Wintergirls
by Laurie Halse Anderson
★ Top 10 book of 2009 · #9 on Best Books of 2009
Lia and her best friend Cassie are locked in a dangerous contest over who can become thinnest. After Cassie dies, Lia believes her friend's restless spirit is haunting her, in a story told in stark, poetic language.
Best for: Teen and adult readers wanting an intense, poetic story about friendship and body image
Wintergirls is #9 on BookWard's Best Books of 2009, out of 42 2009 books that cleared our data bar.
What Wintergirls is about
Lia Overbrook is eighteen, and she has a history of anorexia and hurts herself in secret. Then she hears that Cassie, the friend she once shared a bitter contest of who could get thinnest, has been found dead in a motel room. Cassie phoned Lia thirty-three times the night of her death. Lia let every call go unanswered.
The news sends Lia back into counting calories and self-harm, all of it hidden from her family, while Cassie's ghost begins to follow her. Around her are a tense mother, a stepmother she finds hard to read, a young stepsister who brings real warmth, and a boy named Elijah who meets her after she visits the motel. Anderson writes in a raw, lyrical voice about grief, guilt and illness. It is a painful read, suited to older teens and adults, and it treats its subject with honesty rather than comfort.
Wintergirls on the Best Books of 2009
Wintergirls came out in 2009. Of the 42 books first published in 2009 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #9 on our Best Books of 2009 list.
Why it made the list: 349 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.7 out of 5 (15 ratings). The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
Nearby on the 2009 list
- The 4-Hour Workweek Timothy Ferriss, #7
- The Demigod Files Rick Riordan, #8
- The Lost Symbol Dan Brown, #10
- Under the Dome Stephen King, #11
See all Best Books of 2009 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 2008 Best Books of 2010.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 297 want to read it, 16 are reading it now and 36 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 4.7 out of 5 from 15 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 62 | 55% |
| Reader love | 98 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 67 | 20% |
Questions about Wintergirls
When was Wintergirls published?
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson was first published in 2009.
Was Wintergirls one of the best books of 2009?
Wintergirls is #9 on BookWard's Best Books of 2009, out of 42 2009 books that cleared our data bar. 349 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.7 out of 5 (15 ratings).
Why is Wintergirls on the Best Books of 2009 list?
349 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.7 out of 5 (15 ratings).
More of the best books of 2009
- The Last Olympian Rick Riordan, #1
- Catching Fire Suzanne Collins, #2
- The Maze Runner James Dashner, #3
- The Help Kathryn Stockett, #4
- Dork Diaries Rachel Renée Russell, #5
- I Will Teach You to Be Rich Ramit Sethi, #6
See the full Best Books of 2009, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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