The lists are everywhere! “The best books of 2009 …” And such a variety! What does make a book ‘the best book’? I think it’s the reader. What knocks me over, may be a book that couldn’t catch you after three tries! One title that seems to appear on many ‘best of’ lists this year is The Help by Kathryn Stockett.
We have collected many of the best book lists here. Is your book on any lists? What were some of your favorite books from 2009? Let us know! Check out our display of books from 2009 near the Reader’s Help Desk starting the first week in January.
Beth, Reader’s Services
Posted in Books on December 30th, 2009
RSS 2.0 Trackback
Top ten books that I read in 2009. In ascending order of quality:
10. River of Gods by Ian MacDonald.
Science fiction. Rich exploration of India a generation in the future. Intriguing working in of technology and politics, with a wide cast of very different characters. Strong.
9. Gradisil by Adam Roberts.
Science fiction. Multi-generational account of revolution and nation-building. Avoids facile characterization of simplistic moral judgments for or against the main theme. Three different points of view, all in some relation to the titualar revolutionary leader Gradisil, that combine to form a highly absorbing and complex narrative.
8. Gender Trouble by Judith Butler.
Theory. Offers a breakdown of gender and even “objective” “corporeal” “biological” sex as performance. Also explores and critiques the heteronormative bias in much of current scholarship, including much of feminism. Looses points largely because of its deliberately opaque language, making this a struggle to read, though a highly rewarding one.
7. Peru’s Indian Peoples and the Challenge of Spanish Conquest by Steve Stern.
History. Intricate and well paced exploration of specific historical communities. Good reworking for a lot of unconscious biases and marginalization against indigenous communities, explores instead their viability and some partially effective strategies. Explores a fluid and multi-faceted merger of culture, politics and religion.
6. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.
“Great Literature”. Engaging, vividly writer, consideration of new paradigms and, because of the subject matter, massively disturbing. Very good exploration of power and psychology in a specific moment for mid twentieth century America.
5. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi.
Science fiction. Highly complex, realistic and engaging world-building, matched to a breakneck plot and characters scattered across the political and psychological spectrum, all of them morally compromised in some way but depicted as complicated and believable. Highly pessimistic and some very disturbing subjects and specific passages, but ultimately this is one of the top books of the year. Also wins points for me for both a complex and bleak exploration of future environmental collapse and a thorough and non-exoticized portrayal of a non-Western Country (a future version of Thailand). The only work on this list actually published in 2009.
4. Iron Council by China Mieville.
Fantasy. Epic of political tension and revolution, reworking a lot of familiar fantasy tropes through a Trotskyite narrative. Intriguing ideas, doesn’t idealize ‘the good guys’ or grant them inherent success, has great intersections of dialog and description. Also features a touching, and touchingly mundane, love-story that’s not just heteronormative. The first Mieville I read, and enough reason just in this volume to establish him as one of the best current writers.
3. Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation by Mary Louise Pratt.
History. Fascinating exploration of the power of travel accounts, cartography and written accounts to define and reinforce lines of imperial power. One of the most compelling one-volume accounts I’ve seen for the effectiveness of cultural history to empire, as well as many specific insights that advance the field.
2. The Devil’s Handwriting by George Steinmeitz.
History. Mammoth exploration of the different facets of German colonialism, in its cultural perceptions, its administrative practices and the connection between these. Provides an effective and highly readable overview of the late 19th/early 20th century German empire, as well as an effective case for multiple types of imperialism within a single empire, often determined by fluid political factors.
1. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.
“Great Literature”. Dark horse success for me, best book of the year. I’d managed to avoid hearing the main details or plot surprises of this book (unlike most “Great Literature” I read) so I was engaged and shocked by a number of plot twists and genre shifts. Overall this is a very imaginative, intense, well characterized and insightful book. Also contains, in the main supporting character, a collection of highly witty sayings that are also a disturbing look at the utter cynicism of the man. As well, the work is very effective at presenting and subtly but comprehensively critiquing the British upper class society of Wilde’s day.
Posted on December 31st, 2009 at 4:53 pm
My favorite book of 2009 was, by far, Mark Bittman’s “In Defense of Food.” He has a reader-friendly style, using interesting stories to illustrate many of his points. I now look at food (“real” food, that is) in a much different light. It has forever changed the way I deal with food – buying, preparing, and eating. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys food (!) and wants to explore better (and easier) ways to make good choices in eating.
Posted on January 8th, 2010 at 2:26 pm
My favorite book of 2009 was The Housekeeper and The Professor by Yoko Ogawa. It speaks to memory and friendship in a way that really resonated with me
Posted on January 13th, 2010 at 10:59 am
The Housekeeper and the Professor was one of my favorite books of the year also! I have chosen this book for the library’s June book discussion.
Posted on January 13th, 2010 at 3:24 pm
This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper puts the fun into family disfunction. I would love to see this book made into a screenplay. It illustrates how the pain of life altering events effects people within couples and family in different ways and has a wry wit about it not found in many reads. It shows how people within a family relate to and cope with their problems in ways unique unto themselves. Fun!
Posted on May 13th, 2010 at 2:05 pm