26 May
Ben Schott born London 1974. The son of a neurologist and a nurse achieved a double First from Cambridge. Schott's Almanac was first published in 2005 and is now a bestselling reference book published annually. Discover Schott's Almanac
2011 was a fantastic year for new title publishing. So many good books
were published it’s quite possible even the most dedicated of readers
missed a few. Below are favourites chosen by our book experts. We hope you enjoy the selection.
Freedom Jonathan Franzen
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
September 2011 Mega Book of... Format: Paperback - Released: 01/09/2011
The Long Song Andrea Levy
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
Shortlisted for the Galaxy UK Author of the Year Award 2011.
February 2011 Book of the Month.
Winner of the Walter Scott Prize for... Format: Paperback - Released: 06/01/2011
A Discovery of Witches Deborah E. Harkness
October 2011 eBook of the Month.
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
The first in the All Souls trilogy, it’s 640 pages of pure pleasure. Involving, intriguing and compelling,... Format: Paperback - Released: 29/09/2011
The Hand That First Held Mine Maggie O'Farrell
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
February 2011 MEGA Book of the Month.
Winner of the Costa Novel Award 2010. Costa Book Awards 2010 Judges' comment: "A powerful story... Format: Paperback - Released: 03/02/2011
The Unseen Katherine Webb
December 2011 Book of the Month.
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
A mix of the occult, murder and love – dual time; 1911 and 2010. It is sparked... Format: Paperback - Released: 24/11/2011
Dark Matter Michelle Paver
October 2011 Book of the Month.
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
A classic, good old fashioned ghost story set in the Arctic in 1937. Evocative, chilling and superbly... Format: Paperback - Released: 01/09/2011
Prophecy S. J. Parris
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
A lovely historical thriller, it stands alone, but the first, Heresy, is just as good so check it out too. Mathematician and memory master Bruno has another plot on... Format: Paperback - Released: 18/08/2011
Antony and Cleopatra Adrian Goldsworthy
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
August 2011 Non-Fiction Book of the Month.
Stripping the story of its Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton overtones, Adrian Goldsworthy goes back to... Format: Paperback - Released: 21/07/2011
Beatrice and Virgil Yann Martel
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
July 2011 Book of the Month.
This is an utterly beguiling, magical, fable-like story that uses the relationships between humans and animals to... Format: Paperback - Released: 07/07/2011
The Dealer and the Dead Gerald Seymour
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
A terrific thriller set in the arms dealing world amid the Serbo-Croat atrocities twenty years ago. It is Seymour's 26th novel so you have a lot more to choose from,... Format: Paperback - Released: 23/05/2011
Must You Go? My Life with Harold Pinter Antonia Fraser
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
March 2011 Non-Fiction Book of the Month.
Shortlisted for the Galaxy Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2010.Antonia Fraser’s memoir of the love... Format: Paperback - Released: 03/03/2011
Started Early, Took My Dog Kate Atkinson
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
February 2011 Book of the Month.
Shortlisted for the Galaxy UK Author of the Year 2010.Another outing for Jackson Brodie in Atkinson's... Format: Paperback - Released: 17/02/2011
Bestseller Alessandro Gallenzi
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
This is a satire on the publishing industry when a small passionate publishing house is threatened by a large conglomerate and where a mediocre author believes he can make the... Format: Paperback - Released: 21/03/2011
Jerusalem : The Biography Simon Sebag Montefiore
November 2011 MEGA Non-Fiction Book of the Month.
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
Featured on The Book Show on Sky Arts on 10 February 2011.
A triumphant history, a... Format: Paperback - Released: 27/10/2011
The Passage Justin Cronin
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
It’s the end of the world, but not as we know it. The rise of a zombie plague, and life in the aftermath, but a real cut above the usual... Format: Paperback - Released: 12/05/2011
Snowdrops A.D. Miller
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2011.
Shortlisted for the Galaxy New Writer of the Year Award 2011.
January 2011 Debut of the Month.
