The Best Spiritual Books of 2009 (So Far)

Every year from the more than 300 books we review on this website, we choose 50 "best spiritual books." These are the titles that have most impressed and inspired us, and since we only review books that we want to recommend to you for your spiritual journey, this selection actually represents the best of the best.

Our full list will be published in December, but the following books are so good, we already know they will be on the list — so there's no point, we figure, in postponing the announcement.

We have organized this list by a major theme or spiritual practice covered in the book. These headings are just to make it easier for you to find the books you might be most interested in; they are not subcategories of the awards. Through diverse approaches, drawing upon the wisdom and practices of the world's religions, these titles explore the quest for meaning and purpose, wholeness and healing, commitment and community, contemplation and social activism.

We congratulate the authors and publishers of these exceptional contributions to today's spiritual renaissance. Click on the title link to read the full review.

BEATITUDES
Claiming the Beatitudes: Nine Stories from a New Generation by Anne Sutherland Howard (The Alban Institute, paperback) explores the spiritual firepower of these passages from the Sermon on the Mount.

DEATH
Living Fully, Dying Well: Reflecting on Death to Find Your Life's Meaning by Edward W. Bastian and Tina L. Staley (Sounds True, hardcover) is a sturdy and edifying collection of interspiritual writings and practices about preparing for the end of life and beyond.

EROS
Holy Eros: Pathways to a Passionate God by James D. Whitehead and Evelyn Eaton Whitehead (Orbis Books, paperback) is a rich and compelling celebration of eros as a force field that arouses us to a zest for life.

FAITH
An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith by Barbara Brown Taylor (HarperOne, hardcover) is a field guide to spiritual practices that can lend meaning and richness to our lives.

HAPPINESS
Be Happy: Release the Power of Happiness in YOU by Robert Holden (Hay House, hardcover) is an enlightening and entertaining survey of this most elusive quality that plays such a predominant role in our lives.

HOSPITALITY
Tales of Wonder: Adventures Chasing the Divine by Huston Smith and Jeffrey Paine (HarperOne, hardcover) is the creative, inspiring, edifying, and appealing memoir of the foremost authority on the world's religions.

HISTORY
A People's History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story by Diana Butler Bass (HarperOne, hardcover) is a bold and visionary work that reframes the history of Christianity using beliefs and practices of the past to light the way into the future.

IMAGINATION
SUM: Forty Tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman (Pantheon, hardcover) consists of wildly imaginative stories about human beings and the life beyond death.

INTERFAITH
It's Really All About God: Reflections of a Muslim Atheist Jewish Christian by Samir Selmanovic (Jossey Bass/Wiley, hardcover) is an iconoclastic, prophetic, and enlightening work about the contemporary religious scene with its robust spirituality and interfaith experiments.

JOY
The Joy of Appreciative Living: Your 28-Day Plan to Happiness in 3 Incredibly Easy Steps by Jacqueline Keim (Jeremy P. Tarcher/ Penguin, paperback) presents a multidimensional program to bring joy into your life.

JUSTICE
Mirrors: Stories of Almost Everyone by Eduardo Galeano (Nation Books, hardcover) presents more than 600 vignettes about underdogs, losers, and the persecuted in the sweep of history over the past 5000 years.

MEANING
The Three Marriages: Reimagining Work, Self and Relationship by David Whyte (Riverhead Books, hardcover) offers an engaging and imaginative examination of the triumphs and tragedies of human belonging.

MINDFULNESS
Wild Chickens and Petty Tyrants: 108 Metaphors for Mindfulness by Arnie Kozak (Wisdom Publications, paperback) sheds new light on this ancient and respected spiritual practice.

PEACE
Praying For Peace Around the Globe by James McGinnis (Ligouri, paperback) contains an incisive and inspiring collection of prayers about peace and justice.

PRACTICE
Happiness: Essential Mindfulness Practices by Thich Nhat Hanh (Parallax Press, paperback) is a glorious, down-to-earth and practical book containing the key practices this Zen master has developed over the past 60 years.

RECOVERY
Recovery - The Sacred Art: The Twelve Steps as Spiritual Practice by Rami Shapiro (Skylight Paths, paperback) sxplores the teachings and practices of the world religions behind each of the Twelve Steps and the challenges involved in giving up the delusion that you are in control of your life.

REVERENCE
A Conservationist Manifesto by Scott Russell Sanders (Indiana University Press, paperback) is a beautifully written conservation ethic which embraces frugality, simplicity, beauty, community, and justice.

SILENCE
Listening Below the Noise: A Meditation on the Practice of Silence by Anne D. LeClaire (HarperColins, hardcover) salutes the ample benefits of being in silence regularly.

SPIRITUAL DIRECTION
Out of Darkness Into Light: Spiritual Guidance in the Qur'an with Reflections from Christian and Jewish Sources by Jamal Rahman, Kathleen Schmitt Elias, and Ann Holmes Redding (Morehouse Publishing, paperback) delivers a rich and illuminating look at the similarities of the three Abrahamic faiths.

SUSTAINABLE LIVING
Making the Good Life Last: Four Keys to Sustainable Living by Michael A. Schuler (Berrett-Koehler, paperback) argues for expanding our view of sustainability to include not only the environment but also economics, community, and relationships.

WEALTH
Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth by David C. Korten (Berrett-Koehler, paperback) encourages us to move beyond Wall Street to a new economic paradigm based on Main Street.

WONDER
A Book of Wonders: Daily Reflections for Awakened Living by Edward Hays (Forest of Peace, paperback) is an imaginative, eclectic, and deeply spiritual primer on living a wonder-filled life every day of the year.

YOU
Ubuntu: I in You and You in Me by Michael Battle (Seabury Books, paperback) presents a solid and substantial overview of the African concept of personhood, cooperative living, and communal solidarity.