Best of 2011, Update 8

There are barely two months left in the year, so it's time for another update to my evolving Best of 2011 lists.  I did read 12 books since I edited the two lists last month, but I'm light on the nonfiction titles again: 10 fiction, 2 nonfiction.

Additions to the fiction list are found at numbers 3 (Remember Ben Clayton), 7 (The Art of Fielding), and 8 (Lamb) - and the books at numbers 4-6 each move up a notch.

Fiction: (Top 10 of 76 considered):

1. Nemesis - Philip Roth (novel)

2. Saturday - Ian McEwan (novel)

3. Remember Ben Clayton - Stephen Harrigan (novel)

4. Doc - Mary Doria Russell (novel)

5. Love at Absolute Zero - Christopher Meeks (novel)

6. That Old Cape Magic - Richard Russo (novel)

7. The Art of Fielding - Chad Harbach (novel)

8. Lamb - Bonnie Nadzam (novel)

9. Hustle - Jason Skipper (novel)

10.Among the Wonderful - Stacy Carlsen - (novel)

There are no changes to the Non-Fiction list this time around (that's a first), mainly because I only had two titles to consider.  But it's also because I don't feel comfortable moving a classic like Black Boy onto the list and the other title (Juan William's Muzzled) didn't top any of the titles already there.

Non-Fiction: (Top 10 of 30 considered):

1. If Trouble Don't Kill Me - Ralph Berrier, Jr. (biography)

2. Wolf: The Lives of Jack London - James L. Haley (biography)

3. Hitch 22: A Memoir - Christopher Hitchens (memoir)

4. Bittersweet Season - Jane Gross (on caring for aging parents)

5. Tiny Terror - William Todd Schultz (psychobiography of Truman Capote) 

6. Chinaberry Sidewalks - Rodney Crowell (memoir)

7. We Were Not Orphans - Sherry Matthews (memoirs from life in a Texas home for neglected children)

8. He Stopped Loving Her Today - Jack Isenhour - (music memoir)

9. What It Is Like to Go to War - Karl Marlantes (memoir)

10. Lincoln's Men - William C. Davis (Civil War History)

It's almost time to start the countdown...where has this year gone?