Nathacha Appanah, THE LAST BROTHER
Julian Barnes, THE SENSE OF AN ENDING
Teju Cole, OPEN CITY
Helen Dewitt, LIGHTNING RODS
Patrick DeWitt, THE SISTERS BROTHERS
Jeffrey Eugenides, THE MARRIAGE PLOT
Chad Harbach, THE ART OF FIELDING
Alan Hollinghurst, THE STRANGER'S CHILD
Jesmyn Ward, SALVAGE THE BONES
Haruki Murakami, 1Q84
Téa Obreht, THE TIGER'S WIFE
Michael Ondaatje, THE CAT'S TABLE
Ann Patchett, STATE OF WONDER
Donald Ray Pollock, DEVIL ALL THE TIME
Karen Russell, SWAMPLANDIA!
Kate Zambreno, GREEN GIRL
The T.o.B. is more fun and transparent than most literary awards for the following reasons:
- Inclusion of a "March Madness" style bracket pitting books against each other.
- Unabashed celebrity judge included among the authors making the decisions. This year's, Wil Wheaton, is also an author in his own right to be fair. (There's also a reader judge, should you non-famous people feel under-represented.)
- Every judge writes an essay defending her or his choice, so if you disagree, you have plenty to chew on in your disagreement. (Or you can print the essay out, ball it up and throw it into the wastebasket shouting No it's not!!! Your choice.)
- "Zombie Picks" (voted on by readers) resurrect two picks discarded by the judges in earlier rounds and give them a chance to compete for the big prize.
- Nathacha Appanah, THE LAST BROTHER
- Julian Barnes, THE SENSE OF AN ENDING
- Teju Cole, OPEN CITY
- Helen Dewitt, LIGHTNING RODS
- Patrick DeWitt, THE SISTERS BROTHERS
- Haruki Murakami, 1Q84
- Michael Ondaatje, THE CAT'S TABLE
- Ann Patchett, STATE OF WONDER
- Donald Ray Pollock, DEVIL ALL THE TIME
- Kate Zambreno, GREEN GIRL
Granted, I could probably spend all that time on 1Q84 and not read any of the rest, so let's just call this... a noble attempt. I'm kicking it off with Nathacha Appanah's THE LAST BROTHER for the highly scientific reason that it was the first to make it off the library request page and into my hands. Which one of these did you like the most?
4 comments:
My ToB record is getting worse and worse--I've read just one of these, the Ann Patchett. I liked it, and enjoyed talking about it, but it didn't stick with me in such a way that I would have thought to call it one of the best books I read in 2011.
Of all the "best of" book lists, TOB is the most fun for me. I have no idea why. I can never read them all, but last year I really tried and found some of my favorite books of the year. This year I've only read 2.66 of the books on the list, but I requested most of them from the library the day the TOB announcement came out, so hopefully I can pick up a few more before the judging begins.
Ooh! I've heard of six of those books! I think that's a new record! (For me, obviously.)
I heard Michael Ondaajte's conversation with Elaine Charles on her show 'The Book Report' about 'The Cats Table.
It's always nice to hear a bit of personal info about the author and his views and opinions and background to the book'
The Cats Table was actually the end of the ships dinner table where the least important guests got seated, furtherest away from the captain or near the kitchen even.
This book is a right of passage for a young boy and the people he gets to meet are very interesting. If you enjoy people and adventure like I do you should give this book a read.
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