2009: The Year in Books

This has been a busy year, as evidenced by the lack of activity around here. We took a fabulous two week vacation over the summer and had a really amazing time in Ireland. In my mind, that sort of represents the end of my blogging: after two weeks away, it was hard to get back to the computer.

Photo by SodaBoy
However, looking at my archives, that's not entirely true -- I have been more or less absent all year. One benefit of blogging less is reading more, at least compared to some years. Without further ado, I present the list of books I read in 2009:

• Hoot [fiction] by Carl Hiassen
• Fieldwork [fiction] by Mischa Berlinski
• Scarlet Feather [fiction] by Maeve Binchy
• The Hour I First Believed [fiction] by Wally Lamb
• The Islandman [memoir] by Tomas O’Crohan
• Baby Proof [fiction] by Emily Giffin
• The Watchmen [graphic novel] by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
• Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood [non-fiction] by Taras Grescoe
• McCarthy’s Bar [travel] by Pete McCarthy
• The Way That I Went [non-fiction] by Robert Lloyd Praeger
• Catherine, Called Birdy [fiction] by Karen Cushman
• Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life [non-fiction] by Barbara Kingsolver
• Terror on the Burren [fiction] by Re O Laighleis
• Frog Haven [fiction manuscript] by Mary Stebbins Taitt
• Digging to America [fiction] by Anne Tyler
• Budding Prospects [fiction] by T.C. Boyle
• How the Irish Saved Civilization [non-fiction] by Thomas Cahill
• Jaywalking with the Irish [travel] by David Monagan
• Good Omens [fiction] by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
• Adirondack Peak Experiences: Mountaineering Adventures, Misadventures, and the Pursuit of “The 46” [essays] edited by Carol Stone White
• Cannery Row [fiction] by John Steinback
• Mt. Everest: Confessions of an Amateur Peak Bagger [travel] by Kevin Flynn
• Northanger Abbey [fiction] by Jane Austen
• To See Every Bird on Earth [non-fiction] by Dan Koeppel
• Handle with Care [fiction] by Jodi Picoult
• Jaguar: One Man’s Struggle to Establish the World’s First Jaguar Preserve [non-fiction] by Alan Rabinowitz
• Parable of the Sower [fiction] by Octavia Butler
• Storkbites [memoir] by Marie Etienne

Happy New Year!! And happy reading in 2010...