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I continue to tally votes from as many authoritative sources as I can find to build my spreadsheet of the Best Books of 2009. So far, I’ve counted votes for 1,880 books published in the U.S. during 2009, as named by 112 sources. There are still a few important sources to add to the list, but I’m getting close to final tallies. To download the latest version of the spreadsheet, visit my other blogging home, Blogging for a Good Book at Williamsburg Regional Library.

I’ll list the top vote getters for each category below, but download the full spreadsheet for a more complete picture. Over 60 books have received 10 votes or more and dozens of other great titles are lurking further down in the counts.

GENERAL FICTION

 A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie More (32 votes)

Too Much Happiness: Stories by Alice Munro (27 votes)

Love and Summer by William Trevor (23 votes)

MYSTERIES AND THRILLERS

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson (23 votes)

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by C. Alan Bradley (16 votes)

Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon (15 votes)

SPECULATIVE FICTION

The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood (24 votes)

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (17 votes)

The City and the City by China Mieville (16 votes)

HISTORICAL FICTION

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (the top vote-getter: 47 votes)

Brooklyn: A Novel by Colm Toibin (28 votes)

The Children’s Book by A. S. Byatt (24 votes)

ROMANCE FICTION

Not many sources here so far, but a three way tie for first with 3 votes each:

Bound by Your Touch by Meredith Duran

Goddess of the Hunt by Tessa Dare

The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley

YOUNG ADULT FICTION

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (22 votes)

Then a four-way tie for second with 12 votes each:

Fire by Kristin Cashore

Going Bovine by Libba Bray

Marcelo in the Real World  by Francisco X. Stork

Wintergirls  by Laurie Halse Anderson

POETRY

C.P. Cavafy: Collected Poems (6 votes)

Chronic by D. A. Powell (4 votes)

Museum of Accidents  by Rachel Zucker (4 votes)

GRAPHIC WORKS

Stitches: A Memoir by David Small (30 votes)

Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli (17 votes)

The Book of Genesis: Illustrated by R. Crumb; and

Logicomix: An Epic Search for the Truth by Apostolos Doxiados et al. (12 votes each)

GENERAL NONFICTION

The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science by Richard Holmes (20 votes)

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann (18 votes)

Columbine by Dave Cullen; and

The Good Soldiers by David Finkel (17 votes each)

BIOGRAPHIES AND MEMOIRS

Zeitoun by Dave Eggers (23 votes)

Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder (20 votes)

Cheever: A Life by Blake Bailey (19 votes)

HOW-TO, ART & COOKBOOKS

Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller (6 votes)

Gourmet Today edited by Ruth Reichl; and

Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera by Ron Schick (5 votes each)

I’ll update the results of the aggregated list once more when I’ve finished the tally.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 21st, 2010 at 12:01 am and is filed under Adult Books, Book Club Tips, Books for Youth, Fiction, Good Books for Book Clubs, In the News, Nonfiction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.