Favourite books in 2009?

[Isa]

Of all the books you read in 2009, what would be your Top 5?

I'm gonna go with:

1- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
2- On Chesil Beach
3- Bel-Ami
4- The Devil in the White City
5- The Perks of Being a Wallflower

And an honorable mention to the Twilight series ;D

[Dominique]

Great list! Of those I've only read On Chesil Beach (other than Twilight). I'm going to have a think about what mine are!

[Halie]

In no particular order:

1. Persuasion by Jane Austen - I love Captain Wentworth!

2. High Fidelity by Nick Hornby - Honorable mention to Slam, also by Nick Hornby. I love his books and I'm looking forward to reading more of them in 2010. He's so funny!

3. Atonement by Ian McEwan - I could talk about this book for hours, but I don't want to bore you all!

4. Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You by Peter Cameron (I love this because the character reminds me so much of myself, which scares me but is one of the most exciting things I can find in a book.)

5. Tie between Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson and I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, because they are both adorable.

All of these are by English authors, except one! For 2010, I want to work on reading more works by authors that aren't British/American and especially ones that aren't Western.

[Ansku]

Here's my top 5:

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
2. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
3. Täällä pohjantähden alla by Väinö Linna
4. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
5. The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

I really liked the first three but I'm not sure are 4th and 5th right choices. I could have picked some other two novels too.

[jella]

1. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
2. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
3. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
4. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
5. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

When I read through the list of books I read last year, I'm disappointed. The only book I really loved was Jane Eyre.

[Michelle]

1. History of Love
2. The Hunger Games/Catching Fire
3. Love Begins in Winter
4. The Elegance of the Hedgehog
5. Heaven to Betsy

[Pilleriin]

1. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
2. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
3. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
4. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
5. Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote

[Deleted]

I think I'll choose

1. Vaarallinen juhannus by Tove Jansson (Moomin storie)
2. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
3. Timequake by Kurt Vonngut (he is just so weird )
4. Metamorphisis and in the penal colony by Franz Kafka
5. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

[Dominique]

I think my faves are:

1. The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende.
2. The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins.
3. The Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris.
4. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh.
5. The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

Yes two series, but I couldn't pick just one book out of them and loved them both so much!

[oda]

I did not read a lot of books i 2009, but I really enjoyed reading: Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson, Ian McEwans "Chesil Beach" and Picture of Dorian Grey by Wilde.

[Rubina]

Couldn´t limit my list so here´s my top 15:

A Prayer for the Dying (Stewart O´Nan)
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Alan Bradley)
We Have Always Lived in the Castle (Shirley Jackson)
20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth (Xiaolu Guo)
Revolutionary Road (Richard Yates)
I Capture the Castle (Dodie Smith)
Rape. A Love Story (Joyce Carol Oates)
Die Freibadclique (Oliver Storz)
The Gates (John Connolly)
The Woman in White (Wilkie Collins)
L´Ultima Lacrima (Stefano Benni)
The Behaviour of Moths (Poppy Adams)
The War Against Miss Winter (Kathryn Miller Haines)
A Clockwork Orange (Anthony Burgess)
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (Roald Dahl)

[bookaddict]

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

I read this book with the Rory Book Club Members and I loved it. It was a great read, a classic everyone should read. It will not disappoint.



The Good Earth by Pearl S Buck

I don’t remember how I came across this book, but I’m very happy I did. It was a great novel and I was captivated from the beginning to the end. I love the history of China and through literature you are able to live the lives that you learn about in history. Great read!

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

Anyone who has gone through seeing a loved one with Alzheimer's disease will want to read this one. It’s heartbreaking and raw. A 50 year old Harvard professor is diagnosed with early onset Alzeheimer’s and her world becomes a scary place. She becomes lost in her own home, scared for her life and her world deteriorates. Highly recommended.


The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.

I previously had issues reading Atwood, this was due to a horrible professor. My goal in 2009 was to read one more Atwood book and give her a fair chance. I’m so glad I picked this one up. It was amazing. Nothing what I expected and now I will read more Atwood. A great dystopian novel.


Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

I had this one on my book shelf for a long time. I decided to read it and was surprised by how good it was. It was a short read but very good. A great story of culture and family relationships.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

I heard of this book through the RBC book club. When I first started to read it, I was not interested. A few people told me to stick with it. I’m very happy I did. It was amazing! Funny, original, a must read!

The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanna Collins

Words cannot describe the joy I had while reading these books. I am anxiously waiting for the third book to be released. Once Harry Potter ended there was a void that needed to be filled. This filled my void. If you haven’t read these yet, do yourself a favour a buy them right away.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E Pearson

I thought this story was very original. It made me think about a parents love for their child. How far will a parent go, to ensure their child’s survival.

Stones by William Bell

This was my second William Bell novel, and it won’t be my last. A coming of age story with a twist. A great Canadian YA writer.

web.me.com/quirion/Bookaddict/Blog/Entries/2010/1/2_Favourite_Reads_in_2009.html

[Lu]

Jan 1, 2010 1:46:08 GMT -5 Halie said:

In no particular order:

1. Persuasion by Jane Austen - I love Captain Wentworth!

Me too!! ;D

I just realized I hadn't posted here. My favourite books in 2009:
- Paddy Clarke ha ha ha by Roddy Doyle
- All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich M. Remarque
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
- Coraline by Neil Gaiman
- Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

(in no particular order)