Best books read in 2009

One of the tasks I enjoyed most during my 35 years as a librarian was buying books. It wasn't just the fact that I was using someone else's money to buy the books. I enjoyed guessing what books would be hot for various age groups, especially identifying sleepers. Here's a list of my favorite reads from 2009 (many published before this year):

Loving Frank - Nancy Horan
A fictionalized biography of feminist Mamah Borthwick whose affair with Frank Lloyd Wright scandalized the world. An excellent, albeit sad story.

Mozart's Sister - Rita Charbonnier
Somewhat sad story of Nannerl, a child prodigy before Mozart was born, who was discouraged by her father and forced to work to support the family. Dovetails nicely with Stitches in Air by Liane Ellison Norman, a novel about Mozart's mother, that I also read this year.

Prayers for Sale - Sandra Dallas
Sweet history of Colorado mining as told by an older quilter to a younger one, a newcomer.

The Lost Quilter - Jennifer Chiaverini
A southern slave's exciting escape, recapture, and escape during the Civil War era. One of the best of the series.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
By far my favorite this year, this sweet epistolary novel is set in 1946 when a young English writer receives a fan letter from a reader on Guernsey which was occupied by the Germans during World War II. The warm humor and interesting characters make this a good recommendation for almost anyone.

The World Before Her - Deborah Weisgau
Stories of parallel lives of Marian Evans a/k/a George Eliot (1880) and Caroline Spingold (1980 - a fictitious sculptor) are set in Venice.

South of Broad - Pat Conroy
A meaty book full of painful details, quirky characters, and an obvious love of Charleston.

Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguru
Almost everyone else in my book group hated this story of clones set in 1970's England, but I found it powerful and very well written.

A Thread of Grace - Mary Doria Russell
An heroic story of Jews hidden by northern Italians between 1943-45: "no matter how dark the tapestry God weaves for us, there's always a thread of grace." Russell is one of today's most compelling and skilled writers.

And my most disappointing read for 2009 - drum roll, please! - Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, a long, drawn-out ego trip by a 30-something divorcee who spent a year traveling to Italy, India, and Bali.