I'm not sure if I read it in 2009 or 2010, but I *loved* the Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. It's just absolutely phenomenal and I can't recommend it enough. The book is difficult to describe, but here is what the Amazon.com review says:
The Blind Assassin is a tale of two sisters, one of whom dies under ambiguous circumstances in the opening pages. The survivor, Iris Chase Griffen, initially seems a little cold-blooded about this death in the family. But as Margaret Atwood's most ambitious work unfolds--a tricky process, in fact, with several nested narratives and even an entire novel-within-a-novel--we're reminded of just how complicated the familial game of hide-and-seek can be.
It's not a new book--I believe it was published around 2000, and it won the Booker Prize that year.
For something a little newer, I read The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski in 2010. It was a very good book, but you should probably prepare yourself with a box of tissues.
ETA: Ryce, I read the Elegance of the Hedgehog this year as well and had no idea that it was a translation. I really liked it. And peanutbutter, I read Sarah's Key on an airplane. Huge mistake--I was sobbing in my seat the whole time. It was so embarrassing!
