The digital age has broadened the reading habits of all, and I am no exception.
In 2011 over 60% of the fiction I read was written by women.
In the previous year the figure was just 10%. Based on the superior quality I would be happy if 2012′s percentage is even higher.
In an era where men unfairly dominate the main literary awards, it is their female counterparts who are actually writing the prominent fiction.
Consequently, 70% on my list were written by women. Whatsmore, the same percentage were also debuts.
There are a number of excellent books not included, simply because the competition was extremely fierce. Also non-fiction, and short story collections (such as the superb Perfect Lives by Polly Samson) are also excluded, as this is purely a list of novels.
So these were, in no particular order: My Favourite Reads of 2011
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Sister by Rosamund Lupton
The debut from an author who previously plied her trade as a screenwriter, and it shows, for this is a storyteller who perfectly demonstrates how visuals can drive a story as much as dialogue.
“I saw the darkness move – a monstrous, living thing, filling the building and out into the night beyond, no skin of sky to contain it.”
The story builds towards a thrilling climax, totally encapsulating how inventive a writer can be with narrative voice. For the ending alone, this novel is unmissable.
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Gillespie and I by Jane Harris
You could almost hear the intake of breath from the publishing world when this was not on the Man Booker Prize Longlist. It was an extremely surprising omission, and was certainly not for lack of quality. The skill with which the author weaves the story threads and keeps the reader engrossed for all five hundred pages, is nothing short of phenomenal.
“I was fast becoming a believer in the inexorability of Fate.”
It remains one of the most universally praised second novels, and one of the best.
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This Bleeding City by Alex Preston
The central story of a city trader in the midst of the crash, is both topical, and terrific. Juxtaposed with the demise of his material world, is the developing bond he finds with family, and both strands are written with an intelligent turn of phrase throughout. It is brimming with poignant lines, including an all-time favourite:
“Memory dyes these days golden.”
As such, there is no question that this author will become a leading light of literature over the coming years.
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The Devil’s Music by Jane Rusbridge
Another debut, and such a poetic one at that, with page after page of wonderful prose. Just when a reader thinks it cannot get any better, the author knocks out another beautiful image:
“I lie on the sand while the sea washes over me, quiet as if it’s dreaming.”
Any upward trajectory in the forthcoming releases from this author will signify a must read canon of work.
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City of Bohane by Kevin Barry
A quite extraordinary linguistic feast. The author creates a new dialogue in order to tell the story of a drifter returning to a futuristic town on the west coast of Ireland. Readers will instantly be hooked and blown away by the use of language itself as a character.
“In the Bohane creation, time comes loose, there is a curious fluidity, the past seeps into the future, and the moment itself as it passes is the hardest to grasp.”
If Raymond Chandler were alive today, this is a book he would envy.
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The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht
A family saga set across the Balkan Wars it was the deserving winner of the Orange Prize For Fiction. What had so captivated the judges, is shared by readers the world over. It is those magical moments of story, those snippets of memories that seem so real and personal to each individual reader.
“The tiger’s wife might have immediately been regarded as a vila, as something sacred to the entire village.”
The author has a real gift for pulling a reader into a story, and with this debut you never want to leave.
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The Somnambulist by Essie Fox
The journey of discovery for a seventeen-year old in Victorian London, and what dark secrets can do to the rectitude of such a teenager. I had to double-check the publication date twice, in the belief that this was a reissue of classic literature, since the Victorian life it portrays is so vivid.
“Some nights I still dream of her as Galatea, her face streamed with liquid ribbons of light.”
A sumptuously elegant novel from an outstanding talent.
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The Terror of Living by Urban Waite
An author who writes with such assurance that it is incomprehensible that this is a debut. Many of his contemporaries endeavour for years to write such an accomplished work. In contrast to the grand scale, are some intimate moments between characters, where the subtlest of nuances linger against the backdrop.
“He knew he had to earn the name back, earn it back for himself and for his father.”
With a consummate skill to engage the reader on every single page, it makes Urban Waite one of the finest literary discoveries of recent years.
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The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
There is such a deft hand of deception at work in this debut, with chapters crafted to mean one thing on their own, but changing context when another is read, and again later on. This structural sleight of hand is breathtaking; each chapter a tarot of fiction.
“We will destroy the presumptions and preconceived notions of what a circus is and make it something else entirely, something new.”
The author whisks us towards the exhilarating denouement, with one of the best chapters in 21st century literature: Incendiary. Despite the ingenuity of what has preceded, nothing prepares the reader for this stunning cinematic moment.
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We Had It So Good by Linda Grant
Spanning decades and continents, and staring a former US President, this is a tremendous work, befitting a novelist at the peak of her powers. Packed with so many memorable scenes, and dialogue exchanges, it is practically a greatest hits of prose.
“The relentless averageness of English life.”
Linda Grant could get in the ring with any of the world’s literary heavyweights, and write them off the page. This novel should have been longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, it should have been shortlisted, and it should have won.
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All in all, 2011 heralded a golden year of reading, and the fiction these authors produced, will stay with me for a very long time.