What Book Should I Read?

I don't know how many times people have asked me that question. For some reason seeing me at peace with a book is a bit intimidating to some people--but it shouldn't be. Anyone who knows how to read can read a book. I'm not sure why a stack of pages scares people these days, but it does. I won't diss Kindle or Nook here--I don't go for it, but I think anything that gets people to read is a good thing, as long as it isn't inciting negative action. I guess in our blurby, tweeting culture, a single paragraph of connected sentences can be daunting, let alone pages and pages of them.
Well, stop whining!!!
Reading a book is easy. All you have to do is find something you like and read it. The more you read, the more you'll want to read, and, well, I'm just going to say it, the smarter you'll get. I'm serious. When you actually take in a full body of information and not just a synopsis or a collection of catchphrases, your brain will actually wrinkle. If you've read a book or two, you will know that wrinkling your brain is a good thing.
With that said, yes, I get that trying to form some sort of a reading pattern can be difficult. I love the classics, but if I read nothing but them, I get burnt out. Instead, I try to alternate more difficult books with lighter stuff. With a newborn in the house, I think I felt like reading a little bit more popcorn than usual this year, too. To get an idea of how to keep a steady rhythm going, here is every book I read in 2010 in chronological (the) order (that I read them):
I Am America, and So Can You--Colbert and Contributors
From Hell-Moore
The English Patient--Ondaatje
Sphere (2nd reading)--Crichton
Cruel Shoes--Martin
The Terminal Man--Crichton
The Corrections-Franzen
Friday Night Lights--Bissinger
The Awakening--Chopin
Something Wicked this Way Comes--Bradbury
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland--Carroll
Cash--Johnny Cash
Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Outcast--Allston
Blood Meridian--McCarthy
Beloved--Morrison
2001:A Space Odyssey--Clarke
Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Omen--Golden
Rabbit Run--Updike
Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Abyss--Denning
Thing Fall Apart--Achebe
Star Wars: Shatterpoint--Stover
Rabbit Redux--Updike
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom--Kahn
The Fifth Column and Four Stories of the Spanish Civil War--Hemingway
Under Kilimanjaro--Hemingway
Red Harvest--Hammett
Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye--Ritz
At the Mountains of Madness--Lovecraft
The Call of Cthulu--Lovecraft
Rainbows End--Vinge
Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Backlash--Allston
Star Wars fiction is a great guilty pleasure of mine, and the four I read this year recharged me after reading more difficult books. I meant to review every book I read this year, but if you've been following this blog for a while, you know how that went. Anyway, good luck in your own reading adventures. I'll have my annual top nine music list up soon.