Year in Review: Best Books of 2009

Justin Silles 2005

A compendium of what read well during 2009, this is an overview of what was hot in my world and links to those illustrious 'best books' collections of which no one has ever read all of them. There will be discussion of what was and was not read by this reporter. I don't merge much with the list produced by Publishers Weekly, but sometimes that east coast sensibility doesn't wear too well here in the Heartland. And I'm breaking the rules - Examiner.com does not want first person reporting. But I find it difficult to discuss books I've read or wish to read while speaking in the third person - all that 'royal we' business.

One of the places I often go to for book suggestions is the NPR Books page. Their lists for 2009 are split by subject and compiled by many different reporters, everyone from Maureen Corrigan to Nancy Pearl, covering everything from comics to gardening. This makes for a good, well-rounded selection. I haven't read many of these, but there are some hopefuls here.

Overall, my reading for this past year did not encompass very many current titles. Many of my choices were from previous years; it seems I was playing catch up. My book clubs tend to choose older titles so we can get them at the library, but I do get current titles to review for various publications. In an effort to get more current, I have started paying attention to the bestseller lists again. So I got my hands on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and can't wait for the sequel. I succumbed to the hype and read The Lost Symbol. eh. Seemed like deja vu. Amazon's top book picks for the year mirror my choices more aptly than most lists, though I probably won't get to Glenn Beck, no matter what.

I did not read any vampire novels, though I probably should just to see what all the hubbub was about. I notice they are not on the lists anywhere, though. I did not read any current celeb or politician autobiographies, did not stand in line at the Mall of America for Sarah Palin, though I did reread The Girl from the Fiction Department by Hilary Spurling, an intriguing little bio of Sonia Orwell, widow of George Orwell. I read several business and economics books for reviews, which were more interesting this year than in most previous years.

I read The Magicians by Lev Grossman, mostly in response to all the hype about his article in the Wall Street Journal regarding post-modernism. I still have his Codex sitting on my shelf, will get to that soon. The Magicians was very Potter-esque, though he does seem to admit that freely within the book, as well as acknowledging his homage to C.S. Lewis. I was a bit, shall we say, underwhelmed, though I can't really say why. Maybe it was all the sex and what seemed like the victory of the dark side.

Favorite review titles of the year:
When Autumn Leaves by Amy S. Foster for BookPage
Eiffel's Tower by Jill Jonnes for the Minneapolis Star Tribune
The Other 8 Hours by Robert Pagliarini for Publishers Weekly

I did not try to find a title from each publication; this is just how it played out. These were the top three that I was given to pass judgment on this past year, and they happened to be across the board. These were titles that I found myself recommending to others long after the review had run. I will post the reviews as they are made available. I also highly recommend The Devil's Queen by Jeanne Kalogridis.

Local authors made good in Minnesota, from Vince Flynn with his latest Pursuit of Honor, and his keynote of the Loft's first annual Mystery Festival, to Julie Kramer with her Missing Mark and her multitude of events, to Garrison Keillor with his three - count 'em, three - releases this year. In 2009 we lost Bill Holm and others who made the Minnesota literary landscape one of the very best in the country.

Recently completed good reading: Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart by Beth Pattillo and Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Neffenegger. Couldn't get much further apart on the literary scale, but both satisfying and oddly complementary. On my short list right now: The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt, Tribes by Seth Godin, The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson, The Help by Kathryn Stockett, The Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walter, Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel and Superfreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. And those lists of Best Books of 2009, maybe I'll get to some of those too, since I've read surprisingly little of them. I usually find a good children's book (one of my past favorites, The Invention of Hugo Cabret) and even a cookbook or something to do with home. But not this year.