Best Books of 2009
What is the What – Dave Eggers
Where the Sea Used to Be – Rick Bass
The Hiding Place – Corrie ten Boom
Invisible Frontier: Exploring the Tunnels, Ruins, and Rooftops of Hidden New York – L.B. Deyo, David Leibowitz
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen – Christoper McDougall
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Betty Smith
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas – John Boyne
Neverwhere – Neil Gaiman
X Saves the World: How Generation X Got the Shaft but Can Still Keep Everything from Sucking – Jeff Gordinier
The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner’s Semester at America’s Holiest University – Kevin Roose
The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
Cry, the Beloved Country – Edward Callan
My Year Inside Radical Islam – Daveed Gartenstein-Ross
The Secret Life of Bees – Sue Monk Kidd
Père Goriot – Honore de Balzac
Dune – Frank Herbert
The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
Coraline – Neil Gaiman
On the Old Testament – Mark Driscoll
Geek Love – Katherine Dunn
Child 44 – Tom Rob Smith
The Monstrumologist – Richard Yancey
Spud – John van de Ruit
The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death: Reflections on Revenge, Germophobia, and Laser Hair Removal – Laurie Notaro
Fanny Herself – Edna Ferber
More Fire: How to Run the Kenyan Way – Toby Tanser
Anthem – Ayn Rand
Already Dead – Charlie Huston
1984 – George Orwell
Beasts of New York – Jon Evans
Peter Pan – J. M. Barrie
Not Best Books of 2009
People of the Book – Geraldine Brooks
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers – Mary Roach
Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
According To Jane – Marilyn Brant
My Life on the Run: The Wit, Wisdom, and Insights of a Road Racing Icon – Bart Yasso
The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare – G. K. Chesterton
Paranoia – Joseph Finder
Pygmy – Chuck Palahniuk
Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neale Hurston
The Friday Night Knitting Club – Kate Jacobs
Towelhead – Alicia Erian
Dune Messiah – Frank Herbert
The Sari Shop Widow – Shobhan Bantwal
A Lion Among Men – Gregory Maguire
The Turn of the Screw – Henry James