Top Ten Books of 2009: The Complete List
— Friday, December 18th, 2009 —
Here are my top ten books of 2009.
1. Wendell Berry, Leavings: Poems
2. Dan Baum, Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans
3. Andrew J. Cherlin, Marriage-Go-Round: The State of Marriage and the Family in America Today
4. Frederick Barthelme, Waveland
5. Jim Tomlinson, Nothing Like an Ocean: Stories
6. Terry Teachout, Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong
7. Gilbert Meilaender, Neither Beast Nor God: The Dignity of the Human Person
8. Brad Gooch, Flannery: A Life of Flannery O’Connor
9. Eugene Genovese, Miss Betsey: A Memoir of a Marriage
10. John Updike, Endpoint and Other Poems
Remember this is a “non-working” list so I’ve not included any explicitly theological or pastoral works here. There are lots of books in those categories that would fit in a top-ten list as well.
I’m not saying these are “the best” books of the year. As I look at each one of them, I can see something of how God’s providence in my life leads me to resonate with it. These are books I’ve enjoyed and have made me think or feel something significant in the past year.
I’d love to hear, what were your favorite books of 2009?
From my latest blog…
John Calvin: A Pilgrim’s Life by H. J. Selderhuis. With Calvin’s 500th birthday has come many biographies, and this one brings the stoic looking, long-bearded figure to life in numerous ways. Working primarily from Calvin’s voluminous correspondence, Selderhuis helps us crawl into the skin of the great Reformer and treats him neither as a friend nor an enemy. If I had to choose a favorite, I would probably take the Calvin bio, just because it was so well written.
For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb, and the Murder That Shocked Jazz Age Chicago by Simon Baatz. A well-told piece of history from the museum of true-crime, Simon Baatz recreates the circumstances surrounding a heinous murder committed by two wealthy Chicago elites mixing good biography with historical research. Many myths are shattered about the famed speech by Clarence Darrow, and many insights can be gleaned about criminology’s shifting understanding of what causes crime.
Marriage at the Crossroads: Couples in Conversation About Discipleship, Gender Roles, Decision Making and Intimacy by Tracy and Spencer. The best dialogue to date between traditionalist and egalitarian interpretations of marriage. Nuanced theological ideas are explained and worked out in everyday life by each of the couples, and they show that are not as far apart as they might seem. This egalitarian was quite pleased to see how much the traditional side has been revised over the years.
The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet by Neil deGrasse Tyson. Never has an astronomy book been so entertaining and so controversial at the same time. Tyson chronicles the history of Pluto’s rise to fame and fall from grace as it was downgraded from planet to “plutoid.” The letters from schoolchildren taking up Pluto’s cause are the most endearing part of the whole escapad
Thanks for the list. I have actually just ordered two of the books you listed and looking forward to reading them. I tried to come up with 2009 top ten list, but since most of the books I read were not published this year (I guess I’m cheap), my list is the best books I read the year of 2009 regardless of year they published:
The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All For the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II by Gregory A. Freeman
A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1) by George R.R. Martin
Nine Dragons by Michael Connelly
The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly
Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions by Gregory Koukl
One Second After by William R. Forstchen
Tuck (The King Raven Trilogy) by Stephen R. Lawhead
A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World by Tony Horwitz
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah
There Is a God: How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind by Roy Abraham Varghese