Although it is way too early for me to proclaim many (any?) sure-fire "Best of 2011" books, I thought I'd provide a run-down of 2011 reads completed or nearly completed that may (or may not) factor in discussions six months from now. The list will only continue to grow:
2011 Releases Read
Bradford Morrow, The Diviner's Tale
Giorgio Agamben, The Sacrament of Language: The Archaeology of the Oath (non-fiction)
J.M. McDermott, Never Knew Another
Karen Russell, Swamplandia! (debut novel)
Joe Abercrombie, The Heroes
Téa Obreht, The Tiger's Wife (debut novel)
Steven Erikson, The Crippled God
R. Scott Bakker, The White-Luck Warrior
David Foster Wallace, The Pale King
Peter Beagle, Sleight of Hand (collection)
Tibor Moricz, O Peregrino (Portuguese)
Nick Mamatas, Starve Better (non-fiction)
David Albahari, Leeches
Michael Cisco, The Great Lover
Jonathan Strahan, Eclipse Four (anthology)
Roger Manley, Weird Tennessee (non-fiction)
Jeff VanderMeer, Monstrous Creatures (non-fiction)
China Miéville, Embassytown
Jeff VanderMeer and S.J. Chambers, The Steampunk Bible
Chris Adrian, The Great Night
Minister Faust, Journey to Mecha (collection)
Inky Johnson, Inky: An Amazing Story of Faith and Perseverance (non-fiction)
2011 Releases Currently in Progress
S.J. Watson, Before I Go to Sleep
David Anthony Durham, The Sacred Band
Lila Azam Zanganeh, The Enchanter: Nabokov and Happiness (non-fiction)
Drew Magary, The Postmortal (debut novel)
Catherynne M. Valente, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairland in a Ship of Her Own Making (revised book form; YA)
Jonathan Wood, No Hero (debut novel)
Blake Butler, There is No Year
Twenty-two books completed and another seven that will either be finished by month's end or early July that are 2011 releases. Not too bad, although I suspect the number of books in various categories will increase once I swing my focus more toward surveying current releases like I typically do the second half of the year. Now I suppose some people might like a provisional "top 10" list or so of these books, so here's a little something that will not be placed in order as such:
Current Best of 2011 Contenders
Téa Obreht, The Tiger's Wife
David Albahari, Leeches
Michael Cisco, The Great Lover
David Foster Wallace, The Pale King
Bradford Morrow, The Diviner's Tale
Lila Azam Zanganeh, The Enchanter: Nabokov and Happiness
S.J. Watson, Before I Go to Sleep
R. Scott Bakker, The White-Luck Warrior
David Anthony Durham, The Sacred Band
Karen Russell, Swamplandia!
Again, opinions are likely to change. Oh, and I should note that when I cover anthologies in December, I'll be leaving out two reprint anthologies that I'm most excited about, September/October's ODD? and October's Weird, because those will include translations that I have done. Otherwise, I'd be very confident about those books appearing there. Oh, and there's some "dance" I'm supposed to read about in July, not to mention these few:
Lev Grossman, The Magician King (review copy arriving shortly)
David Lodge, A Man of Parts: A Novel of H.G. Wells (review copy arriving shortly)
Ben Loory, Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day (collection; review copy arriving shortly)
Ann and Jeff VanderMeer (eds.), The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities (arriving in July)
Any of these you curious to learn more about?
2011 Releases Read
Bradford Morrow, The Diviner's Tale
Giorgio Agamben, The Sacrament of Language: The Archaeology of the Oath (non-fiction)
J.M. McDermott, Never Knew Another
Karen Russell, Swamplandia! (debut novel)
Joe Abercrombie, The Heroes
Téa Obreht, The Tiger's Wife (debut novel)
Steven Erikson, The Crippled God
R. Scott Bakker, The White-Luck Warrior
David Foster Wallace, The Pale King
Peter Beagle, Sleight of Hand (collection)
Tibor Moricz, O Peregrino (Portuguese)
Nick Mamatas, Starve Better (non-fiction)
David Albahari, Leeches
Michael Cisco, The Great Lover
Jonathan Strahan, Eclipse Four (anthology)
Roger Manley, Weird Tennessee (non-fiction)
Jeff VanderMeer, Monstrous Creatures (non-fiction)
China Miéville, Embassytown
Jeff VanderMeer and S.J. Chambers, The Steampunk Bible
Chris Adrian, The Great Night
Minister Faust, Journey to Mecha (collection)
Inky Johnson, Inky: An Amazing Story of Faith and Perseverance (non-fiction)
2011 Releases Currently in Progress
S.J. Watson, Before I Go to Sleep
David Anthony Durham, The Sacred Band
Lila Azam Zanganeh, The Enchanter: Nabokov and Happiness (non-fiction)
Drew Magary, The Postmortal (debut novel)
Catherynne M. Valente, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairland in a Ship of Her Own Making (revised book form; YA)
Jonathan Wood, No Hero (debut novel)
Blake Butler, There is No Year
Twenty-two books completed and another seven that will either be finished by month's end or early July that are 2011 releases. Not too bad, although I suspect the number of books in various categories will increase once I swing my focus more toward surveying current releases like I typically do the second half of the year. Now I suppose some people might like a provisional "top 10" list or so of these books, so here's a little something that will not be placed in order as such:
Current Best of 2011 Contenders
Téa Obreht, The Tiger's Wife
David Albahari, Leeches
Michael Cisco, The Great Lover
David Foster Wallace, The Pale King
Bradford Morrow, The Diviner's Tale
Lila Azam Zanganeh, The Enchanter: Nabokov and Happiness
S.J. Watson, Before I Go to Sleep
R. Scott Bakker, The White-Luck Warrior
David Anthony Durham, The Sacred Band
Karen Russell, Swamplandia!
Again, opinions are likely to change. Oh, and I should note that when I cover anthologies in December, I'll be leaving out two reprint anthologies that I'm most excited about, September/October's ODD? and October's Weird, because those will include translations that I have done. Otherwise, I'd be very confident about those books appearing there. Oh, and there's some "dance" I'm supposed to read about in July, not to mention these few:
Lev Grossman, The Magician King (review copy arriving shortly)
David Lodge, A Man of Parts: A Novel of H.G. Wells (review copy arriving shortly)
Ben Loory, Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day (collection; review copy arriving shortly)
Ann and Jeff VanderMeer (eds.), The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities (arriving in July)
Any of these you curious to learn more about?
Posts
2 comments:
Thanks for the list. I would like to see your review of Albahiri's Leeches.
Hard to believe it's a debut novel, SJ Watson's Before I Go to Sleep has garnered star reviewed from Kirkus and Booklist and was in development to be adapted into a movie before the book was even released. And though I've read some excellent books this year, I haven't come across a novel that would appeal to so many readers. This book has all the makings of an absolute block buster.
Post a Comment