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Best Books of 2009 and the last decade

December 02, 2009

British newspapers have released their round-ups of the Best Books of the Year 2009 and their top picks from the past decade.

The Times 100 Best Books of the Decade include Bernardine Evaristo's verse-novel The Emperor's Babe; David Mitchell's award winning Cloud Atlas; Thursbitch by Alan Garner; and Margaret Atwood's Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth, which was placed at number 8 and was described by The Times as a "a fascinating, freewheeling examination of ideas that strike upon our most recent anxieties".

The Times Christmas Books: the Classics features David Benedictus & Mark Burgess' Return to the Hundred Acre Wood, the first authorised sequel to the Winnie-the-Pooh books, of which Michael Brown, chairman of the trustees of Pooh Properties, said, "David's new stories, including the new character, like the original stories, are timeless."

The Sunday Times labelled Samuel Johnson: A Life by David Nokes as one of the Best Biographies in its round up.

The Financial Times has named the sports book Why England Lose by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski as one of the Best Books of the Year.

The Guardian has chosen author Trevor Byrne for his debut novel, Ghosts and Lightning; Maggie Gee for My Driver; and One Day by David Nicholls.

The Telegraph Best Books of the Year include Stanley, I Presume by Stanley Johnson and Fool's Gold by Gillian Tett was among its non-fiction nominations. The Telegraph Showbiz Books of the Year mention Keith Floyd's biography Stirred but Not Shaken and Sean Smith's latest in-depth biography, Cheryl: The Biography.

The Observer included Ground Control by Anna Minton; Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin and Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd in its round up of the Books of the Year.