GOOD Books: The Best of 2011

GOOD editors are constantly reading the latest news, but they also manage to squeeze in some pleasure reading every now and then. Check out their favorite books of 2011.

Amanda Hess, lifestyle editor

Blue Nights
by Joan Didion
$25.00. Knopf. 208 pages.

In Slouching Toward Bethlehem, Joan described herself as "so

Megan Greenwell, managing editor

The Art of Fielding
by Chad Harbach
$25.99. Little, Brown and Company. 528 pages.

"It's hard not to be romantic

Ann Friedman, executive editor

Pulphead: Essays
by John Jeremiah Sullivan
$16.00. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. 384 pages.

My favorite narrative nonfiction colle

Zak Stone, The Daily GOOD editor

State of Wonder
by Ann Patchett
$26.99. Harper. 368 pages.

When I received this book in the mail from my best friend's mom, m

Liz Dwyer, education editor

The Invisible Line: Three American Families and the Invisible Journey from Black to White
by Daniel J. Sharfstein
$27.95. The Penguin Press H

Tim Fernholz, business editor

1Q84
by Haruki Murakami
$30.50. Knopf. 944 pages.

This book is pretty much obligatory for a year-end guide, but there's a reaso

Nona Willis Aronowitz, associate editor

A Visit from the Goon Squad
by Jennifer Egan
$14.95. Anchor. 352 pages.

Okay, okay, this book came out in