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What were your favourite science fiction books of 2011?


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112 points

This is the time of year that critics start publishing their year's best lists and science fiction critics are no different. Paul Di Filipo takes a different approach by listing the most overlooked books of the year. I'm always a fan of the underdog so I dig those kind of lists.
For a more traditional list, NPR offers its top 5 science fiction and fantasy books for 2011. I was disappointed that they could only come up with 2 science fiction books in a list of 5. Couldn't they have a list of top 5 science fiction and top 5 fantasy? I'm getting tired of the two genres always being lumped together. You don't ever see critics citing the top Romance and Mystery novels of the year.
If you are taking the long view and want to know what are the best science fiction books of any year, Reddit had an interesting thread with lots of suggestions from its readers. The usual suspects are there, but you'll find some other unknown gems. It's not the first time they've tried to compile such a list. Heck, it's not even the second time.
Instead of looking at the genre as a whole, how about narrowing it down to the best book in a specific sub-genre, like this article on the best generation-ship story. Personally, I prefer that approach because you will get more obscure titles than a general list.