Cream of the '09 crop

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(THE WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

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Fiction

All the Living, by C.E. Morgan

"It might seem strange to recommend a novel about a drought set in the U.S. south in a year that we endured our own northern flood. But a conflagration is a conflagration, and Kentuckian C.E. Morgan's All the Living is a damn fine distraction.

-- Ariel Gordon

Border Songs, by Jim Lynch

"[An] unusual hybrid of character study, poetic nature writing and ripped-from-the-headlines crime novel."

-- Bob Armstrong

Between the Assassinations, by Aravind Adiga

"Adiga's slumdogs want what other slumdogs want, and he tells their stories in all their urgency. Just don't expect a Hollywood ending."

-- Reinhold Kramer

The Bishop's Man, by Linden McIntyre

"One of Canada's most distinguished broadcast journalists has used his considerable skill at truth-telling to weave a literary novel that is both entertaining and compelling."

-- Angela Narth

The Chalk Circle Man / This Night's Foul Work, by Fred Vargas

"Vargas is perhaps the best mystery writer on the planet. Run, do not walk, to grab these series bookends, and everything in between."

-- John Sullivan

Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese

"An epic about regular, or even marginalized people, away from the grand canvas of important events... Ethiopian-born author Abraham Verghese's riveting and uplifting first novel takes us deep into the motivations, and the need, for healing."

-- Bill Rambo

Galore, by Michael Crummey

"With the rich language and colourful, earthy turns of phrase of the Newfoundland vernacular, Crummey forges unforgettable characters and fashions spectacular, riveting stories."

-- Debbie Patterson

The Factory Voice, by Jeanette Lynes,

"Entertaining and incisive, The Factory Voice is a richly imagined novel that captures a significant page from the history of Canadian women in the workplace."

-- Bev Sandell Greenberg

February, by Lisa Moore

"A perfectly ordinary woman whose life is profoundly changed by an extraordinary event. This is a marvellous book."

-- Joanne Epp

George Sprott: 1894-1975, by Seth

"George Sprott is as deeply affecting a well of existential melancholia as you'll find in contemporary fiction. It demolishes any notions that may still linger of comics being a sub-literary form."

-- Kenton Smith

The Magicians, by Lev Grossman

SDLqThe Magicians is a psychologically astute coming-of-age novel ensconced within the overt trappings of fantasy ... the finest, most literate adult fantasy since Susannah Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell."

-- Corey Redekop

My Father's Tears and Other Stories, by John Updike

"Showcases all the late master's strengths in compact form: his command of language, his crystal-clear imagery, his knack of pinpointing phenomena that are representative of our own lives and times."

-- Dave Williamson

The Players, by Margaret Sweatman

"She wants to explore the power gap between men and women, the clash of cultures, the greed and curiosity that led to the Hudson Bay Company."

-- Ron Robinson

The Slap, by Christos Tsiolkas

"In giving us a penetrating, no-holds-barred glimpse into the lives of eight characters, Tsiolkas draws a portrait of contemporary Australia, warts and all."

-- Faith Johnston

Still Life, by Joy Fielding

"Fielding's latest suspense novel has all of her signature elements: a sympathetic female protagonist struggling with a loss of identity, complex (if somewhat stock) characters and an eerie, unsettling, gripping and exciting atmosphere."

-- Liz Hopkins

The Tricking of Freya, by Christina Sunley

"In masterfully crafting a story about a particular place and time, Sunley has written a universal tale about displacement and belonging, about family and history and home."

-- Sharon Chisvin

Under the Dome, by Stephen King

"This massive horror-cum-science fiction novel finds Stephen King back on his game."

-- By Nick Martin

An Unexpected Break in the Weather, by Deborah Schnitzer

"This luminous literary novel will delight those who treasure word play, want a Winnipeg fix, and yearn for interesting and complex stories."

-- Adelia Wiens

War Dances, by Sherman Alexie

"Simultaneously funny and sad, War Dances (a mix of stories, micro-fiction and poetry) covers some pretty heavy terrain -- alcoholism, adultery, racism and death.

-- Michelle Peters

Non-fiction

The Ascent of Money, by Niall Ferguson

"In an ode to Darwin, Ferguson concludes with a chapter on the evolution of finance and remarks: 'until we fully understand the origins of financial species, we shall never understand the fundamental truth about money.'''

-- Scott Forbes

Beyond Belfast, by Will Ferguson

"A smart, engaging travel memoir about sore feet, Northern Ireland and coming to terms with who you are and from where you came."

-- Julie Kentner

Burmese Lessons, by Karen Connelly

"[F]rom the messy mix Connelly extrudes both keen analysis of the many faces of opposition to the Burmese generals and an intimate account of love, jealousy and guilt."

-- Douglas J. Johnston

The Dog by the Cradle, the Serpent Beneath, by Erika Ritter

"It's a brilliant book, in which Ritter manages to sustain an illuminating sense of optimism, warm humour and thoughtfulness, even as she explores such difficult topics as the abuse and abandonment of non-human animals."

-- Dana Medoro

Eating Animals, by Jonathan Safran Foer

Eating Animals will not convince everyone to give up meat, but it will certainly give pause to those who won't shake hands without applying antibacterial sanitizer but who happily chow down on juicy salmonella-spiked chicken breasts."

-- Jill Wilson

The Greatest Show on Earth, by Richard Dawkins

[Dawkins] now lays out some of the more important evidence that proves, beyond all doubt, what another writer has called the "greatest idea anyone ever had."

-- Ted St. Godard

The King of Madison Avenue: David Ogilvy and the Making of Modern Advertising, by Kenneth Roman

"Ogilvy summed himself up this way, 'I came into advertising from research and that gave me a great advantage. And I had a short period in my life, maybe 10 years at the outside, when I was pretty close to being a genius. Then it ran out.' "

-- Ron Robinson

Little Daughter: A Memoir of Survival in Burma and the West, by Zoya Phan with Damien Lewis

"Half autobiography, half exposé, the book is a gripping account of a young woman's courageous struggle to escape the world's most despotic regime."

-- Bev Sandell Greenberg

One-Party Classroom, by David Horowitz and Jacob Laksin

"Through empirical investigation, Horowitz and Laksin have produced a devastating indictment of contemporary academe, an indictment that also applies to Canada, where many of the same cultural winds are blowing."

-- Graeme Voyer

Otherwise, by Farley Mowat

"Based on personal experiences and using his extensive journals as references, Mowat recalls the 1930s, '40s, '50s, before radical changes in the Inuit way of life -- the destruction of the vast caribou herds and the exploitation of the land."

-- Harriet Zaidman

True Compass, by Edward M. Kennedy

"The unauthorized Kennedy tomes, such as the recent Bobby and Jackie by C. David Heymann, might dish up more dirt than True Compass does, but there's no substituting first-person narrative that's elegantly and beautifully written, as this one is."

-- Brenlee Carrington

The Urban Saint, by Paul Boge

"A memorable tribute to a former New Yorker who had big-city cool, an enviable panache and small-town swagger."

-- Joseph Hnatiuk

Welcome to the Urban Revolution, by Jeb Brugmann

"A coherent... and practical guide to not only understanding the nature of this revolution but, perhaps, for guiding it to a peaceful resolution."

-- Michael Dudley

Woodstock: Three Days that Rocked the World, edited by Mike Evans and Paul Kingsbury

"Beautifully illustrated with hundreds of colour photos, this extraordinary book lovingly documents the music, the audience, the artists and the rich story line behind Woodstock."

-- George MacLean

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 26, 2009 H10