Booklist 2011 – Suggestions Sought

Matthew Books, Projects

In 2005 I asked readers of defective yeti to pick a year’s worth of books for me. They did, and I wound up reading some of the best literature of my life. I still harken back to the comments that entry when I am in need of a novel to devour.

I haven’t been reading as much in recent years, but for some reason signed on to the 2011 Tournament of Books, becoming a judge for the first time ever. And to that end, I spent January reading my assigned tomes: Model Home by Eric Puchner and Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart. (The details and brackets of the 2011 ToB were anounced today. check them out.)

From there I moved on to the Uglies quadrilogy, a teen sci-fi series that was recommended by a dear friend. Fun! But these novels each take like a day to complete, and I need to have something lined up if I want to maintain my momentum.

And anyway, reading a score of recommended books is a 2011 Project of mine. So I again turn my lonely eyes to you, Internet. Below are the books I have already selected; please aid me in rounding out the list to an even 20.

The Current List

Candidates

Recommendations From Comments & Email

Please make recommendations in the comments; I will keep the above list updated as more are suggested. Please second those Candidates that you feel ought to be promoted to the main list (or steer me away from those that you feel I best avoid).

If you want to triangulate your suggestions a bit, I’ll tell you that my favorite books from 2010 were: We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families (so good!), Little Bee, Zeitoun, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo SHUT UP I LIKED IT.

I’ll review each and every Booklist 2011 novel here on my site. That’s a defective yeti promise. Which means a promise likely to be broken. But I’ll try.

87 thoughts to “Booklist 2011 – Suggestions Sought”

  3. This is also a ToB book, but still: I didn’t think I would love the switching-around perspectives of A Visit from the Goon Squad, but it was a fantastic read. It goes from future to past, narratives are drawn out years ahead in just a sentence, and there’s even a chapter written in Powerpoint slides that’s compelling instead of being obnoxious.

    The Metropolis Case was great — it’s science fiction-y, primarily about opera, and somehow makes that make sense.

  4. Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross. And if you do audiobooks, then I especially recommend you do Kraken as audio; it makes it doubly fantastic.

    I couldn’t get past the prologue of Child 44. It’s such an orgy of miserabilism that Smith burned through all the goodwill I extend toward an unfamiliar author.

  5. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart was in the 2009 ToB, so you may have already read it. It’s my go-to recommendation because I loved it so much.

  6. I loved both Bonk and Kraken, and if you liked The Wire, you’ll like Simon’s Homicide book.

    One of my favorite books ever is A Soldier of the Great War, by Mark Helprin, the writing is just breathtaking.

    I also liked Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and definitely won’t be seeing the movie. The Swedish movie uncomplicated it too much, I’m sure us ugly American’s will take that even farther.

    Did you read Time Traveler’s Wife? It’s also very good.

  7. Oh, and the epilogue of the 3rd GIRL WITH … book is a great epilogue, and I almost recommend reading the rest of the series just for that one chapter.

  8. Neil Gaiman, American Gods. Terry Pratchett, The Hogfather. Alan Moore, The Watchmen. Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion. Rudyard Kipling, Kim. Berkley Breathed, Flawed Dogs. Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail. Cory Doctorow, For The Win.

  9. (non-fiction) Michael Pollan – The Omnivore’s Dilemma
    (non-fiction) Neil Ferguson – The Ascent of Money
    (graphic novel) Tim Eldred – Grease Monkey
    (fiction) Eric Garcia – Cassandra French’s Finishing School

  10. I’ll strongly urge you to move COLUMBINE out of the candidate list… I found it riveting, sickening, uplifting & compelling.

    For a couple of off-beat fiction choices, I’d recommend:

    – THE MYSTERIOUS BENEDICT SOCIETY by Trenton Lee Stewart (which also has two sequels)… these are odd YA novels with their own rhythm & style – the characters are delightful and the adventures are actually adventurous. Both my son & I love them.

    – AURALIA’S COLORS by Jeffrey Overstreet (which is the first book in a four book series… the next two, CYNDERE’S MIDNIGHT and RAVEN’S LADDER, are available now. The last book, THE ALE BOY’S FEAST, will be released later this spring.) This is a wonderous fantasy world whose plot threads weave together from book to book while exploring the nature of belief, the heart of the artist, the true meaning of love and lots of other stuff. I was completely captivated by them and look forward to reading the final book in the coming months.

    And for your non-fiction “enjoyment”, I’d suggest ENDGAME, 1945: THE MISSING FINAL CHAPTER OF WORLD WAR 2. The author, David Stafford, follows 9 different people through the aftermath of the war in Europe – their stories are fascinating.

  15. You should read NOTHING TO ENVY about North Korea, which I am currently reading. It’s sometimes hard to remember that the subject matter is real, because parts of it read like distopian fiction.

