Books of 2009

Every year around this time, we at LOB take stock of our favorite cultural moments of the past year. I'll start us off modestly with my favorite reads of 2009. I particularly enjoyed sharing three books with you here and I hope we'll do the same in the future when we're able to steal a few moments from work to dive into something tasty. These are the ones that kept me turning the pages this year:

1. Ethan Canin – America, America: My favorite novel of the year is an old-fashioned grand narrative about the intertwining lives of a working class kid and the Robber Baron family that takes him in, all with the backdrop of the 1972 Presidential election.

2. Rob Sheffield – Life is a Mix Tape: The Rolling Stone critic steps outside his usual snarky self for a beautiful and moving portrait of a lives of two married music geeks living in Charlottesville, Virginia.

3. Smith, Mayer and Fritschler – Closed Minds? I recently reviewed this valuable book on academic bias for a social studies journal. I found it a useful rebuttal to the most hysterical criticisms of academia.

4. Richard Price – Lush Life: Price is well known for writing gritty policiers such as “Clockers” and the scripts for HBO’s "The Wire series." In his latest novel, he dissects the Lower East side in a gripping procedural that proceeds at a snail’s pace and looks under every rock in the neighborhood on the way toward it’s inevitable and cataclysmic conclusion.

5. Patrick Humphries - The Life and Times of Tom Waits: I’ve been on a real Tom Waits kick recently and Humphries’s book has only increased my appreciation. I particularly enjoyed reading about his early boho career in LA, palling around with Rickie Lee Jones and the immortal Chuck E Weiss.

6. Russell Banks – The Reserve: Banks’s latest novel pulls the reader straight in with a mystery surrounding a group of the landed gentry summering in the Adirondacks.

7. James Montague – When Friday Comes: A fascinating look at Middle Eastern football. While promoting the idea of footballing progress, Montague inadvertently points out why no Middle Eastern country will be winning the World Cup any time soon.

8. Diana Hess – Controversy in the Classroom: Diana Hess’s discourse on teaching controversy is destined to become the definitive work on the topic.

9. Monica Ali – In the Kitchen: Monica Ali’s third novel concerns the inner workings of a hotel restaurant presided over by chef Gabe, who’s having a bit of an existential meltdown.

10. Nick Hornby – Juliet, Naked: My favorite novelist is back on the safe terrain of pop music and relationships in his latest. I loved the material on the reclusive 80s pop star and his obsessive Internet following. I wasn’t really in the mood for the material on the hopelessness of relationships.

Notable Others:
* Kate Summerscale - The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher - a 19th century true crime book in style of Wilkie Collins.
* Joe Bageant - Deer Hunting with Jesus - a passionate call for a left populist surge.
* Dean Baker - Plunder and Blunder - a useful dissection of the causes of the current economic crisis.
* Michael Pollan - In Defense of Food - another searching critique of the food industry by Pollan.
* Bill Bishop - The Big Sort - a look at the fragmentation of American politics.
* Jennifer Burns - Goddess of the Market - an academic biography of Ayn Rand.

So, what were the rest of you reading and enjoying (or not enjoying) this year?