As 2011 draws to an end, Oprah's
O Magazine takes the chance to step back and review this year's crop of new fiction. Visit her website
here to learn more about the books and why they won.
Most Ambitious Book of 2011
The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht
Remembering childhood stories her grandfather once told her, young physician Natalia becomes convinced that he spent his last days searching for "the deathless man," a vagabond who claimed to be immortal. As Natalia struggles to understand why her grandfather, a deeply rational man would go on such a farfetched journey, she stumbles across a clue that leads her to the extraordinary story of the tiger’s wife.
Find it at the Griffin Library: PS 3615 .B73 T54 2011
Most Of-The-Moment Book of 2011
The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta
What if the Rapture happened and you got left behind? Or what if it wasn't the Rapture at all, but something murkier, a burst of mysterious, apparently random disappearances that shattered the world in a single moment, dividing history into Before and After, leaving no one unscathed? How would you rebuild your life in the wake of such a devastating event?
Request this book through Interlibrary Loan: Online form
Most Layered Book of 2011
Ten Thousand Saints by Eleanor Henderson
A sweeping, multigenerational drama, set against the backdrop of the raw, roaring New York City during the late 1980s. Adoption, teen pregnancy, drugs, hardcore punk rock, the unbridled optimism and reckless stupidity of the young - and old - are all major elements in this heart-aching tale of the son of diehard hippies and his strange odyssey through the extremes of late 20th century youth culture.
Request this book through Interlibrary Loan: Online form
Most Cinematic Book of 2011
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
Set in New York City in 1938, Rules of Civility tells the story of a watershed year in the life of an uncompromising twenty-five-year-old named Katey Kontent. Armed with little more than a formidable intellect, a bracing wit, and her own brand of cool nerve, Katey embarks on a journey from a Wall Street secretarial pool through the upper echelons of New York society in search of a brighter future.
Request this book through Interlibrary Loan: Online form
Most Deceptively Deep Book of 2011
Blueprints for Building Better Girls by Elissa Schappell
From a reader review on
LibraryThing: "It is a series of short stories that center around women and the relationships we have with one another, with our lovers, with our spouses, our children, our parents. Most of the stories intersect with another story in some way. There was laughing, there was crying. There was one particular 8 page section that I had to read out of the corner of my eye because I just couldn't face it head on."
Request this book through Interlibrary Loan: Online form
