PW’s Best Books of 2009

PW Top 10

* Cheever: A Life by Blake Bailey
* Await Your Reply: A Novel by Dan Chaon

* A Fiery Peace in a Cold War: Bernard Schriever and the Ultimate Weapon by Neil Sheehan
* In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin
* Big Machine by Victor LaValle
* The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science by Richard Holmes
* Stitches by David Small
* Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew B. Crawford
* Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi by Geoff Dyer
* The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann

Fiction

* The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly
* The Fate of Katherine Carr by Thomas H. Cook
* Spooner by Pete Dexter
* Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
* The Man in the Wooden Hat by Jane Gardam
* Ravens by George Dawes Green
* Tinkers by Paul Harding
* The Believers by Zoë Heller
* The Vagrants by Yiyun Li
* How to Sell by Clancy Martin
* New World Monkeys by Nancy Mauro
* The Last War by Ana Menendez
* Nemesis by Jo Nesbø
* Lark and Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips
* The Cry of the Sloth by Sam Savage
* Drood by Dan Simmons
* Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
* The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
* Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead
* Once the Shore by Paul Yoon

Poetry

* Chronic by D.A. Powell
* Museum of Accidents by Rachel Zucker
* The Bitter Withy by Donald Revell
* The Collected Poems of C.P. Cavafy
* Upgraded to Serious by Heather McHugh

Mystery

* Bryant and May on the Loose by Christopher Fowler
* The Wrong Mother by Sophie Hannah
* The Dark Horseby Craig Johnson
* The Silent Hour by Michael Koryta
* Londongrad by Reggie Nadelson
* The Lord of Death by Eliot Pattison
* The Cloud Pavilionby Laura Joh Rowland

Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror

* The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
* Lovecraft Unbound edited by Ellen Datlow
* The Devil’s Alphabet by Daryl Gregory
* The City & the City by China Miéville
* Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

Mass Market

* Captive of Sin by Anna Campbell
* Soulless by Gail Carriger
* A Dark Love by Margaret Carroll
* Child of Fire by Harry Connolly
* Hunt at the Well of Eternity by Gabriel Hunt, as told to James Reasoner

Comics

* Parker: The Hunter by Darwyn Cooke and Richard Stark
* Driven by Lemons by Josh Cotter
* Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth by Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos H. Papadimitriou with art by Alecos Papdatos and Annie Di Donna
* The Photographer: Into War-Torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders by Emmanuel Guibert and Didier Lefèvre
* Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli
* Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe by Bryan Lee O’Malley
* Footnotes in Gaza by Joe Sacco
* A Drifting Life by Yoshihiro Tatsumi
* You’ll Never Know: A Good and Decent Man by Carol Tyler
* Pluto by Naoki Urasawa

Nonfiction

* Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater by Frank Bruni
* Land of the Lost Souls: My Life on the Streets by Cadillac Man
* Columbine by Dave Cullen
* Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America by Barbara Ehrenreich
* The Good Soldiers by David Finkel
* Yes Means Yes! Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape edited by Jaclyn Friedman and Jessica Valenti
* Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City by Greg Grandin
* Food for Thought, Thought for Food edited by Richard Hamilton and Vincente Todolo
* Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home by Rhoda Janzen
* The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer
* The Snakehead: An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream by Patrick Radden Keefe
* True Compass: A Memoir by Edward M. Kennedy
* Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder
* Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman by Jon Krakauer
* Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn
* Gabriel García Márquez by Gerald Martin
* Green Metropolis by David Owen
* Larry’s Kidney: Being the True Story of How I Found Myself in China with My Black Sheep Cousin and His Mail-Order Bride, Skirting the Law to Get Him a Transplant—and Save His Life by Daniel Asa Rose
* Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays by Zadie Smith
* Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of U.S. Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan by Doug Stanton
* Jazz Loft Project: Photographs and Tapes of W. Eugene Smith from 821 Sixth Avenue, 1957–1965 by Sam Stephenson
* Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong by Terry Teachout
* Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789–1815 by Gordon S. Wood

Religion

* Angry Conversations with God: A Snarky but Authentic Spiritual Memoir by Susan E. Isaacs
* The Case for God by Karen Armstrong
* The End of Suffering: Finding Purpose in Our Pain by Scott Cairns
* Fingerprints of God: The Search for the Science of Spirituality by Barbara Bradley Hagerty
* The Future of Faith by Harvey Cox
* Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom
* In Due Season: A Man’s Life by Paul Wilkes
* Judas: A Biography by Susan Gubar
* Muslims in America: A Short History by Edward E. Curtis IV
* Rashi by Elie Wiesel

Lifestyle

* Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy by Lidia Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali
* Momofuku by David Chang and Peter Meehan
* Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller
* Child Care Today: Getting It Right for Everyone by Penelope Leach Gourmet Today by Ruth Reichl

Source: Publishers Weekly

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6704595.html