My Top 13 Novels for 2009

[+ Lucky]

Since I read 130 novels this year, I have culled the 13 best, and recommend them to all:

 

In no particular order-

 

A Nail Through the Heart by Timothy Hallinan

 

Stardust by Joseph Kanon

 

Crossers by Phillip Caputo

 

A Quiet Belief in Angels by R.J. Ellory

 

Road Dogs by Elmore Leonard

 

Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada

 

Salvation Boulevard by Larry Beinhart

 

Rubicon by Lawrence Alexander

 

Eclipse by Richard North Patterson

 

Death with Interruptions by Jose Serrago

 

Rain Gods by James Lee Burke

 

Slipping Into Darkness by Peter Blauner

 

Honorable mention goes to Don't Look Twice by Andrew Gross

[Guest greatness]

wow

 

You read a lot! You should read a book to me sometime~~

 

Since I read 130 novels this year, I have culled the 13 best, and recommend them to all:

 

In no particular order-

 

A Nail Through the Heart by Timothy Hallinan

 

Stardust by Joseph Kanon

 

Crossers by Phillip Caputo

 

A Quiet Belief in Angels by R.J. Ellory

 

Road Dogs by Elmore Leonard

 

Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada

 

Salvation Boulevard by Larry Beinhart

 

Rubicon by Lawrence Alexander

 

Eclipse by Richard North Patterson

 

Death with Interruptions by Jose Serrago

 

Rain Gods by James Lee Burke

 

Slipping Into Darkness by Peter Blauner

 

Honorable mention goes to Don't Look Twice by Andrew Gross

[BgMstr4u]

I particularly enjoyed Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel.

[Epigonos]

I love to read but seldom read ficton. Thus here are six nonfiction works I found particularly good:

 

Louis D. Brandeis, A Life by Melvin I. Urofsky

 

The Great Escape, Nine Jews Who Fled Hitler and Changed the World by Kati Marton

 

Lion of Jordan, The Life of King Hussein in War and Peace by Avi Shlaim

 

The Storm of War, A New History of the Second World War by Andrew Roberts

 

The Will of the People, How Public Opinion Has Influenced the Supreme Court and Shaped the Meaning of the Constitution by Barry Friedman

 

Empire of Liberty, A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815 by Gordon S. Wood

[Guest alanm]

Russian novels

 

I spent this year reading Russian novels and short stories with new translations by the great team of Richard Pevear and Larisa Volokhonsky. I am currently reading Tolstoy's "The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories," which was just published.

 

Some of my favorites from earlier this year are the new translations of "The Master and Margarita," Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov," and "Demons" (previously translated as "The Possessed").

 

If you have read any of these books before, I strongly suggest you try at least one of the new translations. You will not be sorry. "The Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov is a real gem, best book I read in '09.

[eeyore]

Thanks everyone for these recommendations. I'm going to start with A Nail Through the Heart. There may be a Kindle in my future.

[NYTomcat]

Thanks everyone for these recommendations. I'm going to start with A Nail Through the Heart. There may be a Kindle in my future.

 

Hope there is a kindle, they're pricey but once you have one you will love it. There's nothing like saying I want to read blank and just pulling (for a fee) out of midair wherever you are.

[justaguy]

Fool by Christopher Moore

[+ Lucky]

I love that everyone is contributing with their favorites as well. It does go to show how we can differ. I couldn't read Fool, and Wolf Hall was just dull. IMHO, it might as well have been a history book rather that historical fiction because the writing was just as dry as any textbook. But again, that's just my opinion.

[+ Charlie]

I am currently reading David Michaelis's "Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography," which is fascinating. The scariest book I have read recently was Ron Sharlet's "The Family," about the role of religion in American politics. Then there was also Hugh Trevor-Roper's magisterial biography of Archbishop Laud, still the best on its subject, the Archbishop of Canterbury who was beheaded in the 17th century, although it was published in 1940.

[+ Lucky]

Flattery

 

Since I read 130 novels this year, I have culled the 13 best, and recommend them to all:

 

In no particular order-

 

A Nail Through the Heart by Timothy Hallinan

 

Stardust by Joseph Kanon

 

Crossers by Phillip Caputo

 

A Quiet Belief in Angels by R.J. Ellory

 

Road Dogs by Elmore Leonard

 

Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada

 

Salvation Boulevard by Larry Beinhart

 

Rubicon by Lawrence Alexander

 

Eclipse by Richard North Patterson

 

Death with Interruptions by Jose Serrago

 

Rain Gods by James Lee Burke

 

Slipping Into Darkness by Peter Blauner

 

Honorable mention goes to Don't Look Twice by Andrew Gross

 

 

A Pulitzer-Prize winning writer wrote to me and asked which book I would recommend from the above. I responded A Quiet Belief in Angels, and today he wrote back to thank me for introducing him to this book. I was pleased!

