Best of 2009

Happy New Year and welcome to 2010, kids! We're all really glad to have made it, and for those of you concerned about the store's future will be happy to know we're sticking around. So thanks again for all your support...but on to the fun stuff. A few weeks ago I happened to see the New York Times 10 Best of 2009 list (http://www.nytimes.com/gift-guide/holiday-2009/10-best-gift-guide-sub/list.html) and my reaction came in the form of an underwhelmed meh. Don't get me wrong, they're probably great books. I haven't read any of them, but as I wracked my brain for books that we at Book Soup have gotten excited over throughout the year didn't match up at all with the New York Times. Publishers Weekly also does one (http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6704595.html) and NPR links about a million (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120499960). So if you're not already Best of-ed out or over 2009, I'd like to share some choice books my lovely, intelligent, and occasionally controversial comrades proposed as their favorites. And to celebrate the end of the decade, a few picks for the best of the past 10 years follow as well. Cheers and here's to another year of great reading!

Amelia:
Julian Fellowes' Past Imperfect
*Best of Decade* Jon Ronson's The Men Who Stare at Goats, Alexander Masters' Stuart A Life Backwards and Julia Child's My Life in France

Amy: "A good year for baking..."

Ad Hoc Thomas Keller

Big Fat Duck Heston Blumenthal

Momofuko David Chang

Pleasures of Cooking for One Judith Jones

Mad Hungry Lucinda Quinn

My New Orleans John Besh

The Blackberry Farm Sam Beall and Molly O'Neill

Born Round Frank Bruni
My Bread Jim Lahey

All Cakes Considered Melissa Gray

Heavenly Cakes Rose Levy Beranbaum

Unforgettable Desserts Dede Wilson

The Cake Keeper Lauren Chattman

Craft of Baking Karen DeMasco

Baking James Peterson

Charles:
The Autobiography of Fidel Castro Norberto Fuentes

Devri:
Inherent Vice Thomas Pynchon. "Raymond Chandler + The Big Lebowski = Doc Sportello"
The Death of Bunny Munro Nick Cave. "Words fail me, sorry."
PANORAMA "French people make the best childrens books."

Hanna:
There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor's Baby Ludmilla Petrushevskaya (I'm letting this count because the English translation dates in 2009. And I'm writing the blog and thus have all the power.)
Zeitoun Dave Eggers

Jennifer:
The Child Thief Brom. "For all those that love dark fantasy, Peter Pan, mythology/folklore and things that go bump in the night."

Julia:
This is Where I Leave You Jonathan Tropper
Last Night in Twisted River John Irving
Chronic City Jonathan Lethem
Ballads from Suburbia Stephanie Kuehnert
*Best of Decade*
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay Michael Chabon
Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs Chuck Klosterman
Beautiful Children Charles Bock
Persepolis Marjane Satrapi
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Junot Diaz
Fun Home Alison Bechdel

D. J.:
Inherent Vice Thomas Pynchon
The Squirrel Machine Hans Rickheit
The Complete Stories of J. G. Ballard J. G. Ballard
All Star Superman Grant Morrison
20,000 Years of Erotic Freedom Alan Moore
Lost Girls Alan Moore & Melinda Gebbie
Winter Stories Paolo Ventura
Book of Dreams Federico Fellini
MARCEL DUCHAMP: Etant Donnes
Artificial Intelligence: From Stanley Kubrick to Steven Spielberg edited by Jan Harlan

Manny:
Bloods A Rover James Ellroy