A lot of sites/papers have come out with their lists of the top books of the year. Here are a few of the ones I have seen:
- The New York Times Book Review 10 Best Books of 2009 (and listen to the podcast here). There are 5 top non-fiction and 5 top fiction picks. (I'd like to read A Gate At The Stairs by Lorrie Moore).
- You can also browse The New York Times Book Review's 100 Notable Books of 2009. I was happy to see Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon (which I wrote about here), Let The Great World Spin by Colum McCann (which I wrote about here), and Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead (which I wrote about here) on the list, and I was intrigued by the blurb about Penelope Lively's Family Album ("It’s the slow, inexorable way everyone comes to acknowledge the suppressed event
at the heart of this domestic novel that makes it quietly devastating."). Maybe someday I will actually read some of these books.
- The Washington Post Book World Best of 2009. Here's their Top 10 List (A Gate at the Stairs again). You can also see their much longer Best of 2009 List here. I was very excited to see a few books that I have actually read on here: A Friend of the Family by Lauren Grodstein (reviewed by me here) and This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper (reviewed here). From this list, I'd also like to read Valerie Martin's latest – The Confessions of Edward Day, The Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walter (which I wrote about here), and Glover's Mistake by Nick Laird.
- Flashlight Worthy Books' Best Books of 2009 as selected by readers. Noteworthy: Sag Harbor again and The Help by Kathryn Stockett, which I finally own, thanks to my husband who gave it to me for Hanukah! Hope to start it soon. And while you're there, check out the Best Book Club Selections of 2009 as chosen by "Great Book Bloggers", including me!
- Publisher's Weekly Top 10 Books of 2009 (again, Await Your Reply). And here is its Top 100 (again, Sag Harbor).
- Here's Amazon's Top 10 List, which is topped by Let The Great World Spin. And here's the Top 100 (lots of familiar titles on this list, including The Help and Andre Agassi's Open, which for some reason I want to read).
- And finally, my beloved Entertainment Weekly's The Best Fiction (sneaky EW won't post the whole list online – you have to have the print version), which includes The Help, Await Your Reply, Let the Great World Spin and This is Where I Leave You.
Whew. That was a lot of links!
So, EDIWTB readers, what are your picks for the best books of 2009? Please share them here.