2009: The year in books

[starlady]

At the moment my tally for 2009 stands at 138 books. If I can force myself through the rest of The Secret History of Science Fiction by tomorrow night, it will be 139, but that book will not feature in this post regardless, so onward.


Seven excellent (fiction) books:
M.T. Anderson, The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation: Volume II, The Kingdom on the Waves
Roberto Bolaño, 2666
A. S. Byatt, The Children's Book
Kelly Link, Pretty Monsters
Neal Stephenson, The System of the World
Shaun Tan, The Arrival
Catherynne M. Valente, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

Books I gave as gifts:
Samuel R. Delany, Dhalgren
Adam Gopnik, Angels & Ages
A. S. Byatt, The Children's Book
Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
Shaun Tan, The Arrival


This was the year I rediscovered sff; hell, this was the year I rediscovered reading for fun. I very much hope that I can keep up the reading in 2010; my goal is to expand my reading range, as well as, in general, to read at least 100 books. We'll see. On that note...


Five 2010 books I want now: 
Servant of the Underworld by Aliette de Bodard
A Wizard of Mars by Diane Duane
Lord Sunday by Garth Nix
Cast in Chaos by Michelle Sagara
City of Night by Michelle West


With two prominent exceptions, all the non-fiction books I read this year were excellent, and are recommended. Relatedly, I didn't post about Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama, but it's great, and I think it's a book (along with The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing) that every U.S.-ian should read.

All the links go to the Dreamwidth entries, but there may be more discussion on the LJ posts.

And beneath the cut, without links-back or italics,

the full list:

Title	Author
2666	Roberto Bolaño
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus	Charles C. Mann
A Companion to Wolves	Sarah Monette & Elizabeth Bear
A Warning to the Curious	M.R. James
A Wizard Abroad	Diane Duane
Ada, or Ardor: A Family Chronicle	Vladimir Nabokov
All the Windwracked Stars	Elizabeth Bear
Angels and Ages: A Short Book on Darwin, Lincoln, and Modern Life	Adam Gopnik
Ash	Malinda Lo
Asterix in Britain	R. Goscinny & A. Uderzo
Ballad of the Whiskey Robber	Julian Rubinstein
Bitter Angels	C.L. Anderson
Black Ships	Jo Graham
Bleach vol. 35	Kubo Taito
Bleach vol. 36	Kubo Taito
Blindness	José Saramago
Bloodhound	Tamora Pierce
By the Mountain Bound	Elizabeth Bear
Cast in Silence	Michelle Sagara
Chalice	Robin McKinley
Clockwork Phoenix	Mike Allen, ed.
Clockwork Phoenix 2	Mike Allen, ed.
Consider the Lobster	David Foster Wallace
Corambis	Sarah Monette
Dark North	Gillian Bradshaw
Doctor's Orders	Diane Duane
Dogs: Bullets & Carnage vol. 3	Miya Shirow
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight	Alexandra Fuller
Dreams from My Father	Barack Obama
Dust	Elizabeth Bear
Europe Central	William T. Vollmann
Farthing	Jo Walton
Fast Ships, Black Sails	Jeff & Ann VanderMeer, eds.
Fever 1793	Laurie Halse Anderson
Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd	Holly Black & Cecil Castellucci, eds.
Glass Bead Games	Elise Matheson, ed.
God Stalk	P.C. Hodgell
Gouhou Drug vol. 1	CLAMP
Gouhou Drug vol. 2	CLAMP
Gouhou Drug vol. 3	CLAMP
Hagane no Renkinjutsushi vol. 21	Arakawa Hiromu
Hagane no Renkinjutsushi vol. 22	Arakawa Hiromu
Hagane no Renkinjutsushi vol. 23	Arakawa Hiromu
Hagane no Renkinjutsushi vol. 8	Arakawa Hiromu
Havemercy	Jaida Jones & Danielle Bennett
Hokushin Denki vol. 1	Otsuka Eiji et al.
Intellivore	Diane Duane
Kobato vol. 3	CLAMP
Lavinia	Ursula K. LeGuin
Leviathan	Scott Westerfeld
Lincoln's Virtues: An Ethical Biography	William Lee Miller
Lovecraft Unbound	Ellen Datlow, ed.
Lud-in-the-Mist	Hope Mirrlees
Magic for Beginners	Kelly Link
Maps and Legends: Reading and Writing Along the Borderlands	Michael Chabon
Melting Stones	Tamora Pierce
Melusiné	Sarah Monette
Moominsummer Madness	Tove Jansson
My Enemy, My Ally	Diane Duane
Nameless (draft)	copperbadge
Never Learn Anything from History	Kate Beaton
New Amsterdam	Elizabeth Bear
Odd and the Frost Giants	Neil Gaiman
Otaku: Japan's Database Animals	Azuma Hiroki
Palimpsest	Catherynne M. Valente
Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return	Marjane Satrapi
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood	Marjane Satrapi
Pretty Monsters	Kelly Link
Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution	Caroline Weber
Ribon no Kishi vol. 1	Tezuka Osamu
Ribon no Kishi vol. 2	Tezuka Osamu
Rivers of Gold: The Rise of the Spanish Empire, from Columbus to Magellan	Hugh Thomas
Robot Ghosts and Wired Dreams: Japanese Science Fiction from Origins to Anime	Christopher Bolton et al, eds.
Rosemary and Rue	Seanan McGuire
Runemarks	Joanne Harris
Seven for a Secret	Elizabeth Bear
Sources of Japanese Tradition vol. 1	Donald Keene et al, eds.
Spock's World	Diane Duane
Storm from the Shadows	David Weber
Strangers from the Sky	Margaret Wander Bonanno
Sunshine	Robin McKinley
Swordhunt/Honor Blade	Diane Duane
Tales from Outer Suburbia	Shaun Tan
Terra E... vol. 1	Takemiya Keiko
Territory	Emma Bull
The Arrival	Shaun Tan
The Bell at Sealey Head	Patrica McKillip
The Bone Key	Sarah Monette
The Book of Atrix Wolfe	Patrica McKillip
The Children's Book	A.S. Byatt
The City & the City	China Miéville
The Court of the Air	Stephen Hunt
The Crow	Alison Croggon
The Crow Goddess	Patricia Finney
The Dead Isle (draft)	copperbadge
The Drowning City	Amanda Downum
The Empty Chair	Diane Duane
The Final Solution	Michael Chabon
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making	Catherynne M. Valente
The Graveyard Book	Neil Gaiman
The House with a Clock in Its Walls	John Bellairs
The Hunger Games	Suzanne Collins
The King in the Window	Adam Gopnik
The Kingdom on the Waves	M.T. Anderson
The Mirador	Sarah Monette
The New Weird	Jeff & Ann VanderMeer, eds.
The Queen in Winter	Sarah Monette et al.
The Red Tree	Shaun Tan
The Rest Is Noise	Alex Ross
The Romulan Way	Diane Duane
The Sandman, Vol. 4: Season of Mists	Neil Gaiman
The Sandman, Vol. 5: A Game of You	Neil Gaiman
The Silver Branch	Rosemary Sutcliff
The Singing	Alison Croggon
The Starry Rift	Jonathan Strahan, ed.
The Stranger	Albert Camus
The Summer of the Ubume	Kyogoku Natsuhiko
The System of the World	Neal Stephenson
The Tale of Murasaki	Liza Dalby
The Virtú	Sarah Monette
The Vulcan Academy Murders	Jean Lorrah
The Wounded Sky	Diane Duane
The Zanzibar Cat	Joanna Russ
To Visit the Queen	Diane Duane
Troll's Eye View	Ellen Datlow & Terry Windling, eds.
Trouble on Triton: An Ambiguous Heterotopia	Samuel R. Delany
Tsubasa vol. 25	CLAMP
Tsubasa vol. 26	CLAMP
Tsubasa vol. 27	CLAMP
Tsubasa vol. 28	CLAMP
Vested Interests: Cross-dressing and Cultural Anxiety	Marjorie Garber
Victory of Eagles	Naomi Novik
War for the Oaks	Emma Bull
Whales on Stilts!	M.T. Anderson
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon	Grace Lin
xxxHOLiC vol. 12	CLAMP
xxxHOLiC vol. 14	CLAMP
xxxHOLiC vol. 15	CLAMP