The Sunday Salon... A look back at some of my favorite books, and a look ahead...

It's a brand new year and I'm already anticipating all the wonderful books coming along! There have been many best of 2009 lists out there such as the lists from Books on The Nightstand, Library Journal, and January Magazine. Here are some of the books that I read this year and would include in a best of list...

The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist

Little Bee by Chris Cleave

The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

The Impostor’s Daughter by Laurie Sandell

Knight of Desire by Margaret Mallory

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett

The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

Hotel on The Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel

Benny & Shrimp by Katarina Mazetti

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

There were lots of books I enjoyed this year, but the books above stood out for one reason or another. I loved both Hotel on The Corner of Bitter and Sweet and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, both of which I chose for my reading group this year. I also enjoyed Burnt Shadows... I will write reviews for all of these soon, in the meantime I have links for all the other reviews so if you missed any of them this year you can catch up (just click on the book title)... What books were your favorites this year?! Have you read any of the books on my list?

Then there are the books that I didn't get a chance to read yet... Here are 5 books that I am making it a point to read ASAP (my own mini challenge!)... The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (The second book in the series is coming out in March!), Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger, The Girl Who Played With Fire by Steig Larsson, Waiting for Columbus by Thomas Trofimuk, and The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt. Challenges are great because they focus your attention on a goal, and this little nudge is probably all I need to get these off the TBR pile! ... Are there books on your TBR pile that you're looking forward to finally reading? How about any books you've read about that you're looking forward to reading period?!

Speaking of challenges, I've already signed up for one, The Graphic Novels Challenge, and look forward to stepping out of the box and explore that genre a bit more... Another great thing about Challenges is that you can usually join in at any time. I joined The Japanese Literature Challenge a bit late, but found a lot of wonderful Japanese authors to explore! The Challenge was easy with only one book needed to be read to meet the requirements, but I still have a few more weeks until it ends and I'm going to try and slip in another book! Have you signed up for any Challenges?! I would love to hear about what challenges you're going to read for!

So, on to the New Year! Memoir Mondays will still be on mondays, as long as there are memoirs to be read! And I'm playing around with the idea of a cookbook review meme called What's Cooking... I'm going to heat up January with lots of Romance! I have a great giveaway coming up from Hachette Book Group, and I've saved some great romance book reviews starting next week! If you're not into romance ( Ok, guys I know you're out there!) there will be plenty of other book reviews too! Not to mention the start of a regular Book Club selection post with a reading group guide. I am also going to add more Kindle/eReader specific content because I just love my Kindle and there is just so much going on in the digital world... And finally NEXT MONTH is my Blogoversary! Watch out for some great giveaways all month long (in Feb.) as a thank you to EVERYONE who's made Chick with Books blossom into the blog that it is today!

Have a Great Week! Happy reading... Suzanne

Best Books of 2009... The Lists are out!

The Lists are out... The MANY Lists of The Best Books of 2009

It's that time of year again... The end of the year lists. One of those lists I love to take a look at is the best books of the year list! Of course there is more than 1 list! Publishers Weekly published their Best Books of 2009 list at the beginning of november, and was immediately met with an uproar as the top 10 list had NO female authors. PW said it chose the books based on the merits of the books regardless of who wrote them, "We wanted the list to reflect what we thought were the top 10 books of the year with no other consideration. We ignored gender and genre and who had the buzz... It disturbed us when we were done that our list was all male." Lizzie Skurnick of Politics Daily wrote, "It is the conventional wisdom that women's writing gets overlooked in the prize department because it doesn't get enough attention at the outset, or because women writers aren't respected." You can read her article and best of 2009 list HERE. Even our friends across the pond at The Guardian picked up the on controversial list. (You can read their take on it all by following the highlighted link). WILLA, Women in Letters and Literary Arts, has countered by launching their own Wiki list of great books published by women writers 2009, which includes Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel that won the prestigious Man Booker prize for fiction this year! Here's their growing LIST of books, and while you're there you can also add any books that you think should be included.

Isn't a "best of" list a reflection of the likes and dislikes of the person who is deciding? Do the editors at Publisher's Weekly and other list publishers have a greater responsibility because of the breathe of their influence? I look at these lists see if any of the books I enjoyed are on them... to discover authors & books I may have overlooked...

I haven't made my best books of 2009 list yet, but I did discover a great list from Bunch of Grapes, an independent bookstore that's been on Martha’s Vineyard for almost 40 years! We must have similar tastes because I own 7 out of the 10 books and look forward to reading those books I haven't gotten to yet! Here's their list of 10 Great Books by Female Authors:

1. Lark & Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips

2. The Help by Kathryn Stockett

3. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

4. The Children’s Book by A S Byatt

5. The Legend of Colton H Bryant by Alexandra Fuller

6. Benny and Shrimp by Katarina Mazetti

7. The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones

8. Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

9. The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

10. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

What's the best book you've read this year? Best of Books 2009 lists are usually for books published in 2009, but let's not limit ourselves to that! Share what you've enjoyed reading! And let me know what you think of all the controversy!