[Guest greatness]

Wow

 

That is really nice!

 

A Pulitzer-Prize winning writer wrote to me and asked which book I would recommend from the above. I responded A Quiet Belief in Angels, and today he wrote back to thank me for introducing him to this book. I was pleased!

[Romann]

Does anyone know if these books are available for the Kindle devices?

[Guest greatness]

oh

 

You got one. My friend has one and she likes it. I should get one too. Except my eyes hurt.

 

Does anyone know if these books are available for the Kindle devices?

[Lankypeters]

Archbishop of Canterbury who was beheaded in the 17th century, although it was published in 1940.

 

His head was published in 1940? Was there any hair on it?

[MsGuy]

Thanks for taking the time to post, Lucky. I'm always looking for something worth reading. Your list might be just the thing to get me out of my usual rut.

[raulgmanzo]

War with the Newts and The Master and Margarita

 

[...]

Some of my favorites from earlier this year are the new translations of "The Master and Margarita," ...

 

How new a translation or which translation is it?

It's been several years since I read The Master and Margarita, it was a translation done in the 90s by Burgin and O'Connor, which had really good comments on the translation in the back of the book which was quite helpful for various Russian terms, names and jokes which were might not have been obvious to the english speaking reader. The downside was that I constantly was flipping back to the comments which did interrupt the flow of the story at times and made me reread lots of it and take forever to finish. Its a great book, especially enjoyable having seen some of Moscow while the USSR still existed.

 

I would also recommend "War with the Newts" by the Czech author Karel Capek.

[+ Charlie]

Lanky: Try diagramming the sentence. You will find that "biography" is the subect of "was published" (the noun "head" doesn't appear in the sentence).

[Guest TBinCHI]

Left off the List....

 

Pat Conroy's "South of Broad"

 

and

 

John Irving's "Last Night in Twisted River".

 

Both are excellent novels by contemporary American authors.

 

I just received a kindle for Christmas (my less literary friends thought I got a Ken doll and were disappointed when I pointed out their mistake) and can't wait to try it out.

 

Thanks, Lucky, for your suggestions.

[Guest alanm]

The Master and Margarita

 

How new a translation or which translation is it?

It's been several years since I read The Master and Margarita, it was a translation done in the 90s by Burgin and O'Connor, which had really good comments on the translation in the back of the book which was quite helpful for various Russian terms, names and jokes which were might not have been obvious to the english speaking reader.

 

I would also recommend "War with the Newts" by the Czech author Karel Capek.

 

I started with the 1967 Grove Press version of "The Master and Margarita," tranlation by Mirra Ginsburg. I liked the book so much that I read it a second time a month later this spring.

 

Over the summer, I found the Penguin Books translation of "The Master and Margarita" by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky from 1997. I enjoyed that tranlation much more, because I picked up on many things that I had missed previously. But to be fair, I was more familiar with the story; this was my third reading of the book in a short period of time.

 

My favorite new translation of a well-known book is John E. Wood's version of Thomas Mann's "The Magic Mountain." By the end of the book, I was extremely moved by Hans Castorp's final goodby to Herr Settembrini. I did not have that reaction when reading the standard

translation, which I believe dates from the first publication in English.

 

I visited St. Petersburg in 2005, and that trip led me to revisit Russian novels I had read previously plus a number of novels that were banned during the Stalin era. As you know, St. Petersburg is

featured as often as Moscow as a centerpeice of many Russian novels.

 

Thanks for the recommendation of the novel Czech novel. I have some free time in the next few weeks, and will pick it up.

[+ Lucky]

You guys have those high-brow novels, but I picked up a little light reading for the holiday...at the library!

 

http://img1.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n14/n70167.jpg

 

[eeyore]

You guys have those high-brow novels, but I picked up a little light reading for the holiday...at the library!

 

http://img1.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n14/n70167.jpg

 

Now this is more at my level. Gosh, I have so much reading to do!

[Guest greatness]

oh

 

Your avatar got my attention than the hot guy in the cover. It's so cute~~

 

Now this is more at my level. Gosh, I have so much reading to do!

[+ Lucky]

Well, Boy Toy is a bit disappointing. The pic on the cover is supposed to represent the boy toy, a 17 year old. How did they get away with that?

The story is kind of cute, but not very sophisticated writing.

 

So the rest of the day I read Edmund White's new memoirs (City Boy) of life in New York in the 60s and 70s. I enjoyed it a lot.

[justaguy]

A few weeks ago I finally got around to reading White's A Married Man. While published quite a while ago, it was one of the best books I read in 2009.