The Sixth Annual Sonnet87.com Awards for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence (or, The 2011 Book Awards)

It’s that time of year again, isn’t it? Welcome to the 2011 Book Awards.

This year was another year of many, many books read—I ended the year at 58 books (including a beta read)—but my reading slowed down when I switched jobs and my commute shortened by half. I still read, but books didn’t go as quickly as they used to. Not that that’s an argument to stay at a job you dislike, the ability to read more books. Or is it? Hmm … I started out strong with reviewing, too, but that dropped off after the drama of getting a new job began and I started a new literary project. I’m hoping to be a bit more disciplined about it in 2012 as I love to write book reviews.

With 58 books read, I matched 2010’s all-time high. Not that I was trying to beat it—my focus is on quality reads, not quantity read. I ended up reading 19,435 pages, and I have to say that the majority of those pages were pretty damn good—I read a lot of great books in 2011. I’m hoping for more of the same in 2012.

Anyway, it’s time to announce the winners of the Sonnet 87 2011 Book Awards. It’s a prestigious announcement, and I’m sure all the authors below will be thrilled to know—whether they’ve hit a high with me or are on my authorial shit list—that they’re being somewhat immortalized in this post. ‘Cuz we all know my taste is book is très awesome.

Right?

Anyway:

Best Book of 2011: Next by James Hynes. Similar to last year’s winner The Grift by Ginsberg, there isn’t much to say about this book that I haven’t already said. From the Ann Arbor, Mich., focus to the hyper-paranoia of the early 2000s, this book was a mesh of past and present colliding together, leading to an ending so, well, ballsy that I have to stand back and give Mr. Hynes amazing props. With Hynes’ wit, keen observations about life in these United States post-9/11, and absolute bravery in tackling a subject (and, again, ending) that many people don’t want to think about, his book excels in many ways. Why wasn’t it noticed more, I ask myself? And then I remember: fear. But fear, ultimately, is the last thing that is lingering after you finish this powerful book. At least, in my mind that’s so. If anything, it ends on a tragic yet high note.

Worst Book of 2011: Adrenaline by Jeff Abbott. So, remember when I complained about my book club going soft (and I have now come to realize that others are agreeing with me)? Well, this is the book that prompted it. Such terrible, jarring narration. An unsympathetic hero. Attempts to pull at our heart strings using supposed love and a baby. And an ending that had me rolling my eyes and falling off of my chair in disgust. It was written to be a movie one day, and it was written to start a franchise. It’s a money-grab book, and if there’s nothing more I hate, it’s wasting my precious reading time with this garbage. Disposable indeed.

Best Non-Fiction of 2011: The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn by Alison Weir. Weir never fails to deliver when it comes to her studies on the Tudors. The Lady in the Tower was a micro-examination of Anne Boleyn’s last days as Queen of England, and the probable causes of her downfall. What I truly like about Weir is her willingness to step back and reassess claims she’s made in past books, and if one is expecting to see a damning portrayal of Queen Anne (based on Weir’s previous books), it’s not here as she digs deeper and admits, up front, that her former research was incomplete and/or biased. I like a person, especially an expert, who can admit they’re wrong—and who can write like a mo-fo (that, Ms. Weir, is a compliment, I swear). I continue to enjoy Weir tremendously.

Best Fiction of 2011: Empire Falls by Richard Russo. I said it at the beginning of 2011—Russo’s work is sublime and for a while it had the chance to work it as the Best Book of 2011. The small town atmosphere—claustrophobic but still beloved by the characters that inhabited it—combined with a world-weary everyman worked together to produce a touching, enraging, hilarious and tragic story all at once. I have yet to read more of Russo’s work, but I’m hoping to delve into his repertoire in 2012.

Worst Non-Fiction of 2011: Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach. I’d heard much about Roach’s popular science writing, and her approach to either debunking or explaining the histories behind things such as cadavers, Mars, and, in this case, ghosts. I chose Spook because I have an interest in ghosts—I don’t believe in them, but I do like to read about them. I fully expected Roach to debunk, but not be so … bitchy about it. There, I said it. Unless she was able to make a joke about what she was discussing, the overall tone of the book was hostile and off-putting. I’m not saying she should’ve indulged those she encountered—after all, again, she’s trying to debunk everything—but her approach was so dismissive that it got to the point of arrogance, as if she were asking herself why she was there. And I was asking myself the same thing: why tackle it if it’s going to be all ridicule, all the time, in an abrasive tone that got tiresome for the reader? You can be funny without being over-the-top mean. The laughs Roach caused were too few and far between for me to enjoy this book—I’m not sure I’ll be tackling anything else by her.

