Analyitics

Sunday, December 11, 2011

The Economist's Books of the Year (2011)

The Economist's "Books of the Year" appears beginning on page 91 of the December 10th-16th issue.

I won't go over the many non-fiction books, which are sorted into various categories such as "Politics and Current Affairs" and "Science and Technology."  However, here's the fiction list:

  • 1Q84, by Haruki Murakami
  • Other People's Money, by Justin Cartwright
  • Open City, by Teju Cole
  • The Marriage Plot, by Jeffrey Eugenides
  • Train Dreams, by Denis Johnson
  • The Tiger's Wife, by Tea Obreht
  • The Cat's Table, by Michael Ondaatje
  • The Afrika Reich, by Guy Seville
I've reviewed Open City on this blog, and 1Q84 reviews should soon be on their way.  And of course, we've talked a good bit about Michael Ondaatje.

If you're keeping track of books that appear on multiple lists, here is the score from the lists we've blogged about so far:

The Tiger's Wife (3)
1Q84 (2)
The Art of Fielding (2)

No other novels have gotten more than one mention.

What other lists are out there that you think accurately reflect 2011's crop of books?

Related posts:




4 comments:

  1. I've got no other lists yet, but I suspect that more will be coming. I'd like to see The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet on one of these lists!

    I'm intrigued by Eugenides' The Marriage Plot if only because his name pops up so much. Of course, I had heard a lot about Denis Johnson as well, only to be burned by Tree of Smoke; I doubt i'll be picking up Train Dreams.

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  2. The Thousand Autumns was published in 2010.

    I'll likely pick up Train Dreams. At least it is short, so if I am burned, it won't be a lot of time lost.

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  3. Hmmmm. Amazon told me 1000 Autumns was published in 2010. How dare the internets lie to me!

    Let me know what you think of Train Dreams. It's possible that Johnson just isn't good at the big novels. Certainly Tree of Smoke didn't fail because he wasn't a good writer - I loved reading his sentences and descriptions. I just didn't think the plot of the book was interesting or made much sense.

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  4. Or maybe your calendar is lying to you about what year it is?

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