Best Books of 2009 - NPR Reviewers

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Recommended by Glen Weldon
("The Five Best Books To Share With Your Friends")

Conquest of the Useless by Werner Herzog, Hardcover, 306 pages, Ecco Books/Harper Collins Press, list price: $24.99

Asterios Polyp,edited by David Mazzucchelli, Hardcover, 344 pages, Pantheon, list price: $24.99

The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis, by Lydia Davis, Hardcover, 733 pages, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, list price: $30

The Supergirls, by Mike Madrid, Paperback, Exterminating Angel Press, list price: $16.95

Everything Matters!, by Ron Currie Jr., Hardcover, 302 pages, Viking/Penguin, list price: $25.95



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Recommended by John McAlley
("Big And Beautiful: Best Gift Books of 2009")

Norman Rockwell: Behind The Camera, by Ron Schick, Hardcover, 224 pages, Little, Brown, and Co., list price: $40

The TOON Treasury of Classic Children's Comics, edited by Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly, Hardcover, 352 pages, Abrams ComicArts, list price: $40

A New Literary History of America edited by Greil Marcus and Werner Sollors, Hardcover, 1128 pages, Harvard University Press, list price: $49.95

Painting Today, edited by Tony Godfrey, Hardcover, 448 pages, Phaidon Press, list price: $75

The Sartorialist by Scott Schuman, Paperback, 512 pages, Penguin, list price: $25

Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life, by Charley Harper and Todd Oldham, Hardcover, 424 pages, AMMO Books, list price: $49.95

The TOON Treasury of Classic Children's Comics, edited by Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly, Hardcover, 352 pages, Abrams ComicArts, list price: $40

Science: The Definitive Visual Guide, by Adam Hart-Davis, Hardcover, 512 pages, DK Adult, list price: $50

Photo-wisdom: Master Photographers And Their Art, by Lewis Blackwell, Hardcover, 216 pages, Chronicle Books, list price: $50

Q&A's from Vanity Fair's Proust Questionnaire by Graydon Carter, Illustrated by Risko, Hardcover, 224 pages, Rodale Books, list price: $23.99

Looking In: Robert Frank's The Americans edited by Sarah Greenough, Hardcover, 528 pages, Steidl, list price: $75



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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, paperback, 260 pages, Alyson Books, list price: $14.95

Await Your Reply, by Dan Chaon, Hardcover, 324 pages, Ballantine Books, list price: $25

Little Bee, by Chris Cleave, Hardcover, 288 pages, Simon & Schuster, list price: $24

Blame, by Michelle Huneven, Hardcover, 304 pages, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, list price: $25

Raymond Carver: A Writer's Life, by Carol Sklenicka, Hardcover, 592 pages, Scribner, list price: $35

Recommended by Rona Brinlee

Bad Things Happen, by Harry Dolan, Hardcover, 352 pages, Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam, list price: $24.95

Going Away Shoes, by Jill McCorkle, Hardcover, 272 pages, Algonquin Books, list price: $19.95

Logicomix: An Epic Search For Truth, by Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos H. Papadimitriou, Art by Alecos Papadatos and Annie DiDonna, Hardcover, 352 pages, Boolmsbury USA, list price: $22.95

This Is Where I Leave You, by Jonathan Tropper, Hardcover, 352 pages, Dutton Adult, list price: $25.95

The Tree That Time Built, selected by Mary Ann Hoberman and Linda Winston, illustrated by Barbara Fortin, Hardcover, 224 pages, Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, list price: $19.99

Recommended by Lucia Silva

The Paris Review Interviews edited by Philip Gourevitch, Paperback, 1982 pages, Picador, list price: $65

Vanity Fair's Proust Questionnaire, edited by Graydon Carter, illustrated by Risko, Hardcover, 224 pages, Rodale Books, list price: $23.99

The Pattern In The Carpet: A Personal History With Jigsaws, by Margaret Drabble, Hardcover, 368 pages, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, list price: $25

The Contact Sheet, edited by Steve Crist, Hardcover, 192 pages, AMMO Books, list price: $39.95

Wallace Stevens: Selected Poems, by Wallace Stevens, edited by John N. Serio, Hardcover, 352, Knopf, list price: $30



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Recommended by T. Susan Chang
("The 10 Best Cookbooks of 2009")

The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones, Hardcover, 288 pages, Knopf, list price: $27.95

Asian Dumplings: Mastering Gyoza, Spring Rolls, Samosas, and More, by Andrea Nguyen, Hardcover, 240 pages, Ten Speed Press, list price: $30

Clean Food: A Seasonal Guide to Eating Close to the Source with More Than 200 Recipes for a Healthy and Sustainable You by Terry Walters, Hardcover, 304 pages, Sterling Epicure, list price: $30

Gourmet Today: More Than 1000 All-New Recipes for the Contemporary Kitchen, by Ruth Reichl, Hardcover, 1024 pages, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, list price: $40

Stir: Mixing It Up In The Italian Tradition by Barbara Lynch, Hardcover, 352 pages, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, list price: $35

Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking, by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo, Hardcover, 384 pages, Chronicle Books, list price: $50

Savory Baking by Mary Cech, Paperback, 168 pages, Chronicle Books, list price: $24.95

Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day, by Peter Reinhart, Hardcover, 224 pages, Ten Speed Press, list price: $30

The Craft of Baking by Karen DeMasco and Mindy Fox, Hardcover, 256 pages, Clarkson Potter, list price: $35

Rose's Heavenly Cakes, by Rose Levy Beranbaum, Hardcover, 512 pages, Wiley, list price: $39.95



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Recommended by Alan Cheuse
("Picks To Warm A Winter's Night")

