Reading 50 plus Novels in 2009

Goal: Read at least 50 novels in the year 2009


1. Lights Out by Peter Abrahams – fast paced, compelling, a bit disturbing

2. Rage by Jonathan Kellerman – child psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware mystery, surprising (I don't read these in order)

3. A Cold Heart by Jonathan Kellerman – page turning Dr. Alex Delaware mystery

4. The Forgottenby Faye Kellerman (wife of Jonathan) – crime mystery, good family character building

5. Therapy Jonathan Kellerman – mystery centered around psychology profession

6. Closing Time by Jim Fusilli – set in Tribecca, good characters, key words: fathers & daughters, private investigators, widowers, grief

7. Hawks Harbor by S.E. Hinton – vampire tale

8. In My Dark Dreams by J.F. Freedman – criminal courtroom thriller, serial killer

9. Tilt by Elizabeth Burns – well done but a bit draining to read, key words: married women, mothers & daughters, autistic children, depression

10. Dance Real Slow by Michael Grant Jaffe – emotional and touching, key words: divorced men, single fathers, fathers & sons

11. Empire Fallsby Richard Russo – Pulitzer Prize winner for a reason, key words: restaurant, working class, fathers & daughters

12. Down River by John Hart – thriller, compared to Raymond Chandler and John Grisham

13. gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson – “bright, tender, eccentric” “blend of Steel Magnolias & Sweet Home Alabama”

14. Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner – a favorite “chick lit” author, witty and entertaining

15. Betrayal by John Lescroart – thriller, key words: courtroom, Iraq

16. Killer Instinctby Joseph Finder – fast paced thriller around the corporate world

17. Songs Without Words by Ann Packer – well written, key words: female friendship, self-perception

18. Sister by A. Manette Ansay – emotional story around family secrets

19. Blackbird House by Alice Hoffman – traces lives over 200 years around house

20. Shoot the Moon by Billie Letts – likeable characters, some surprise and emotional truths

21. America the Beautiful by Moon Unit Zappa – emotional and funny, key words: young women, family relationships

22. High Maintenance by Jennifer Beale – funny, key words: young women, divorced, New York apartments

23. Happiness Sold Separately by Lolly Winston – both poignant and funny

24. Capital Crimes by Jonathan & Faye Kellerman – two novellas, murder investigations

25. Whistling in the Dark by Lesley Kogen – told in POV of ten year old girl in 1959

26. Rowing in Eden by Barbara Rogan – story of families by choice and love

27. Lady Killer Lisa Scottoline – thriller around female attorneys, this author’s specialty

28. The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd – “fine line between spiritual and erotic”, key words: married women, catholic

29. Remembering Blue by Connie May Fowler – emotional story of grief, love, and humor

30. Blue Water by A. Manette Ansay – key words: children, bereavement, forgiveness, voyage around the world

31. Whitethorn Woods Maeve Binchy – delightful characters in growing Irish town

32. The Little Friend by Donna Tartt – “riveting novel of childhood, innocence and evil” “Southern Gothic saga”

33. Paranoia by Joseph Finder – a look inside the corporate behemoth mindset, fast-paced suspense, great characters, original voice

34. Cage of Stars Jacquelyn Mitchard – story of a Mormon family’s “irrevocable change in an instant of violence” in the voice of the teenage daughter,

35. A False Sense of Well Being by Jeanne Braseltonn -- dark comedy, woman in midlife crisis, Southern fiction, colorful characters

36. Obsession by Jonathan Kellerman -- Dr. Alex Delaware mystery

37. All the Numbers by Judy Merrill Larsen -- story of tragedy, grief and redemption

38. Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo – man untangles ‘history’ of hometown, family and friends, set in upstate New York, character driven

39. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen – excellent book looking at the lives of a Depression-era traveling circus through the eyes of an old man who lived it

40. Snowed In by Christina Bartolomeo – witty and heartwarming story; compared to Anne Tyler and Bridget Jones

41. Family Stalker by Jon Katz – suburban detective and family man Kit Deleeuw mystery;

42. The Memory of Water by Karen White – emotional story of secrets and healing

43. Double Homicide by Jonathan and Faye Kellerman – two murder and suspense tales by husband and wife novelists

44. See Isabelle Run by Elizabeth Bloom – jilted New York City bride picks herself up and starts over; witty murder mystery

45. Rattled by Debra Galant – like a female Carl Hiaasen in the exurbs

46. Duma Key by Stephen King – psychological horror in King’s great style

47. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers – a moving yet hilarious memoir in a unique style

48. Bridget Jones the edge of reason by Helen Fielding – takes up where Bridget’s Diary leaves off

49. The Hour I First Believed – an amazing work of literary fiction; Wally Lamb is a genius

50. My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki – excellent, funny, touching, cross-cultural, highlighting some deep concerns of our time

51. Waterloo by Karen Olsson – set in a small Texas town around journalists, politics and the human condition

52. What Comes After Crazy by Sandi Kahn Shelton – funny and insightful tale of a young mother coming to terms with her life and herself

53. Without A Backward Glance by Kate Veitch – set in Australia and England, the emotional aftermath and healing of family from a mother’s desertion.

54. The Usual Rules by Joyce Maynard – moving story told through the eyes of a thirteen year old girl whose mother is killed in the WTC on September 11th.

55. The Same Sweet Girls by Cassandra King – funny and sad tale of six southern women who’ve met biannually since college for a reunion.

56. The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty – sad yet funny story of Smithy Ide’s bicycle ride across the country to claim his sister’s body.

57. Riding Lessons by Sarah Gruen – a woman moves with her troubled teenage daughter back home with her parents on their horse farm twenty years after the riding accident that destroyed her career.

58. Breaking Her Fall by Stephen Goodwin – excellent story of how a single father manages to save his family after a shocking incident with his fourteen year old daughter and the aftermath of his own behavior.

59. Certain Girlsby Jennifer Weiner – Cannie Shapiro, heroine of Weiner’s first novel Good in Bed, returns to readers with her thirteen-year-old daughter preparing for her bat mitzvah. Funny and touching novel by one of my favorite “chick-lit” authors.

60. A Piece of Normal by Sandi Kahn Shelton – another funny and touching book by the author of What Comes After Crazy

61. The Mortician’s Daughter by Elizabeth Bloom – a unique fast-paced well written mystery told with humor and insight.