The Best and Worst of 2009

Here are my favorite -- and least favorite -- books of the year.

First, the best. I picked my favorite ten, but they aren't ranked beyond that. I tried to rank them in order of favorites, but it was simply too difficult. Quite simply, these were all amazing novels.

THE BEST

- Benjamin, Alice I Have Been
- Collins, The Hunger Games
- DuMaurier, My Cousin Rachel
- DuMaurier, Rebecca
- Phillips, Angelica
- Phillips, The Egyptologist
- Savage, Firmin
- Simmons, Drood
- Waters, The Little Stranger
- Vidal, Julian

And now, for my least favorites. I gave decent reviews of some at the time but found they do not hold up in retrospect. Thus, this list is not so much about "bad" books as it is about books I simply didn't enjoy. (Labeling it "The Worst" is somewhat of a misnomer, but will work in place of the wordier "Books I Didn't Jive With.")

THE WORST

- Brown, The Lost Symbol
- Coupland, JPod
- Fforde, The Fourth Bear
- Freund, I Never Saw Paris
- Hyde, The Abortionist's Daughter
- Koja, The Cipher
- Millhauser, Dangerous Laughter
- Moody, Right Livelihoods
- Oppegaard, The Suicide Collectors
- Sijie, Mr. Muo's Travelling Couch

A Year in Reading: 2009

Well, folks, it's once again time for my Year in Review.

I didn't read as many books this year as I would have liked. I managed to finish 71, when last year, I read 88. In 2007, I read 77. So this was a pretty crappy year, reading wise. Oh, and my reading resolution? Pretty much crapped out on that one. That's okay: I'll be trying again in 2010.

I'm not going to be too hard on myself for reading fewer books this year than in the last two years; I had some chunksters in there (such as Drood and Armadale) that caused me to slow down a bit. (Sure, let's go with that.)

I'll highlight my best and worst later; for now, here's the full tally:

JANUARY

1. Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
2. Bachelder, Bear v. Shark
3. Coupland, JPod
4. Davidson, The Gargoyle
5. Diaz, The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao
6. Gottlieb, Now You See Him
7. Hyde, The Abortionist's Daughter
8. Lippman, What the Dead Know
9. McEwan, On Chesil Beach
10. Thomas, The End of Mr. Y
11. Tinti, The Good Thief


FEBRUARY

12. Collins, The Moonstone
13. Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love
14. Hill, 20th Century Ghosts
15. Millhauser, Dangerous Laughter
16. Moody, Right Livelihoods
17. Przekop, Aberrations


MARCH

18. DuMaurier, Rebecca
19. Lehane, Mystic River
20. Moerk, Darling Jim
21. Moore, Fool
22. O'Nan, Songs for the Missing


APRIL

23. Ferris, Then We Came to the End
24. Freund, I Never Saw Paris
25. Lerman, The Blonde on the Train
26. Mabanckou, African Psycho
27. Matheson, Button, Button
28. Simmons, Drood
29. Thomson, The Book of Revelation


MAY

30. Brown, Angels and Demons
31. Oliver, Evidence: Poems
32. Vidal, Julian
33. Wray, Lowboy


JUNE

34. Brown and Presley, The Liberation Diet
35. von Daniken, Chariots of the Gods
36. Doyle, I Love You, Beth Cooper
37. Eco, The Name of the Rose
38. Irving, The World According to Garp
39. Kurlansky, The Food of a Younger Land
40. Waters, Fingersmith
41. Wood, Lottery


JULY

42. Dick, Martian Time-Slip
43. Fforde, The Fourth Bear
44. Hall, The Raw Shark Texts
45. King, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
46. Sijie, Mr. Muo's Travelling Couch
47. Smith, The Secret Speech
48. Stewart, The Ivy Tree
49. del Toro and Hogan, The Strain