Shortlisted... Format: Paperback - Released: 01/09/2011
The Best of Men V.C. Letemendia
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
A thumping good read of the English Civil War, both thrilling and romantic so quite suitable to be loved by both genders. It’s a big book which covers a lot... Format: Paperback - Released: 14/04/2011
Angelology Danielle Trussoni
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
A thriller with a twist, the baddies are the descendants of angels. They have oppressed humanity throughout our history. Based on old Bible passages and strange mythology, it’s a really... Format: Paperback - Released: 17/02/2011
Jamrach's Menagerie Carol Birch
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2011.
Shortlisted for the Galaxy UK Author of the Year Award 2011.
A Richard and Judy Autumn Read 2011.
Format: Paperback - Released: 01/09/2011
Blood Count Robert Goddard
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
One of my favourite authors returns to his classic mystery style
where the protagonist’s comfortable life is severely disrupted by his
past catching up with him. In this case the... Format: Paperback - Released: 15/09/2011
Faulks on Fiction Sebastian Faulks
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
After reading this collection of essays I enjoyed seeing the BBC2 series with Sebastian Faulks describing some of the most memorable heroes and villains from the English Novel. Characters that... Format: Paperback - Released: 01/09/2011
Only Time Will Tell Jeffrey Archer
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
This man can tell a damn good tale although this one is a bit out of the norm. This begins a multi-generational family saga starting in 1919 and ending with... Format: Paperback - Released: 15/09/2011
Saints of New York R.J. Ellory
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
A disturbing, double-edged story of a man fighting his own demons and those he is investigating, all tied round an increasing quantity of dead girls. It’s a gripping read, intense... Format: Paperback - Released: 15/01/2011
Daughters of Rome Kate Quinn
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
August 2011 Book of the Month.
The story of three manipulating female cousins through the reign of four Roman Emperors. The girls are... Format: Paperback - Released: 04/08/2011
Witness Cath Staincliffe
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
Her book on euthanasia, The Kindest Thing, was terrific. This one is on gang culture and how a community deals with murder witnessed by four unconnected people (almost). It... Format: Paperback - Released: 21/07/2011
The Donor Helen FitzGerald
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
Everybody should read everything that Helen Fitzgerald has written. She is dark, clever, highly inventive and I believe needs more recognition than she is getting. This human drama is... Format: Paperback - Released: 21/07/2011
Daughters-in-law Joanna Trollope
January 2012 Book of the Month.
Shortlisted for the Galaxy Popular Fiction Book of the Year Award 2011.
Rachel has always been at the centre of her family of three sons but now the... Format: Paperback - Released: 05/01/2012
A Visit from the Goon Squad Jennifer Egan
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
Winner of the Galaxy International Author of the Year Award 2011.
I came across Jennifer Egan with her third novel The Keep which won the American National Book Award but... Format: Paperback - Released: 09/06/2011
The Assassin's Prayer : Mistress of the Art of Death 4 Ariana Franklin
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
The anatomist Adelia Aguilar accompanies a young Princess Joanna, daughter of Henry II, and her huge entourage on a thousand mile, corpse-filled journey across Europe to marry the King of... Format: Paperback - Released: 18/08/2011
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter Tom Franklin
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
One of those American Deep South crime novels that wreaks of menace with strong issues and lots of atmosphere, bigotry and sense of place. It alternates between past and... Format: Paperback - Released: 01/07/2011
New Beginnings Fern Britton
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
Drawing on her TV experience and her knowledge of children (she has four), this is utterly charming, really warm stuff.
The Lovereading view...
Warm, witty and wise, New Beginnings is a behind-the-scenes... Format: Paperback - Released: 07/07/2011
Boxer, Beetle Ned Beauman
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
An unusual dual time story of two very different young men, one a modern procurer of oddities for gangsters, the other a Jewish boxer in the 1940s. Murder, mystery, mayhem... Format: Paperback - Released: 03/03/2011
The Blasphemer Nigel Farndale
One of our Debuts of the Year 2011.
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
A dual narrative novel of World War I and today where two men face impossible odds. It all revolves around the possible discovery... Format: Paperback - Released: 06/01/2011
Afterwards Rosamund Lupton
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
With an out-of-body experience at the centre of this ingenious tale, Lupton has surpassed the excellence of her first novel, Sister. This is highly compulsive, poignant stuff.
