list taken from goodreads.com on 7/1/09. the list on the website will change as more people vote. mine will not change.

• the time traveler's wife - audrey niffenegger
• the road - cormac mccarthy
• the kite runner - khaled hosseini
• middlesex - jeffrey eugenides
• a thousand splendid suns - khaled hosseini
• life of pi - yann martel
• harry potter and the deatly hallows - j.k. rowling
• the book thief - markus zusak
• water for elephants - sara gruen
• extremely loud and incredibly close - jonathan safran foer
• the curious incident of the dog in the night-time - mark haddon
• the secret life of bees - sue monk kidd
• atonement - ian mcewan
• harry potter and the half-blood prince - j.k. rowling
• everything is illuminated: a novel - jonathan safran foer
• american gods - neil gaiman
• twilight - stephenie meyer
• the davinci code - dan brown
• the corrections - jonathan franzen
• the glass castle: a memoir - jeannette walls
• bel canto - ann patchett
• the shadow of the wind - carlos ruiz zafón
• what is the what - dave eggers
• jonathan strange & mr nottel - susanna clarke
• the brief wondrous life of oscar wao - junot díaz