Worst Fiction of 2011: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I just don’t get the appeal. The writing is subpar, the plot is predictable, and the idea that people like to see children in danger—but not in for-real danger, heavens, no!—makes me raise an eyebrow. The characters were flat, and one wonders what they see in each other. The totalitarian regime was somewhat cartoonish—I half expected President Skroob to appear. All in all, not for me. I understand that others like it, and it is what it is, but please stop saying that something that’s popular ought to receive literary recognition. Just because it sells doesn’t mean it’s deserving of a Pulitzer.

Don Quixote Award of 2011: The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers by John Gardner. I don’t have much to say about this one other than: I started it with the best of intentions (as a way to get myself to think about writing before tackling the actual writing), but halfway through it lost me. Whether it was the author’s somewhat snobbish attitude or the fact that it felt outdated in 2011, I don’t know. But it’s not getting finished.

Best Discovery of 2011: Sherman Alexie. Of course, I’ve only read one of Alexie’s books (The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian), but combined with his simply awesome talk at the 2011 National Book Festival, I’m on board for more Alexie in the near future. His ability to talk about the duality of being a minority is something that I’ve been searching for for a long time. I am so frustrated that his excellent talk is still not available on the National Book Festival’s website—was it because he swore like crazy? The blue humor? Is it because it needed to be heavily edited? Whatever the case, I’m hoping to revisit it (please, LoC?) soon. And get my hands on War Dances.

So that’s it in a nutshell—the best and worst of books in 2011 at Sonnet 87. Onto 2012, where I hope to read quite a few good books and, for your entertainment, a few bad ones in which I can rant and rave like the lunatic that I am (you know you love me!). Like last year, there are so many good books that I can’t mention in this entry. However, I will do the bold, in red, double asterisk if you’re looking for book recommendations.

Onto the final book list of 2011:

Finished:

1) Kaaterskill Falls by Allegra Goodman **
2) Gunn’s Golden Rules: Life’s Little Lessons for Making It Work by Tim Gunn and Ada Calhoun
3) Beneath the Lion’s Gaze: A Novel by Maaza Mengiste **
4) Empress Orchid by Anchee Min
5) Destiny and Desire: A Novel by Carlos Fuentes; Translated by Edith Grossman **
6) The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier
7) Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard
8) Bel Canto by Ann Patchett **
9) The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn by Alison Weir **
10) Freedom by Jonathan Franzen **
11) The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
12) Empire Falls by Richard Russo **
13) Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach
14) The Feast of Love by Charles Baxter
15) The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
16) The Discomfort Zone by Jonathan Franzen
17) The Other Side of the Island by Allegra Goodman
18) Between Parent and Child by Dr. Haim G. Ginott **
19) A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith **
20) The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman
21) The Lady Elizabeth by Alison Weir
22) Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell
23) Sweet Valley Confidential: Ten Years Later by Francine Pascal
24) A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan **
25) One of Our Thursdays Is Missing by Jasper Fforde **
26) Different Seasons by Stephen King **
27) Unpublished Novel
28) Unpublished Novel
29) The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
30) Carrie by Stephen King **
31) Next by James Hynes **
32) One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn **
33) The Tragedy of Arthur by Arthur Phillips **
34) In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
35) Unpublished Novel
36) Adrenaline by Jeff Abbott
37) Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace **
38) The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht **
39) Alcestis by Katharine Beutner
40) Unpublished Biography
41) Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson
42) Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War by Karl Marlantes **
43) Published Novel by My College Roommate (No, I’m not joking; no, I won’t reveal who it is)
44) The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai
45) The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson **
46) Unpublished Novel
47) The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie **
48) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
49) The Shakespeare Thefts: In Search of the First Folios by Eric Rasmussen **
50) Sad Monsters: Growling on the Outside, Crying on the Inside by Frank Lesser **
51) A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens **
52) The Woman in Black: A Ghost Story by Susan Hill
53) Unpublished Novel
54) Camp Nine: A Novel by Vivienne Schiffer
55) The Keep by Jennifer Egan **
56) The Walking Dead: Compendium One by Robert Kirkman **
57) Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides **

Re-read:

1) Threads by Nell Gavin **

Currently Reading:

1) The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers by John Gardner

Waiting To Be Read (Already Purchased, Got as Gifts, Borrowed from My Husband or Otherwise Accessible without the Use of Funds, But Not an Assurance That I Will Read These Before I Buy More Books):

Empty until the 2012 reading begins!