10 best books 2011

[roozle]

Rather than listing all of the 55 or so books I read in 2011 -- some of them quite forgettable if not downright bad -- here's the "10 best" list.  That's what I did for 2010, which had some truly wonderful things to list.

Herewith, what stands out for 2011:

1) The Brief Wonderful Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz.  This book was one I listened to in

Comments

[lillibet]

This recently turned up somewhere on my f-list:

“Once upon a time in the dead of winter in the Dakota Territory, Theodore Roosevelt took off in a makeshift boat down the Little Missouri River in pursuit of a couple of thieves who had stolen his prized rowboat. After several days on the river, he caught up and got the draw on them with his trusty Winchester, at which point they surrendered. Then Roosevelt set off in a borrowed wagon to haul the thieves cross-country to justice. They headed across the snow-covered wastes of the Badlands to the railhead at Dickinson, and Roosevelt walked the whole way, the entire 40 miles. It was an astonishing feat, what might be called a defining moment in Roosevelt’s eventful life. But what makes it especially memorable is that during that time, he managed to read all of Anna Karenina. I often think of that when I hear people say they haven’t time to read.”
― David McCullough

[lillibet]

True, dat. :)

[mzrowan]

I haven't read *any* of these! Which makes this list particularly valuable to me. ;-)

[lillibet]

I am amused that the two books from your list I wanted to add to my to-read list...are already there.

Thanks for the perspective on Oscar Wao--I've wondered what it would be like for a reader who didn't speak Spanish. That was such a rich aspect of the book for me.

Thanks!

[roozle]

I'm curious to know which ones made it onto your to-read list.

I gradually got to understand some of the Spanish from context. One of the advantages of an audio book was that it didn't allow just gliding over the passages that were heavily Spanish, which I'm sure would have been frustrating as a reader.

[lillibet]

City of Pearl and Mission Child. Oh, and the first book of Shadows of the Apt--that was entirely new to me.

I've read Oscar Wao, Un Lun Dun, The Lighthouse, and Matter. Alternate history doesn't do it for me and Greg Maguire managed to turn me right of anything to do with The Wizard of Oz, which accounts for the rest of them.

[minerva42]

Thanks!

[infinitehotel]

Un Lun Dun seems to be soft divider for a lot of Mieville fans as a lot of people I know who like the rest of his work don't enjoy that one and vice versa. I generally enjoy YA but for whatever reason, it didn't pull me in the way some of his others have.

That said, I found The Scar a hard read too, even having read Perdido Street Station which sets the tone and prepares you for his vision across the rest of the books. Probably closer to Un Lun Dun is his book Kraken which packs more urban fantasy ideas into a chapter than most writers manage in a lifetime. It's good stuff.