So If She's a Duchess, Is He a Dutch?

Today at the end of my last class, I'm running through a quick character intro before my freshmen start Romeo and Juliet. We've just started on the Montagues, and I say, "Okay, so Lord Montague is the head of the house of Montague. And if we call him Lord Montague, what do you think we would call his wife?"

A boy in the back raises his hand tentatively. "Lordess?" he asks.

Oh, my huggable freshmen.

Best Books of 2009

So I know it's now 2010, but I've finally gotten around to reviewing my 2009 reads on Goodreads (all 85 of them -- not the 100 I was aiming for, but that's what the new year is for, right?), and I'm ready to post my best of 2009 book list for your reading pleasure!

(In a way, it's kind of sad, because the majority of my best of 2009 list comes from my best of 2009, January-July, that I posed earlier this year. Either I didn't read as many great books in the second half of '09, or I spent too much time re-reading old favorites, which are sadly ineligible for this list. Oh! But now I'm thinking I need a Best of Rereads list!)

Anyway, what follows are the 10 best books I read (for the first time) in 2009:

1. World War Z by Max Brooks

2. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver (I got the ARC at an NCTE conference in November -- seriously, buy this book when it comes out, because it is amazing.)

3. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

4. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

5. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

6. Troy trilogy: Lord of the Silver Bow, Shield of Thunder, Fall of Kings by David Gemmell

7. Fade by Lisa McMann

8. Looking for Alaska by John Green

9. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

10. The Language of Bees by Laurie King

Oh, books! So wonderful!