Favorite Books Read in 2009

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Favorite Books Read in 2009

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1susiesharp
Edited: Dec 15, 2009, 2:20 pm

This is the list I've come up with. Next year will be easier since I just joined LT this summer it will be easier to keep track of books next year!
These were not necessarily published this year its just what I read this year.
Favorite books I read in 2009
Adult Books:
The People of the Book by, Geraldine Brooks
The Help by, Kathryn Stockett
Nefertiti & The Heretic Queen by, Michelle Moran
An Echo in the Bone by, Diana Gabaldon
The Historian by, Elizabeth Kostova
The Shadow of the Wind by, Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by, Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Earthly Pleasures by, Karen Neches
The Brutal Telling by, Louise Penny
Preying For Mercy 3-in 1 & Bone Crossed by, Patricia Briggs
One Thousand White Women by, Jim Fergus
Young Adult:
Waiting for Normal by, Leslie Connor
Wildwood Dancing by, Juliet Marillier
Into the Dark and Echo Falls Mystery by, Peter Abrahams
Beastly by, Alex Finn
The Body of Christopher Creed by, Carol Plum-Ucci
The Last Apprentice (Revenge of the Witch) by, Joseph Delaney
The Blue Bloods Series Books 1-4 by, Melissa De La Cruz
I Capture the Castle by, Dodie Smith
Mister B. Gone by, Clive Barker
The Woman in White by, Wilkie Collins

2vintagebeckie
Dec 1, 2009, 2:52 pm

My favorites from this year are ones that made me think or touched my heart:

The Great Divorce by C S Lewis
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
Searching for Eternity by Elizabeth Musser
The Martyr's Song by Ted Dekker

3SusieBookworm
Edited: Dec 2, 2009, 8:36 pm

My favorites:
Villette by Charlotte Bronte
Maria, or The Wrongs of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft
Comedies by Ludvig Holberg
The Last Man by Mary Shelley
Faust, Part One by Goethe
Anthem by Ayn Rand
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Candide by Voltaire
The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis

4irunsjh
Edited: Dec 2, 2009, 9:37 am

This year has been a great year for books. To many favorites for me, but here is a good list

The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie
The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore

I seemed to read a lot of Fantasy this year, and was not very good of keeping track when I started and finished books. I will do better next year, as I am now using LT to track start and end dates of when I am reading books.

5Jim53
Dec 2, 2009, 9:50 am

This has not been a great reading year for me: fewer books and less quality than previous years. I seem to have read a lot of three-star mysteries, several of them for my library book club. I've also done a fair amount of re-reading. My three favorite new books so far have been:
The Thirteenth Tale
Handling Sin
Mystic River
I've just begun War and Peace, which I expect to join the list, but I don't know if I'll finish it this year.

6usnmm2
Dec 2, 2009, 10:09 am

Tried to change my reading habits this year. Read less Sc-Fi more non-fiction and books of a more literary nature. It turned out fairly well. So here are a few that I really enjoyed. Not in any order;

The Four Deuces: A Korean War Story by C. S. Crawford
Empire Falls by Richard Russo
At All Costs: How a Crippled Ship and Two American Merchant Mariners Turned the Tide of World War II by Sam Mose
Ned Myers; Or, a Life Before the Mast (Classics of Naval Literature) by Ned Myers
Into the Storm: Destroyermen, Book I by Taylor Anderson

7Jenson_AKA_DL
Edited: Dec 4, 2009, 9:03 pm

I know there is another month, but looking at my tbr pile I'd be very surprised if anything tops these as my 2009 faves:

The Smoke Trilogy by Tanya Huff I didn't really get far into her Blood Ties series but had heard good things about this trilogy and decided to try it. It was very entertaining with a great, snarktastic lead and I just fell in love with them.

The Tamir Trilogy by Lynn Flewelling. Really good, really dark fantasy trilogy. Although very different from her Nightrunner series I still really enjoyed this story.

Blood Rites by Jim Butcher I totally enjoyed all the Harry Dresden books I read this year, but this one topped the lot for me! I simply adore Thomas :-)

The Host by Stephenie Meyer. I held on to this book for quite a while before reading it and was very happily surprised when I finally did. I know this author gets a lot of flack for her writing, but I really enjoy her work.

PsyCop series by Jordan Castillo Price. This was a bit of a boundary pusher for me. These are very graphic supernatural gay lit stories but the characters and storylines are so intriguing. I've even re-read the series which is something I've tried to avoid doing due to my massive TBR pile.

The Doctrine of Labyrinths books by Sarah Monette. Another dark fantasy series with compelling characters.

Lover Unbound by J.R. Ward. I avoided reading V's story for quite a long time only to get completely suckered into it when I finally did read it. This is an excellent paranormal romance/urban fantasy series if you're looking for one.

The Ghost Belonged to Me by Richard Peck. This is more of a children's story but something about it really appealed to me. I'm still looking to get my hands on the last two Blossom Culp books I haven't read yet.

8susiesharp
Dec 2, 2009, 3:13 pm

I'm going to have to find The Smoke Trilogy if its got a snarktastic lead love your word but know excactly what you meant!

9rainpebble
Dec 2, 2009, 8:26 pm

I have read so many outstanding books this year thanks mainly to L.T. recx. So I will just tell you the very best book of 2009 for me was:
Battle Cry of Freedom by James M. McPherson.

10susiesharp
Dec 4, 2009, 10:52 pm

Boy alot of you have read some heavy classic this year.I am going to try to read more classics next year, but they seem to get pushed down to the bottom of the TBR pile when new ones come around.

11barney67
Edited: Dec 9, 2009, 8:41 pm

Lives of the Mind by Roger Kimball
The Meaning of Everything by Simon Winchester
Right Time, Right Place by Richard Brookhiser
Patience and Fortitude by Nicholas Basbanes
Samuel Johnson: The Struggle by Jeffrey Meyers
Eifelheim by Michael Flynn
Digital Barbarism by Mark Helprin
The Millionaires' Unit by Marc Wortman
Faith of My Fathers by John McCain
The Art of Travel by Alain De Botton

Re-reads:
Alone by Richard Byrd
We Die Alone by David Howarth
In a Cardboard Belt by Joseph Epstein

13pollux
Edited: Dec 16, 2009, 10:44 am

I am currently reading my 107th book of 2009.
Here are a few I have really enjoyed.

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
Natural Elements - Richard Mason
The Devil You Know - Poppy Z Brite
Liquor - Poppy Z Brite
Prime - Poppy Z Brite
Dark Places - Gillian Flynn
The Stolen Child - Keith Donohue
Angels of Destruction - Keith Donohue
Secret Speech - Tom Rob Smith
Library of the Dead - Glenn Cooper
Us - Richard Mason
One Second After - William Forstchen
The Coroner - M.J. Hall
Bad Things Happen - Harry Dolan
Black Water Rising - Attica Locke
Angel's Game - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Last Child - John Hart
The Gargoyle - Andrew Davidson

14tjblue
Dec 17, 2009, 7:47 am


The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

15SylviaC
Edited: Dec 17, 2009, 9:41 am

I think my two favourites for this year were The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, and The Brain that Changes Itself by Norman Doidge.

17susiesharp
Dec 28, 2009, 8:04 pm

WTG Pollux I hope to hit that many in 2010-You have a few I'm going to have to look into too.I've also read a few of them.Good Job!

Tj-The Story of Edgar Sawtelle has had such a mix of reviews I think its one of those love it or hate it but I've been going to try it to see what camp I end up in.

Sandy-I want to read Oryx and Crake
there sure has been alot of buzz on it lately.