Best Books I Read In 2009

Posted on January 7, 2010 by LJ Earnest
Categories: Out Of The Box

2009

Guess what? I don’t spend all of my free time reading productivity books. In fact, 2009 was a banner year for reading fiction.

Usually I stick to the same sort of books every time. I like cozy mysteries, or the classics. But this year I branched out a bit, and came across four new authors and their books which were the best I read in 2009:

The Other Boleyn Girl

If you saw the movie, consider reading the real story. The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory, talks about Mary Boleyn, and how she escaped her families machinations and was the only one to survive. It is a gripping tale, an excellent work of historical fiction. Ms. Gregory’s other books, which I rapidly devoured soon afterward, are also very good.

Murder with Peacocks

Take a situation that makes most people insane – a wedding – multiply it by three and add in a few corpses and a wacky family. There’s the premise for the first Meg Lanslow mystery, Murder with Peacocks by Donna Andrews. It left me guessing until the very end, because the corpse was someone everyone had it in for.

You Can Heal Your Life

I had never heard of Louise Hay before a guide asked me to read anything by her to get back in the right mindspace for writing and creating. I picked up You Can Heal Your Life at the library, and then went out and bought it. It’s a beautiful book — beautiful in the sense of the book itself is a work of art with all the illustrations. It might be a bit “woo-woo” for some, but I have found some truth and comfort in its pages during a particularly challenging time.

Juicy Pens, Thirsty Paper

Another new-to-me-author, SARK (yes, that’s really how you request her books), jumped out at me when I was looking for books on simplification on day at the bookstore. The book Juicy Pens, Thirsty Paper: Gifting the World with Your Words and Stories, and Creating the Time and Energy to Actually Do It caught my eye not only because of its color, but also because of the subtitle. Who wouldn’t want to have more time and energy to gift the world with creativity? This book is also beautiful, decorated with wonderful artwork that makes it a treat to pick up.

Crazy Aunt Purl’s Drunk, Divorced and Covered in Cat Hair

Laurie Perry writes a blog as Crazy Aunt Purl, part knitting, part fun. Crazy Aunt Purl’s Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair: The True-Life Misadventures of a 30-Something Who Learned to Knit After He Split tells the story, as only Laurie Perry can do, of a 30-something woman suddenly on her own with four cats. She takes up knitting to save her sanity. This isn’t for everyone, but had me laughing out loud many times, and there were some great patterns at the back.

John Buchan

I have to throw in a plug for a favorite author, John Buchan. I’ve read his The Thirty-Nine Steps several times (again, if you’ve seen the Hitchcock movie, read the book. It’s much better). But this year I read the other books in the Richard Hannay series as well: Greenmantle, Mr.Standfast, and The Three Hostages. These books kept me on the edge of my seat for many days.

What were your favorite books?