Favorite Fiction 2009 (Literary and Otherwise)
Discover the best fiction books of 2009 with our curated list of favorite literary reads and standout titles. Find your next great novel today!
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The Help
by Kathryn Stockett
The #1 New York Times bestselling novel and basis for the Academy Award-winning film—a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and …
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The Brothers K
by David James Duncan
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK Once in a great while a writer comes along who can truly capture the drama and passion of the …
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Lark and Termite
by Jayne Anne Phillips
Lark and Termite is a rich, wonderfully alive novel about seventeen year old Lark and her brother, Termite, living in West Virginia in the 1950s. …
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Her Fearful Symmetry
by Audrey Niffenegger
When Elspeth Noblin dies of cancer, she leaves her London apartment to her twin nieces, Julia and Valentina. These two American girls never met their …
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Homer and Langley
by E. L. Doctorow
A tale inspired by a true story finds the blind Homer Collyer closeted within a once-grand Fifth Avenue mansion with his damaged brother and remembering …
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The Sea
by John Banville
BOOKER PRIZE WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • An “extraordinary meditation on mortality, grief, death, childhood and memory" (USA Today) about a middle-aged Irishman who has …
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Whistling in the Dark
by Lesley Kagen
Funny, wise and uplifting, Whistling in the Dark is the story of two tough and endearing little girls...and of a time not so long ago, …
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The Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
For use in schools and libraries only. A young man newly rich tries to recapture the past and win back his former love, despite the …
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The Cellist of Sarajevo
by Steven Galloway
"A novel of great intensity and power. The Cellist of Sarajevo explores how war can change one's definition of humanity, how music affects our emotional …
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All That I Have
by Castle Freeman, Jr.
In this gripping, wise, and darkly funny tale of suspense, Sheriff Lucian Wing confronts a series of trials that test his work, his marriage, and …
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American Salvage
by Bonnie Jo Campbell
American Salvage is rich with local color and peopled with rural characters who love and hate extravagantly. They know how to fix cars and washing …
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The World According to Bertie
by Alexander McCall Smith
44 SCOTLAND STREET - Book 4 The residents and neighbors of 44 Scotland Street and the city of Edinburgh come to vivid life in these …
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The 19th Wife
by David Ebershoff
It is 1875, and Ann Eliza Young has recently separated from her powerful husband, Brigham Young, prophet and leader of the Mormon Church. Expelled and …
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We Need to Talk About Kevin
by Lionel Shriver
The gripping international bestseller about motherhood gone awry Eva never really wanted to be a mother—and certainly not the mother of the unlovable boy who …
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Love Over Scotland
by Alexander McCall Smith
44 SCOTLAND STREET - Book 3 The residents and neighbors of 44 Scotland Street and the city of Edinburgh come to vivid life in these …
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The Little Giant of Aberdeen County
by Tiffany Baker
"A spellbindingly woven tale about a girl who grows physically and emotionally beyond her small town's wildest expectations"--Provided by publisher.
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The House at Riverton
by Kate Morton
Ninety-eight-year-old Grace Bradley is visited by a young director who takes her back to Riverton House where she reveals the secret behind the death of …
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After You'd Gone
by Maggie O'Farrell
When a young woman named Alice Raikes slips into a coma following an accident that could have been a suicide attempt, her family gathers at …
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The Song is You
by Arthur Phillips
The bestselling author of "Prague" delivers a love story and a uniquely heartbreaking dark comedy about obsession and loss. It is a closely observed tale …
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Skeletons at the Feast
by Chris Bohjalian
A masterful love story set against a backdrop of epic history and unforgettable courage In the waning months of World War II, a small group …
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Cold Rock River
by J. L. Miles
Set in the early Vietnam era, a young white mother uncovers connections between her friendship with a black midwife and her discovery of a century-old …
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Tea Time for the Traditionally Built
by Alexander McCall Smith
Precious Ramotswe tries to recover her trusty white van after her husband sells it and replaces it with a characterless modern vehicle, while The No. …
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The Good Husband of Zebra Drive
by Alexander McCall Smith
Precious Ramotswe's husband, J.L.B. Matekoni plans to do something special for their adopted daughter, but when his plans hit some snags he's happy to be …
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The Miracle at Speedy Motors
by Alexander McCall Smith
Fans around the world adore the bestselling No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series and its proprietor, Precious Ramotswe, Botswana’s premier lady detective. In this charming …
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What Happened to Anna K.
by Irina Reyn
“Literate and fun, What Happened to Anna K. is an uncommonly ambitious book and one of the year’s most amusing reads” (People, People Pick, 4 …
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The House on Fortune Street
by Margot Livesey
Reveals how luck-- good and bad-- plays a vital role in our lives, and how the search for truth can prove a dangerous undertaking.
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THE PIG DID IT
by JOSEPH CALDWELL
The macabre comedy plays out in sparkling dialogue, including some hilarious speeches that are both incantations of Irish mythology and masterful bits of parody. . …
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A Fraction of the Whole
by Steve Toltz
Meet the Deans “The fact is, the whole of Australia despises my father more than any other man, just as they adore my uncle more …
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Netherland
by Joseph O'Neill
A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • WINNER OF THE PEN/FAULKNER AWARD • "Netherland tells the fragmented story of a …
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The Tortilla Curtain
by T.C. Boyle
T.C. Boyle’s “irresistible” (Entertainment Weekly) classic bestseller, a tragicomic novel about assimilation, immigration, and the price of the American dream “A masterpiece of contemporary social …
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Socrates In Love (Novel-Paperback)
by Kyoichi Katayama
A bittersweet journey of young love, heartbreaking loss, and enduring devotion.
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The Widow of the South
by Robert Hicks
Carnton Plantation, 1894: Carrie McGavock is an old woman who tends the graves of the almost 1,500 soldiers buried there. As she walks among the …
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Brooklyn
by Colm Toibin
Leaving her home in post-World War II Ireland to work as a bookkeeper in Brooklyn, Eilis Lacey discovers a new romance in America with a …
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Going Away Shoes
by Jill McCorkle
The foibles of the people in Jill McCorkle’s world are so familiar that we want nothing so much as to watch them walk into—and then …
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The Black Tower
by Louis Bayard
The acclaimed author of "Mr. Timothy" and "The Pale Blue Eye" has constructed another spellbinding historical mystery about a real-life convict who transformed himself into …