Nicole's Books of '09

Just in case you're thinking of giving the gift of reading this season, here is my list of five star books I've read in 2009. This is based on my opinion and I've omitted those which I prefer solely based on entertainment value (the vampire ones and the smut ones). I rarely give those my elusive five star rating anyway with the exception of the first Sookie Stackhouse. Ok ok, no more vampire romance novels, I promise. Unless you really want them?

For me to give a book four or five stars it has to grab me from the beginning until it becomes an obsession and I need to finish reading it and nothing can come between me and it. What pushes it over the edge is when I finish, I either still want to see what happens to the characters or I close it with a sigh, upset that the adventure is over already. It's a personal thing not a sophisticated literary thing. I am neither sophisticated nor literary. I'm a reader.

Here they are in the order of preference, one being the highest.

1. Book - Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Plot Summary - Sexy new husband, gorgeous old estate, mysterious murder ::eyebrow raise::
Recommended to - Jane Austin, Agatha Christie and Hitchcock fans
2. Book - The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams
Plot Summary - Young girl on a polygamist compound gets 'chosen' to be the next wife of her uncle
Recommended to - Nieces in middle school everywhere, just make sure she lives nearby so you can borrow it
3. Book - The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Plot Summary - 1962 a look at the lives of Black women in Mississippi and their relationships with the white children they raised
Recommended to - Fans of Rebecca Wells who feel cheated that she doesn't develop her Black characters as much as her White ones (which really is not a whole lot when you think about it). Not that that I'm criticizing ::ahem::
4. Book - Genesis by Bernard Beckett
Plot Summary - Post-apocalyptic look at the human race
Recommended to - Philosopher wannabes (be prepared to read this one twice)
5. Book - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Plot Summary - Teenagers fight to the death to the entertainment of the public and the tyrannical government
Recommended to - High schoolers everywhere, and/or Twilight fans who really need more substance in their reading (I'm including myself in this description if it makes you feel any better).

Out of the 72 books I've read this year, these are the stand-outs. That sounds like an impressive number, but really, it didn't feel like a lot. Here's how I break it down: 22 were smutty, 9 were young adult novels, 37 were adult fiction and 4 I abandoned. I'm actually surprised that the number of smutty ones does not exceed the adult fiction ones. Interesting.