I swore I wasn’t going to do a best of 2009 list. Honestly? I find a lot of them stuffy and pretentious and more times than not I’ve never heard of any of the books on the list.
But the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do one. There were a few books this past year that I loved so much, I wanted one last chance to gush about them before 2010 hits. I won’t be telling you about the social impact of each book, or how it defines or changes literature forever. You’ll be hearing about a few books that knocked my socks off for the shear enjoyment of their story and characters.
The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Buchanan
For those of you who have visited my site before, or know me, it’s no big shock that I’m listing this as one of my fave books of the year. I had never read historical fiction before and never had any desire to. But then I had the opportunity to read and review Cathy’s book and once I started, I didn’t stop until I was finished. And then I sat on the couch for a good hour, unable to move.
This is a story about family, love, friendship, hardship, courage and loss and you would be doing your heart, mind and soul a huge injustice if you didn’t read it.
The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan
I would just like to thank these two for FINALLY putting the bite back into vampires. This book was scary, plausible and deliciously brutal in it’s depiction of vampires as mindless blood-sucking victims of a virus. The first in a trilogy, I am anxiously awaiting the release of the other two. And they will be read much in the same way as the first: lights on full, hands gripping book, ears open to every sound.
Come, Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant
One word describes this book:quirky. Each and every character in this book was beautifully dysfunctional, as were all the relationships. And I have never read a book that used wordplay as wonderfully as this one. And a tortoise as one of the main characters? How could I not love this book?