  Pat Buckley (left), Christopher Buckley (about four years old) and his father, William F. Buckley Jr.
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It's that time of year when we're asked to pick our top 10 films, TV shows, songs or, in my case, books. "Best" is usually understood in these lists, although it's never quite understood what we mean by "best," so let's go with favourite instead. These are the 10 that gave me the most pleasure to read in 2009, in no particular order:
Losing Mum and Pup
Christopher Buckley
OK, maybe pleasure is the wrong word here. Buckley lost both parents within 12 months -- first his mother, Pat Buckley, and then his father, William F. Buckley. Part memoir, part chronicle, this is a sometimes hard look at the difficulties of being the only child of America's most formidable conservative icon and his demanding, powerful wife.
Border Songs
Jim Lynch
Ever since 9/11 the "longest undefended border in the world" has become a bone of contention between Canada and the U.S. This funny novel looks at what happens when the American media and Homeland Security become focused on one small town straddling the divide between the neighbours.
Her Fearful Symmetry
Audrey Niffenegger
A ghost story for adults. A childless woman in London dies, leaving her apartment to her two 20-year-old "mirror twin" American nieces, whom she hasn't seen since they were young. The only stipulation is that they must live in the apartment, alone, for one year. A book about identity, destiny and how the past comes back to haunt us.
Come, Thou Tortoise
Jessica Grant
The most pleasant surprise of the year. After her father is left in a coma, a young woman goes to live with her uncle in Newfoundland, leaving her pet tortoise behind. The story is told both from the point of view of the girl and her tortoise. It's a tricky device that works beautifully in this funny, touching novel.
Galore
Michael Crummey
A man is found alive in the belly of a beached whale in a remote Newfoundland outport. He never speaks, but his presence in the village has repercussions that are felt for decades. A deep and powerfully written novel encompassing Newfoundland history and folklore.
The Boy in the Moon
Ian Brown
I've been a fan of Globe and Mail writer Ian Brown for years and followed the articles he has written about his son, Walker, who was born with a rare genetic disorder. The Boy in the Moon is the honest, heartbreaking story of a father trying to come to terms with the fact that his son, who is often in pain and can't speak, will never grow up.
Manhood For Amateurs
Michael Chabon
What does it mean to be a father? A husband? A son? Author Michael Chabon tries to answer those questions in this stirring collection of essays. While at times a bit too self-consciously "correct" he takes on a good deal of the heavy lifting for the rest of us. And the writing, as always, is excellent.
Homer and Langley
E.L. Doctorow
Homer and Langley is Doctorow's fictionalized account of the reclusive real-life Collyer brothers, who died in their Manhattan apartment in 1947 when some of the 130 tons of junk they had obsessively hoarded for decades fell on Langley, killing him, and leaving the wheelchair-bound Homer to die a few days later. A weird, interesting story.
The Bishop's Man
Linden McIntyre
Ripped from the headlines -- sort of. A priest, the church's "clean-up man" when scandal occurs, is sent to a remote parish near his boyhood home when it appears that media attention may be headed his way. There his own past starts to catch up with him. The Scotiabank Giller Prize-winner for 2009.
The Greatest Show on Earth
Richard Dawkins
Dawkins gives up God-bashing in favour of pure, and easy to understand, science in this Darwin-for-Dummies. Anyone who is interested in what evolution "really" means, and in its myriad scientific proofs, should read this book.
