I read a lot of books this year. 147 books to be precise (unless I read another book today making it 148, but that seems unlikely).

I found several new series that I quite enjoyed:
The comic NYX, is a slightly older series that tells the story of three teens who are trying to deal with their mutant status.

Another comic I enjoyed was Madame Xanadu.

Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson series was made into a comic with Mercy Thompson: Homecoming. It tells how Mercy came to the tri-city area.

Tempest Rising by Nicole Peeler is a supernatural fantasy that is quite different from others out there, as the creatures are more out of folklore than horror.

I also stumbled upon Soulless by Gail Carriger, which is a Victorian fantasy with vampires and werewolves. I love Victorian settings.

Rob Thurman started a new series (at least I hope it’s a new series) with Trick of the Light. I love Trickster characters, so she was going to have to work to not make me like this book. She also had a new book in the Cal Leandros series out, Deathwish.

Faith Hunter’s Skinwalker series was a nice surprise, although I was less enamored with her Rogue Mage series.

If you have not read Sergi Lukyanenko Night Watch series, this is a good time to go back and do so, as Last Watch just came out in English.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines–a nice twist on fairy tale characters. Not quite as good as Fables, which also has a new volume out, with The Dark Ages but both are very good.

Several good anthologies came out in 2009 as well. Mean Streets was one of my favorites, with stories by Jim Butcher, Simon R. Green, Kat Richardson, and Thomas E. Sniegoski. With the exception of Laurell K Hamilton’s story (which I didn’t bother to read), Never After was another good anthology, with stories that are twists on the happily ever after theme. The anthology Strange Brew has stories by some of my favorite authors, including Jim Butcher, Patricia Briggs, and PN Elrod. One of the things I love about good anthologies is they introduce me to new authors, and this series gave me Faith Hunter and her character jane Yellowrock.

Of course I read far more books than these, and lots of books that had been published in previous years, but these are my highlights of 2009.

Check ’em out!