the washington post book world sunday, december 12, 2010 l l


12 EZ


BEST OF 2010 Postscript 2010 BY STEPHEN LOWMAN


APRIL12 A little-known author named Paul Harding wins a Pulitzer Prize for his debut novel, “Tinkers,” published by tiny Bellevue Literary Press.


AUG.20 The summer of “Franzen Fever” rises to newheights when President Obama gets an advance copy of the novel while vacationing inMartha’s Vineyard.


JAN. 12 Peter Biskind’s biography ofWarren Beatty arrives in stores with the ex- traordinary claim that the actor has slept with 12,775 women. Oh, and Bis- kind says that figure doesn’t include “daytime quickies, drive-bys, casual gropings, stolen kisses and so on.”


JAN. 17 Erich Segal, who broke the hearts of millions of readers with his novel “Love Story,” dies at the age of 72. Published in 1970, the tale about the doomed romance between Oliver Barrett IV and Jennifer Cavilleri be- came one of the bestselling books of the decade.


OCT. 12 Tweenheartthrob JustinBieber releas- eshis autobiography, “First Step 2For- ever,” at the age of 16. “Singers aren’t supposed tohave dairy before a show, butwe all knowI’ma rule breaker,”he writes. “Pizza is just so good!”


APRIL13 Kitty Kelley’s unauthorized biogra- phy “Oprah” is released. It includes the revelation that Oprah once had hotel room service deliver her two whole pecan pies, both of which she promptly devoured.


MAY11 Model-turned-TV-talk-show-host Tyra Banks announces that she has signed a deal with Delacorte to write three fantasy books set in the world of modeling and aimed at young readers. “Modelland,” the first book, is about “a teen girl in a make-believe society at an academy for exceptional models called Intoxibellas.”


JAN. 27 J.D. Salinger, the reclusive author of “The Catcher in the Rye,” dies at his home inNewHampshire at the age of 91. In the book’s teenage protagonist, Holden Caulfield, Salinger created one of the most enduring characters in American fiction.


MARCH9 In his memoir “Courage and Conse- quence,” Karl Rove reveals fewnew details about his time in the White House but does write frankly about his childhood, his parents’ divorce and his mother’s suicide. “Could Dad have been gay?” he asks. “Frankly, I don’t care.He wasmy father, with whom I had a wonderful relationship and whom I loved deeply.”


APRIL3 Lines form at Apple Stores across theUnit- ed States as cus- tomers seek to purchase an iPad on the first day of its release.


Meanwhile, traditional media spill lots of ink wondering if books have turned their last page.


JULY27 Two months after theU.S. publica- tion of “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’sNest,” the final volume of theMillenni- umTrilogy, Am- azon says that the late Stieg Larsson is the first author to sell 1 million Kindle e-books.


AUG.13 With the publication of his book “Freedom” approaching at the end of the month, Time magazine puts Jon- athan Franzen on its cover (the first time an author has appeared there since Stephen King in 2000) and hails him as a “Great AmericanNov- elist.”


OCT. 11 Carla Cohen (above right), who openedWashington’s Politics & Prose 26 years ago with BarbaraMeade (left) and built it into one of the most renowned bookstores in the country, dies at the age of 74.


NOV.17 Rock legend Patti Smith wins the nonfictionNational Book Award for her memoir “Just Kids.” “There is nothing in our material world more beautiful than the book,” Smith says in her acceptance speech. lowmans@washpost.com


IMAGES: THE WASHINGTON POST, REUTERS, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, BLOOMBERG, GREG MARTIN


SEPT.7 Lisa Birnbach’s “True Prep,” an up- date of “The Official PreppyHand- book” (1980), hits shelves. J. Crew, the late Louis Auchincloss,Hampden- Sydney College, apple pudding, rehab and the Obamas are all declared part of prepsterdom.


OCT. 12 Howard Jacobson wins theMan Book- er Prize for his comedy about anti- Semitism, “The Finkler Question.”


OCT.29 Two packages containing bombs are found on cargo planes bound for the United States. In addition to explo- sive material, the packages contain books such as George Eliot’s “The Mill on the Floss” and Charles Dick- ens’s “Great Expectations.”


OCT. 7 Peruvian writerMario Vargas Llosa wins theNobel Prize in Literature.


OCT. 10 An author throws his paperback book at Obama following a rally in Phila- delphia. The Secret Service deems the man “overexuberant” but not a threat.


NOV.9 “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: TheUgly Truth,” the kids’ book byWashington native Jeff Kinney, outsells “Decision Points,” GeorgeW. Bush’s memoir, by nearly 2 to 1 on the day both books of- ficially go on sale.


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