My favorites of 2011

Yikes! This year is drawing to a close way too quickly. I guess it’s time to get my year-end favorites posted. Here are my top 10 favorite reads of 2011 by category:

Ten Thousand Saints by Eleanor Henderson is my overall favorite read of 2011. From my review: “Ten Thousand Saints has been called this year’s A Visit from the Goon Squad. While both deal with some of the harsh realities of the music business, I think that Ten Thousand Saints is clearly the better book. Saints is cohesive, where Goon Squad is disjointed. More importantly, Ten Thousand Saints is a novel with heart. I loved it.”

My favorite came-from-nowhere read of 2011 is Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion by Johan Harstad. From my review: “This is an amazing first novel that rarely takes you where you think it is going to go. It’s an inventive narrative that repeatedly surprises the reader. I will read anything by Johan Harstad that is translated into English.”

Lev Grossman’s The Magician King is my favorite sequel that was in many ways better than the original. From my review: “The Magician King is an excellent novel that works on many levels. It’s an homage to classic fantasy novels, it’s top shelf social commentary, and, most importantly, it’s a ripping good story.”

My favorite non-fiction science meets art book that actually came out at the very end of 2010 is Radioactive: Marie and Pierre Curie – A Tale of Love and Fallout by Lauren Redniss. From my review: ”For a book about the work of two famed scientists, it is Redniss’s non-scientific approach to telling the story that really drives her themes home and gives the book depth, warmth, and humanity. One of the great things about this strange and wonderful book is that it firmly affirms the role of the book as a story-telling medium.”

My favorite in the why did it take so long to get around to reading this book is Chad Harbach’s The Art of Fielding. From my review: “Any book that is not only a cracking read in its own right but sets the reader off on a journey of additional reading is about as good as it gets.”

My favorite book by an author that is most likely to be asked for her ID at the bar is Téa Obreht’s debut novel The Tiger’s Wife. From my review: “Stories and fables, Obreht seems to suggest, are essential not just for understanding, but also for survival. This is a fantastic novel. Obreht is very deserving of all the pre-publication hype, and I can’t wait to see what she does next.”

The novel that was the most fun to read this year was easily Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One. From my review: ”Ready Player One is a retro-future-techno-thriller and is way more fun a read than I would have thought. If you’re the kind of person who appreciates the joke when someone says, “Answer the question, Claire” and isn’t talking to anyone named Claire, then run don’t walk to pick this one up. Dorks, dweebs, nerds, and other misfits of a certain age will also love it.”

My favorite big sprawling novel that weaves storylines of the old west and modern-day life is Jonathan Evison’s West of Here. From my review: “Like its setting, West of Here gives its characters room to spread out and breath. The epic scope is ambitious, but the skilled story teller never loses his way. Port Bonita’s transformation from a lush idyll to a strip mall anytown is heartbreaking, but the removal of its dam holds the promise of the return of the town’s former glory and new beginning for its residents.”

My favorite read about fake indians is Karen Russell’s Swamplandia! From my review: “Swamplandia! is a disarmingly charming novel that packs a big punch.”

My favorite literary mystery/antarctic thriller/art scene satire that doubles as scathing social commentary is Mat Johnson’s Pym. From my review: “Johnson’s sharp wit, ironic distancing, and gripping story help to soften the blows of what is a serious and deeply biting satire of racial conflict and self-identity in quote unquote post-racial America.”