American Fantastic Tales edited by Peter Straub, Hardcover, 1500 pages, Library of America, list price: $70

Becoming Americans: Four Centuries of Immigrant Writing, edited by Ilan Stavans, Hardcover, 850 pages, Library of America, list price: $40

The Complete Stories of J.G. Ballard by J.G. Ballard, Hardcover, 1216 pages, W.W. Norton & Co., list price: $35

Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son, by Michael Chabon, Hardcover, 320 pages, Harper, list price: $25.99

City Boy: My Life in New York During the 1960s and '70s by Edmund White, Hardcover, 304 pages, Bloomsbury USA, list price: $26

Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson, Illustrated by John Lawrence, Hardcover, 272 pages, Candlewick, list price: $24.99



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Recommended by Jessa Crispin
("A World Of Novels: Picks For Best Foreign Fiction")

Season of Ash: A Novel In Three Acts, by Jorge Volpi (Translated from Spanish by Alfred Mac Adam), Paperback, 464 pages, Open Letter, list price: $15.95

There Once Lived A Woman Who Tried To Kill Her Neighbor's Baby, by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya (Translated from Russian by Keith Gessen and Anna Summers), Paperback, 224 pages, Penguin, list price: $15

The Armies, by Evelio Rosero (Translated from Spanish by Anne McLean), Paperback, 208 pages, New Directions, list price: $14.95

The Confessions of Noa Weber, by Gail Hareven (Translated from Hebrew by Dalya Bilu), Paperback, 330 pages, Melville House, list price: $16.95

The Twin, by Gerbrand Bakker (Translated from Dutch by David Colmer), Hardcover, 250 pages, Archipelago, list price: $25



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Recommended by Jonathan Hunt
("Best Young Adult Fiction 2009")

Charles And Emma: The Darwin's Leap Of Faith, by Deborah Heiligman, Hardcover, 272 pages, Henry Holt and Co., list price: $18.95

Lips Touch: Three Times, by Laini Taylor, Illustrated by Jim Di Bartolo, Hardcover, 272 pages, Scholastic Press, list price: $17.99

The Lost Conspiracy, by Francis Hardinge, 576 pages, HarperCollins Children's Books, list price: $16.99

Marcelo In The Real World, by Francisco X, Stork, Hardcover, 320 pages, Scholastic Press, list price: $17.99

When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead, Hardcover, 208 pages, Random House, list price: $15.99



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Recommended by Librarian Nancy Pearl
("Under-The-Radar Gift Books")

Spooner, by Peter Dexter, Hardcover, 480 pages, Grand Central Publishing, list price: $26.99

When Wanders Cease To Roam: A Traveler's Journal Of Staying put, by Vivian Swift, Hardcover, 208 pages, Bloomsbury USA, list price: $20

The Good Soldiers, by David Finkel, Hardcover, 304 pages, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, list price: $26

Liar, by Justine Larbalestier, Hardcover, 384 pages, Bloomsbury USA, list price: $16.99

Going Bovine, by Libba Bray, Hardcover, 496 pages, Delacorte, list price: $17.99

In The Town All Year 'Round,by Rotraut Susanne Berner, Hardcover, 72 pages, Chronicle Books, list price: $16.99

Bubble Trouble, by Margaret Mahy, Hardcover, 32 pages, Clarion Books, list price: $16

Travels In A Thin Country: A Journey Through Chile, by Sara Wheeler, Paperback, 336 pages, Modern Library, list price: $13.95



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Recommended by Heller McAlpin
("The Year's Best Memoirs")

Stitches, by David Small, Hardcover, 331 pages, W. W. Norton, list price: $24. 95

Somewhere Towards The End, by Diana Athill, Hardcover, 183 pages, W. W. Norton, list price: $24.95

Cheerful Money: Me, My Family, And The Last Days Of WASP Splendor, by Tad Friend, Hardcover, 349 pages, Little, Brown, and Co., list price: $24.99

Camus, A Romance, by Elizabeth Hawes, Hardcover, 313 pages, Grove, list price: $25

The Slippery Year: A Meditation On Happily Ever After, by Melanie Gideon, Hardcover, 209 pages, Knopf, list price: $24.95



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Recommended by Lynn Neary
("Best Books For A Book Club")

Cutting For Stone, by Abraham Verghese, Hardcover, 560 pages, Knopf, list price: $26.95

The Interrogative Mood: A Novel?, by Padgett Powell, Hardcover, 176 pages, Ecco, list price: $21.99

Too Much Happiness, by Alice Munro, Hardcover, 320 pages, Knopf, list price: $25.95

A Reliable Wife, by Robert Goolrick, Hardcover, 291 pages, Algonquin Books, list price: $23.95

In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, by Daniyal Mueenuddin, Hardcover, 256 pages, W. W. Norton & Co., list price: $23.95



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Recommended by Ketzel Levine
("2009's Crop Of Great Gardening Books")

Farm City: The Education Of An Urban Farmer, by Novella Carpenter, Hardcover, 288 pages, Penguin Press, list price: $25.95

The American Meadow Garden: Creating A Natural Alternative To The Traditional Lawn, by John Greenlee, Hardcover, 280 pages, Timber Press, list price: $34.95

Rodale's Ultimate Encyclopedia Of Organic Gardening: The Indispensable Green Resource For Every Gardener, by Fern Marshall Bradley, Barbara Ellis, and Ellen Phillips, Paperback, 720 pages, Rodale Books, list price: $24.99

Bulb, by Anna Pavord, Hardcover, 544 pages, Mitchell Beazley, list price: $39.99

Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother And Other Botanical Atoricities, by Amy Stewart, Illustrated by Briony Morrow-Cribbs, Hardcover, 223 pages, Algonquin Books, list price: $18.95