My favorite book from 2009 was Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.

A part of my 2009 goals, (thanks to Eric Mattson™), was to read 20 novels. For the most part, I accomplished this, (a couple were non-fiction), and loved the process and outcome. I don't think I've read this much in a year before.

With the Slacker Bookclub I sunk my teeth into several classics that I never approached while a slacker high school student. Being in a bookclube provided a great opportunity to get together for dinner and drinks to discuss the book, as well as motivation to get through the books. And mostly, I was very pleased with the books, really enjoying or appreciating several of them.

Here is the list for 2009:

• Razor's Edge, Somerset Maugham
• Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer
• The Secret Agent, Joseph Conrad
• Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
• Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert
• The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammet
• Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
• The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen
• This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald
• The Sound and the Fury, William Falkner
• Stumbling on Happiness, Daniel Gilbert
• Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer
• A Widow for One Year, John Irving
• Sieze the Day, Saul Bellow
• Cannery Row, John Steinbeck
• 100 Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck
• For Whom The Bell Tolls, Hemingway
• The Man in the High Castle, Phillip K Dick
• Ubik, Phillip K Dick

I was happy to get into several of these authors. At least half of the above list were extremely interesting and/or thought provoking for me, and I would give hefty recommendations for them.

Picking a best of is not easy and I would probably pick a different best of on a different day. I thought For Whom The Bell Tolls was fantastic. I thought the Corrections was a great novel. And I am excited to re-read or read more from Bellow, Falkner and Fitzgerald.

I'm still thinking about my reading goals for 2010, I don't know if I want to make a specific target. The list is still large, but at least I knocked a little chunk off it in 2009.

Christmas with the Larson's on Orcas Island in the San Juan's. Four days and three nights of family fun.

The family lounging in the rental house.

View from the house..

Some wines to go with dinner on night one. The Vaquerayas from 12th and Olive was better on day 2.

Smörgåsbord on the 24th.

Widely considered the best smorgasbord since 2003.

A happy customer.