The Best Books We Read in 2011

As we did last year, we'll be running a series of posts featuring our staff members' selections of their favorite book(s) read in 2011.

David's pick:

"The small giant of modern literature. The plot, on its surface, is simple. A family in a quiet college town. A disaster strikes. Fear spreads. And, as it must, life goes on. But this is not a disaster novel. Around this form, DeLillo meditates on our relationship with fear, death, and the delusions of society. His prose is so clear and the way he handles his themes so gentle that far from bleak this book is a fascinating and insightful observation of our world. The barn scene itself is an iconic moment in literature. For good reason, this book has influence writers for over 25 years. One of the best novels I read in 2011 and in a long time."