Year In Review

Photo courtesy KOTY Design Studio

Can't hardly believe that the year is almost over and that today is my last post of 2011. Actually, since I'll be taking a mini-vacation my next post will be on January 8th so I better make this one count, right?
Since the end of the year is traditionally the time to reflect upon the last twelve months I've been thinking about the books I enjoyed most this year and tried to narrow the list down to top three. A short while later that proved to be an impossible task so I settled on choosing at least one per genre and below are the titles I came up with. They all managed to stay with me throughout the year and I have a feeling that I'll remember them fondly no matter how much time passes. Some are by established authors, some are debut novels but all are good and all have depth, range, great characters, engaging plot and beautiful writing. So without further ado here are my top picks:

Best of Fantasy:
The Abhorsen Chronicles by Garth Nix tied with The Left Hand Of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin
Runners-up: Forever by Maggie Stiefvater and Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa

Best of Mystery:
Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie

Best of Historical Fiction:
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett tied with The Artist of Disappearance by Anita Desai
Runners-up: Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, Next To Love by Ellen Feldman, and The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran

Best of General Fiction:
Everything Beautiful Began After by Simon Von Booy tied with Domestic Violets by Matthew Norman

Best of Non-Fiction:
Entre Nous - Debra Ollivier

I'll see you guys on January 8th but in the meantime, what are your favorite books of 2011?