2011 was the first year in which I read more new nonfiction than new fiction: the 10 books below are the best of the bunch.  As with albums and songs, declaring the year’s best books is a subjective enterprise, with the added complication that it takes longer to read a book than to listen to a record. Because each of these books accomplishes its mission to inform and inspire, whether on the topic of crime or politics, food or family, I’ve resisted the temptation to rank them beyond alphabetical order. Please add your own reading recommendation in the comments section below and check back this week for the best fiction and poetry book of 2011. Happy reading.

Sarah Burns, The Central Park Five

In the 1980s, the Central Park Jogger case contributed to New York’s image as a city fraught with violence and racial tension. The story seemed simple: a young white woman jogs at night in the park where she nearly bleeds to death after being raped and beaten by a group of minority teenagers. “The Central Park Five” were convicted and served between 7 and 13 years in prison. There was only one problem: they didn’t do it. In brisk and brutal fashion, debut author Burns reconstructs the crime, the investigation, the courtroom drama, and the ultimate exoneration.

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