MoJo Readers’ Top Books of 2011

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Last week we gave you our favorite books of 2011. This list of reader recommendations from Facebook (If you don’t already follow us on FB, sign up here.) doesn’t come with a medal, prize or award, just a promise that during the past year our readers found these books worth curling up with. It’s a fine example of their quality taste and judgment. Still, we know there were many more great reads in 2011. By all means, weigh in with your favorite book of the year and don’t miss our readers’ list of the best albums of 2011.

The Dovekeepers, Alice Hoffman (Scribner)

Her writing is exquisite, and this novel is a deep, fulfilling read told in an enchanting way. It really stays with you.

—Robin Raven 

Moonwalking With Einstein, Joshua Foer (The Penguin Press, HC)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Excellent stories about the Memory Championships and how the human memory works.

—David Wessman

 

1Q84, Haruki Murakami (Harvill & Secker)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the most fascinating explorations life and reality in novel form I’ve ever read. Murakami has really outdone himself with this one.

—Christopher Earle

 

The Ripple Effect: The Fate of Fresh Water in the Twenty-First Century, Alex Prud’Homme (Scribner)

Because the entire planet needs to understand the fate of our water.

—Elizabeth Runnels Ondyak

 

Here Comes Trouble: Stories From My Life, Michael Moore (Grand Central Publishing)

Reading about Michael’s life experiences could turn even the most hardcore teabagger into a tree-hugging progressive! OK, maybe not, but they’re all very moving.

—Christopher Howard

 

Ready Player One, Ernest Cline (Crown Publishers, New York)

A young adult coming of age, hero-wins-all, and sweet love story folded into 1980’s-era nostalgia (in its most idealized form) plot set in futuristic game/life-ing; in which most events and interactions occur in a cyberspace “game” that has become a substitution for reality.
—Bat Country

 

Swamplandia!, Karen Russell (Knopf)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With a host of bizarre ingredients (a family alligator show, a young girl with a ghost boyfriend, a crazy Florida theme park), Russell cooks up one of the best and most touching coming-of-age stories I’ve read.

—Susan Mumpower-Spriggs

 

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention, Manning Marable

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This seminal work analyzes the man in the context of his community and his family. Brilliant truth-telling.

—Susan Mumpower-Spriggs

 

The Art of Fielding, A Novel, Chad Harbach (Little, Brown and Company)

Makes me feel like books are still a thing.

—Brooke Shelby Biggs

 

How to Be A Woman, Caitlin Moran (Ebury Press) [Out in US in 2012]

Making women all over the UK laugh out loud in public.

—Constance Fleuriot

 

What It Is Like to Go to War, Karl Marlantes (Grove Press)

Something everyone who has been fortunate to avoid war should read. Karl served in the horror of Vietnam as a Marine Captain in the jungle. A must for all Americans!

—Jim Word


If you buy a book using a Bookshop link on this page, a small share of the proceeds supports our journalism.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT.

We have a considerable $390,000 gap in our online fundraising budget that we have to close by June 30. There is no wiggle room, we've already cut everything we can, and we urgently need more readers to pitch in—especially from this specific blurb you're reading right now.

We'll also be quite transparent and level-headed with you about this.

In "News Never Pays," our fearless CEO, Monika Bauerlein, connects the dots on several concerning media trends that, taken together, expose the fallacy behind the tragic state of journalism right now: That the marketplace will take care of providing the free and independent press citizens in a democracy need, and the Next New Thing to invest millions in will fix the problem. Bottom line: Journalism that serves the people needs the support of the people. That's the Next New Thing.

And it's what MoJo and our community of readers have been doing for 47 years now.

But staying afloat is harder than ever.

In "This Is Not a Crisis. It's The New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, why this moment is particularly urgent, and how we can best communicate that without screaming OMG PLEASE HELP over and over. We also touch on our history and how our nonprofit model makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there: Letting us go deep, focus on underreported beats, and bring unique perspectives to the day's news.

You're here for reporting like that, not fundraising, but one cannot exist without the other, and it's vitally important that we hit our intimidating $390,000 number in online donations by June 30.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. It's going to be a nail-biter, and we really need to see donations from this specific ask coming in strong if we're going to get there.

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