Sam's Best of 2009 - Books and TV

[orangerful]

Best TV Show of 2009 - Community: To me, Community is the closest replacement I've found for Arrested Development. The humor comes fast and quick, there are no wasted lines, jokes range from physical humor to poking fun at society. And then there are those jokes that only work if you're a total pop culture junkie and you can catch the subtle reference to another show out there somewhere. Just brilliant. I hope they can keep it up, but either way, I will be buying this series on blu-ray as soon as it is available.

Other TV I enjoyed in 2009:
30 Rock: I think the first half of this season has been really solid, maybe better than last year.

Legend of the Seeker: My newest fandom, thank you Netflix Instant Queue & Xbox! It is the show that Sam Raimi & Co. were meant to make. I love the action, adventure, and humor. Everyone needs a little fantasy in their life and even I can't help but love the sexual tension between Richard and Kahlan. Here's hoping Season 2 finds it's footing a little better in 2010.

Dollhouse: Oh, you knew I would post this one. It's not Joss Whedon's greatest work, but it's better than most other TV shows on the air. He tried to play by FOX's rules, create a tv show that anyone could drop in and watch, but die-hard fans were bored by the Echo-of-the-Week plots. When the show was officially cancelled (something I think none of us were surprised by) suddenly the plot started to shine. Season 2 has shown us what Joss was really up to the entire time. I think the show should have just been a planned as a single season series, saving Whedon and the fans the stress. I'll probably buy Season 2 on blu-ray to complete my collection and to have these last few episodes to rewatch later.

FAVORITE BOOKS! (I'm a librarian so this list is kind of all over the place since I didn't want to make a kids book compete with an adult graphic novel)...

Favorite "Adult" books:
The Girl Who Played With Fire by Steig Larsson - Lisbeth Salander is one of my new favorite characters of all time. This is the sequel to Girl with the Dragon Tatoo and you have to read that first to understand this book, but this book was so good and you finally got to learn more about Lisbeth and, let's face it, why else would I read this series? Probably the most adult book I read all year.

The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan - The first in a three part series, where Vampires are not sparkly boytoys but blood sucking fiends!!!! Dracula 2.0!!! It takes awhile to get started but by the end you can tell that they are setting you up for some major crazy shit in the next book. Reminded me of Michael Crichton back in the day, with that mix of real life science and science fiction.

Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow - published in 2007, so it was just new to me. I read it on the recommendation from faeriesfolly and heiland_coo. Hardcore werewolf action, these aren't topless American Indian boys, they are badass gangstas...even if the entire book is written like a poem. My first experience reading a book written in that style and I really enjoyed it because Barlow made the language flow in a way that had it all work.

Favorite Graphic Novels
Stitches by David Small - I picked up this book because of all the positive reviews going around and I was not disappointed. The author/artist was best known to me as the man behind the children's book Imogene's Antlers but this is not a story for kids. Small chronicles his childhood with a very dysfunctional family. It's so messed up that he practically has an apology to his deceased mother on the last page. Great use of the medium.

The Color of the Earth by Kim Dong Hwa - this one I just picked up on a whim, it had a pretty cover. I loved every page of it. The sweet story of a girl and her mother in rural Korea. The innocence of childhood is really captured in the beautiful black and white artwork and the characters were just so real. Just gorgeous. I'm hoping I can get my hands on the other two in the series soon.

Local by Brian Wood - published in 2008, another surprising story of some random days in this one girl's life as she tries to get out into the world and make it on her own doing whatever jobs she can find.

Favorite Kid's Books
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman - published a couple years ago, I finally got around to reading this right before the summer and I really enjoyed it. It's the kind of book you can see teens in a few years saying it was the story that got them into reading.

The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets (Enola Holmes Mystery #3) by Nancy Holder - I love this series about Sherlock Holmes' younger sister, Enola. She's smart, feisty, and funny in her observations of the world around her.

Knucklehead by Jon Scieszka - An autobiography for kids by a big grown-up kid. Proving that it doesn't matter what decade you grow up in, boys will be boys, and poop jokes will always be funny. I LOL'd so much when I read this book.

Favorite Young Adult Books
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins - OMG I LOVE THE HUNGER GAMES SERIES SOOOO MUCH! Seriously, if you haven't read these books, go pick up the first one, it's like an action/adventure movie in your hands with a kick ass heroine and the tiny little love story isn't barf-worthy. Catching Fire managed to capture all of the excitement from the first book and put a new twist on it. It's safe my say my most anticipated book of 2010 will be the final installment of this trilogy.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Sara Ryan - zombies AND a love triangle. Even if I wanted to whack the main character over the head a few times, this book was hard to put down.

Reality Check by Peter Abrahams - I've never read any of his "adult" novels, but I absolutely eat up anything Abrahams writes for teens. This mystery story had enough twists and turns to keep me guessing, plus he manages to write very realistic teen characters.