Featured on The... Format: Paperback - Released: 09/06/2011
The Afrika Reich Guy Saville
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
A brilliant thriller with a modern sensibility and super-fast pace and suspense that will delight fans of classic thrillers and films. Carrying on the tradition of ‘what if’ history novels... Format: Paperback - Released: 15/09/2011
The Lion Nelson Demille
Asad Khalil - aka 'The Lion' - is the most dangerous man alive. A ruthless Libyan terrorist with an agenda of death and destruction, he has come to the US to seek out his number one enemy, ex-NYPD homicide detective... Format: Paperback - Released: 04/06/2011
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake Aimee Bender
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
Young Rose, aged 9 when the story opens, finds that she can tell the mood of the person who cooked the food she is eating. It turns out that the... Format: Paperback - Released: 25/06/2011
Three Seconds Anders Roslund, Borge Hellstrom
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
Winner of the CWA International Dagger 2011.
Further explorations of the dark side of Swedish society with a particularly brutal and vivid touch. An undercover cop is sent to a high... Format: Paperback - Released: 03/02/2011
Worth Dying For Lee Child
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
Jack Reader - you have got to meet him, women fall for him, men want to emulate him, I just love him, and you will too. At the end of... Format: Paperback - Released: 04/08/2011
The Radleys Matt Haig
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
Shortlisted for the Galaxy Popular Fiction Book of the Year Award 2011.
I am told the vampire craze is on the wane to be replaced by zombie books but the great... Format: Paperback - Released: 13/06/2011
Room Emma Donoghue
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
A 2012 World Book Night selection.
Winner of the Galaxy Paperback of the Year Award 2011.
This was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize but I believed at the time it would... Format: Paperback - Released: 08/01/2011
Daughters-in-Law Joanna Trollope
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
Shortlisted for the Galaxy Popular Fiction Book of the Year Award 2011.
Rachel has always been at the centre of her family of three sons but now the youngest is getting... Format: Hardback - Released: 03/03/2011
And Furthermore Dame Judi Dench
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
July 2011 Book of the Month.
Judi Dench fans will read this without recommendation but for others I’d say it’s well worth reading.... Format: Paperback - Released: 23/06/2011
Little Princes : One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal Conor Grennan
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
On arriving in Nepal Conor Grennan found a desperate situation, thousands of children separated from their homeland and families, many victims of Maoist guerrillas and most shockingly – of child... Format: Paperback - Released: 04/08/2011
Each year thousands of new titles are published and each month we select
around 60 that we feel our members and browsers will enjoy as much as
we do.
More often than not they are not the obvious bestsellers but
bubbling under and debuts.
Below, after much debate in the office, and the help of our resident book experts Sarah Broadhurst and Sue Baker, are
the ones we think are the best of the year.
Almost all of them are
available in a selection of formats including eBooks for both kindle and
iPad.
So, browse away and make sure you haven't missed out on our 'must reads' of 2011.
_____________________________________
A message from Sarah Broadhurst...
"The most exciting happenings in the publishing industry this year were the launch of World Book Night when 20,000 selected people gave away one million books and the launch of a new format, the Flipback book. So successful was World Book Night that the exercise is to be repeated next year, on Shakespeare’s birthday, 23 April, and so cute are the flipbacks that they too are continuing to grow. Twelve titles were launched in June, a further seven in September and six more in November. They are beautiful; neat, both sewn and glued so they won’t fall apart, and tiny yet with very readable print. They really do fit into your pocket which is what paperbacks used to do. To achieve this they are printed sideways so you flip the pages over like an old policeman’s notebook and they are printed on super fine paper, a dream to touch.
Don't forget too, that it's worth checking out other areas of the Lovereading site for little gems that we've featured over the last year.
As well as our unrivalled selections of fiction, over 2011 we have added non fiction expert reviews to make Lovereading the one stop shop for finding your next read in whatever format you choose. Here are some suggestions to take a peek at: For armchair sports books there’s nowhere better than our Sports Books selection, if it's topicality you're looking for then take a look at The Real World or if it's History or Popular Science then we can guide you in those areas too.
For Home birds we have Cookery and Gardening. Finally, if you're still stuck then our most visited area of the site is a must for you to look at - Book Awards - it's positively choking with stunning reads.
Categories
A message from Sarah Broadhurst...
Aimee Bender 
