The Top Ten List of Fiction I’ve Read in 2011

Last year was the year of the short story with six entries either short story collections or novels made up of linked stories.  This year the novel returns with a vengeance with no short story fiction in the list at all.  This list is not a random list; it is a ranked list with #1 my number 1 choice, #2 my number 2 choice, etc. 

These are the same rules as last year.  I’m restricting the Top 10 list to books which were published since 2000 and then listing afterwards a few of the older books which I found rewarding during the year.  Like last year, I don’t think the newly published fiction should have to compete with time-tested classics.

Here is the Top Ten list.

1.  “The Old Romantic” by Louise Dean  (2010) – This novel is a wicked joy with the meanest and sharpest dialogue of the year.

 2.  “Rules of Civility” by Amor Towles  (2011) – I guarantee that this most charming of novels will make you wish you were in New York City in 1937-38.

 3.  “Room” by Emma Donoghue (2010) –  What can I say that hasn’t already been said?  A five-year old boy and his mother locked in ‘Room’.

 4.  “The Sense of an Ending” by Julian Barnes (2011) – A London schoolboy grows up and learns not to trust the life story he’s been telling himself for many years.

 5.  “Swamplandia” by Karen Russell (2011) –  A delightful story of the BigTree family and their alligator wrestling amusement park in Florida. 

 6.  “We the Animals” by Justin Torres (2011) – A dramatic family story that has a visceral impact which will leave you thinking about your own family.

 7.  “Netsuke” by Rikki DuCornet (2011) –  A novella of relentless sexual obsession from the viewpoint of the guilty party.

 8.  “The Tragedy of Arthur” by Arthur Phillips (2011) – If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then this humorous novel flatters William Shakespeare..     

 9.  “In the Garden of Beasts” by Eric Larson (2011) – Not fiction, a “novelistic history”; a story of love, terror, and a United States family in Hitler’s Berlin. 

 10.  “The Girl Who Fell From the Sky” by Heidi W. Durrow (2010)  – A compelling original coming-of-age story that takes place in both Chicago and Portland.

 

Now as promised here are some excellent novels I read in 2011 that were first published before the year 2000.

“cloudstreet” by Tim Winton (1991) – The crowd-pleasing wild story of two Australian families, the Pickles and the Lambs, who share the same house. 

 “After Claude” by Iris Owens (1973) –  Perhaps the bitchiest novel ever written about an anti-heroine named Harriet.

 “Hard Rain Falling” by Don Carpenter (1966) – A tough realistic novel about two young guys in Portland, Oregon who are outside society, outside the law.    

 “The Vet’s Daughter” by Barbara Comyns (1959) – A unique primitive novel about the veterinarian from Hell and the rest of the family.

 “The True Deceiver” by Tove Jansson (1982) – A simple menacing novel which is like a cold dark morning in Finland.

That’s all, Folks..