books: 2009

1. The Eucharist and the Hunger of the World, Monika K. Hellwig
2. Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, Paula Fredriksen
3. The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus, Amy-Jill Levine
4. Fortress Introduction to The Gospels, Mark Allan Powell
5. Social Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels, Bruce J. Malina and Richard Rohrbach
6. John, the Maverick Gospel, Robert Kysar
7. Written that you May Believe: Encountering Jesus in the Fourth Gospel, Sandra M. Schneiders, IHM
   
8. The Middle Ages, Morris Bishop
9. Models of the Church, Avery Dulles, SJ
10. The Sacred Pipe, Joseph Brown
11. A New Christian Paradigm: The Making of Post-Protestant Christianity, Ben M. Carter
12. Jesus and the Quest for Meaning, Thomas H. West
13. The Church Unfinished: Ecclesiology Through the Centuries, Bernard K. Prusak
14. Salt: A World History, Mark Kurlansky
15. Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World, Mark Kurlansky
16. Jesus as a Figure in History: How Modern Historians View the Man from Galilee, Mark Kurlansky
17. Paul--A Jew on the Margins, Calvin J. Roetzel
18. The Spirituality of Paul, Thomas H. Tobin
19. Navigating Paul: An Introduction to Key Theological Concepts, Jouette M. Bassler
20. Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt
21. The Hollow Crown: A History of Britain in the Late Middle Ages, Miri Rubin
22. Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom, John O'Donohue
23. The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million, Daniel Mendelsohn
24. Whitethorn Woods, Maeve Binchy
25. Saxons, Vikings, and Celts: The Genetic Roots of Britain & Ireland, Bryan Sykes
26. The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon
27. The Rule of Four, Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason
28. The Children of Henry VIII, Alison Weir
29. On Hitler's Mountain: Overcoming the Legacy of a Nazi Childhood, Irmgard A. Hunt
30. My Life with the Saints, James Martin, SJ
31. The Monster of Florence: A True Story, Douglas Preston with Mario Spezi
32. Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter, Thomas Cahill
33. How the Irish Saved Civilization, Thomas Cahill
34. Christianity Rediscovered, Vincent J. Donovan
35. Doors to the Sacred: A Historical Introduction to Sacraments in the Catholic Church, Joseph Martos
36. The Catholic Myth: The Behavior and Beliefs of American Catholics, Andrew Greeley
37. The Amber Room: The Fate of the World's Greatest Lost Treasure, Catherine Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy
38. No Place Like Home, Mary Higgins Clark
39. The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History, John Barry
    
40. The Last Knight: The Twilight of the Middles Ages and the Birth of the Modern Era, Norman Cantor
41. Soldier from the War Returning: The Greatest Generation's Troubled Homecoming from World War II, Thomas Childers
42. The Basque History of the World, Mark Kurlansky
43. Catherine the Great: Love, Sex, and Power, Virginia Rounding
44. Elizabeth and Mary: Cousins, Rivals, and Queens, Jane Dunn
45. Devil's Brood, Sharon Kay Penman
46. Falls the Shadow: A Novel, Sharon Kay Penman
47. Queen Emma and the Vikings: Power, Love and Greed in 11th Century England, Harriet O'Brien
48. Time and Chance, Sharon Kay Penman
49. Dragon's Lair, Sharon Kay Penman
50. The Queen's Man: A Medieval Mystery, Sharon Kay Penman
51. When Christ and his Saints Slept, Sharon Kay Penman
52. The Reckoning, Sharon Kay Penman
53. The Sunne in Splendor: A Novel of Richard III, Sharon Kay Penman
54. The Year 1000: What Life was Like at the Turn of the First Millennium, Robert Lacey and Danny Danziger
55. Here be Dragons, Sharon Kay Penman
56. Walking on a Rolling Deck: Life on the Ark, Kathy Berken
57. The Civilization of the Middle Ages, Norman Cantor
58. Mistress of the Monarchy: The Life of Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster, Alison Weir
59. Lucia: A Venetian Life in the Age of Napoleon, Andrea D. Robilant
60. A Venetian Affair: A True Tale of Forbidden Love in the 18th Century, Andrea D. Robilant
61. The Gift of the Jews: How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels, Thomas Cahill
62. Restoration London: From Poverty to Pets, from Medicine to Magic, from Slang to Sex, from Wallpaper to Women's Rights, Liza Picard
63. The Seville Communion, Arturo Perez-Oerveto
64. In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death and the World it Made, Norman Cantor
65. The Lady Elizabeth: A Novel, Alison Weir
66. Faith and Treason: The Story of the Gunpowder Plot, Antonia Fraser
67. Blue Iris: Poems and Essays, Mary Oliver

This year's list is dedicated to some of my favorite fellow bookworms: Aunts Barb and Jo, Emilie, Liz P., Liz H., Roxane S., and Kristine.

But most of all, this list is dedicated to my darling sister-in-law Fran, who shares my intense love of books and often subsidizes my Barnes and Noble habit, and to my mom, who instilled in me a love of the power of words and the magic of language, as well as an intense curiosity about the world around me.