A Look Back: The Best from 2009

I have never put together a retrospective that ranks the books I have read over the course of a year. Probably, because when I was reading a biography/memoir for each letter of the alphabet, selecting the top ten hardly seemed a meritorious distinction. With a field of 51 States, several of which had alternate selections, I have a large enough pool to make "piles" that make sense to me.

Strangely, 9 were my favorites and I added a tenth, like all good annual reviews, simply for transitional purposes. Here goes:

1. Florida: The Orchid Thief. This story could not have taken place anywhere else. The swamps with their unique flowers and Indian culture is not only the setting but the motive for these crimes. In addition, the author writes of an off-resort landscape that is arch-Floridian.
2. Kansas: Charlatan. Granted, this story could have taken place as readily in Missouri or any other mid-America State, but I was charmed and amused by this true crime story that is rooted in a time and a naivete of simple homespun but yet still contemporary human longings.
3. California: American Lightning. Does anyone see a pattern here? Once again, I am captivated by a true crime story of unionization and violence in America and the country's first attempts to respond to "terrorism."
4. Washington: Reservation Blues. What a joy to discover Sherman Alexie, compounded when my younger son similarly came to like this author through his short stories in his American literature class this semester where many of the same characters reappeared. Catch Alexie's recent interview on Colbert on Hulu to see his humor in action and his pride in the written word.
5. New Hampshire: Hotel New Hampshire. My first acquaintance with John Irving. Subsequently, I have discovered these themes and images recur in most of his novels, but still love the story and its rendition of New England.
6. Wisconsin: The Women. 2009 was the year I also discovered T. C. Boyle and almost became a groupie, toying with the idea of going to his lecture in Peekskill his fall when he was engaged for part of the 400 year celebrations of Henry Hudson's discoveries. Boyle surpasses the other version of Frank Lloyd Wright's loves and life, Loving Frank, that next to The Women, comes across as a provincial history, lacking in distance and assessment.
7. Illinois: Sin in the Second City. A good book to read after Charlatan to continue to venture into early 20th Century American vice. Also a great contrast to 21st Century New York legislative dysfunction.
8. Hawaii: Letters from Hawaii. Mark Twain at his funniest tethered to nonfiction.
9. Vermont: First (and Second and Third, etc) Person Rural. So quiet, so contemplative, so Vermont. A journal of day to day living in simplicity and community.
10. Rhode Island: Theophilus North. My tenth "force-fit" only as an unanticipated segue into 2010's list of picaresque novels.

Another 10 are books I would not hesitate to strongly recommend to anyone looking for a great read set in an interesting place with unforgettable characters and an author with a powerful writing style: Crazy in Alabama, Meet You in Hell (Pa), The Billionaire's Vinegar (Va), Citizen Coors, The Last Good Time (NJ), The Next Step in the Dance (La), Down River (NC), The Sky Fisherman (Or),The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter (Tn), and The Worst Hard Time (Ok).

Next will be my attempt to compare these top 20 State stories with those in the anthology, State by State.