“Too few people seem to realize that books have feelings. But if I know one thing better than another I know this, that my books know me and love me. When of a morning I awaken I cast my eyes about my room to see how fare my beloved treasures, and as I cry cheerily to them, “Good day to you, sweet friends!” how lovingly they beam upon me, and how glad they are that my repose has been unbroken”.
~Eugene Fields, The Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac

In just a few days we will close the door on 2009, and as I gaze back upon the literary road that I have traveled I cannot help but feel that the journey has been a darn good one, a journey worth remembering, paved with stories that will be worth revisiting in the years to come.

Looking back upon a year of reading is, in my opinion, one of the most pleasurable experiences involved with being a blogger. I reminisce, I re-read posted reviews, and I dream about the adventures that the coming year will hold.

And so, without further gilding of the lily, here is a look back at my year of reading.

My Favorites:

Rather than making you wait for it, I thought I would get right to the meat of the matter and share my favorites of 2009. I did not pick a hard and fast number. I perused my reading list and put down those books that I felt deserved another opportunity in the spotlight. This list is in order of when I read them during the year. All are books that I highly recommend. For those books on the list that I have reviewed I have included the link. You can click on the title to access the review.

1. Space Lords by Cordwainer Smith

This was my first experience with Cordwainer Smith, pseudonym of Dr. Paul M. A. Linebarger. It most certainly will not be my last, as evidenced by the fact that I purchased a number of used paperbacks of his work throughout this past year. Out of the 5 stories in this collection, I rated two with 4/5 stars and three with 5/5 stars. I have long been enamored of the short story genre and the stories in this collection were true gems, my favorite being The Dead Lady of Clown Town, a story that I have thought of quite often this year. Smith’s writing may take some getting used to, but once you are immersed in that first story it is total immersion. In the epilogue of the book, Smith writes:

“If you have enjoyed this collection, don’t tell anyone. Keep it a secret. Go on and enjoy it some more. I’d much rather be appreciated by a select few than enjoyed by the brawling millions. You see, I have enjoyed these stories myself.”

As I said in my review, this is one secret that I just couldn’t keep, and as much as I’ve come to admire this writer I must share the secret a second time. Read him!

2. I, Robot by Isaac Asimov

Last year’s experience with the Foundation trilogy made me an Asimov fan. I, Robot further solidified his reputation in my mind. The stories in this collection occupied a full spectrum of emotions, from touching to terrifying with some nice humor in between, particularly in the stories involving the Grumpy-Old-Men-ish engineering pair of Donovan and Powell. Using Dr. Susan Carver as something of a framing device makes this an even more enjoyable collection of stories. The story Robbie, which opens the collection, is one that I believe to be very accessible to non-science fiction fans. In fact, Robbie and Robert Heinlein’s The Menace from Earth are probably two of the first short stories I would point people to if I was wanting to introduce them to the pleasures of “classic” science fiction, if not science fiction in general. I read classic science fiction for the sense of nostalgic wonder it gives me, the wonder I felt while reading I, Robot was palpable.

3. Kabuki: The Alchemy by David Mack

Graphic artist/storyteller David Mack’s latest tale of the (former) assassin Ukiko, codename: Kabuki, is as much a continuation of previous graphic novels as it is a treatise on creativity. It is a unique and exciting example of what can be done with the medium and it is a thoroughly engaging and inspiring book encouraging the reader to nurture their creative spirit. For any who would doubt the impact of the written word, or of visual imagery, I would point them to this. Reading Kabuki: The Alchemy was a profoundly personal experience, it was truly a beautiful read.

4. Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan

I’ve been a fan of Tan’s work for years, dating back to when I first came across a copy of The Red Tree. In my review I stated:

“In one “its-over-all-too-soon” volume, Shaun Tan tells fifteen sometimes warm, sometimes heartbreaking, always engaging tales showcasing his talents with a wide variety of art styles. It is a strange, magical, whimsical concoction of stories in which the art is as much a part of the telling as the words are.

Some of the stories featured here have a deep melancholy, others are poignant, still others are quite funny. Without a doubt, each and every story is worth reading again and again and each and every illustration fires the imagination.”

I believe that says it all.

5. The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry

I read this book over my annual anniversary vacation and it is a true crime that I never got around to reviewing it. In his debut novel, Berry creates a world that is nearly as hard to categorize as is the story itself. On the surface it is a noir detective story, but it is set in a nameless town during an unspecified time with elements that are almost, but not quite, steampunk. It is a surreal and paranoid world written in a manner that pays homage to the work of Dashiell Hammett, among others. This is a must read book for anyone who likes a good mystery and yet is willing to have a new experience with the genre. The unassuming hero of the book takes the reader on a fascinating journey that turns out to be an incredibly satisfying read. I only hope I have the time and inclination to read this again in the future because I owe Jedediah Berry a review for providing me with such an interesting reading experience.