AUGUST

50. Phillips, Angelica
51. Waters, The Little Stranger


SEPTEMBER

52. Benjamin, Alice I Have Been
53. Brown, The Lost Symbol
54. Collins, The Hunger Games
55. Maitland, Company of Liars
55. Sigler, Infected
56. Simmons, A Winter Haunting


OCTOBER

57. Atwood, The Year of the Flood
58. DuMaurier, My Cousin Rachel
59. Niffenegger, Her Fearful Symmetry
60. Sigler, Contagious


NOVEMBER

61. Collins, Armadale
62. Cottam, The House of Lost Souls
63. Koja, The Cipher
64. Preston, The Hot Zone
65. Sapphire, Push


DECEMBER

66. Clark, The Great Stink
67. Klein, The Moth Diaries
68. Long, Year Zero
69. Oppegaard, The Suicide Collectors
70. Phillips, The Egyptologist
71. Savage, Firmin

Reading Resolution: September Update

Hm. This is a bit overdue, eh? Looks like that reading resolution has fallen right in the crapper.

RESOLUTION TITLES READ IN SEPTEMBER: 0

NON-RESOLUTION TITLES READ IN SEPTEMBER: 4

Brown, Dan. The Lost Symbol
Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games
Maitland, Karen. Company of Liars
Simmons, Dan. A Winter Haunting


TOTAL TITLES READ IN SEPTEMBER: 4

CURRENT RESOLUTION PROGRESS: 33 / 88

TOTAL BOOKS READ IN 2009: 55

Reading Resolution: August Update (or, a post in which I vomit repeatedly)

I've been putting this post off for a few days now. It's not pretty.


RESOLUTION TITLES READ IN AUGUST: 0

excuse me while I puke on the floor here...




NON-RESOLUTION TITLES READ IN AUGUST: 2

Phillips, Arthur. Angelica
Waters, Sarah. The Little Stranger


TOTAL TITLES READ IN AUGUST: 2

CURRENT RESOLUTION PROGRESS: 33 / 88

TOTAL BOOKS READ IN 2009: 51



there are no words.

Reading Resolution: July Update

Another month down -- time to check the progress on ye olde resolutione:


RESOLUTION TITLES READ IN JULY: 6

Dick, Philip K. Martian Time-Slip
Fforde, Jasper. The Fourth Bear
Hall, Steven. The Raw Shark Texts
King, Stephen. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
Sijie, Dai. Mr. Muo's Travelling Couch
Stewart, Mary. The Ivy Tree


NON-RESOLUTION TITLES READ IN JULY: 2

del Toro, Guillermo and Chuck Hogan. The Strain (review forthcoming)
Smith, Tom Rob. The Secret Speech


TOTAL TITLES READ IN JULY: 8

CURRENT RESOLUTION PROGRESS: 33 / 88

TOTAL BOOKS READ IN 2009: 49

Reading Resolution: June Update

Time to gather some links and rack up my progress for the month of June. Not that great, but I was traveling for a good bit.


RESOLUTION TITLES READ IN JUNE: 2

Eco, Umberto. The Name of the Rose
Irving, John. The World According to Garp


NON-RESOLUTION TITLES READ IN JUNE: 6

Brown, Kevin and Annette Presley. The Liberation Diet
von Daniken, Erich. Chariots of the Gods
Doyle, Larry. I Love You, Beth Cooper
Kurlansky, Mark. The Food of a Younger Land
Waters, Sarah. Fingersmith
Wood, Patricia. Lottery


TOTAL TITLES READ IN JUNE: 8

CURRENT RESOLUTION PROGRESS: 27 / 88

TOTAL BOOKS READ IN 2009: 41

Reading Resolution: May Update

Simply put, May sucked. My general reading sucked, and my reading resolution sucked harder. Why? I was feeling so invigorated, reading-wise. And yet: suckage. Prepare yourselves.

RESOLUTION TITLES READ IN MAY: 0

Zero? ZERO?!?

Zero.