  16. “The Black Hole War” by Leonard Susskind.

    An easy read. But at the end, you’ll come to the conclusion that all those other books you’ve read were a waste of time.

  18. I liked Dragon Tattoo too, much to my chagrin.

    How about: The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman
    Far Arden by Kevin Cannon (graphic novel)
    In the Woods by Tana French (suspenseful like Dragon Tattoo, but the writing’s much better)

  19. This is great! I’m always looking for book recommendations. Consider this post bookmarked.

    My Three Favorite Books:
    – “Peace Like a River” by Leif Enger
    – “Gilead” by Marilynne Robinson
    – “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak

    Also, if you like weird “young adult” trilogies? “The Hunger Games.”

  20. Yeah, the Girl with the dragon tattoo series was ridiculously readable (especially surprising at that length). I’d recommend the Hundred thousand kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin — it was unusual fantasy (different from most of the genre themes) and the sequel was equally awesome. Also great were Graceling & Fire by Kristin Cashore, City of Bones (and rest of trilogy) by Cassandra Clare, and (if you don’t mind reading kid’s books) The lightning thief and sequels by Rick Riordan. Oh, and if you haven’t read Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff, you should.

    In a non-fantasy recommendation, The Spellman files by Lisa Lutz was great, but the 2nd and 3rd books are even better.

    These books are all more short attention span books, the sort you can read in one obsessed weekend.

    I found The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart to be disappointing — not as cool as it could have been.

  21. I’d move The Manual of Detection onto the main list in a heartbeat, given the choice. I didn’t expect much going in, and I was pleasantly surprised to find a surreal little page-turner. Like Dickens if Dickens had recently read Murakami and said “Hey, that seems like fun.”

  22. “The Power of One” is not worth reading. I’d recommend “The Time Traveller’s Wife”, or “The Erotic Potential of My Wife” if you want something quick and easy.

  24. I love everything by Jonathan Tropper. This Is Where I Leave You is one of my favorites. I also love Richard Russo. That Old Cape Magic or some of his older stuff like The Risk Pool or Empire Falls. Cathedral of the Sea by Falcones is great. The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant is fantastic.

  25. If you’re considering non-fiction, how about “Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10”. I was fascinated by it! the “Time Traveler’s Wife” is also good and I loved “The Hunger Games” series.

  26. “Skippy Dies” by Paul Murray

    (I really want to read Columbine, but I’ve sworn on pain of death and divorce to read Lonesome Dove before anything else on my list.)

  27. What is Friendless saying about marriage?
    “The Erotic Potential of My Wife” if you want something quick and easy.

    Anyway, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations by David Landes is good.
    Also, The Great Influenza, by John Barry.
    Anything by Barbara Tuchman.

  28. I highly recommend the HUNGER GAMES trilogy by Suzanne Collins. I read them over Christmas and couldn’t put them down.

    I also really enjoyed Steig Larsson’s THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO/WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE/WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST. Absolutely loved them, flaws and all.

    And I just finished reading THE HANGMAN’S DAUGHTER by Oliver Potszch. Found it really interesting…though I’m not sure I would say it has to go on to the first list.

    Oh, also. I’ve become a pretty big fan of Lee Goldberg’s fiction. Goldberg writes for Monk and his novels are hilarious, shocking, and generally entertaining. I recommend starting with MY GUN HAS BULLETS.

  32. Hey, thanks for promoting my book (Columbine). I’m eager to hear what you think. And thanks for the big nudge, Mark.

    It’s pretty great company.

    I’d recommend Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman, The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore, by Ben Hale, and The Architect of Flowers by William Lychack (it doesn’t come out till next month, but you’ll have time. I’m reading an ARC, and it’s really something.)

    And if you’ve never gotten to Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson, you have a treat ahead. Somehow I love that book more every year.

    And Homesick by my mentor Lucia Berlin is and always will be priceless.

  33. Thirds on Homicide. Thirds on Never Let Me Go.

    With your interest in crime fiction and general braininess, you may like either Remainder by Tom McCarthy or The Restraint of Beasts by Magnus Mills. The first is about a man who loses his memory in an accident while getting a great deal of money in a settlement, and spends his time trying to recreate scenarios. The second is about an anxious manager and a pair of mooks who work digging fences, and keep killing people by mistake. And what the hell, I’ll throw in a third: Cocaine Nights by J.G. Ballard, about a British resort town on the Spanish coast where a man goes to clear his brother of a murder charge, only to discover all sorts of transgression, with the deep complicity of the whole place.

