Is it me, or has this been a year of fantastic novels? Right off the top of my head I can think of Night Circus, Before I Go to Sleep, A Visit from the Goon Squad, Sarah Thornhill, Room, and The Tiger’s Wife. There were so many wonderful stories, I’m sure I’ve had my best reading year in a long while. I deplore the arbitrary nature of lists, so I won’t get into that here (though if anyone wants to stick my book on one, I’m not going to pull a Jonathan Franzen), but I’ll also say I was pointed to a ton of vintage reads, either by recommendation, happy accident, by way of research (one book leads to another leads to another and so on), or simply scouring used bookstores or op shops.
Which brings me to the question of the year: How exactly did I buy these magnificent treasures? Well, I’m a tried and true hard copy, traditional paper book reader, so yes, I’m one of Those. But I wonder how representative I am of a typical book buyer, splitting my purchases as I do between local indie bookshops, indies at holiday destinations, discount and large chains, international online shops like amazon and bookdepository, specialist boutiques (like those at museums), and used bookstores and op shops, too. Lots of my nonfiction books are sourced at the good old-fashioned library, where I’ll often find a novel that catches my eye while I’m browsing. If there’s one spot that’s really caught my attention for fantastic selection this year, it’s the university bookshops, like The Co-op, which seem to point me to spectacular reads I may not find elsewhere—with a perfect track record.
Which leads me to the next novel observation for 2011. I chose more than a few novels (and some nonfiction) by recommendations shared on twitter. I think us book folk have found a really useful and mutually beneficial way to employ twitter, and I’m so thankful to all the great information feeds I have come to rely on (and the minimum of detail about your child’s hockey game/carpool drama). It’s also amazing to be able to reach out to authors directly—whether they’re experiencing launches for the first time or the hundredth.
No matter what you’ve read and which way you’ve read it, I hope you’ve enjoyed the literary side of 2011 as much as I have. Can’t wait to see what 2012 has in store. As for Daniella Brodsky books, I’m just finishing up my latest literary fiction and getting set to release a brand new ebook edition of Princess of Park Avenue—one of my early-romantic-comedies-with-a-serious-side (can someone please start an amazon category under this name?), which seems to have hit a personal chord with so many readers in its study of smart women who can’t seem to shake Mr. Wrong—on January 13. More info to follow.
Happy New Year!
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