Best Books of 2011 Year-End Honors by Book Best Books of 2011 Honors by Book - Fiction Ranking (updated mar 1 2012) Best Books of 2011 Honors by Book - Nonfiction Ranking (updated nov 30 2011) 04/16/2012: 2012 Pulitzer Prize Finalists for Fiction 03/01/2012: ALA Notable Books for Fiction 2012 02/21/2012: 2012 PEN/Faulkner Award Finalists 01/21/2012: 2011 National Book Critics Circle Award Finalists for Fiction 12/18/2011: New Yorker Favorite Books From 2011 12/07/2011: Economist Books of the Year 12/07/2011: TIME Magazine Top 10 Fiction Books of 2011 11/30/2011: New York Times 10 Best Books of 2011 Fiction | Nonfiction 11/21/2011: New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2011 11/17/2011: Library Journal Best Books 2011: The Top Ten 11/08/2011: Amazon Top 10 Literature & Fiction of 2011 | Best Books of 2011 11/07/2011: Publisher's Weekly BestBooks of 2011 10/18/2011: The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes wins the 2011 Man Booker Prize 10/12/2011: 2011 National Book Award Finalists for Fiction | Nonfiction 09/06/2011: 2011 Man Booker Prize Shortlist Top 5 Fiction The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht Available March 8, 2011 331 reviews (352p) (Amazon Top100 finalist) (PW Fiction finalist) (Amazon Top10Lit finalist) (LJ Top10 finalist) (MK Top finalist) (NYT100 finalist) (B&N Fiction finalist) (Hudson Fiction finalist) (NYT Top10 finalist) (Econ finalist) (NBA finalist) (NYTimes Best of 2010) (Amazon Best of 2010) (ALA Best of 2010) Author: TotNom=1 UnqBooks=1 PPNom=0 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=0 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides Available October 11, 2011 313 reviews (496p) (Amazon Top100 finalist) (PW Top10 finalist) (Amazon Top10Lit finalist) (LJ More Best finalist) (NYT100 finalist) (Kirkus Top25 finalist) (B&N Fiction finalist) (Econ finalist) (NPR finalist) (NBCCA finalist) (Amazon Best of 2010) Author: TotNom=3 UnqBooks=2 PPNom=1 PPWin=1 NBCCANom=2 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami Available October 25, 2011 370 reviews (928p) (Amazon Top100 finalist) (Amazon Top10Lit finalist) (LJ Top10 finalist) (NYT100 finalist) (Kirkus Top25 finalist) (B&N Fiction finalist) (WP Top10 finalist) (Econ finalist) (Amazon Best of 2010) Author: TotNom=0 UnqBooks=0 PPNom=0 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=0 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach Available September 7, 2011 364 reviews (528p) (Amazon Top100 finalist) (Amazon Top10Lit finalist) (MK Top finalist) (NYT100 finalist) (B&N Fiction finalist) (NYT Top10 finalist) (New Yorker finalist) (NPR finalist) (NYTimes Best of 2010) (Amazon Best of 2010) (ALA Best of 2010) Author: TotNom=0 UnqBooks=0 PPNom=0 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=0 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page OPEN CITY by Teju Cole Available February 8, 2011 53 reviews (p) (NYT100 finalist) (Kirkus Top25 finalist) (Time Top10 finalist) (Econ finalist) (New Yorker finalist) (NPR finalist) (NBCCA finalist) (TIME Best of 2010) Author: TotNom=1 UnqBooks=1 PPNom=0 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=1 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page Top 5 Nonfiction 1 Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie Available November 8, 2011 211 reviews (p) (Amazon Top100 finalist) (PW Top10 finalist) (NYT100 finalist) (B&N Nonfiction finalist) Author: TotNom=0 UnqBooks=0 PPNom=0 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=0 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page 2 The Swerve by Stephen Greenblatt Available September 26, 2011 88 reviews (356p) (Amazon Top100 finalist) (PW Nonfiction finalist) (NYT100 finalist) (B&N Nonfiction finalist) (Hudson Non finalist) (PP Non winner) (NBA Non winner) (ALA Non finalist) Author: TotNom=0 UnqBooks=0 PPNom=0 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=0 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page 3 Malcolm X by Manning Marable Available April 4, 2011 94 reviews (608p) (Amazon Top100 finalist) (PW Nonfiction finalist) (NYT100 finalist) (B&N Nonfiction finalist) (NYT Top10 finalist) (PP Bio finalist) (PP His winner) (NBCCA Bio finalist) (NBA Non finalist) (NYTimes Non finalist) (ALA Non finalist) Author: TotNom=0 UnqBooks=0 PPNom=0 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=0 