My Favorite Books, 2011: A year of Good Reading

[+ WilliamM]

I have included fiction, non-fiction and art books. I had no personal favorite (except perhaps Prague in Black), just liked all of them.

 

Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark by Brian Kellow

 

The Death of Ivan Ilyich & Other Stories by Tolstoy (2009 Knopf translation)

 

Joschka Fischer and the Making of the Berlin Republic by Paul Hockenos

 

Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak (2010 Pantheon translation)

 

de Kooning: A Retrospective by various authors (Museum of Modern Art, NY publication)

 

The Serious Game by Hjalmer Soderberg (2001 translation from the Swedish)

 

Russia Against Napoleaon by Dominic Lieven

 

The Millennium Trilogy by Steig Larsson (three paperbacks in English bought in Stockholm & Germany)

 

The Master of Flemalle and Rogier Van Der Weyden by various authors (Stadel Museum, Frankfurt au Main, translated from the German)

 

Putin by Richard Sakwa

 

The Forgotten Affairs of Youth by Alexander McCall Smith

 

The Stranger's Child by Allen Hollinghurst

 

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

 

In The Garden of the Beasts by Erik Larsen

 

Prague in Black: Nazi Rule and Czech Nationalism by Chad Bryant

 

Bismarck: A Life by Jonathan Steinberg

[uwsman2]

The NY Times book review on Sunday listed The Art of Fielding as one of the ten best novels of 2011.

[+ Lucky]

Thanks for sharing your interests, WilliamM. I have only read 3 of the books on the list. Two of them we have discussed, the third is the Erik Larsen book, which I also liked.

I read 28 books this year to which I would give 5 stars. That's a little long for a favorites list, so I will see if I can whittle it down.

[justaguy]

The Millennium Trilogy. Great reading. I actually bought the last one and let it sit for over a month because I knew it was the last one. The Swedish film versions did a good job with the material. I'm wondering what the American version is going to be like.

 

Other than that, I've done a lot of reading but mostly older material, or recent science-for-the-generalist stuff and virtually no gay material. I'd be interested in what other folks considered good reading this year in that area.

[adriano46]

William - your list is eerily close to my own taste in reading material (anything Russian, and then moving towards Central Europe).

 

With Kindle now, it is easier to stock up and read much more when flying and traveling.

[+ newatthis]

The Millennium Trilogy. Great reading.

I really enjoyed the first book, found it hard to push through the second, and actively disliked the third. I only finished it because I had started it (a touch of OCD?).

 

...The Swedish film versions did a good job with the material. I'm wondering what the American version is going to be like.

Interestingly enough, I've only seen the Swedish film of the last book, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Go figure.

[+ WilliamM]

My list is top heavy with serious books. I was looking for some lite reading, like the sexy comic book hardbacks from Germany in English, but ran across "The Unreal Life of Sergey Nabokov" by John Russell. I like John Russell's novels a lot. This novel, based on the imagined gay life of Vladimir Nabokov's real younger brother, should have been a non-starter for me right now.

 

However, I have visited the Nabokov home in a posh neighborhood near the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. I'll never forget the house or the neighborhood, so I decided to give the book a try. I'll check back in once I have gotten well into the book (if that indeed happens). And I can always go back and buy the $33 comic book!

[justaguy]

newathis, I agree with you 100% on the second book. It’s a let down after the first one and much less enjoyable to read. In recommending the trilogy to friends, I always told them it was a bridge book they needed to read to get to the third one, which I really enjoyed.

 

I haven’t seen the film, but I did read and enjoy The Help. It’s well written and moves quickly. Even though the characters fit neatly into stereotypes, the author did a good job of making drawing them in a way that gave them their own life.

 

This thread has made me realize that 2011 has not been a stellar year in terms of reading for me. Right now I’m finishing up a scholarly tome on the history of India. It’s interesting but on the dry side. Like William I’m looking for something light, preferably gay. Any suggestions would be welcomed.

[Epigonos]

I do not generally read fiction so here is a partial list of the nonfiction I found enjoyable during 2011. I have listed them alphabetically by author’s last name:

 

Graham-Dixon, Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane

Hughes, Bettany, The Hemlock Cup: Socrates, Athens and the Search for the Good Life

Melvin, Major General Mungo, Manstein: Hitler’s Greatest General

Secrest, Meryle, Modigliani: A Life

Stearns, Jason K., Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa

Steinberg, Jonathan, Bismarck: A Life

Thomas, Hugh, The Golden Empire: Spain, Charles V, and the Creation of America

[+ WilliamM]

Thanks for including the Manstein biography. I have been thinking about reading it. Your comments gave me renewed interest.

 

We both included Bismarck:A Life on our respective lists. I was slightly disappointed by how often Bismarck was blamed for Hitler. Ironically, I did take Prof Steinberg's Italian History course, Spring Semester 2008. At age 77, he still teaches German history, but his real passion now is Italy. I recommend highly Steinberg's All or Nothing: The Axis and The Holocaust, 1941-43.