reading highlights

Well, the year is almost over - only a few hours of 2009 are left for me - so it is about time I picked my reading highlights of the year. And as I know what I read this decade, I will also add my highlights of the decade!

First up, my highlights for 2009. I never made it down to a Top Ten, so I will have a Top 15. My additional rule: Only one book by each author, but this won't keep me from mentioning a few more books in the additional info. As I can't possibly decide which of my highlights I liked more than the others, I will simply make this a chronological list.

Oscar Wilde: A Woman Of No Importance
What can I say! It's Oscar Wilde and the story stayed in my mind since January! Twelve months of thinking about it, smiling about it is definitely a very good reason for this book to end up on my Top 15!

Meg Cabot: Jinx
This was a YA to my liking - absolutely! It was both laugh-out-loud and scary at the same time. Jinx is a clumsy girl who has to move to her aunt and uncle's where she ends up having to deal with her cousin who believes she is a witch.

Naomi Alderman: Disobedience
Oh wow! I'm still speechless and overwhelmed whenever I think about Disobedience The characters, the story, the background... If you haven't read it yet, go ahead and do it!

Robert Fate: Baby Shark
Without Baby Shark (a re-read, I admit it - there wouldn't be Baby Shark's Beaumont Blues or Baby Shark's High Plains Redemption - it's that easy! And the series around Baby Shark, a female pool-hustling private investigator in the southern states of the U.S. is breathtaking, exciting and one of the best series ever! And what is even better: I have the 4th in series, Baby Shark's Jugglers at the Border on Mt. TBR only waiting for 2010. I had to stretch this series a bit because I wouldn't be able to wait for another year (or more?) for the 5th Baby Shark book.

Elie Wiesel: Night
It's Elie Wiesel! I think whenever I read one of his books it's one of my highlights as well.

Sam Savage: Firmin
Oh Firmin! A rat with a love for books, what's there not to like? And in addition to that, there are some awesome drawings, so you'll be a goner as soon as you see them. At least, that was the case with me...

Cormac McCarthy: The Road
My first McCarthy, for university, and then it lands right on my Top 15 for 2009. I'm a bit shocked, I admit that, because usually I'm not much for required reading, but The Road is a wonderful, if shocking story and I hope to finally manage to watch the movie in 2010!

Nick Sagan: Idlewild
I bought this book almost blind, completely relying on the recommendation of a good friend - and it was so good that I already have the next two books, Edenborn and Everfree on Mt. TBR waiting to be read - and very soon, I think.

D.D. Barant: Dying Bites
Vampires, werewolves, an alternate reality and a profiler with the FBI from our world? At first look, it seems a bit like overkill, but it works and is so good I can only hope the second installment will be published soon!

Jay Asher: 13 Reasons Why
I still can't explain my feelings about the book too well. It is a wonderful and at the same time very sad story and Asher seems to know just how to tell it.

Martin Millar: Lonely Werewolf Girl
Oh how I love Kalix! And Malveria! And Agrivex! And also (even though I might be the biggest exception here) Sarapen! Millar started a wonderful werewolf series and I know the second installment is in the making, so please, hurry up! I can't wait to read more :-)

Cassandra Clare: City of Bones
Well, I can indeed understand all the excitement about the Mortal Instruments series :-)

Gareth P. Jones: The Thornthwaite Inheritance
What a big surprise! I saw this one on one of the tables at a local bookstore and loved the cover, the back cover blurb was sounded awesome - and now, already, it's on my Top 15!

P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast: Marked
Vampires! And not your usual vampires that change by being bitten or are vampires from birth. I absolutely enjoyed the first in series and already have the next three lined up.

Yasushi Inoue: Memoirs of the Priest Honkaku
Completely different from the other books in my Top 15, Yasushi Inoue's Memoirs of the Priest Honkaku was so inspiring it just had to end up on my list. It is not laugh-out-loud funny, it is not scary, it is just a thoughtful, quiet story.
I will definitely be reading more of his books in 2010!




And these are my highlights for the past decade - in no particular order.
One small thing, though: The links lead to my reviews, some of them are on my old blog, though.

J.K. Rowling: Harry Potter
Unfortunately, I only reviewed one of the books, but here you go: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
I absolutely adore Harry Potter. I can't imagine what the last years would have been like without these books, reading-wise.

Lee Harris: The Yom Kippur Murder
This was my first encounter with Lee Harris' main character, former nun Christine Bennett, who now works for a lawyer and sometimes dips a foot into investigating murders.

Jay Asher: 13 Reasons Why

Faye Kellerman: The Ritual Bath
I love Detective Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus, an Orthodox Jewish woman, whom Decker first meets in this book, when he investigates the rape of a woman on her way home from the mikva. Wonderful characters and the author got the facts right (no wonder, considering she's an Orthodox Jewish woman herself).

Molière: Le Malade Imaginaire - The Imaginary Invalid
I looooove Molière, his works are hilarious!

Mitch Albom: Tuesdays With Morrie
You've all read it, so you know it... ;-)

P.J. Tracy: Want To Play? a.k.a. Monkeewrench
This thriller/mystery with a big, fat twist at the end has to be on my list of highlights for 2010!

Jilliane Hoffman: Retribution

Jodi Picoult: My Sister's Keeper

Oscar Wilde: A Woman of No Importance
The last scene alone makes this one entertaining and probably unforgettable!