    All of this reminds me: if you haven’t read Friends of Eddie Coyle by George Higgins, you should stop updating online or tweeting or talking to anyone or going to work until you do. That will probably take about half a white-knuckle day. It’s about a middleman who sells guns to bank robbers. The first paragraph:

    Jackie Brown at twenty-six, with no expression on his face, said that he could get some guns. “I can get your pieces probably by tomorrow night. I can get you, probably, six pieces. Tomorrow night. In a week or so, maybe ten days, another dozen. I got a guy coming in with at least ten of them but I already talk to another guy about four of them and he’s, you know, expecting them. He’s got something to do. So, six tomorrow night. Another dozen in a week.”

    I shut up now.

  34. PS Child 44 is fine in the Thomas Harris vein, but kind of crappy too… overall a pleasant enough time, but I’m stunned it made the Booker shortlist.

  35. Gregory David Roberts – “Shantaram” (from around 2004)
    I can’t think of words to describe how entertaining it was to read it. It’s a fictionalized version of the life of an australian prison fugitive from the 80’s who settles in Mumbai depicting his life in the slums, involvement in local mafia, fight in Afghanistan against the russians. Not to mention his imprisonment in India, his work as an extra in Bollywood movies, passport forgerer, etc.
    I think it is incredibly antertaining and well written. I will forever be indebted to my sister for giving me this book.

  36. “Room: A Novel,” by Emma Donoghue — my favorite novel last year. A completely unexpected book, unlike any other novel I’ve read.

    Amazon.com Review, Amazon Best of the Month, September 2010: In many ways, Jack is a typical 5-year-old. He likes to read books, watch TV, and play games with his Ma. But Jack is different in a big way–he has lived his entire life in a single room, sharing the tiny space with only his mother and an unnerving nighttime visitor known as Old Nick. For Jack, Room is the only world he knows, but for Ma, it is a prison in which she has tried to craft a normal life for her son. When their insular world suddenly expands beyond the confines of their four walls, the consequences are piercing and extraordinary. Despite its profoundly disturbing premise, Emma Donoghue’s Room is rife with moments of hope and beauty, and the dogged determination to live, even in the most desolate circumstances. A stunning and original novel of survival in captivity, readers who enter Room will leave staggered, as though, like Jack, they are seeing the world for the very first time. –Lynette Mong

  37. I donbt really want to addanother book, but could you please write short reviews of your favorite books from last year?

  39. I second The Power of One. It’s one of those epic, triumphant, growing-up books. I would say it’s in my top 10 favorite books with The Seas by Samantha Hunt, LA Confidential and several Neil Gaiman books.

    Of the books you listed as your favorites from 2010, I have only read Dragon Tattoo. I felt it was a little transparent, but still an enjoyable read. We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a book that seems to pop up on every list recommended for me, if that tells you anything about my tastes.

  43. Oh I very much second “Gilead” and “Goon Squad” — they’re fantastically different, too, which will make for a rich juxtaposition.

  44. Skip “The Vegetarian Myth”. It may have some interesting points, but it is short on verified information and long on “facts” cherry-picked from unreliable sources just because they support the author’s own opinions.

  45. Matt,

    Read Tom Bissell’s EXTRA LIVES: video games and why they matter. Interesting book about how games work as art.
    Jon

  46. (Quickly scanned through the comments to see it hasn’t been mentioned before and I don’t see it, but in case I’m mistaken, sorry for the redundancy.)

    Jasper Fforde – Shades of Grey.
    Or really, anything Jasper Fforde. His Thursday Next series (five books, soon to be six) is absolutely brilliant; Shades of Grey, the first in what will be a separate series, is very different from the Thursday Next books, and in some ways is more like ‘traditional’ scifi, but it’s… well, it’s *different*, and it’s clever, and it’s fun, and it makes you think.
    (And I also heard good things about his young-adult book The Last Dragonslayer, but haven’t read it yet.)
    Go get yourself some Fforde, and soon. You won’t regret it.

  47. I just finished Bonk. Warning: this book takes a very risque subject, and delivers it in a very clinical, dry way. While somewhat interesting, it will takes the sexy out of sex.

  48. Three from my 2010 list:
    To Say Nothing Of The Dog – by Connie Willis
    and
    Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell – by Susanna Clarke
    and
    The Yiddish Policemen’s Union – by Michael Chabon

    and I’d second The Time Traveller’s Wife as well as The Omnivore’s Dilema.

  49. I’ll second “Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea” (by Barbara Demick). I’m reading it now, and it is fascinating to get a glimpse into a truly closed world. It’s written from interviews Demick did with North Koreans who had defected to South Korea.

  50. I would definitely second Anathem by Neal Stephenson – or the whole of his Baroque cycle, if you haven’t read that. All substantial reads, and very easy to get hooked.

    If you haven’t read The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, that would be the place I would start from with Michael Chabon, although The Yiddish Policeman’s Union (as Tom suggests above) is also worth a read.

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