Thursday, December 31, 2009

Best of/Book List for 2009

Here it is, my complete list of books read in 2009. And I have some dubious awards to hand out!

Best book of 2009, by far: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Award winning book that I personally hated: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Book most quoted by me: Arriving at Your Own Door by Jon Kabat-Zinn
Book with the scariest, meanest main character EVER: Serena by Ron Rash
Book written by an author I personally know and LOVE: Tie between Embracing Coincidence (Carol Lynn Pearson) and
Inspiration Divine (Darwin Stephenson)
Book my book club loved and I personally hated: Three Cups of Tea
Most bizarre book of 2009 (but I loved it!): The City and The City by China Mieville
Book with the most "bodice ripping": Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Author with the most talent in terms of scope: Mary Doria Russell, author of The Sparrow and Dreamers of the Day
  • DECEMBER
  • Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy
  • Here if you Need Me by Kate Braestrup
  • Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
  • Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
  • Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
  • Jarrettsville by Cornelia Nixon
  • NOVEMBER
  • My Latest Grievance by Elinor Lipman
  • The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
  • Dear American Airlines by Jonathan Miles
  • Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell
  • Sorrows of an American by Siri Hustvedt
  • The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama
  • The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent
  • Songs for the Missing by Stewart O'Nan
  • OCTOBER
  • The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti
  • The City and The City by China Mieville
  • I'll Steal you Away by Niccolo Ammaniti
  • The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
  • Inspiration Divine by Darwin Stephenson
  • Let the Great World Spin by Colum Mccan
  • SEPTEMBER
  • Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
  • The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
  • Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer
  • AUGUST
  • The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon
  • Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
  • Christine Falls by Benjamin Black
  • One for Sorrow by Christopher Barzak
  • JULY
  • Fingerprints of God by Barbara Bradford Hagerty
  • The Age of Shiva by Manil Suri
  • Mentoring by Chungliang Huang
  • JUNE
  • The Wise Heart by Jack Kornfield
  • In Pale Battalions by Robert Goddard
  • 10 Principles for Spiritual Parenting by Mimi Doe
  • Boundaries by Dr.'s Cloud/Townsend
  • Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris
  • MAY
  • The Help by Kathryn Stockett
  • The Wasted Vigil by Nadeem Aslam
  • APRIL
  • Breakfast with Buddha by Roland Merullo
  • Story of a Marriage by Andrew Sean Greer
  • The English Major by Jim Harrison
  • Mallory's Oracle by Carol O'Connell
  • MARCH
  • The Beach by Alex Garland
  • The Street of a Thousand Blossoms by Gail Tsukiyama
  • Away by Amy Bloom
  • Serena by Ron Rash
  • Zero Limits by Joe Vitale
  • FEBRUARY
  • Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate by Brad Warner
  • The Power of Focusing by Ann Cornell
  • Arriving at Your Own Door by Jon Kabat-Zinn
  • The Gathering by Anne Enright
  • Focusing-Oriented Psychotherapy by Gene Gendlin
  • The Little Sleep by Paul Tremblay
  • JANUARY
  • A Year To Live by Stephen Levine
  • Consider the Butterfly by Carol Lynn Pearson
  • White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
  • Etta by Gerald Kolpan
  • I'll Steal you Away by Niccolo Ammaniti

Books I've Given Up On in 2009

  • Winter Vault by Anne Michaels
  • Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen
  • Arlington Park by Rachel Cusk
  • The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

7 comments:

Literary Feline said...

One of these days I'll read The Hunger Games! I'm still not sure I'll be read Wao's book. I know some people have really liked it, but others, like you, hate it.

I enjoyed your list--such creative categories!

Here's to a wonderful New Year and many great books!

Lisa said...

Serena made Lady MacBeth look like a real sweetheart, didn't she?! What a great character.

Kailana said...

You read a lot of good books! I am looking forward to the third book by Suzanne Collins. :)

Lisa said...

Yeah, Lisa....I tell you, she scared the wits out of me!!! Whoooeeee. It takes quite an author to think of a character that mean!

Yep, can't wait for the rest of Suzanne Collins' series...should be awesome!

Lisa said...

I haven't tried to read it, but Oscar Wao does nothing for me. I read reviews and just don't get why it would be good.

I love the categories you used, since I haven't yet written my best of list I might steal the idea to do more than just "Top Ten".

Somer said...

I gave up on Oscar Wao this year, too. Did nothing for me!

Bonnie Jacobs said...

"Award winning book that I personally hated: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao"

I didn't give up, but I hated this book. Award? Whatever for? My rant: http://bonniesbooks.blogspot.com/2009/10/brief-wondrous-life-of-oscar-wao-by.html

"Book with the scariest, meanest main character EVER: Serena by Ron Rash"

My grandfather was a sawyer during this same period of time, so I included him in my review of this book: http://bonniesbooks.blogspot.com/2009/06/serena-by-ron-rash-2008.html

I came here to look over the "Something About Me" Reading Challenge (again) that we did in 2007. Mostly, I was thinking about Dewey, who died just before Thanksgiving in 2008. Any chance you would ever do another challenge like that?