Wednesday 21 December 2011

2011: Top 10 Books Read This Year



Okay, so this is not 2011 as such. However, I'm sure I'm not the only one who fails to read new releases predominantly. In fact my list consist of books that weren't released this year. That's right, not one. Anyway, this is what took my fancy this year. I usually get around to reading between thirty and forty books a year. The ten below were my favourites:

10. 
Author: Ryu Murakami
Title: 69
Publisher: Oxford 






9. 
Author: Hunter S. Thompson
Title: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Publisher: Random House







8. 
Author: James Frey
Title: My Friend Leonard
Publisher: Random House







7. 
Author: Kurt Vonnegut
Title: Mother Night
Publisher: Fawcett







6. 
Author: Jonathan Franzen
Title: The Corrections
Publisher: Straus & Giroux



5. 
Author: Truman Capote
Title: In Cold Blood
Publisher: Random House







4. 
Author: Jack London
Title: White Fang
Publisher: Macmillan






3.
Author: Roddy Doyle
Title: The Woman Who Walked Into Doors
Publisher: Jonathan Cape






2.
Author: James Ellroy
Title: L.A. Confidential
Publisher: The Mysterious Press







1. 
Author: Jonathan Franzen
Title: Freedom
Publisher: Straus & Giroux


So there you have it. Mr. Franzen dominated the list and deservedly so. Although many think The Corrections is his seminal novel, I strongly disagree, sighting Freedom as his magnum piece of work, thus far. He's zeroed on his strenghts that many first witnessed with The Corrections. That's not to say his earlier works aren't up to scratch, however his latest two novels in the above mentioned have really witnessed Franzen step it up and put himself amongst the finest American writers of the modern era. 

SK.

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