Last year I made a quasi-resolution to continue with the chick-lit ban and focus on reading more meaningful works of literature. Not necessarily Kafka or Dostoyevsky (confession, never read anything by either--they frighten me somehow), but things with a little more heft and meaning than the Shopaholic series (which, confession, I love). Sadly, that's pretty much the only resolution I did stick with, though I'll admit that I improved greatly in all resolution areas over the year. But more on that another time.
Today, I want to go back through all fifty books that I read last year and whittle them down to my top ten recommendations. I read some seriously fantastic books last year, some of which I feel are way too below the radar. You can see the full list of books I read in 2009 by clicking here, along with a short personal review on some of the earlier reads before I got lazy and dropped that feature of the list.
In no particular order:
1) Sarum: The
Novel of England, Edward Rutherfurd
This tells the story of England's development from the time it fully breaks off from the rest of the European continent through the 1980s, by following the fortunes and pitfalls and five families throughout the generations. Yes, sometimes the characters were a bit predictable as Rutherfurd seemed to rely on a few specific genetic and personality traits to define each family, but overall a fascinating look at one of my favorite countries told from the perspective of people rather than purely events.
2) The
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer
I loved this book so much, I immediately logged on to Amazon to buy everything else Mary Ann Shaffer had written, only to find that she died before she was able to write anything else. That's the world's loss, but she did leave behind this gem of a story about a tiny English island occupied by Nazis during WWII. Told entirely through letters, each character's voice is at times charming, intriguing, hilarious, and heartbreaking.
3) The House
at Riverton, Kate Morton
Set in England before, during and after WWI, a young girl comes to the home of a wealthy family to work as their maid and becomes embroiled in their relationships and secrets. A twisty, turny mystery filled with intrigue, romance, and drama. What's not to love!
4) Drowning
Ruth, Christina Schwarz
What is it with my obsession with deep, dark family secrets? Deeply compelling from the first line of this novel--"Ruth remembered drowning"--to the last, I read this one on an airplane and it made the ride go by in the blink of an eye.
5) The Red
Tent, Anita Diamant
If you've been to Sunday school, you've heard the story of Jacob, Leah, and Rachel. But who knew that a
retelling of this Bible story from a the perspective of Jacob's daughter could be so beautiful and enjoyable. They should have read us this book at our youth group...
6) The Secret History, Donna Tartt
Follows the lives of
five deeply twisted classics students at a small college in the Northeast and
the outsider who befriends them and is sucked into their mysterious world.
Absolutely loved this, but I would recommend at least a basic knowledge of
mythology to get the most out of it. At the very least, have a web browser open ready to look up references.
7) The Drowning Tree, Carol Goodman
I picked this one up in
the morning and couldn't put it down until I'd read it all the way through.
The plot twists and turns throughout the novel and the descriptions of art made me feel as though it was part compelling story
and part museum.
8) The Street of A Thousand Blossoms, Gail Tsukiyama
Beautiful story of a
Japanese family spanning the 3 decades before, during, and after WWII.
One of those books where every time something good happens to someone,
something heartbreaking happens shortly after, but the characters are
fascinating, the prose is the perfect combination of imagery and plot, and it
ends on a hopeful note. Give it the first 100 pages to really suck you
in. Reminded me a bit of Memoirs of a Geisha.
9) The Bloody Chamber, Angela Carter
I love how macabre and
creepy many of our favorite fairy tales are in their original form, and
these even more haunting and spooky retellings were absolutely gripping.
Carter includes her versions of Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Red Riding
Hood, and Blue Beard just to name a few, and her stories are beautifully eerie
and remarkably fresh.
10) Revolutionary Road, Richard Yates
Incredible book that I
probably never would have read based on the blurb on the back of the book.
It's the story of the perfect couple, living the American Dream and hiding
their utterly miserable existence behind the facade of a 1950s nuclear family. Somehow the characters manage to be both insufferable and sympathetic, and
while there's no major twist at the end, I stayed hooked all the way
through, laughing on one page, and finding myself squirming uncomfortably on
the next. An at times relatable, at times disturbing book that reminds us, no one ever really knows what goes on behind closed doors.
Honorable Mentions:
The Dante
Club, Matthew Pearl
A Cup of
Tea: A Novel of 1917, Amy Ephron
