Books Read 2009

Full List of Books Read in 2009.  10 of the Best listed here.

December
95 Gold - Blaise Cendrars  ***
94 Olive Kitteridge - Elizabeth Strout  ****
93 The Doomsters - Ross MacDonald  ***
92 Carter Beats the Devil -Glen David Gold  *****
91 Perfume – Patrick Suskind  *** 1/2
90 Do You Think You’re Clever? - John Farndon ****
89 The Man Who Loved Books Too Much - Allison Hoover Bartlett  ***

November
88 Clisson and Eugenie – Napoleon Bonaparte  ***
87 The Passport - Herta Mueller  ***
86 The Cure for All Diseases - Reginald Hill (Audio) /2 *** 1/2
85 The Silver Swan - Benjamin Black  ** 1/2
84 Talking about Detective Fiction - P D James  ****
83 Dismissed Dead - Rod Brammer  ***
82 The Private Patient - P D James (Audio Book)  ** 1/2
81 A Selection from Citylit Berlin  ****
80 A Selection from Citylit London  ****
79 The White Castle - Orhan Pamuk  **
78 The File - Timothy Garton Ash  ***

October
77 Miss Hargreaves - Frank Baker  ***
76 Miss Pettigrew Lives for A Day - Winifred Watson  ****
75 The Allure of Chanel - Paul Morand  ***
74 Ordinary Thunderstorms - William Boyd  ***
73 Fighting It! – Regi Claire  ****
72 The Girl With The Golden Eyes - Honore de Balzac  **
71 The Bethlehem Murders – Matt Rees  ****
70 Falling Mortals - Jennifer Johnston *

September
69 Basil - Wilkie Collins ***
68 Glasshopper - Isabel Ashdown  *** 1/2
67 The Death of the Author - Gilbert Adair  *****
66 The Sufferings of Young Werther - Goethe  *** 1/2
65 The Chronicles of Clovis - Saki  ****
64 The Glass Room - Simon Mawer  ***
63 The Suspicions of Mr Whicher - Kate Summerscale  ****
62 BBC National Short Story Award 2008 - Various ****

August
61 The Salati Case - Tobias Jones  ***
60 Pharos - Alice Thompson  *** 1/2
59 The Year of the Flood - Eduardo Mendoza  *** 1/2
58 A Cool Head – Ian Rankin  ***
57 One City, One Trust – Alexander McCall Smith, Ian Rankin, Irwine Welsh  *** 1/2
56 My Driver - Maggie Gee  *** 1/2
55 Adam Gould - Julia O’Faolain  *** 1/2
54 A Selection from The Atlantic Ocean - Andrew O’Hagan ****
53 Inkheart - Cornelia Funke  ***
52 The House at Riverton - Kate Morton  **

July
51 Fists - Pietro Grossi  *** 1/2
50 My Cleaner - Maggie Gee  ****
49 Top 10 Berlin  *****
48 98 Reasons for Being – Claire Dudman  ****
47 Struwelhitler: A Nazi Story Book – Dr Schrecklichkeit  ****
47 Struwelpeter – Translated by Mark Twain  ***
46 Struwelpeter - Heinrich Hoffmann  *****
45 Berlin Tales - Edited by Helen Constantine  ****
June
44 The Wall Jumper - Peter Schneider  ****
43 Emil and The Detectives - Erich Kastner  *** 1/2
42 The Illustrated Brighton Moment - Various ****
41 A Village Romeo and Juliet - Gottfried Keller  ***
40 All My Friends are Superheroes – Andrew Kaufmann  ***
39 The Blind Side of the Heart - Julia Franck  ****
38 Ice Cold - Andrea Maria Schenkel  ****
37 The Luminous Life of Lily Aphrodite - Beatrice  Colin  *** 1/2

May
36 The Jew’s Beech - Annette von Drolste-Hulshoff  ***
35 Three Bags Full - Leonie Swann  ***
34 Scottsboro – Ellen Feldman  ****
33 The Murder Farm - Andrea Maria Schenkel  *** 1/2
32 The Wilderness – Samantha Harvey  *** 1/2
31 The Mystery of the Enchanted Crypt - Eduardo Mendoza  *** 1/2
30 The Invention of Everything Else - Samantha Hunt ***
29 Home - Marilynne Robinson  *****
28 No Word from Gurb - Eduardo Mendoza  ****
27 Burnt Shadows - Kamila Shamsie  ****

April
26 The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie – Alan Bradley  ****
25 Mystic Pig - Richard Katrovas  **
24 Me and Kaminski - Daniel Kehlmann  ***
23 Molly Fox’s Birthday - Deirdre Madden  *** 1/2
22 Dear Everybody – Michael Kimball  ***** Author Interview
21 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie  ** 1/2

March
21 March Violets - Phillip Kerr  ***
20 The Caledonian Kitchen  ****
19 Shakespeare on Toast - Ben Crystal  ****
18 The Big Over Easy - Jasper Fforde  ****
17 The Earth Hums in B-Flat - Mari Strachan  *** 1/2
16 The Letters - Fiona Robyn  ***
15 Fleck - Alaisdair Gray  ***
14 The Blue Fox - Sjon  *** 1/2
13 The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett  ****

February
12 Summer In February - Jonathan Smith  ***
11 The Outlander – Gil Adamson  ***
10 The Emperor of Ice-Cream – Brian Moore  ****
09 Child’s Play - Carmen Posadas  ***
08 The Hidden - Tobias Hill  ** 1/2
07 The Road Home - Rose Tremain  *** 1/2

January
06 A Night Out With Burns - Selected by Andrew O’Hagan  ****
05 Beyond Sleep - W F Hermans  *****
04 The Two Faces of January - Patricia Highsmith  ***
03 Grace - Alex Pheby *** / Post-interview revision ****
02 Royal Highness – Thomas Mann  ** 1/2
01 What A Carve Up! – Jonathan Coe ***** (R)