Top 10 of 2009.

Two notes about this list: 1) I’m not claiming that these are the absolute best books out of all the books I read this year, necessarily, but that they were my favorites for whatever reason, or that they stood out in a huge way, or that they were very surprising; 2) I’m not talking books published in 2009, just books I read in 2009.

The last currently-available title of the Wet Moon series.

Without further ado, and in no particular order, my top books of 2009 (whittled down from an initial list of about 20):

Wet Moon by Ross Campbell. This was a huge surprise. Like I told Jonathan as I was reading it, as crazy as some people are about Twilight is as crazy as I was about the Wet Moon series when I was reading it. The first couple of chapters of the first book felt like I was reading a lot of nothing, and I think that’s because of the incredibly realistic dialogue. I don’t necessarily think that’s a flaw in the book, though, but rather the time it takes for the reader to “learn the rules” of Wet Moon. It’s the story of Chloe and her friends’ first year at college in a seemingly alternate universe where bisexual, goth Bella Morte fans are the norm. As I said, stick with the first few chapters until you become absorbed in the town and residents of Wet Moon, and then it becomes totally engrossing. The only problem? It’s not a completed series. Ross Campbell, who is a doll and was a classmate of Jonathan’s, says that he intends to finish at ten volumes. So it’s only halfway done. And I don’t know how long I can wait for the rest. It’s that good.

Y the Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan. This series is written by one of the writers of the TV series “Lost” and thank God it is a completed series. When I started reading more comics, I insisted that Jonathan not recommend any books for me, and he insisted that he recommend only two series, this being the first of those. And I’m glad he did. It’s the first and only series I’ve gotten my brother (who doesn’t read – ever) to read in its entirety. (Of course, still insisting that he’s not a fan of reading, my brother now says that he will only read comics written by Brian K. Vaughan. He began the Ex Machina series entirely on his own; I haven’t read it yet.) The story of Yorick, the only man to survive a global epidemic leaving him alone in a world of women and female animals, takes off quickly from the very first page and doesn’t stop to breathe for ten volumes. And it’s a good thing.

The only thing lovelier than the film is the original text.

What Was She Thinking? by Zoe Heller. A scary book for teachers, I think, or maybe only beginning teachers – or maybe only beginning teachers as young as I am. Whatever. It’s the age-old story of an affair between a student and teacher – only it’s not. But it is – on two levels. Try to follow me here: Sheba is the new art teacher in a boys’ school and wastes little time in beginning a relationship with a fifteen-year-old student. We know this story. However, veteran teacher Barbara makes it her obsessive duty to take Sheba under her wing. The twist here is the parallel relationships, both bizarre and illicit although Sheba’s relationship with her student is made to seem quite normal in comparison with Barbara’s overbearing and strangely quasi-sexual need for Sheba’s unwavering devotion. The film adaptation, starring Cate Blanchett and Dame Judy Dench, is also fantastic.

Girls by the Luna Brothers. I’ve talked about this one a lot because, honestly, although everything Jonathan and Josh have done is brilliant, this is my absolute favorite. It’s four volumes – their work is always succinct – of bizarre sci-fi/horror, sort of. This is one of those rare stories that really and truly cannot be pigeonholed. Horror fans will probably like it, but it’s not necessarily horror. Sci-fi fans might like it but it’s not necessarily science fiction, either. Jonathan knew I would like it because I like most stories that deal with sex and gender issues. This is as specific as I think I can get, though: you should read it if you like a good story that makes you think. One drunk and angry night, Ethan sleeps with a beautiful girl he finds naked in the middle of the road. One hungover morning, he finds this girl in the bathroom hatching eggs producing full-sized clones of herself. It quickly becomes clear that the women want to fornicate with all of the men and kill off all of the women, so the men are forced to make a choice between these beautiful sex objects and their imperfect wives and girlfriends. It doesn’t have a neat wrap-up, but that’s the icing on the cake – if you can deal with it. I can’t recommend it enough.