6. The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey

Eight months ago I was living in what had become my normal pattern over the past 20 years–racking up debt for the things I wanted rather than using money wisely, planning for my future, and truly appreciating what I had by budgeting for it and saving for it. I finally decided to go to one of Dave’s live events with friends and then read the book. It is simple, common sense money management and as corny as it may sound, it changed my life. My wife and I have been following a budget for the past 8 months, one that makes sure our bills are paid, that we have money to still have fun with, and has allowed us to pay off thousands of dollars of debt. This was our first Christmas where things were budgeted out and it felt so great to not have any financial worries over the holidays. This was the one area of our lives that caused conflict (because I was a reckless spender) and now we have such peace in this area of our lives and hope for a strong financial future. This isn’t rocket science, but it can change your life.

7. The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia

In her latest novel, Russian-born Ekaterina Sedia has crafted a tale of wonder and of melancholy. A tale rich in old world feeling that weaves elements of fantasy and steampunk together to create a work with the resonance of myth and folklore. A tale that is easy to get lost in and hard to get away from, even when the last page is turned and the story comes to an end.

8. Burn Me Deadlyby Alex Bledsoe

I fell hard for Bledsoe’s first Eddie LaCrosse story, The Sword Edged Blonde. I was initially concerned that a blend of sword and sorcery and pulp noir would turn out to be some sort of silly, farcical send up of the genres. Instead I was pleased to find a lovable rogue with all the charm and wit, and bad luck, that made pulp detective stories so popular in their heyday. Burn Me Deadly continues LaCrosse’s adventures in a deliciously satisfying manner that pays loving homage to the genres that it pulls from. Bledsoe is able to hit the ground running while deftly weaving in elements to help the uninitiated get up to speed. These books are pure fun and I mean that as the highest form of praise. They are not throw away stories by any means, and yet they are so entertaining and accessible that I would recommend them to a wide variety of readers. My wife does not read sword and sorcery or fantasy books, nor does she read pulp detective stories. Yet with a bit of gentle persuasion I got her to give Eddie LaCrosse a try and she devoured both novels, one after the other, and found them to be fantastic reads.

9. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

When I picked up this lovely little book with its apple green cover from the bookstore, I brought it home and was immediately captivated by it. I could barely stand to do anything else but read it. I was so charmed by Bradley’s eleven-year-old protagonist, Flavia de Luce, “an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison”. Bradley manages to imbue his character with such an engaging personality. She is brilliant beyond her years but is not precocious or obnoxious in any way. Though the mystery is interesting, the reason to read this story is for the characters. Despite the age of the protagonist, this is not a book you’ll find in the young adult section of the bookstore. It was written for adults and the wit and charm of the story is certainly one I would expect an adult to pick up on more than a child would.

At the time of my review I encouraged everyone to say ‘to hell’ with their reading piles and to pick this up immediately. Several months removed I feel just as compelled to encourage you to read this book.

10. The Magician’s Elephant by Kate DiCamillo

Though she ostensibly writes stories for kids, I suspect that the more profound experiences with Kate DiCamillo’s works are had by the adults who take the time to get lost in them. This is no less true with her latest, a quick but delightful read that tugs on the heartstrings. This deceptively simple tale is filled with rich characterization and the kind of skillful writing that makes you want to read passages aloud to those around you. The Magician’s Elephant is a fun, whimsical treasure. DiCamillo is one of those authors who cannot put out books fast enough to suit me.

11. Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

My first exposure to Cherie Priests work, and whoa! was it good! This book is steampunk done right. In my review I stated:

“Boneshaker is not a book about zombies. It is not a book about dirigibles or alternate history or air-pirates. Boneshaker is about a relationship between a mother and her teenage son. It is a book about rewriting one’s personal history and discovering the truth regardless of the potential dangers such a journey would pose. It is a book about making the very best of the situation you are in and triumphing against all odds.

And it just happens to have entertaining and fun elements like zombies, air-ships, and an alternate version of history around the time of the Civil War.”

This will be the book I point to first whenever someone expresses an interest in trying out the steampunk sub-genre of science fiction.

12. Peter and Max by Bill Willingham

Though I am woeful with keeping caught up with my comic book reading, I have been on the Fables bandwagon since issue 1 was released. Willingham’s creation does for fairy tale characters what Neil Gaiman’s Sandman did for mythological characters and lesser known DC creations. In his first novel set in the Fables universe, Willingham writes a page turning adventure that can easily be read and enjoyed without any prior knowledge of the comic book tales. As I said in my review, Bill Willingham proves that not only can fairy tale stories be written for adults, they should be written, and much more often. This is a dark and sometimes disturbing tale in the rich tradition of the uncensored original fairy tale stories. This volume happens to be wonderfully illustrated by artist Steve Leialoha, making the book as a physical object even more pleasurable to read.

13. Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds

My first experience with award-winning British author Alastair Reynolds was a rollicking adventure that I will not soon forget. This richly detailed work of contemporary space opera gave me the kind of ‘sense of wonder’ experience that I always hope to find when I pick up a book in the science fiction genre. Reynold’s captivates with the world that he has built and he populates that world with interesting characters and a layered plot that made this 700 page paperback fly by. I could not stop turning the pages. This will be the book that I personally judge all future Reynolds reads by, and I must say that all those other works have some pretty big shoes to fill. When a science fiction book entertains me so much that I feel the need to go out and look up at the stars and muse, ‘what if?’, then I know I’ve gotten ahold of a good read. Chasm City is a great read.
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As always, it was hard to narrow it down even that much. New authors I tried this year, like Nick Hornby and Anne Fadiman, opened my eyes to new books and new ways to look at reading while at the same time proving to be real kindred spirits in their genuine love of the written word. The first Patrick O’Brien book, Master and Commander, thrilled me with its detailed descriptions of sea life during the time of the Napoleonic Wars and the growing camaraderie of Aubrey and Maturin. I was thrilled to finally read Larry Niven’s seminal work, Ringworld, and found that I really enjoyed it and will definitely read more in the series. And despite some issues I had with what I knew of the editing process of the book, resulting in a slightly lower score, I really enjoyed reading Robert Heilein’s book, Podkayne of Mars, and find that it has stuck with me over the past several weeks in ways that I did not realize it would. I also think Eclipse 3 deserves an honorable mention as I really did enjoy the collection of stories that Jonathan Strahan put together.

All 5 art books I read are stellar collections by amazing artists: Tara McPherson, Frank Cho, Robert A. Maguire, Alan Lee, and Kevin Dart.

And there were so many more great reading experiences this year. As far as disappointments, I was bitterly disappointed with the last half of Charles de Lint’s new novel, The Mystery of Grace. I felt he betrayed his characters and me as a reader and it is not a book I could recommend, despite being a huge fan. Her Fearful Symmetry, by Audrey Niffenegger, is a well crafted novel that proves, to me anyway, that The Time Traveler’s Wife was not a fluke. On the other hand, I did not like the majority of the people who populated this book. In the end it mattered little to me that I believe the author treated them genuinely and didn’t particularly set out to make them likable. I was so disgusted by most of the characters at the end of the book that, despite rating it high, I didn’t want to be responsible for recommending it to anyone else.
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The Stats

For those interested in numbers, 2009 played out this way:

I read 58 books in total (this includes art books, unabridged audio books, and graphic novels but does not include individual comic reading, magazine reading, or short stories read out of anthologies unless I actually finished the entire collection).

Out of those 59 books,

23 (20 new and 3 used) were purchased in 2009.

14 were checked out from the local library.

9 were previously owned.

7 were gifts received in 2009.

4 were borrowed from friends.

2 were ARC’s, one sent directly to me and one borrowed from a friend.

The majority of the purchased books were bought before going on the Dave Ramsey budget plan. I had purposed to use the library more this year and was happy with the results. 14 books might not seem like much, but it was a nice percentage of my overall reads and I checked out A BUNCH of DVDs from the library this year, so my library usage was actually quite high.

22 of the 59 were books published in 2009 (a huge change from previous years, generally I read a much larger percentage of older works).

44 books were written by male authors, 13 by female authors, and 2 by both. This percentage was an increase over previous years. This was not a purposeful move on my part, just the way my reading whims led me.

34 books were by authors that I had not previously read.

The genre breakdown, based on my own definitions, are:

Science Fiction: 13
Nonfiction: 11
Mystery/Spy/Suspense: 8
Comics/Graphic Novels: 6
Children/YA: 6
Gothic/Horror: 5
Art: 5
Fantasy: 3
General Fiction: 2

I read a far greater percentage of what I would consider nonfiction books than I have in the past, many of these being books about books, which I generally find pleasurable. Despite wanting to do a far better job of reviewing all the books I read, 19 of 59 books managed to get read without getting reviewed. One of these will be corrected as my most recent read was Robert Heinlein’s The Puppet Masters and I plan to post a review of this a few days after my New Years Day post.
If you are interested in the complete list of what I read this year, you can click here to see the list, the scores, and find links to the reviews.
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So there you have it. Overall I am extremely satisfied with my year in reading. The amount read each month varied, with work, British mystery DVDs, and some significant XBox 360 gaming making an impact on how my time was spent with books.

Though writing ‘year in review’ reading posts is a true pleasure, reading others’ lists is even more of a pleasure. If you wrote one, please leave a link in the box below. I’ve taken the liberty to post links to some of the SF/Fantasy Best Of lists that I’ve come across lately in my reading, particularly because these are great resources if you are participating in the 2010 Sci Fi Experience, any of the science fiction challenges that start in January, or just have a strong desire to read SF right now.

I look forward to reading your Year in Review posts, but if you are not doing one I would welcome you to use the comment section here to discuss your favorite reads of 2009. And if you disagree with some of mine, feel free to discuss the reasons why.