Time again for lists - to-do lists for holiday preparation and lists of presents for friends and family. Books make ideal gifts in these lean times. If you have readers to buy for, look over our recommendations below of the best of the year (limited to three per genre with the usual tearing of hair and personal bias). Note that they are mostly hardcovers - check out our Recommended Reads 2008 for excellent titles probably published in paperback in 2009.

FICTION
Contemporary	Fantasy	Historical
South of Broad The Wasted Vigil Water, Stone, Heart	The Gathering Storm Lamentation Unseen Academicals	Across the Endless River The Calligrapher's Daughter Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
Horror	Literary	Mystery
Drood The Shimmer The Strain	Cutting for Stone Woman With Birthmark The Year of the Flood	The Case of the Missing Servant The Crossing Places The Redeemer
Romance	SF	Thriller
Ashes of Midnight An Echo in the Bone Highland Rebel	The Empress of Mars In the Courts of the Sun Julian Comstock	Blood Safari The Secret Speech Trust No One
NON-FICTION
Biography	Environment	General
Flannery We Two Wilderness Warrior	Earth Talk Eating Animals Hope for Animals and Their World	Bad Mother Horse Soldiers You are Here
Travel
Honeymoon in Tehran Tokyo Vice Wildflower
YOUNGER READERS
Chapter Books	Picture Books	Teens
Alvin Ho: Allergic to Camping, Hiking, and Other Natural Disasters Carolina Harmony Mudshark	Blueberry Girl The Sleepy Little Alphabet Through Endangered Eyes	Alyzon Whitestarr Book of Samuel Sorceress
Find more book gift suggestions in our many previous Holiday Columns. And if we missed some of your own favorites for 2009, please email and tell us about them.
All of us at BookLoons wish you and yours the happiest of holidays, with a healthy, joyous, prosperous and peaceful 2010 to follow!!