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MonsterLibrarian.com’s Top Picks for 2011- Adult Books

Well, we’re not churning out 5,000 reviews a year like Kirkus Reviews, but our volunteer reviewers worked hard in 2011, reading and reviewing close to 300 books- some good, some bad, and some that were really extraordinary pieces of writing and storytelling.

With a new year beginning, it’s time for the Monster Librarian, in consultation with contributing reviewers, to reflect back on the past year’s reading and reviewing. We didn’t get out a list of the top picks for 2010, but now we’re back now, with our Top Picks for 2011. Each book on the list below was reviewed in the past year, although not all the books were published in 2011. If the book made a Top Picks list in the past, it won’t be on this year’s list (Wintergirls, by Laurie Halse Anderson, was first reviewed in 2009 and made the list that year, so it’s not on this year’s list).

Books that made this list were chosen by our reviewers as exceptional examples of compelling writing, creativity, and original illustration or presentation. Many of them provided considerable food for thought as well as entertainment value. The choices were made only from books reviewed for the site, so there are many fine titles that do not appear here. The Monster Librarian’s Top Picks for 2011, listed below, have not been ranked in any order. You’ll find a list for each age group: Adult, Young Adult, and Kids. Below you’ll find our list of Top Picks for Adult Fiction in 2011. I’ll post the lists for young adult and children’s books shortly.

Note for librarians and readers: As with all recommended reading lists, not all of The Monster Librarian’s Top Picks for 2011 will be appropriate for or appreciated by every reader. Please take the time to check out reviews of these titles at MonsterLibrarian.com before making a decision about reading them or recommending them to others.

 

The Monster Librarian’s Top Picks for 2011

 

Titles for Adults


A special mention goes to Lisa Morton’s The Samhanach, which three of our reviewers independently chose to review. All three reviewers highly recommended this book. And now, the list.

 

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim, by Mark Twain and W. Bill Czolgosz

Allison Hewitt Is Trapped: A Zombie Novel, by Madeleine Roux

Bedbugs, by Ben H. Winter

Bigfoot War 2: Dead in the Woods, by Eric S. Brown

Bone Marrow Stew, by Tim Curran (limited edition available only from Tasmaniac Publications)

Crucified Dreams, edited by Joe R. Lansdale

Cuckoo, by Richard Wright

Dust, by Joan Frances Turner

Draculas: A Novel of Terror, by Blake Crouch, Jack Kilborn, Jeff Strand, and F. Paul Wilson

Enclave, by Ann Aguirre

Eternal Unrest: A Novel of Mummy Terror, by Lorne Dixon

Ghost Story: A Novel of the Dresden Files, by Jim Butcher

Graveminder, by Melissa Marr

How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf, by Molly Harper

In Extremis: The Most Extreme Short Stories of John Shirley, by John Shirley

Our Lady of The Shadows, by Tony Richards

Smile No More, by James A. Moore

Sympathy for the Devil, by Justin Gustainis

That Which Should Not Be, by Brett J. Talley

The Anatomy of Evil, by Dr. Michael Stone

The Last Werewolf, by Glen Duncan

The Night Strangers, by Chris Bohjalian

The Pumpkin Man, by John Everson

The Reapers Are the Angels, by Alden Bell

The Samhanach, by Lisa Morton

The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities: Exhibits, Oddities, Images, and Stories from Top Authors and Artists, edited by Jeff and Ann Vandermeer

Wormfood, by Jeff Jacobson

Zombie, Ohio: A Tale of the Undead, by Scott Kenemore

Zone One, by Colson Whitehead

 

Stay tuned for part two of our Top Picks for 2011!

Walking Dead update

A quick update.  We have set up a dedicated page for The Walking Dead series, come take a look here.  Initially starting off as a graphic novel about a small band of survivors trying to stay alive during a zombie apocalypse, it is now a popular TV show as well as a board game, and a spin off novel that the Monster Librarian has reviewed,  The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor .  Season 2 of the Walking Dead TV show starts Sunday October 16th on AMC.  This is a great opportunity for librarians to showcase the zombie titles in their collection.

The Walking Dead and Your Zombie Collection

In case you might have missed it, zombies have been the monster du jour for the past several years. They have been shambling their way through horror movies, video games, books, and graphic novels. They have even can be found in other genres such as paranormal romance (who knew!). The TV station American Movie Classics (AMC) has brought the graphic novel The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman to the little screen. With high production values, the show has become popular. What does this mean for libraries? We here at Monster Librarian feel that the different media that horror that the genre is found in provides an excellent opportunity to promote leisure reading by tying books to other media, like tv shows, movies, and video games, being promoted in mass media. There have been a plethora of zombie titles that have come out in the past few years, and this is a great time to put some on display!

Some notable titles we suggest for library collections:

Zombies: Encounters with the Hungry Dead edited by John Skipp

Dying to Live and Dying to Live: Life Sentence by Kim Paffenroth

Dead Sea by Brian Keene

Day by Day Armageddon by J.L. Bourne

World War Z; An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brook

Bits of the Dead by Keith Gouveia

History is Dead by Kim Paffenroth

The World is Dead edited by Kim Paffernoth

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance – Now With Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem! by Seth Grahame-Smith and Jane Austen

The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks

Happy reading!