Conversation: The Year in Fiction

What was 2011 like for fiction? And what was it like for books themselves? I recently talked with [Washington Post book critic Ron Charles](http://www.washingtonpost.com/ron-charles/2011/03/09/gIQAWm52aI_page.html) about the novels and authors who stood out from the others and about the business of publishing in a big year for e-readers like the Kindle. Among Charles' favorites: [Jesmyn Ward's "Salvage the Bones"](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/blog/2011/08/in-salvage-the-bones-jesmyn-ward-tells-personal-story-of-hurricane-katrina.html) and Ann Patchett's "State of Wonder." What were your favorites of 2011?
Coming Thursday and Friday, respectively, I talk to the Los Angeles Times' Randall Roberts about the year in music and to the New York Times' A.O. Scott about the year in film.