Best of 2009: Books

by Tarable

My reading interests are varied, to say the least.

Here are my runners-up for best nonfiction book (that I read) this year…

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All really amazing, each in their own way. But there was one book that gave me loads more to think about…a book with plenty to digest…full of potty humor and a topic that no one likes to discuss…

bignecessity2

That’s right. This masterpiece about poop was informative, humorous and a little scary–what to do with human waste is a growing global health issue and one that often gets buried, burned or flushed away.

I also read a few fictional tales that I also enjoyed…one of them being Twilight. (I felt like I had to understand what the frenzy was all about. Now that I have, I don’t really have any desire to read the rest of the series.) Interesting that two of my three favorite pieces of fiction have already been turned into movies.  The third is a moving collection of short stories by Miranda July, causing me to fall even more in love with the talented Ms. July and to rekindle my passion for the art of telling short stories.

bestfiction

But the best novel I read this year was one that surprised me a bit. Written by an author living in a small town in Wyoming, this book was recommended to me by my father and is the first in a whole murder-mystery series. I gave this one a (skeptical) try and am very glad I did. Craig Johnson writes about Wyoming better than anyone I’ve encountered. He nails it from the descriptions of the landscape to the characters of the people. And he crafted a mighty good yarn surrounding a mysterious death…

colddish

Those are my votes but I need some recommendations for 2010. What were some of your favorites?

  • Natalie Martin
    The only book from this list I've read is A Year of Living Biblically. I might have to check a few of the other ones out! People have been recommending Stiff to me left and right.
    I'm reading America America by Ethan Canin right now, and it's such a great book. Very different from what I normally read (it's historical political fiction, I suppose), but it's so complex that I just get lost in the world he's created. And of course, I love a good scandal or two.
  • KBestOliver
    Great list. I really looked forward to Margaret Atwood's latest, The Year of the Flood, which is the followup to Oryx and Crake. Very interesting if you are into sustainability.
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