1. Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern – Best Book of 2011
- Zoo City – Lauren Beukes
- A Discovery of Witches – Deborah Harkness
- The Year of the Flood – Margaret Atwood
- Dirt Music – Tim Winton
- River of Smoke – Amitav Ghosh
- The Lonely Polygamist – Brady Udall
- Rancid Pansies – James Hamilton Patterson
- Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand – Helen Simonson
- The Last Resort – Douglas Rogers
Choosing only ten books for the past year’s Best Reads is difficult. Do you only include the books that kept you feverishly turning the pages into the early hours?
Do you put in the books that you absolutely loved, and wanted to read all over again, the moment you reached those words THE END ?
Do you confine yourself to novels and exclude the non-fiction? My number 10 is non-fiction, although it was a difficult, uncomfortable book to read.
Do you include the magical fantasies that paint dark pictures of dystopian societies, future times, other worlds?
Do you include the historical novels that carry you back through the centuries?
Do you put in the stories that made you laugh – or cry – uninhibitedly?
The answer to all of the above is YES, you do.
As you can see, I had a rich and varied year of reading in 2011. I hope yours was a good a reading year as mine was, and I wish all of you a 2012 crammed full of more fabulous books! Read on, and enjoy.
despatchesfromtimbuktu 