The complete list of NPR’s Best Books of 2009 recommendations. Each critic’s list is presented separately. Read excerpts from each book on NPR.org…
Recommended by Glen Weldon
(“The Five Best Books To Share With Your Friends”)
* Conquest of the Useless by Werner Herzog
* Asterios Polyp,edited by David Mazzucchelli
* The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis, by Lydia Davis
* The Supergirls, by Mike Madrid
* Everything Matters!, by Ron Currie Jr.
Recommended by John McAlley
(“Big And Beautiful: Best Gift Books of 2009″)
* Norman Rockwell: Behind The Camera, by Ron Schick
* The TOON Treasury of Classic Children’s Comics
* A New Literary History of America edited by Greil Marcus and Werner Sollors
* Painting Today, edited by Tony Godfrey
* The Sartorialist by Scott Schuman
* * Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life, by Charley Harper and Todd Oldham
* The TOON Treasury of Classic Children’s Comics, edited by Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly
* Science: The Definitive Visual Guide, by Adam Hart-Davis
* Photo-wisdom: Master Photographers And Their Art, by Lewis Blackwell
* Q&A’s from Vanity Fair’s Proust Questionnaire by Graydon Carter, Illustrated by Risko
* Looking In: Robert Frank’s The Americans edited by Sarah Greenough
Recommended by Booksellers Daniel Goldin, Rona Brinlee and Lucia Silva
(“Season’s Readings: Top Picks From Indie Booksellers”)
Recommended by Daniel Goldin
* The Hour Between, by Sebastian Stuart
* Await Your Reply, by Dan Chaon
* Little Bee, by Chris Cleave
* Blame, by Michelle Huneven
* Raymond Carver: A Writer’s Life, by Carol Sklenicka
Recommended by Rona Brinlee
* Bad Things Happen, by Harry Dolan
* Going Away Shoes, by Jill McCorkle
* Logicomix: An Epic Search For Truth, by Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos H. Papadimitriou
* This Is Where I Leave You, by Jonathan Tropper
* The Tree That Time Built, selected by Mary Ann Hoberman and Linda Winston
Recommended by Lucia Silva
* The Paris Review Interviews edited by Philip Gourevitch
* Vanity Fair’s Proust Questionnaire, edited by Graydon Carter
* Pattern In The Carpet: A Personal History With Jigsaws, by Margaret Drabble
* The Contact Sheet, edited by Steve Crist
* Wallace Stevens: Selected Poems, by Wallace Stevens, edited by John N. Serio
Recommended by T. Susan Chang
(“The 10 Best Cookbooks of 2009″)
* The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones
* Asian Dumplings: Mastering Gyoza, Spring Rolls, Samosas, and More, by Andrea Nguyen
* Clean Food: A Seasonal Guide to Eating Close to the Source, by Terry Walters
* Gourmet Today: More Than 1000 All-New Recipes for the Contemporary Kitchen, by Ruth Reichl
* Stir: Mixing It Up In The Italian Tradition by Barbara Lynch
* Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking, by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo, Hardcover
* Savory Baking by Mary Cech
* Peter Reinhart’s Artisan Breads Every Day, by Peter Reinhart
* The Craft of Baking by Karen DeMasco and Mindy Fox
* Rose’s Heavenly Cakes, by Rose Levy Beranbaum
Recommended by Alan Cheuse
(“Picks To Warm A Winter’s Night”)
* American Fantastic Tales edited by Peter Straub
* Becoming Americans: Four Centuries of Immigrant Writing, edited by Ilan Stavans
* The Complete Stories of J.G. Ballard by J.G. Ballard
* Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son, by Michael Chabon
* City Boy: My Life in New York During the 1960s and ’70s by Edmund White
* Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson, Illustrated by John Lawrence
Recommended by Jessa Crispin
(“A World Of Novels: Picks For Best Foreign Fiction”)
* Season of Ash: A Novel In Three Acts, by Jorge Volpi
* There Once Lived A Woman Who Tried To Kill Her Neighbor’s Baby, by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya
