favorite books of '09

perhaps you don't know that reading is one of my all-time favorite things to do ever. well, it is, and i thought i'd pass along my best reads of this past year because if you're like me, you're always looking for good book recommendations. i'd love to hear what your favorites have been, too, so i can add them to my ever-growing must-read list.

and the winners are. . . [requisite drum roll]

in the non-fiction category:

1. reaching out by henri nouwen (this book wins best overall)
2. telling secrets by frederick buechner
3. everything belongs by richard rohr
4. praying the psalms by walter brueggeman
5. working the angles: the shape of pastoral integrity by eugene peterson


in the fiction category:

1. the enchanted april by elizabeth von arnim
2. manalive by g.k. chesterton
3. the help by katherine stockett
4. the guernsey literary and potato peel pie society by mary ann shaffer and annie barrows
5. the elegance of the hedgehog by muriel barbery