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Top Ten Books of 2009: The Complete List

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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?

Only when we see how lost we are, we can find our way again. Only when we bury what’s dead can we experience life again. Only when we lose our religion can we be amazed by grace again.

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About Russell Moore

Russell Moore is Editor in Chief of Christianity Today and is the author of the forthcoming book Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America (Penguin Random House).

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