My Favorite Reads of 2009

1. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
2. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
3. The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
4. Whistling Season by Ivan Doig
5. Hunger Games and its sequel, Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins
6. The Book of Lost Things by John Connolley
7. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
8. Tamar: a Novel of Espionage, Passion, and Betrayal by Mal Peet
9. Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork
10. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
11. Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan
12. Paper Towns by John Green
13. (Tie) Blankets by David Thompson and Stitches by David Small
14. Going Bovine by Libba Bray
15. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

Notes on a few of these books:
The Help by Kathryn Stockett was my favorite book of the year (even though I didn't blog about it). It is set in the deep South in the early 1960s and is about the relationships between black maids and their white employers and their children. It is an amazingly well-written book that really made me think. Everyone in my book club liked it a lot which was a first for us. Read more about this marvelous book at the author's blog.
Whistling Season by Ivan Doig. I listened to this marvelous book on CD and swept up by the story about a bygone era where the life of a community centered around the one-room school house. Set in Montana in 1911. Doig is master storyteller.
Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco Stork. I think this book is going to be the Printz Award winner for 2009. The best YA fiction of the year.
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. This is my choice for the Newberry Award book for the year. We'll see if I'm right. I hope so. This book is a little gem.
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. My goal was to read ten books this year from the list of 100 Best Novels. I didn't make my goal-I was too busy reading YA literature- but I did enjoy this classic set in England between the World Wars.