2009 Review of Books

I'm not sure how many books I read in 2009. Thirty? Maybe?

But now that the year is winding to a close and I'm able to offer a retrospective, I thought I'd select some of my favorite titles, perhaps by category. Instead of an Oscar or a Tony, however, I'll call these a Toddy (my personal choices among the books I read this past year).

In the category of History . . . the award goes to The Path Between the Seas, by David McCullough.

In the category of Science . . . I'll have to go with The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan.

In the category of Biography . . . the award goes to Built of Books: How Reading Defined the Life of Oscar Wilde, by Thomas Wright.

In the category of Sociology/Culture/Opinion . . . I'll have to swing with Digital Barbarism, by Mark Helprin.

In the category of Collection (Essays or Short Stories) . . . I'll give the award to What the Dog Saw, by Malcolm Gladwell.

In the category of fiction (novel or stories) . . . I'll give my Toddy-okie-dokie to Life Among the Lutherans, by Garrison Keillor.

In the category of theology/Bible . . . the award goes to The Bible, by Karen Armstrong.

In the category of poetry . . . the award goes to Collected Poems, John Updike.

And, finally, in the I-don't-know-how-to-categorize this department . . . the award goes to Writers at Work (any of the 6 titles in the Paris Review series that I read this year).

Now, come to think of it, I did read more than thirty books in 2009. I just can't remember what I read! But the longer I stare at the shelves in front of me, the more the titles jump out at me.

Next blog: what I hope to read in 2010 . . . a starting point, anyway.