Top Books of 2009

Happy New Year, readers.

Oddly, I don't think I have a favorite book or even a shortlist this year. I read a lot - 52 books, 35 fiction and 17 non-fiction. I started to serious track book recommendations and most everything I read this year was something I planned to read. (There were a few exceptions, like Under a Yellow Sun and Blind Assassin, both picked under duress during book emergencies.) The list of books 'on deck' continues to grow at a Sisyphean rate, as do the piles of books around the house.

I paid more attention to comparative reading this year - Zeiton and City of Refuge were both reflections on Katrina which unintentionally had a lot in common with Blindness. I enjoyed reading about language in Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog, Land of Invented Languages, and The Professor and the Madman. And I got to see the South Pacific in Come Onshore..., and Lost Paradise. The fiction I read was a typical mix - plenty of foreign settings and a mix of science fiction and supernatural topics.

Here are the books I liked the most this year, alphabetized by author.


Fiction

Half a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - A family is spread throughout Nigeria during the civil war.

The Thing around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - A collection of short stories about Nigerians at home and in America.

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood - A woman's high society life is contrasted with excerpts from a dark novel one of the characters is writing.

A Guide to the Birds of Easts Africa by Nicholas Drayson - Quaint story about a small town in Kenya and a love triangle.

The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff - Brigham Young's 19th wife tries to leave him, while in the present a young boy escapes from a fundamentalist polygamous sect.

Telex from Cuba by Rachel Kushner - The story of several American families living in Cuba right before Castro's rise to power.

Disappearance of Irene dos Santos by Margaret Mascarenhas - A young girl disappears in the Venezuelan wilderness and years later all the people involved tell their parts of the story.

City of Refuge by Tom Piazza - A family struggles to make decisions about their future after Hurricane Katrina strikes their home in New Orleans.

Blindness by Jose Saramago - An unnamed city is suddenly struck by an epidemic of blindness.

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld - A fictionalized account of Laura Bush's life, from childhood leading up to her husband's being president.

Space Between Us by Thrity Umregar - The relationship between a privileged woman and her house servant in India is explored.


Airport Reads

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card - A young boy comes of age at Earth's most elite training school to prepare to lead troops in an intergalactic war.

The Spy who Came in from the Cold by John le Carre - Named the "Best Spy Novel of all time" by Publishers Weekly, this is about a retiring spy's last mission.

Daemon by Daniel Suarez - After a world-famous techie dies, the programs he has left embedded in the Internet come to life.


Non-fiction

Zeiton by Dave Eggers - A Syrian family survives in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog by Kitty Burns Florey - Complete history of diagramming sentences, including memorable illustrations.

Lost Paradise by Kathy Marks - A journalist travels to Pitcairn Island to report on the trials of a series of prominent men accused of sexually assaulting young girls.

In the Land of Invented Languages by Arika Okrent - The history of several languages that have been created instead of evolving, from Klingon to Modern Hebrew to Esperanto.

The Monty Hall Problem by Jason Rosenhouse - This history of one of math's most famous and frustrating brainteasers.

The Addict by Michael Stein - A psychiatrist chronicles a year in his treatment of a young drug addict.

Come On Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All by Christina Thompson - An American woman falls in love a Maori man while in New Zealand studying.

Runners-up

The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry - (Fiction) A family has supernatural experiences in modern-day Salem.

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown - (Fiction) Another thriller starring Robert Langdon, this time involving the Masons and Washington D.C.

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly - (Fiction) A young boy travels through an enchanted forest to escape his unhappy life.

The Power of One by Bruce Courtenay - (Fiction) A young white boy grows up in South Africa at the dawn of apartheid - his small challenges are contrasted with his country's larger ones.

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger - (Fiction) American twins inherit their estranged aunt's London apartment located next to a cemetery.

Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan - (Non-fiction) Indictment of our food system, examination of how to eat more healthily and ethically.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows - (Fiction) A writer in postwar England becomes fascinated by the small community on Guernsey Island during the war.

The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester - (Non-fiction) A history of the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, one of the major contributors being an inmate at an institution for the criminally insane.

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Happy 2010, all.