Tuesday, May 24, 2011

ARMCHAIR BEA...BEST OF 2011

Today's topic is "Best of 2011."  Since I have only read sixteen books so far this year (pitiful, I know) and only two of them were published in 2011, I'm going to share my top five six (sorry, had to add a sixth!) faves of 2011, including the two from 2011 because they do just happen to be favorites...imagine that!

Blue by Lou Aronica  A wonderful book that has not received enough exposure, in my opinion. My Review

The Raven Queen by Jules Watson  A historical novel about the legendary Irish queen, Maeve.  Need I say more?  My Review

By Fire, By Water by Mitchell James Kaplan (2010 release)  A richly and authentically told historical novel.  My Review


The Last Queen by C.W. Gortner (2008 release)  One of my favorite historicals of all time.  Gortner is one of the best historical authors today.  My Review 


The King's Mistress by Emma Campion (2010 release)  Campion is the foremost scholar on Alice Perrers (mistress to Edward III of England).  This is Alice's story, an excellent one at that! My Review


My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares (2010 release)  I'm not a huge YA reader and I'm still not sure if this is a YA novel, but regardless if it is YA or not, this is one of the best I've read.  My Review



Now...here are a few books I found being featured at BEA that sound absolutely intriguing to me.

Those Across the River by Christopher Buehlman (ACE publisher, Sept. release) 
A failed academic moves to a small Georgia town, where he plans to write of the horrors that once took place on his family's old plantation, little knowing that a terrible presence still lurks beneath the veneer of Southern charm. This supernatural horror debut is an unusual choice for Ace, which usually focuses on hard science fiction, and may signal an effort to branch out into the popular dark fantasy subgenre; "We have big plans for this book," says publicist Jodi Rosoff.

A More Perfect Heaven by Dava Sobel (Bloomsbury, Sept. release)
This time out, the bestselling author of Longitude and Galileo's Daughter tells the story of Nicolaus Copernicus and the revolution he inspired. At the heart of the book is Sobel's play, And the Sun Stood Still, imagining Rheticus's struggle to convince Copernicus to let his manuscript see the light of day.

The Fecund's Melancholy Daughter by Brent Hayward (Chizine Publications, June release)
In the last days of a dying city, the decadent chatelaine chooses a forbidden lover, separating twin outcasts and setting them on independent trajectories that might finally bring down the palace. Then a lone god reappears and a limbless prophet delivers a message for all: beyond the city, something ancient and monumental has come awake. PW's starred review calls the novel "ambitious... beautifully written and morally ambivalent." 

The Taker by Alma Katsu (Gallery Books, Sept. release) 
A young woman is admitted to a hospital in rural Maine and proceeds to slice herself open with a scalpel—only for the wound to immediately heal in this debut novel that begins at the turn of the 19th century and continues into the 21st, billed as "part historical novel, part supernatural page-turner."

All information and book descriptions were obtained from The Big Books of BEA 2011: Adult Titles on Publisher's Weekly.


How about you...any favorites?  Looking forward to any BEA titles?  


6 comments:

Thank you for visiting and taking the time to comment. It means so much.

I apologize for word verification, but as soon as I changed the settings from only users with Google accounts, I started receiving a ton of spam comments...within one hour of changing the settings. The bots are on high alert apparently.

  1. I want to start reading more historical books--you definitely provided me with what looks like some good ones! Thanks :)

    Here are my favorites in 2011!

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  2. The Fecund's Melancholy Daughter does sounds like it could be amazing.

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  3. The King's Mistress has been on my bookshelf for a while, now. Glad to see you liked it. I may have to get to it soon!

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  4. great books! thanks for stopping by my blog Kai

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  5. Interesting selection of books. I also have the Kings Mistress somewhere in a bookshelf, somewhere in the house, somewhere..lol

    love the background by the way, it fits the header!!

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  6. Thanks for the comments! Glad I could provide you with some recommendations.

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