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page 4 Bossypants by Tina Fey Available April 5, 2011 820 reviews (p) (Amazon Top100 finalist) (PW Top10 finalist) (LJ More Best finalist) (Hudson Non finalist) Author: TotNom=0 UnqBooks=0 PPNom=0 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=0 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page 5 In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson Available May 10, 2011 710 reviews (p) (Amazon Top100 finalist) (PW Nonfiction finalist) (NYT100 finalist) (B&N Nonfiction finalist) (Hudson Non finalist) Author: TotNom=0 UnqBooks=0 PPNom=0 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=0 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page Other Notable Fiction Binocular Vision by Edith Pearlman Available January 1, 2011 20 reviews (392p) (NBCCA winner) (NBA finalist) (LATimes finalist) Author: TotNom=2 UnqBooks=1 PPNom=0 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=1 NBCCAWin=1 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page The Empty Family: Stories by Colm Tóibín Available January 4, 2011 24 reviews (288p) (Amazon Top100 finalist) (LJ Top10 finalist) Author: TotNom=2 UnqBooks=2 PPNom=0 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=0 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page Swamplandia! by Karen Russell Available February 1, 2011 224 reviews (336p) (Amazon Top100 finalist) (NYT100 finalist) (NYT Top10 finalist) (NPR finalist) (PP finalist) (NYTimes Best of 2010) (ALA Best of 2010) Author: TotNom=1 UnqBooks=1 PPNom=1 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=0 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page West of Here by Jonathan Evison Available February 15, 2011 90 reviews (496p) (Amazon Top100 finalist) (Hudson Fiction finalist) Author: TotNom=0 UnqBooks=0 PPNom=0 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=0 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page The Pale King by David Foster Wallace Available April 15, 2011 51 reviews (560p) (LJ More Best finalist) (MK Top finalist) (NYT100 finalist) (Time Top10 finalist) (NPR finalist) (PP finalist) (TIME Best of 2010) Author: TotNom=1 UnqBooks=1 PPNom=1 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=0 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page The Tragedy of Arthur by Arthur Phillips Available April 19, 2011 68 reviews (384p) (LJ Top10 finalist) (NYT100 finalist) (Kirkus Top25 finalist) (B&N Fiction finalist) (Hudson Fiction finalist) (Amazon Top100 finalist) (New Yorker finalist) (ALA Best of 2010) Author: TotNom=0 UnqBooks=0 PPNom=0 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=0 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt Available April 26, 2011 144 reviews (336p) (Amazon Top100 finalist) (PW Fiction finalist) (Amazon Top10Lit finalist) (Hudson Fiction finalist) (Booker finalist) (Amazon Best of 2010) (ALA Best of 2010) Author: TotNom=1 UnqBooks=1 PPNom=0 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=0 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page Ten Thousand Saints: A Novel by Eleanor Henderson Available June 7, 2011 50 reviews (p) (Amazon Top100 finalist) (NYT100 finalist) (NYT Top10 finalist) (New Yorker finalist) (NYTimes Best of 2010) Author: TotNom=0 UnqBooks=0 PPNom=0 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=0 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page State of Wonder by Ann Patchett Available June 7, 2011 484 reviews (368p) (Amazon Top100 finalist) (PW Top10 finalist) (Kirkus Top25 finalist) (B&N Fiction finalist) (Time Top10 finalist) (WP Top10 finalist) (NPR finalist) (TIME Best of 2010) Author: TotNom=2 UnqBooks=1 PPNom=0 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=1 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock Available July 12, 2011 114 reviews (272p) (Amazon Top100 finalist) (PW Top10 finalist) Author: TotNom=0 UnqBooks=0 PPNom=0 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=0 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes Available August 2, 2011 283 reviews (160p) (Amazon Top100 finalist) (NYT100 finalist) (Kirkus Top25 finalist) (New Yorker finalist) (Booker winner) (ALA Best of 2010) Author: TotNom=4 UnqBooks=4 PPNom=0 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=0 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson Available August 9, 2011 65 reviews (320p) (Amazon Top100 finalist) (B&N Fiction finalist) (Time Top10 finalist) (TIME Best of 2010) Author: TotNom=0 UnqBooks=0 PPNom=0 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=0 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page The Submission: A Novel by Amy Waldman Available August 16, 2011 78 reviews (p) (Amazon Top100 finalist) (NYT100 finalist) (Kirkus Top25 finalist) (B&N Fiction finalist) (NPR finalist) Author: TotNom=0 UnqBooks=0 PPNom=0 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=0 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka Available August 23, 2011 154 reviews (144p) (Amazon Top100 finalist) (LJ Top10 finalist) (NYT100 finalist) (B&N Fiction finalist) (NBA finalist) (PF winner) (LATimes finalist) Author: TotNom=2 UnqBooks=1 PPNom=0 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=0 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta Available August 30, 2011 161 reviews (p) (Amazon Top100 finalist) (NYT100 finalist) (Kirkus Top25 finalist) (NPR finalist) Author: TotNom=0 UnqBooks=0 PPNom=0 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=0 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page Train Dreams by Denis Johnson Available August 30, 2011 31 reviews (128p) (PW Fiction finalist) (NYT100 finalist) (Econ finalist) (New Yorker finalist) (NPR finalist) (PP finalist) Author: TotNom=4 UnqBooks=3 PPNom=2 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=0 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern Available September 13, 2011 981 reviews (400p) (Amazon Top100 finalist) (PW Fiction finalist) (Amazon Top10Lit finalist) (LJ More Best finalist) (B&N Fiction finalist) (Amazon Best of 2010) Author: TotNom=0 UnqBooks=0 PPNom=0 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=0 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page Lost Memory of Skin by Russell Banks Available September 27, 2011 59 reviews (432p) (Amazon Top100 finalist) (Amazon Top10Lit finalist) (NYT100 finalist) (New Yorker finalist) (PF finalist) (Amazon Best of 2010) (ALA Best of 2010) Author: TotNom=6 UnqBooks=4 PPNom=2 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=1 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page Chango's Beads and Two-Tone Shoes by William Kennedy Available September 29, 2011 16 reviews (304p) (PW Fiction finalist) (NYT100 finalist) Author: TotNom=5 UnqBooks=2 PPNom=1 PPWin=1 NBCCANom=2 NBCCAWin=1 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje Available October 4, 2011 113 reviews (288p) (Amazon Top100 finalist) (Amazon Top10Lit finalist) (NYT100 finalist) (B&N Fiction finalist) (Econ finalist) (LATimes finalist) (Amazon Best of 2010) (ALA Best of 2010) Author: TotNom=1 UnqBooks=1 PPNom=0 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=0 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page Cain by Jose Saramago Available October 4, 2011 40 reviews (176p) (Amazon Top100 finalist) (PW Fiction finalist) (B&N Fiction finalist) Author: TotNom=0 UnqBooks=0 PPNom=0 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=0 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst Available October 11, 2011 76 reviews (448p) (PW Fiction finalist) (NYT100 finalist) (New Yorker finalist) (NBCCA finalist) Author: TotNom=4 UnqBooks=3 PPNom=0 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=2 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page Zone One by Colson Whitehead Available October 18, 2011 195 reviews (240p) (LJ More Best finalist) (B&N Fiction finalist) Author: TotNom=3 UnqBooks=2 PPNom=1 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=1 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page 11/22/63: A Novel by Stephen King Available November 8, 2011 1719 reviews (p) (Amazon Top100 finalist) (NYT100 finalist) (Kirkus Top25 finalist) (B&N Fiction finalist) (NYT Top10 finalist) (NYTimes Best of 2010) Author: TotNom=0 UnqBooks=0 PPNom=0 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=0 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page The Angel Esmeralda by Don DeLillo Available November 15, 2011 19 reviews (224p) (MK Top finalist) (NYT100 finalist) (New Yorker finalist) (PF finalist) Author: TotNom=10 UnqBooks=5 PPNom=2 PPWin=0 NBCCANom=3 NBCCAWin=0 Read Reviews | Visit this book's Amazon.com page Don't understand the data above? 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