Oh yes, it’s the end of 2009, which means it’s time for decade retrospectives and this blog is no exception.
Last week we named our favorite books published in 2009 – what about the decade? What was your favorite book published in the aughts?
Aside from books by my clients, I’m going to have to go with…. The Corrections. No, Atonement. No, Spin. No, The Book Thief. (I could go on for hours)
It was a pretty great decade for books. Can you pick your favorite?
sl says
invisibile, paul auster
Arjun says
fiction: Netherland
non-fiction: The World Without Us
self-serving: Squishy (but only because it was my first published book)
Hard to narrow down!
Carol Newman Cronin says
Easy, mine! Oliver's Surprise: A Boy, A Schooner, and the Great Hurricane of 1938 (GemmaMedia, 2009).
Rachele Alpine says
Okay, I couldn't decide between two…so we'll go with the best three books!
The Bright Forever (Lee Martin)
The God of Animals (Aryn Kyle)
Prep (Curtis Sittenfeld)
I could read each of them over and over and over again!
reader says
Hard to pick one, but for the book itself and the promise of future brilliance by the author, I'll say:
PREP by Curtis Sittenfeld
that writing was huge and impressive.
Brian says
I know the point is to pick one, but I can't.
Fiction: "Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" by Chabon, "The Road" by McCarthy, and "The Book of Lost Things" by Connolly
Nonfiction: "Gulag: A History" by Anne Applebaum, "In the Heart of the Sea" by Nathaniel Philbrick, and "Chronicles" by Bob Dylan
Anonymous says
although this is probably more for yesterday's topic than today, I just read this & thought to share it since it transcends day/date topicisms. Or, whatever it's called.
How To Destroy the Book, by Cory Doctorow
link #1: https://thevarsity.ca/articles/23855
link #2: https://thevarsity.ca/articles/23856
Anonymous says
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Michael Chabon
Bel Canto, Ann Patchett
The Fortress of Solitude, Jonathan Lethem
id says
The Road, Cormac McCarthy
Michael Goodell says
I'll go with two. Birds Without Wings, by Louis de Bernieres, and borrowing a page from Arjun, Zenith Rising, because it is mine.
Nathan Bransford says
Oh wow, I thought KAVALIER AND CLAY was published in '99, but I see it was actually in '00. Add that to my list as well.
Kristi says
Okay, I have about 30 pages left of The Book Thief and it's just blowing me away. It's such a beautiful, heart-breaking book that I might have to go with that as my pick – although I've learned not to bring it to work because when the receptionist called to tell me my next client was there, I was in the midst of sobbing. Best to save this book for a more solitary environment 🙂
Natalie Whipple says
Ack, hard question!
The first that came to mind was The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie. I always love a book that can make me laugh and also cry.
Allison says
Call Me By Your Name, Andre Aciman
Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami
Atonement, Ian McEwan
Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood
The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
Phyllis says
White Teeth by Zadie Smith.
Hilarious.
Stephen Duncan says
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. Period. That book is still with me.
Elaine 'still writing' Smith says
Disperate choices I know:
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon,
Atonement by Ian McEwan
or The Host by Stephenie Meyer.
MG – I learned to Measles, too 🙂
Amber says
The Road by Cormac McCarthy and Pobby and Dingan by Ben Rice
Elizabeth says
The Book Thief, hands down. Nothing else even comes close. A work of lyrical, heartwrenching genius.
Jana says
The King of Attolia by Megan Whelan Turner.
I also loved Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games.
Both YA, interestingly enough.
Ciara Blount says
Definitely going with Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. It's fascinating to see how many of my favorite books were published in the last nine years alone!
Jessica says
Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead. That's probably my favorite. Or anything from Elizabeth Haydon's Symphony of Ages series…I think she started that in 2000 or 2001.
ElegantSnobbery says
The Time Travelers Wife has been my favorite!
The Pollinatrix says
Just a few that come to mind and aren't listed here yet:
The Abarat series by Clive Barker.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.
Ink says
Strange Piece of Paradise, by Terri Jentz.
And for 1b through 1whatever…
The Fortress of Solitude, by Jonathan Lethem.
Bel Canto, Truth and Beauty, and Run, all by Ann Patchett.
Half of a Yellow Sun, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
Saturday, by Ian McEwan.
The Road, by Cormac McCarthy.
Shadow Country, by Peter Matthiessen.
Oh the Glory of it All, by Sean Wilsey.
The Way the Crow Flies, Anne-Marie MacDonald.
They Marched Into Sunlight, David Maraniss.
Probably missed a few, though.
Matilda McCloud says
I just finished THE ROAD by Cormac McCarthy last night–kind of blew me away. So I guess that's my literary pick.