Total page-turner and totally adorable.

Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O’Malley. Jonathan was reading this for a while and he told me about it once, not necessarily recommending it himself but saying that everyone loves it. In a strange turn of events, it turns out that this time “everyone” is right. Scott Pilgrim is a little manga-looking series of books, a very quick read and very cute. Twenty-three/twenty-four year old slacker Scott Pilgrim wants to date the cute and slightly mysterious Ramona Flowers, and in order to continue dating her he must destroy her seven evil ex-boyfriends. It’s a page-turner and plays out like a video game (Scott earns extra points on his birthday, etc.). These details, though, play out over the course of a drama of personal relationships between friends, exes, potential exes, former friends, etc. Reminding me of Wet Moon but in a way that is completely different, the dialogue is amazingly realistic and absolutely hilarious. The series is not completed, but seems that it will be soon.

Box Office Poison by Alex Robinson. It took a while for me to be willing to read graphic novels that I considered to be less realistic and more “cartoony” in appearance, but Box Office Poison was my gateway drug. It’s a 600-page graphic novel that follows the intersecting lives of a large group of characters: geeky Sherman, simultaneously loveable and creepy Stephen, poor Ed, intellectual elitist Jane… and although not a main character, my personal favorite, Dorothy. (When I was at the Baltimore Comic-Con with Jonathan, I stopped by Alex Robinson’s booth and he did a quick Dorothy on the inside of my book for me.) Possibly my favorite segments of the book are Sherman working at the bookstore – keep an eye out for those in the first half of the book.

First on my list of recommendations for the Lunas.

A Drifting Life by Yoshihiro Tatsumi. I was in Borders with Jonathan and Josh just the other night showing off my new car, and Josh picked up this book. I don’t remember if he actually decided to buy it or not, but I hope he did. This is more or less an autobiographical graphic novel of 840 pages, but it flies by. It chronicles the humble beginnings of successful manga artist Hiroshi Katsumi until the death of his mentor, the illustrious Osamu Tezuka, but it reminds me very much of Josh and the stories he and Jonathan tell me about Josh’s enthusiasm for comics when they were younger. (Obviously Jonathan was pretty enthusiastic about comics, too, but this story reminds me of Josh in very specific ways.) Wonderful, but recommended more for people who are already fans of graphic novels.

Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine. Ben’s girlfriend suspects Ben of being attracted to white women and it all goes downhill from there – for Ben, not the readers. Tomine’s art is clean and the storytelling is perfectly paced and perfectly subtle. I read this early on in my exploration of comics, and it’s one of the few works I can point to specifically and say “This is why I kept reading.” I was excited to read anything and everything Adrian Tomine had ever done after I read this, so imagine my disappointment in finding that this was his first full-length graphic novel. His shorts are wonderful, of course, but not quite as stunning as Shortcomings.

The intersecting lives of two women and their families, such as they are, in Bombay.

The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar. I chose this book for my required reading for a graduate course in Education that I took (and later due to complications had to leave and receive no credit for, grr). The story seeks to parallel the lives of Sera, a Parsi widow living with her daughter and son-in-law in Bombay, and Bhima, Sera’s servant who cares for an orphaned but gifted granddaughter. However, in retrospect, it is Bhima’s story that stands out. Her struggle with her granddaughter and determination to save her from ruining her future after discovering her unwanted pregnancy dominate the story, and it is in this process that Bhima makes further shameful discoveries about her granddaughter’s private life.

Demo by Brian Wood. I almost always prefer a full-length graphic novel to a collection of stories, and this book is where that “almost” comes from. There is a magical element in each of the stories that fights against what seems to be the unifying theme in this collection: desperation. It’s the kind of black and white that’s far better off without color, which I don’t think can always be said for black and white comics. This collection is one of the most “literary” graphic novels I’ve read.