NON-RESOLUTION TITLES READ IN MAY: 4

Brown, Dan. Angels and Demons
Oliver, Mary. Evidence: Poems
Vidal, Gore. Julian
Wray, John. Lowboy


TOTAL TITLES READ IN MAY: 4

CURRENT RESOLUTION PROGRESS: 25 / 88

TOTAL BOOKS READ IN 2009: 33

Reading Resolution: April Update

Finally -- the spell has been broken. The monstrous grip held by both LOST and Drood has been broken, and I can now return my full attention to my reading resolution. April wasn't the best of months as far as my resolution was concerned, but I'm getting back to it. Really, I swear.


RESOLUTION TITLES READ IN APRIL: 4

Ferris, Joshua. Then We Came to the End
Freund, Harry. I Never Saw Paris
Mabanckou, Alain. African Psycho
Thomson, Rupert. The Book of Revelation


NON-RESOLUTION TITLES READ IN APRIL: 3

Lerman, Eleanor. The Blonde on the Train
Matheson, Richard. Button, Button
Simmons, Dan. Drood



TOTAL TITLES READ IN APRIL: 7

CURRENT RESOLUTION PROGRESS: 25 / 88

TOTAL BOOKS READ IN 2009: 29

Reading Resolution: March Update

I didn't do so well on my reading resolution this month. Why? Two words: LOST and Drood. I've decided to finally -- five seasons into the show -- start watching the former, as they are all streamed for free online at abc.com. The latter is good, but time consuming, especially when one spends all her time watching, say, the first season of an immensely intriguing tv show.

So, alas, my numbers are low.

DuMaurier, Rebecca
Lehane, Mystic River
Moore, Fool
O'Nan, Songs for the Missing

(Don't forget that I also read a great ARC this month, Darling Jim, which doesn't count toward my resolution, but it was so good I couldn't put it down. It's due out in print this month, so check it out!)

RESOLUTION TITLES READ IN MARCH: 4

TOTAL TITLES READ IN MARCH: 5

CURRENT RESOLUTION PROGRESS: 21/88

TOTAL BOOKS READ IN 2009: 22

Reading Resolution: February Update

Well folks, Month the Second of my 2009 Reading Resolution has ended. Whereas I exceeded my expectations in January, February has been a bit of a bummer.

We've been doing renovations here at the Bibliolatry Manor, and I've been in a reading funk. Those are my excuses. Ugh. Let's hope for a better March.

Here is my tally for February. Links go to my posts.

Titles read in February 2009:

Collins, The Moonstone
Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love
Hill, 20th Century Ghosts
Millhauser, Dangerous Laughter
Moody, Right Livelihoods
Przekop, Aberrations


TITLES READ IN FEBRUARY: 6

CURRENT PROGRESS: 17/88

Reading Resolution: January Update

Well folks, Month the First of my 2009 Reading Resolution has ended. I've exceeded my expectations and have read more than I thought possible.

Before I get to the recap, I must first address a nagging detail that has been bothering me the past few weeks. Attentive readers will have noticed the total number of books to be read for my resolution slowly inching higher. Most new additions are sneaky little buggers that escaped my initial sweep of my shelves, so wily were they hidden. Admittedly, two are new additions: one was a purchase I promised myself as soon as it came out in paperback, and another was a prize. So, if you've noticed my goal has increased recently (I've added about 10 titles in all), then you aren't going crazy. I've got crazy covered just fine, thank you.

And now, without further ado, my tally for January. Not all titles have been reviewed yet -- for the time being, reading trumps almost all other activities. Links, when present, go to my posts.

Titles read in January 2009:

Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Bachelder, Bear v. Shark
Coupland, JPod
Davidson, The Gargoyle
Diaz, The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao
Gottlieb, Now You See Him
Hyde, The Abortionist's Daughter
Lippman, What the Dead Know
McEwan, On Chesil Beach
Thomas, The End of Mr. Y
Tinti, The Good Thief


CURRENT PROGRESS: 11/88