Five 2009 Best Lists

Best Books Read (not necessarily published) 2009

1. Your Face Tomorrow- Javier Marias
2. Every Man Dies Alone- Hans Fallada
3. The Gate at the Stairs- Lorrie Moore
4. Strangers- Anita Brookner
5. Oblomov- Ivan Goncharov
6. Collected Stories- Lydia Davis
7. The Bauhaus Group- Nicholas Fox Weber
8. Little Bee- Chris Cleave
9. Complete Fiction- Francis Wyndham
10. Wolf Hall- Hillary Mantel

Best Movies Seen (not necessarily released) 2009

1. Tulpan
2. 35 Shots of Rum
3. The Class
4. O’Horton
5. The Limits of Control
6. The Grocer’s Son
7. A Serious Man
8. Still Walking
9. Che
10. Three Monkeys

Best Music Heard (not necessarily current) 2009

1. Teena Marie
2. Dirty Projectors
3. Arthur Russell
4. Dizzee Rascal
5. Golem
6. Asa
7. Massive Attack
8. Herman Dune
9. The Rural Alberta Advantage
10. Brian Wheat

Best Road Meals Eaten 2009

1. Da Lat (Denver, with Tattered Cover pals)
2. Betty’s (Buffalo, with Talking Leaves Books pals)
3. Tokyo Garden (Seattle, U district, cheap teriyaki to die for)
4. Il Casale (Belmont MA, HUP sales conference dinner)
5. Rozzelle Court restaurant, Nelson Atkins Museum (Kansas City)
6. Bistro Zinc (Chicago, with Jack & Laura from Seminary Coop)
7. Muffalletta (St Paul MN, near Micawber’s, with Tom Bielenberg)
8. Corky & Lenny’s (Beechwood Ohio, old line delicatessen in strip mall)
9. One Twenty Six (Iowa City, with Paul Ingram from Prairie Lights)
10. Wegman’s Supermarket (Ithaca, NY, great comfort food takeout)

Best Hotels Slept in 2009

1. The Study at Yale (New Haven, YUP sales conference)
2. Inn at Northrup Station (Portland OR)
3. Leo House (NYC)
4. Burnsley Hotel (Denver)
5. Springhill Suites Lawrence (Kansas)
6. University Inn (Seattle)
7. Indiana Union (Bloomington)
8. Best Western Hawthorne (Chicago)
9. Aloft (Minneapolis)
10. Oberlin Inn (Ohio)