* The Armies, by Evelio Rosero
* The Confessions of Noa Weber, by Gail Hareven
* The Twin, by Gerbrand Bakker
Recommended by Jonathan Hunt
(“Best Young Adult Fiction 2009″)
* Charles And Emma: The Darwin’s Leap Of Faith, by Deborah Heiligman
* Lips Touch: Three Times, by Laini Taylor
* The Lost Conspiracy, by Francis Hardinge
* Marcelo In The Real World, by Francisco X
* When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead
Recommended by Librarian Nancy Pearl
(“Under-The-Radar Gift Books”)
* Spooner, by Peter Dexter
* When Wanders Cease To Roam: A Traveler’s Journal Of Staying put, by Vivian Swift
* The Good Soldiers, by David Finkel
* Liar, by Justine Larbalestier
* Going Bovine, by Libba Bray
* In The Town All Year ‘Round,by Rotraut Susanne Berner
* Bubble Trouble, by Margaret Mahy
* Travels In A Thin Country: A Journey Through Chile, by Sara Wheeler
Recommended by Heller McAlpin
(“The Year’s Best Memoirs”)
* Stitches, by David Small
* Somewhere Towards The End, by Diana Athill
* Cheerful Money: Me, My Family, And The Last Days Of WASP Splendor, by Tad Friend
* Camus, A Romance, by Elizabeth Hawes
* The Slippery Year: A Meditation On Happily Ever After, by Melanie Gideon
Recommended by Lynn Neary
(“Best Books For A Book Club”)
* Cutting For Stone, by Abraham Verghese
* The Interrogative Mood: A Novel?, by Padgett Powell
* Too Much Happiness, by Alice Munro
* A Reliable Wife, by Robert Goolrick
* In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, by Daniyal Mueenuddin
Recommended by Ketzel Levine
(“2009’s Crop Of Great Gardening Books”)
* Farm City: The Education Of An Urban Farmer, by Novella Carpente
* The American Meadow Garden: Creating A Natural Alternative To The Traditional Lawn, by John Greenlee
* Rodale’s Ultimate Encyclopedia Of Organic Gardening, by Fern Marshall Bradley, Barbara Ellis, and Ellen Phillips
* Bulb, by Anna Pavord
* Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln’s Mother And Other Botanical Atoricities, by Amy Stewart
Recommended by John Freeman
(“The Best Debut Fiction of 2009″)
* Once The Shore, by Paul Yoon
* Tinkers, by Paul Harding
* In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, by Daniyal Mueenuddin
* An Elegy For Easterly: Stories, by Petina Gappah
* Censoring An Iranian Love Story, by Shahriar Mandanipour
Recommended by John Freeman
(“The Mile High Club: ’09’s Best Airplane Books”)
* The Old Man And Me, by Elaine Dundy
* The Flying Troutmans: A Novel, by Miriam Toews
* Don’t Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life And Language In The Amazonian Jungle, by Daniel Everett
* American Nerd: The Story Of My People, by Benjamin Nugent
* How To Talk About Books You Haven’t Read, by Pierre Bayard
* Geneology Of Morals, by Friedrich Nietzsche
Recommended by Maureen Corrigan
(“The Best Books Of 2009″)
* The Woman Behind The New Deal, by Kirstin Downey
* Fordlandia: The Rise And Fall Of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City, by Greg Grandin
* Dancing In The Dark, by Morris Dickstein
* Happens Every Day: An All-Too-True Story, by Isabel Gillies
* The James Deans, by Reed Farrell Coleman
* The Believers, by Zoe Heller
* A Gate At The Stairs, by Lorrie Moore
* Brooklyn, by Colm Toibin
* The Man In The Wooden Hat, by Jane Gardam
* The Financial Lives Of The Poets, by Jess Walter
Recommended by Steve Weinberg
(“Fit To Print: Top 5 Current Affairs Books Of 2009″)
* American Original: The Life And Constitution Of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, by Joan Biskupic
* The Good Soldiers, by David Finkel
* Strength In What Remains, by Tracy Kidder
* The Healing Of America: A Global Quest For Better, Cheaper, And Fairer Health Care, by T.R. Reid
* When Everything Changed: The Amazing Story Of American Women From 1960 To The Present, by Gail Collins
Powered by