Books of 2009

I love reading so here is the list of books I read in 2009 (57 books so far). From now on I'll be writing reviews of the books I read because I am always being asked for recommendations.

1. The In Between World of Vikram Lall - MG Vassanji. This was a really great book about an Indian guy living in Tanzania. He is not African and not white, he is in between!
2. The Inheritance of Loss - Kiran Desai This was a really sad book but really well written and and an easy read. It won the Booker Prize.
3. Twilight - Stephanie Meyer. Terrible book, don't read.
4. Death du Jour - Kathy Reichs. Do you want an easy read about murder and intrigue? Do you want it set in Montreal? Well... this is it!
5. Roots - Alex Haley. One of the best books I have ever read. I couldn't put it down, I read it in 5 days and it's over 900 pages!
6. The White Tiger- Aravind Adiga Another Man Booker Prize winner The story of one man's journey from poverty to success... written in the form of a letter... filled with deceit!
7. The Way the Crow Flies - Anne Marie MacDonald This book was an enjoyable read but nothing special sticks in my mind about it. It's about a rape and murder in small town Canada army base and the after effects of it on the people involved.
8. Slam - Nick Hornby
9. The Reckoning - Sharon Kay Penman. I love this author and if you enjoy historical fiction you will also love her.
10. Animal's People - Indra Sinha Fictionalized story relating to a real life chemical explosion in a plant in India which left many people dead or injured.
11. Dexter in the Dark - Jeff Lindsay - GAG. Worst book ever.
12. Small Island - Andrea Levy Very interesting story about Jamaicans in England during World War two. A subject I didn't know much about but which was very interesting to learn about.
13. Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi - Story about the civil war in Nigeria. Shame on me, I didn't even know there was a civil war in Nigeria so it was a very eye opening book.
14. The Sinner - Tess Gerritsen - Easy to read crime fiction. Gripping page turner.
15. Helen of Troy- Margaret George - I have enjoyed her books in the past but was a little disappointed in this one.
16. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Steig Larsson - Translated from Swedish, this is a page turner about international crime, murder, and relationships. All good things combined in to one.
17. The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger -Kind of a weird story about a man who travels through time and visits his future/current wife as she grows up. It's weird because she is quite young and he shows up naked.
18. Dead Until Dark - Charlaine Harris - True Blood the TV show is based off of this, but the show is better.
19. The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Apparently this book is a bestseller but I barely remember it. It wasn't bad but it just didn't have an impact.
20. Past Mortem - Patricia Cornwell - crime thriller, good beach read.
21. Deadly Decisions - Kathy Reichs. Another crime thriller, beach read.
22. Fatal Voyage - Kathy Reichs
23. The Russian Concubine - Kate Furnivall - A fun read about Russians in China, focussing on a young girl who falls in love with a Communist Chinese man. This book was good but the sequel was terrible.
24. Infidel - Ayaan Hirsi Ali. The autobiography about a muslim Sudanese woman who escaped her arranged marriage and got in to politics - she was actually an advisor for the Bush administration. I really recommend this book.
25. Harelquin - Bernard Cornwell. Good, easy to read historical fiction.
26. The Girl Who Played with Fire - Steig Larsson - Sequel to Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
27. The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy. I had heard a lot about this book and it didn't disappoint. Not a happy book and a very strange ending!
28. Friends like These - Danny Wallace - Laugh out loud HILLARIOUS!! Novel about a man's quest to find his old high school friends.
29. Child 44 - Tom Rob Smith - Read the opening chapter and you will be hooked - shocking introduction. A thriller about Stalinist Russia and the spies who worked there.
30. Harem - Barbara Nadel - Murder in Istanbul!
31. The Cellist of Sarajevo - I didn't know much about Sarajevo before reading this book and I found it intriguing.
32. Coal Run - Tawni O'Dell. I don't remember this book at all. Sorry.
33. The Black Sun - James Twinning - Some kind of thriller.
34. The Turkish Diplomat's Daughter - So un-Turkish!! A book about a scandalous Turkish woman with lots of lovers!
35. Gomorrah - Roberto Saviano - A true account of the mafia in Naples... you'll learn a lot if you are interested in that topic.
36. White Teeth - Zadie Smith - I loved this book!!! It follows the lives of two wartime friends, one is British and one is Bangladeshi. The book focusses on cultural conflict, assimilation and perservation of culture.
37. The Bone Garden - Tess Gerritsen
38. The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid A story about a muslim man who embraced America, worked hard for success but eventually turned against America after the September 11 attacks and the prejudices he saw in people.
39. Bloodsucking Fiends - Christopher Moore
40. Valmiki's Daughter - Shani Mootoo. A friend of mine lent this to me and I really liked it. The main theme from what I can remember is about homosexuality. A father hides his homosexual tendencies while his daughter embraces her own homosexuality.
41. The Girl from Junchow- Kate Furnivall. Terrible book. The sequel to The Russian Concubine.
42. Between the Assassinations - Aravind Adiga - This is a collection of short stories about life in India.
43. Lamb - Christopher Moore - A humorous book about Jesus according to his friend, Biff.
44. The Beach - Alex Garland - You know the Leonardo Di Caprio movie? Well, this is the book. Much better than the movie and a good book to read on a plane.
45. The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood - a bit slow moving, but very well written
46. DeNiro's Game - Rawi Hage - The story of two friends in Beirut who follow different paths - one towards crime and the other towards escape and a new life.
47. The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett. A long book but an easy read. This book tells the story of a priory in England, the building of its cathedral, and the people who live in the town.
48. 1984 - George Orwell - I had never read this book before and am glad I did. It's frightening but unfortunately, I don't think it is too far from the truth.
49. A Song for Arbonne - Guy Gavriel Kay - the story of two lands, one peaceful, the other war loving...
50. The Lazarus Project - Aleksandar Heman
51. My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult. The end made me so angry!
52. Snow - Orhan Pamuk. A great read, focussing on religion and the head scarf controversy in Turkey. I really liked this book but you may not enjoy it unless you know something about Turkish politics/society.
53. The Last Light of the Sun- Guy Gavriel Kay. I recently discovered this author. His books are well written and fun to read.
54. Pompeii - Rober Harris. This book is nothing special, but you should read his book "Fatherland" - a murder mystery set in Germany after Hitler WON the war.
55. Dance with Death - Barbara Nadel - Murder mystery set in Cappadoccia, Turkey.
56. The World Without End - Ken Follet. Sequel to The Pillars of the Earth.
57. The Various Flavours of Coffee - Anthony Capella - a story about the history of coffee interwoven with love affairs and the suffragette movement.
58. The Gaze - Elif Shafak - A story about people's insecurities, the way we view others and the way we view ourselves. A novel about body image, men's opinions of beauty and society's views of beauty.