Best of 2009

I haven't done a good job chronicling and reviewing books here like I used to. I want to try to go back to my roots and do more of that, but for now, here are my favorite reads of 2009.


Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner. This was my first Stegner. It's the memorable and gripping and searing story of two couples who met in Madison and then remained close friends over many years. Stegner does an amazing job portraying the four characters. And Charity still haunts me. This would be great for a book group.

All God's Creatures Have a Place in the Choir by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich and Emma Lou Thayne. I read this one in the spring, right around the time I went to a retreat and met Claudia Bushman, a colleague of Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. That was probably the high point of my year. I love LTU--she is a hero of mine. This is a book of personal essays about being female and Mormon, about friendship, sisterhood, and community, about motherhood and writing. Like any collection of essays, there were some that were more personally meaningful to me, but this is such a great compilation of Emma Lou Thayne's and Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's writing, and bubbles over with the richness of their lives and their thoughtful insights. In its totality, their book celebrates women's gifts, not as anything generically applied to all with XX chromosomes, but individual woman's gifts and contributions, unique and precious, and ultimately beneficial to the community at large, no matter the shape of their talents.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. When I heard the premise of this book, I was skeptical. It sounded like it would be a feminist screed cloaked in a badly fitting story. But, Atwood is an amazing storyteller and she develops the dytopian world that the handmaid precariously navigates. As a member of a society that has almost lost its ability to reproduce due to a terrible environmental disaster, the few women who can still bear children become very important to the theocratic state. These are the handmaids--named after the women in the Old Testament who stepped in to bear children for the patriarchs when their wives were infertile. Atwood utilizes a narrative device that tells a portion of the handmaid's story through her own diary that has been discovered many years hence. Her current name is Offred because she now belongs to a powerful man named Fred. I also read Oryx and Crake this year, and enjoyed it as well, though it spoke more to environmental devastation than to issues around gender.

My Life in France by Julia Child. I loved the film Julie and Julia and saw it with a good friend this summer. I was moved by the story of Julia Child and the way she was able to define and create a life for herself. So, I picked up her memoir and Child's wit, pragmatism, and personality, her sense of humor and her embrace of life shine through. She has such a descriptive way with words and it was a pure pleasure to read. The best of her book is the first half when she and her husband Paul are living in Paris and when she discovers her passion for cooking. I love that she was a bit older (late 30's) when she discovers France and its food, but that when she does, she embraces it so heartily and fully that it powerfully shapes the rest of her life.

An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination by Elizabeth McCracken. This slim volume is a gem--an exquisitely, beautifully written memoir of a stillbirth. Elizabeth McCracken and her kind, earnest English husband are living in the countryside of France, both working on writing. She is radiantly pregnant, the adorable baby shoes have been purchased, and they have created a vision of their future life with their baby boy nicknamed Pudding. From the very beginning, McCracken lets us in on what will happen. Both her stillborn son, and the living, healthy child that will be born almost exactly a year later. But, the unraveling. Oh, the tragic and painful unraveling. I read this one twice because it was so beautifully written.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. What do I say about this one? I loved the story and the creativity of it. I loved Katniss and I loved Rue. I thought Collins did a great job making the characters real in this book (and was disappointed with Catching Fire--I didn't think it was the same power as Hunger Games).

When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present by Gail Collins. I went to hear Collins speak on her book tour. It was at a dark time of my year--I was so depressed and felt so heavy in such a physical way. I loved hearing her speak and felt myself spark at her ideas and her painstaking research. She has written a great overview of all the things that have changed for women in the US since 1960. Collins is a journalist, and this book is very readable, packed full of stories of women, based mainly on interviews. She covers both the history-making events (Betty Friedan and The Feminine Mystique, the founding of NOW, the ERA, etc), as well as the more mundane (clothing, day to day life).

The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I don't care if the critics turn their nose up at this book, I loved it. Stockett's characters are so vibrant, so real. I felt like I knew every single one of them. What a topic--the revolutionary action of recording black women's voices and stories. I loved how Stockett portrayed the diversity of characters across both the black and white women. It felt authentic. There was the villainous and bigoted Hilly, yes, but there was also the conflicted, self-centered, and bullied Elizabeth, depressed Lou Anne who credited her maid with helping her get out of bed every day, and of course, Skeeter, one of the heros of the book. And then Aibileen, the other hero--I think she was my favorite character. I loved the way she took care of Elizabeth's daughter, Mae Mobley, and countered the effects of her mother's negligence. And Minny--the sassy maid who can cook like anything, taking care of the trampy Celia. Really wonderful.

Here's to many wonderful reads in 2010!