Books of the year 2011

Our books of the year 2011 reflect the wide range of literature being written today. While others might sniff and grumble about this year's Booker shortlist or the rise of the digital, we believe in celebrating good books for good books' sake. So, for what it's worth, here are the best books we've read all year.

Open City

by Teju Cole

Faber

Part psycho-geographic study of New York and its inhabitants, architecture and intellectual history, part study of the immigrant experience

Read about 'Open City'
A Visit from the Goon Squad

by Jennifer Egan

Corsair

Told in an enigmatic way, flipping between narratives, characters and timeframes with ease, Egan paints portraits of some beautifully designed yet ultimately doomed to disappointment characters.

Read about 'A Visit from the Goon Squad'
Gods Without Men

by Hari Kunzru

Hamish Hamilton

Hari Kunzru is now four books into a decade-long career and showing no signs of fatigue. Gods Without Men is as gloriously bizarre as his debut and as politically paradoxical as his last. After novels spanning India, the British Empire...

Read about 'Gods Without Men'
Home Boy

by H M Naqvi

Penguin

Winner of the inaugural DSC Prize for South Asian Literature finally gets a UK release, courtesy of Penguin, and about time too.

Read about 'Home Boy'
Zone One

by Colson Whitehead

Harvill Secker

Always interesting, always brilliant, Colson Whitehead returns. Having done coming-of-age, surreal noir, history and corporate satire, his only option left was to write a literary zombie novel, an allegory for gentrification and the end of the world (the world here...

Read about 'Zone One'