey)

Music:

10. Veruca Salt Eight Arms to Hold You

9. Charles Aznavour 40 Chanson D'or

8. The Airborne Toxic Event The Airborne Toxic Event

7. My Chemical Romance Danger Days

6. Tori Amos Crucify

5. The Dandy Warhols Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia

4. Adele 19

3. The Strokes Room On Fire

2. Elvis Costello This Year's Model

1. Elvis Costello and the Attractions Armed Forces

Movies:

10. Basquiat

9. The Science of Sleep

8. Lollilove

7. Easy A

6. The Labyrinth

5. Benny and Joon

4. Before Sunrise

3. Reality Bites

2. Disco Pigs

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

say hello to my little friend

From critically acclaimed author, James Frey, comes My Friend Leonard, a quasi-sequel to his first autobiographical fic A Million Little Pieces. Emotionally stunning, the novel picks up right after James is released from jail and is headed to see his girlfriend, Lilly, a recovering drug addict he met in rehab. When he arrives, she is dead, hanged by a rope in her shower at the halfway house she is staying. From there, you follow James as he deals with the grief of losing Lilly and the happiness he finds when he reconnects with Leonard, his "adoptive" father he befriended at the rehabilitation facility. If you have read Pieces, then you know Leonard's fate, but don't let that deter you from reading Leonard in its entirety. It will make you laugh and most certainly make you cry, but true to Frey's style, it will also make you think.

It's broken beyond repair

This past week, I fell in love with James Frey's

A Million Little Pieces. Despite some untruths of the work, I found Frey's telling of his stint in a rehabilitation facility beautifully disturbing. Though not a book for the faint of heart, you won't be able to keep from becoming emotionally attached to James and the cast of misfits he calls friends.