A Literary Review of 2011

January 2011

• Bestselling children’s author Dick King-Smith dies at 88. His 1983 book The Sheep-Pig inspired the 1995 movie Babe. King-Smith wrote more than 100 books.
• Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool wins the Newbery Medal for the most distinguished book for children and A Sick Day for Amos McGee illustrated by Erin E. Stead and written by Philip C. Stead wins the Caldecott Medal for best illustrated children’s book.
• St. Lucia poet Derek Walcott wins the T.S. Eliot Prize for poetry with his collection, White Egrets.
• The letters of reclusive writer JD Salinger, who died in 2010, revealed he liked gardening, eating hamburgers and following the career of tennis player Tim Henman.
• AbeBooks’ bestselling signed book of the month is The Empty Family by Colm Toibin.

February 2011

• AbeBooks launches its own YouTube Channel.
• Redwall author Brian Jacques dies at 91. His fantasy series about animals was translated into 29 languages and sold 20 million copies.
• Kathryn Stockett, author of The Help, is accused by her brother’s former maid that she used her life story in the novel.
• An unpublished and previously unknown Enid Blyton novel is discovered - Mr Tumpy’s Caravan is a 180-page fantasy story about a magical caravan.
• John Le Carre donates his literary archive to Oxford University, including the first manuscript for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
• AbeBooks’ bestselling signed book in February is Swamplandia! by Karen Russell.

March 2011

• AbeBooks signs an agreement to acquire German online marketplace for used and rare books, ZVAB.com.
• A poll reveals Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter books is the most popular fictional dream date for teenage readers.
• Britain’s Royal Mail launches eight stamps celebrating magical figures, including Dumbledore Lord Voldemort, and Rincewind and witch Nanny Ogg, from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld.
• Britain’s minister of education Michael Gove sparks debate by saying children should read 50 books a year.
• Diana Wynne Jones, the children’s fantasy and science fiction author, dies at 76.
• John Le Carre asks to be removed from the shortlist for the Man Booker International prize - literary awards are just not his cup of tea.

April 2011

• A new edition of James Jones’ novel, From Here to Eternity, is published containing gay sex references that were removed from the original.
• A Catholic diocese in Poland warns that the Harry Potter books are unacceptable because they encourage “instructions to practise magic.”
• A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan wins the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
• It is revealed Barack Obama earned $1.8m from his books in 2010.
• Three Cups of Tea author Greg Mortenson is accused of making up parts of his bestselling book.
• The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton is named America’s best mystery novel at the Edgars.
• Modernist Cuisine, a heavyweight cookbook of 2,400 pages and six volumes, is revealed to be riddled with hundreds of errors.

May 2011

• Philip Roth wins the fourth Man Booker International Prize. He was chosen ahead of 12 other contenders.
• Author and playwright Alan Bennett compares proposals to close many public libraries in Britain to ‘child abuse.’
• AbeBooks sells a first edition of To Kill A Mockingbird for $25,000.
• Oprah’s long-running TV show, famous for its book club, finally ends much to the chagrin of America’s publishers.
• May’s bestselling signed book is Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof.

June 2011

• Irish author Colum McCann wins the International Impac Dublin Literary Award for his novel, Let The Great World Spin. It’s world's most lucrative literary prize worth 100,000 euro.
• Prince William’s bride Kate Middleton is revealed to be a distant relation of novelist Jane Austen, according to a genealogy website.
• Debut novelist Téa Obreht becomes the youngest winner of the Orange Prize for fiction at 25 - The Tiger’s Wife is AbeBooks’ bestselling book in June.

July 2011

• JK Rowling’s Harry Potter franchise finally ends with the world premiere of the final film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
• A manuscript of Jane Austen ‘lost’ novel, which was never published, is sold for nearly £1 million. The Watsons tells the story of four sisters who are the daughters of a widowed clergyman, and their attempts to marry.
• David Beckham reveals his newborn daughter, Harper, was named in honor of Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird.
• A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin is July’s bestselling signed book on AbeBooks.

 

August 2011

• English novelist Stan Barstow dies at 83. He was best known for his 1960 novel, A Kind of Loving.
• London is rocked by several days of riots – bookshops go untouched.
• An ‘I Hate Reading’ page is discovered on Facebook. AbeBooks offers a video reply that is viewed more than 9,500 times.
• James Patterson is revealed as the world’s best paid author with an annual salary of $84 million.
• Babar the elephant celebrates his 80th birthday.
• The Help by Kathryn Stockett is AbeBooks’ bestselling signed book in August.

September 2011

• The Borders chain finally shuts down after bankruptcy and a fire sale.
• Scotland’s Wigtown book festival hires a resident literary hermit.
• A photography book called Chicks with Guns becomes a bestseller in the USA.
• Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is September’s bestselling signed book on AbeBooks.

 

October 2011

• Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer, who is mostly unknown in North America, wins the Nobel Prize for Literature.
• AbeBooks.co.uk is named the UK’s fourth best Internet shopping site in a poll of Which Magazine readers.
• Nine years after Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides returns with a novel called The Marriage Plot.
• Supermodel Tyra Banks becomes a successful author with Modelland – the novel lands at No.2 on the New York Times bestseller list.
• Julian Barnes wins the Man Booker Prize with The Sense of an Ending – it was the fourth time he had been shortlisted for the prize. The novel becomes AbeBooks’ bestselling signed book of the month.
• Huraki Murakami’s 1Q84 is finally published in English. A month later it’s nominated for the annual Bad Sex Award.

 

November 2011

• Stephen King’s latest book is released. Titled 11.22.63, the time-travelling novel tackles the JFK killing.
• Inheritance, the final book in Christopher Paolini’s four-book fantasy series, becomes an instant bestseller with 500,000 copies sold on day one.
• Esi Edugyan wins Canada’s Giller Prize for her novel, Half-Blood Blues. Also in Canada, The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt wins the Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction.
• Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward wins the fiction category at the National Book Awards.
• Anne McCaffrey, the author of the Dragonriders of Pern fantasy series, dies in Ireland at 85.
• Jack Kerouac’s ‘lost’ novel, The Sea Is My Brother, is published. He wrote it aged 20 and it is based on his early years as a merchant seaman.
• American poet Ruth Stone dies aged 96.
• AbeBooks sells an 1867 first edition of Das Kapital by Karl Marx for $51,739.

December 2011

• AbeBooks launches a Book Collecting Guide.
• David Guterson wins the 2011 Bad Sex Award in London for the sex scenes in his latest novel, Ed King - a modern retelling of the Oedpius story.
• Lady Gaga publishes her own photo book with a leading celebrity photographer. It's called Lady Gaga x Terry Richardson.
• Tea Obreht's The Tiger's Wife is the bestselling signed book of 2011 on AbeBooks.
• Journalist, author and intellectual Christopher Hitchens dies of complications from esophageal cancer at age 62.

 

What's the best book you read in 2011? Leave a comment:

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