As I scroll through my reading from the past year, I’m having a hard time picking my favorite books. Each time I think that I’ve settled on my favorite novel or my favorite book of non-fiction or my favorite collection of short stories, I see another title that I loved. So—instead of choosing among them—I’m going to include a longer list of my favorite books from 2011. (Not all of these books were published in the last year, but they’re books that I read in the last year.)
Favorite classics worth revisiting:
The Aeneid by Virgil (newly translated by Stanley Lombardo)
Favorite young adult novels:
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork
Favorite short story collections:
Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King
You Know When the Men Are Gone by Siobhan Fallon
Favorite non-fiction books:
American Uprising by Daniel Rasmussen
Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff
Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick
Favorite novels:
An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England by Brock Clarke
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
Here’s hoping for more great books in 2012!
