The Book Maven's Top 10 Books of 2009

Choosing my Top Ten books of the year has been agonizing. I wish I had an office full of colleagues to argue with, but for this year at least the list is all my responsibility. 

You'll note that many of these books appeared on The Book Studio in one way or another. For some, I conducted interviews with the authors; for others, I wrote reviews. That is not deliberate deck-stacking; it's a function of the fact that I try very hard to choose books that I believe will be strong -- but also books that intrigue me and that I want to read. 

One of the things we discuss here at The WETA Book Studio from time to time is the concept of "editorial sensibility." It's never easy to define, and it's even tougher when a site has a managing editor like me who can't stop picking up books. If I took a stab at defining that sensibility, it would be something like this: The Book Studio talks about titles that keep you reading, but also keep you learning. You'll rarely, if ever, find a book covered here that is about pat answers or predetermined finales. Our choices reflect my taste, but I try to include books that will appeal to yours, too. 

This year's list is heavier on fiction than nonfiction; I do read more of the former, but I don't think I always will. I'm already chiding myself for missing "Vanessa and Virginia," the big Cheever biography, and more. In 2010, I vow to correct course!

Here is my list of my Top Ten Books of 2009. They're not listed in any particular order. These aren't just my favorites; they're the books that I think accomplished something specific -- I tell you why in my blurbs for each.  

• Homer and Langley by E.L. Doctorow 

A brilliant and beautiful use of historical characters and a city's historicity, this novel, based on the lives of the reclusive, hoarding Collyer Brothers, is a meditation on the passage of time as well as an examination of how we are each handicapped by the baggage we collect.

• The Help by Kathryn Stockett

We hadn't launched The Book Studio when Stockett's debut novel was released earlier this year, so the link above is to my blog "Still Life with Book Maven." However, the praise remains the same: Despite a few beginner's mistakes, Stockett brings an era and characters to stunning life.

• The Believers by Zoe Heller

I can't believe it took me until September to read Heller's remarkable new novel about liberal New Yorkers derailed from their search for social justice by life's injustices (real and perceived) to them. The book is nearly seamless, so smooth that even protagonist Audrey's acidity can be borne.

• The Food of a Younger Land by Mark Kurlansky

I'm cheating a little with the above link, as it's to an interview I did with Kurlansky for his 2007 book "The Last Fish Tale," but I wanted you to see his mind in action. "The Food of a Younger Land" is an important contribution not only to our cultural history, but also to our agricultural future.

• The Good Soldiers by David Finkel

If I talk about this book more, will everyone just please read it? There are no politics, no motives in Finkel's true and truly objective reportage. The men (he covers an infantry unit, so it's all men) deployed that Finkel portrays are remarkable in their dedication, professionalism, and humanity.

• The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

Somehow I missed interviewing Waters as well as reviewing her latest and smashing book; my loss! This is "a historical," but it's so much more than that. "The Little Stranger" is a thriller worthy of Stephen King -- and my, my, The King himself chose it as his favorite book of 2009!

• The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt

There's far more to a beautiful vase than meets the eye -- mud, sweat, and toil go into its creation. Byatt pulls aside the curtain on the late-summer-afternoon pre-WWI era in England, revealing the blood, sweat, and tears most people endured when life on the surface seemed perfect.

• Half-Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls

The subtitle is "A True-Life Novel;" just read this spare and gorgeous account of Walls's grandmother's life as a novel, and you needn't worry about what is true and what isn't. It's all compelling, a picture of an unforgettable 20th-century dame who rode, ranched, and flew.

• Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Mantel's novel won this year's Man Booker Prize in the UK, and I believe (in the face of Maureen Corrigan's opposition) that it deserved the award. Historical fiction doesn't get much better than this, a tale of Henry VIII's court from the perspective of Thomas Cromwell.

• Lit by Mary Karr

I've been very vocal about not liking memoirs in particular -- but there are some that simply floor me. Karr's "The Liar's Club" lifted the genre above mere nattering and into the realm of the best literary nonfiction. "Cherry," her second was fine; but this one elevates Karr as an artist. 

That's quite enough about my own favorite books of the year. What are YOURS?

HONORABLE MENTION: 

All right, I'll admit it. I have to "Turn it up to 11." I cannot leave out Masha Hamilton's brilliant and disturbing and thought-provoking "31 Hours" from Unbridled Books. If you haven't read this novel, just go out and buy it and find a quiet day after the holidays to sit down and finish it in one go. If you do, I promise your worldview will be forever altered.