Books I Read in 2009

Booking Through Thursday Question: What were your favorite books of the year?

I have a friend who is a poet and artist. Years ago she told me that when she had her son, she could no longer write or paint. So when I became pregnant I expected that I would stop writing for a time. What devastated me is that I actually stopped reading too. I can’t pinpoint the reason. It’s not that I didn’t have time, though I do obviously have much less of it. But it took months after my daughter was born this past May for me to actually start reading books again.

Happily I am back to reading and loving it (the challenge now is stopping my 7 month old from eating the books). Hopefully one day I can start writing again as well. In the meantime, here are a few of the best books I read in 2009 and a look toward 2010.

Fiction:
- Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison (heartbreaking, but beautiful)
- Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan (I always like Amy Tan)
- The Red Tent by Anita Diamant (I read this after becoming a mother and that made a big difference in how I felt about it)

Nonfiction:
- Live Through This by Debra Gwartney (Portland, OR local author)

Young Adult and Children’s:
- The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (this year’s well deserved Newbery winner)
- When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
- Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale (I jumped on the Shannon Hale bandwagon—review to follow soon)
- Yummy: Eight Favorite Fairy Tales by Lucy Cousins

I don’t usually make New Year’s Resolutions, but I don’t mind setting a few challenges for myself that are book related.

1) Finish reading all the Newbery Award Winning books (this has been a goal of mine for years now, and I’ve been stuck with a handful of particularly boring looking ones).

2) Read more local authors. I love to support local bookstores (it’s easy when you live near a Powell’s), but I’d like to seek out and read more local authors too.

3) I joined a challenge to read 100+ books in 2010. I fell far short of that in 2009, but if you don’t make the goal, you can’t get there.