For nonfiction: ANIMALS IN TRANSLATION: USING THE MYSTERIES OF AUTISM TO DECODE ANIMAL BEHAVIOR by Temple Grandin
guilty pleasures:
PREP by Curtis Sittenfeld
THE DEVIL WORE PRADA by Lauren Weisberger
NANNY DIARIES by Emma Mclaughlin and Nicola Kraus
OBSCURE BOOKS I LOVED BUT NOT SURE ANYONE ELSE READ:
TIMOTHY, OR THE NOTES OF AN ABJECT TURTLE by Verlyn Kilnenborg
THE HIGHEST TIDE by Jim Lynch
Children's books: SEAHORSES AND SEA DRAGONS by Mary Jo Rhodes (:
Uncategorizable:
THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME by Mark Haddon
and many, many more…
D. G. Hudson says
Dune: The Machine Crusade by Brian Herbert & Kevin Anderson 2004 and republished in 2009: A Moveable Feast, by E. Hemingway changed a bit from the 1964 version. Also, On Writing, by Stephen King, 2000.
There's a few others, but that's a sampling. It will be interesting to see what others say, as I usually pick up ideas for books from others' comments. Trying to think back a decade is tough.
Madison L. Edgar says
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Housseini
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
Twilight by duh… (I'm not ashamed!)
Jeanie W says
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Thermocline says
A Maiden's Grave by Jeffery Deaver. I love that I never know what the *#&@ is going to happen in one of his books.
Moira Young says
Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton. (It's Pride and Prejudice, but with dragons.) 🙂
Erin says
VERY difficult, but I also put a vote in for Atonement (at least in fiction).
Matt Sinclair says
As others have said, it's difficult to pick just one. I'm vacillating between Michael Chabon's "Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" and John Connolly's "The Book of Lost Things." I've read both multiple times. Hands to the fire: "The Book of Lost Things"
David Kubicek says
I have read only a fraction of the books published this decade, but of those I have read:
Fiction – The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
Non-Fiction – True Compass, by Edward M. Kennedy (which I hadn't read at the time of your Best of 2009 Poll)
Heather says
Fiction: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling
Nonfiction: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
This window was open for 10 minutes before I finally felt happy hitting "publish." There were a lot of great books published this decade.
Nicholas G says
Well Night Watch by Terry Pratchett is my favourite favourite book, but I think that in terms of this decade's writing:
A Company of Liars by Karen Maitland,
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka, and
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
all deserve recognition.
Anonymous says
The Lovely Bones.
Haunting, beautiful and heartbreaking at times.
It's a shame the movie is not getting good reviews…but the book is a must read.
Sara says
THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE hands down.
It sounds like I must read THE BOOK THIEF as well.
Anonymous says
Anne Rice's Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana–A mind-blowing revelation to me.
The Road, Atonement, and A Thousand Splendid Suns rank up there.
Kristin Laughtin says
It's difficult to choose a second place, but my first is SPIN by Robert Charles Wilson–which, yes, I did first learn about from your blog. That book had everything: well-developed characters, believable human relationships, cosmic (literally) drama, interesting science… My favorite kind of SF. It was amazing and quickly became one of those inspirational books that I look at and think "If I could ever write anything half that good…"
There were a lot of great books published this decade, though. It'd be very difficult for me to choose #2 and onward, because as soon as I did, I'd remember something else.
Karen says
It's so hard to choose. I'll base my criteria on which book I absolutely could not go to sleep until I finished…Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
The Pea would like to put in a vote for Cha Cha Chimps by Julia Durango, illustrated by Eleanor Taylor
Anonymous says
Mercy of Thin Air by Ronlyn Domangue
and gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson
Scott says
Probably Pratchett's The Wee Free Men.
Sandra G. says
The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill.
The title of this book in the US, Australia and New Zealand is Someone Knows My Name.
Anonymous says
Nothing. I know that sounds really bad, but I haven't read any books written in the last decade that really impressed me. I can name several movies and TV shows, but I struggle to name books.
I should call it the depressing read decade, where the books are so depressing they make you want to slit your wrists.
Anonymous says
I must post as anonymous in order to admit that it was, ahem,
Twilight.
I also loved The Time Travelers Wife and The Hunger Games.
wishy the writer says
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri. I just looked and I guess it was originally published in 1999, but received the Pulitzer in 2000, so I'm saying that it counts! If it doesn't count as a book in this decade, then I'll choose Lahiri's novel, The Namesake. Both books have stayed with me and I've returned to both of them again and again in this decade. I remember truly missing the characters when I finished The Namesake. I wanted to know all of them for real!
Ellen says
BRIDGE OF SIGHS, Richard Russo
Professor Beej says
I think mine would have to be "The White Boy Shuffle" by Paul Beatty.
It attacks everything, but never seems out of line. Hilarious and poignant, which is the best combination.
Bane of Anubis says
Fiction: The Hunger Games
Non-fic: Freakonomics
Wonder how run-of-the-mill readers would align on this question.