Part 1 featuring the first five books in my list can be found here. Open City by Teju Cole Damn it, I thought recently, after finishing Open City. I said I wouldn’t declare any book to be the best of 2011! Yet Teju Cole’s momentous debut novel has sorely tempted me to break my own rule. [...]

Ah, December. It’s the time of year when we look back as well as forward. It’s also the time of year when humanity’s strange proclivity towards list making finds an outlet and ‘best of’ lists start popping up everywhere: best movies, best albums, best political revolutions, etc. It really starts getting freaky when people on [...]