TIME

TIME Best Books of the Year 2009

TIME Best Books of the Year 2009 names 20 books across 2 categories. 11 of them also won or were shortlisted for an award.

Fiction

1Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantelsource (opens in a new tab)
2The Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Waltersource (opens in a new tab)
3Swimming by Nicola Keegansource (opens in a new tab)
4Catching Fire by Suzanne Collinssource (opens in a new tab)
5Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Towersource (opens in a new tab)
6Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi by Geoff Dyersource (opens in a new tab)
7In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddinsource (opens in a new tab)
8Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazellsource (opens in a new tab)
9The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupisource (opens in a new tab)
10The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littellsource (opens in a new tab)

Nonfiction

1The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmessource (opens in a new tab)
2D-Day by Antony Beevorsource (opens in a new tab)
3Lit by Mary Karrsource (opens in a new tab)
4Changing My Mind by Zadie Smithsource (opens in a new tab)
5Lords of Finance by Liaquat Ahamedsource (opens in a new tab)
6Logicomix by Apostolos Doxiadis, Christos H. Papadimitriou, Alecos Papadatos and Annie Di Donnasource (opens in a new tab)
7Manhood for Amateurs by Michael Chabonsource (opens in a new tab)
8Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kiddersource (opens in a new tab)
9Cooking Dirty by Jason Sheehansource (opens in a new tab)
10Cheever: A Life by Blake Baileysource (opens in a new tab)

About the TIME Best Books of the Year

Fiction and Nonfiction top 10 lists by year (a single combined top 10 in 2006 and 2025) plus TIME's unranked 100 Must-Read Books, published 2020-2025. Separate YA/children's and genre lists are excluded. 2012-2013 cite entertainment.time.com, TIME's arts site at the time.

Organization: TIME. Official site (opens in a new tab)