Not coincidentally, the “best book” list season and the holiday shopping have begun. The editors and reviewers of New York Times, Publishers Weekly and Amazon have had it out and have come up with their lists of best books of 2011 for your gift giving or personal reading pleasure. Every December we poll the staff at Halifax Public Libraries for their favourites of the year – so keep an eye out for that one – there are always surprises on the list. We’d love to hear from YOU as well. What was your favourite book published in 2011? We’d love to do a 2011 Halifax Reader Readers’ Picks.
Here’s a small sampling of the best of the best for 2011.
Included in the New York Times Holiday Gift Guide is their 100 Notable Books of 2011.
The Angel Esmeralda (M)
by Don Delillo
The London Train (M)
by Tessa Hadley
Swamplandia (M)
by Karen Russell
Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness (M)
by Alexandra Fuller
Pauline Kael: a life in the dark (M)
by Brian Kellow
Publishers Weekly:
Marriage Plot (M)
by Jeffrey Eugenides
Devil All the Time (M)
by Donald Ray Pollock
State of Wonder (M)
by Ann Patchett
Bossypants (M)
by Tina Fey
Catherine the Great: portrait of a woman (M)
by Robert K. Massie
Amazon:
The Art of Fielding (M)
by Chad Harbach
1Q84 (M)
by Haruki Murakami
What It Is Like to Go to War (M)
by Karl Marlantes
In the Garden of Beasts: love, terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin (M)
by Erik Larsen
Daughter of Smoke and Bone (M)
by Laini Taylor

Source: http://www.thereader.ca/2011/11/best-books-for-2011-lists-so-far.html