Once again, I completed my quest to read 26 new books in a year. I did that last year, but promptly neglected to finish my reviews. Those reviews will be coming, but may be a bit shorter overall since it’s been… well, over a year since I read some of the books. Reviews for this past year’s books will be up as well, so this will look like a Book Blog for a while (though maybe that isn’t bad, as it will get me back in the habit of writing, something I threaten to do often). For the books read this year, I’ll post up reviews of books after I read them, with possibly a re-visit review at the end of the year, for perspective’s sake. All the perspective in the world, however, cannot stop my rolling annoyance at The Secret History (which will be covered shortly).
The Books of 2009 (in alphabetical order, can’t find the list I made as the year went on)
- A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini
- The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz
- The Children of Men, P.D. James
- Dogs in the Vineyard, L. Vincent Baker
- The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery
- The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
- How The Irish Saved Civilization, Thomas Cahill
- The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
- It’s The Little Things: Everyday Interactions that Get Under the Skins of Blacks and Whites, Lena Williams
- The Knife of Never Letting Go, Patrick Ness
- Lamb, Christopher Moore
- Liar’s Poker, Michael Lewis
- Lost Twin Cities, Larry Millet
- The Magicians, Lev Grossman
- The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss
- The People of Sparks, Jeanne DuPrau
- The Prophet, Khalil Gibran
- Sabriel, Garth Nix
- Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Lisa See
- Special Topics in Calamity Physics, Marcia Pessl
- The Time Traveler’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
- War for the Oaks, Emma Bull
- World War Z, Max Brooks
- The Years of Rice and Salt, Kim Stanley Robinson
- The Zombie Survival Guide, Max Brooks
- Comics I kept up on this year (Fables (incl. the crossover, 1001 Nights of Snowfall, and Cinderella), Unwritten, and Buffy Season 8)
Well damn, I’d love to just jump into reviews of a lot of these now. Here are some short lists to tide you over, gentle reader.
Winner of the Snow Flower and the Secret Fan Award:
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. This award is named after this book, because Mom was constantly foisting it my way saying “YOU HAVE TO READ THIS.” Other books have won this in the past; it is for books that Mom has foisted at me for over 1 year and I finally get around to reading. I am amused that the eponymous book won this year.
“That’s Not A Book, Cheater” List
Some of the books on the list are not strictly novels or non-fiction. However, if the quantity of reading is significant enough (by my own measure), I count them. Fair enough to let you know though. And I’m not a cheater, I just read many things.
- The comics (If you think comics don’t count, then jump in a lake)
- Lost Twin Cities. (Many historical pictures, but exhaustive research and writing about buildings torn down in the name of “progress” in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Masquerading as a coffee table book.)
- Dogs in the Vineyard. (Actually a roleplaying game, but the setting was so fascinating and the system so interesting I read it cover to cover. I read many gaming books, but more often as reference, so they’re not on this list)
- The Zombie Survival Guide. (I needed something to fill the need for more Max Brooks Zombie Talk after World War Z.)
Top Five of the Year:
- Children of Men
- World War Z
- The Magicians
- The Name of the Wind
- Special Topics in Calamity Physics
Reviews of remaining 2008 and all 2009 books coming soon. Probably some this evening, since I am blessed with a day off tomorrow and a not insignificant supply of caffeine this evening.
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