Bibliolatry's most anticipated books of 2010

Many litblogs, most notably The Millions, has posted a list of highly-anticipated books that are coming out this year. Those lists, however, are not MINE.

With that in mind, I give you Bibliolatry's most-anticipated books of 2010! No need for applause.


Remarkable Creatures
Tracy Chevalier

Arrives: January

Synopsis (via Amazon):From the moment she's struck by lightening as a baby, it is clear that Mary Anning is marked for greatness. On the windswept, fossil-strewn beaches of the English coast, she learns that she has "the eye"-and finds what no one else can see. When Mary uncovers an unusual fossilized skeleton in the cliffs near her home, she sets the religious fathers on edge, the townspeople to vicious gossip, and the scientific world alight. In an arena dominated by men, however, Mary is barred from the academic community; as a young woman with unusual interests she is suspected of sinful behavior. Nature is a threat, throwing bitter, cold storms and landslips at her. And when she falls in love, it is with an impossible man. Luckily, Mary finds an unlikely champion in prickly Elizabeth Philpot, a recent exile from London, who also loves scouring the beaches.


Black Hills
Dan Simmons

Arrives: February

Synopsis (via Amazon): When Paha Sapa, a young Sioux warrior, "counts coup" on General George Armstrong Custer as Custer lies dying on the battlefield at the Little Bighorn, the legendary general's ghost enters him - and his voice will speak to him for the rest of his event-filled life. Seamlessly weaving together the stories of Paha Sapa, Custer, and the American West, Dan Simmons depicts a tumultuous time in the history of both Native and white Americans.


Beatrice and Virgil
Yann Martel

Arrives: April

Synopsis (via Amazon): A famous author receives a mysterious letter from a man who is a struggling writer but also turns out to be a taxidermist, an eccentric and fascinating character who does not kill animals but preserves them as they lived, with skill and dedication — among them a howler monkey named Virgil and a donkey named Beatrice....


The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
David Mitchell

Arrives: June

Synopsis (via Amazon): The year is 1799, the place Dejima, the "high-walled, fan-shaped artificial island" that is the Japanese Empire's single port and sole window to the world. It is also the farthest-flung outpost of the powerful Dutch East Indies Company. To this place of superstition and swamp fever, crocodiles and courtesans, earthquakes and typhoons, comes Jacob de Zoet. The young, devout and ambitious clerk must spend five years in the East to earn enough money to deserve the hand of his wealthy fiancée. But Jacob's intentions are shifted, his character shaken and his soul stirred when he meets Orito Aibagawa, the beautiful and scarred daughter of a Samurai, midwife to the island's powerful magistrate. In this world where East and West are linked by one bridge, Jacob sees the gaps shrink between pleasure and piety, propriety and profit. e


The Hunger Games: Book 3
Suzanne Collins

Arrives: August

Synopsis (via Amazon): There isn't any yet. But we all know it's gonna be good anyway.







So what books are YOU anticipating this year? I know I've probably omitted dozens of good ones.