After four months of feverish data entry, we’re proud to announce the completion of the final version of the 2011 ABBC, WRL’s All-the-Best-Books Compilation. You won’t find a more complete view anywhere of the best books of the year.
We’ve taken the award winners and the best-of-the-year lists from 237 different sources including all of the major magazines, websites, literary blogs, and newspapers, and compiled every book mentioned as a best-of-the-year into one handy spreadsheet where you can look to see how many votes each book received and which publications mentioned them.
Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Marriage Plot was the most recognized fiction title of 2011, with 64 mentions. Joan Didion’s memoir Blue Nights had the most nonfiction mentions with 38. But those two books are just the tiniest tip of an iceberg that includes 3328 books published in North America in 2011, including 120 that were mentioned 10 times or more as a best book of the year. The ABBC breaks titles into 11 categories and sorts each list by the number of mentions each book received. Please download the full Excel spreadsheet to start exploring the full list.
We encourage you to share this spreadsheet, re-sort the data as you need, and re-purpose the information as you see fit, provided you give credit to Williamsburg Regional Library and Blogging for a Good Book.
The ABBC includes not only the brahmins and high muckety-mucks of the literary fiction world, but representative sources in various genres and nonfiction subject areas to provide the most balanced look we can possibly give of which books were most loved in 2011. Check the last page of the spreadsheet to see links to all of the different sources that we consulted to create the list.
Amazing !
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What a great list! You all are amazing to pull this information together for others. Thank you!
[…] The final version of the 2011 ABBC (All-the-Best-Books Compilation) is available for download as an Excel spreadsheet via Blogging for a Good Book at Williamsburg Regional Library. The spreadsheet lists 3328 titles published in 2011 in 11 genres and subject categories, each annotated to show which of 237 newspapers, magazines, awards, blogs, and other web sites named them as a best book of 2011. I’ll conclude my coverage of the best of 2011, with 5 posts of long lists showing how many mentions the top books received in each category. I encourage you to explore the full list for many more hidden treasures for book groups that didn’t quite crack the top of the list. […]
[…] The final version of the 2011 ABBC (All-the-Best-Books Compilation) is available for download as an Excel spreadsheet via Blogging for a Good Book at Williamsburg Regional Library. The spreadsheet lists 3328 titles published in 2011 in 11 genres and subject categories, each annotated to show which of 237 newspapers, magazines, awards, blogs, and other web sites named them as a best book of 2011. I’m concluding my coverage of the best of 2011 with 5 long lists (this is the second) showing how many mentions the top books received in each category. I encourage you to explore the full list for many more hidden treasures for book groups that didn’t quite crack the top of the list. […]
[…] The final version of the 2011 ABBC (All-the-Best-Books Compilation) is available for download as an Excel spreadsheet via Blogging for a Good Book at Williamsburg Regional Library. The spreadsheet lists 3328 titles published in 2011 in 11 genres and subject categories, each annotated to show which of 237 newspapers, magazines, awards, blogs, and other web sites named them a best book of 2011. […]
[…] The final version of the 2011 ABBC (All-the-Best-Books Compilation) is available for download as an Excel spreadsheet via Blogging for a Good Book at Williamsburg Regional Library. The spreadsheet lists 3328 titles published in 2011 in 11 genres and subject categories, each annotated to show which of 237 newspapers, magazines, awards, blogs, and other web sites named them a best book of 2011. […]
[…] The final version of the 2011 ABBC (All-the-Best-Books Compilation) is available for download as an Excel spreadsheet via Blogging for a Good Book at Williamsburg Regional Library. The spreadsheet lists 3328 titles published in 2011 in 11 genres and subject categories, each annotated to show which of 237 newspapers, magazines, awards, blogs, and other web sites named them a best book of 2011. […]
[…] The final version of the 2011 ABBC (All-the-Best-Books Compilation) is available for download as an Excel spreadsheet via Blogging for a Good Book at Williamsburg Regional Library. The spreadsheet lists 3328 titles published in 2011 in 11 genres and subject categories, each annotated to show which of 237 newspapers, magazines, awards, blogs, and other web sites named them a best book of 2011. […]
[…] The final version of the 2011 ABBC (All-the-Best-Books Compilation) is available for download as an Excel spreadsheet via Blogging for a Good Book at Williamsburg Regional Library. The spreadsheet lists 3328 titles published in 2011 in 11 genres and subject categories, each annotated to show which of 237 newspapers, magazines, awards, blogs, and other web sites named them as a best book of 2011. I’m concluding my coverage of the best of 2011 with 5 long lists (this is the second) showing how many mentions the top books received in each category. I encourage you to explore the full list for many more hidden treasures for book groups that didn’t quite crack the top of the list. […]
[…] The final version of the 2011 ABBC (All-the-Best-Books Compilation) is available for download as an Excel spreadsheet via Blogging for a Good Book at Williamsburg Regional Library. The spreadsheet lists 3328 titles published in 2011 in 11 genres and subject categories, each annotated to show which of 237 newspapers, magazines, awards, blogs, and other web sites named them a best book of 2011. […]