It’s that time of year — time for the Top Ten lists. Here on WV, we like to let you savor an interview, so we only have time to air five clips from the Top Ten Shows of 2011. Click on the full show links to hear the full interviews. What follows is in alphabetical order.

1. Tahmima Anam, THE GOOD MUSLIM
In 2008, Host Francesca Rheannon spoke with Tahmima Anam about her acclaimed debut novel, A GOLDEN AGE. It told the story of the widow Rehana Haque and her two teenage children as they become involved in Bangladesh’s struggle for independence. The Liberation War was an armed conflict that pitted East Pakistan and India against West Pakistan. It ended in the secession of East Pakistan, which became the independent nation of Bangladesh. Now Anam is back with a terrific sequel: THE GOOD MUSLIM. It tells what happened to Rehana’s children, Maya and Sohail — how the war of independence changed them and how they each deal so differently with the lesions the trauma of war has seared into their souls.

2. Teju Cole, OPEN CITY

Teju Cole’s celebrated novel OPEN CITY takes place in a New York City marked by the events of the 9/11 attacks. Its narrator and protagonist, Julius, is a young Nigerian-German immigrant, doing his residency as a psychiatrist at a New York City hospital. The interplay between outsider and insider, between trauma and consequence, and human connections acknowledged and denied are explored in this powerful and evocative novel. 

3. James Kaplan, FRANK: The Voice

James Kaplan’s terrific biography of Frank Sinatra, FRANK turned me from someone totally indifferent to Sinatra into a fan. Reading like fast-paced hard-boiled fiction, the biography takes the reader on a fascinating journey through the life one of America’s greatest musical talents. It’s a personal, cultural history, and musical history of Frank Sinatra’s life, loves and times.

4. Susan Rosenberg, AN AMERICAN RADICAL: A Political Prisoner in My Own Country

Susan Rosenberg’s powerful prison memoir, AN AMERICAN RADICAL, exposes systematic human rights abuses in the U.S. prison system. But what’s even more moving is her searing account of her own experience of more than 16 years behind bars. We play a clip of Rosenberg reading an excerpt from the book about the Washington DC jail, where she spent her first months in prison.

5. Carl Safina, THE VIEW FROM LAZY POINT: A Natural Year in an Unnatural World

Lazy Point is a “flat peninsula of scrubby pines” in Amagansett, New York. It’s marine ecologist Carl Safina’s vantage point on the world’s oceans — oceans that are in deep trouble from multiple assaults. In the book, Safina alternates between two poles. lyrical descriptions of the beauty of place — interwoven with strong warnings about the impact of climate change and environmental abuse. He also has some inspiring success stories. One place where there is both good and bad news is with corals. We could lose 50% of coral reefs this century. Yet, there is also reason to hope. 

Go to the Writers Voice website for links to the full show episodes to all the Top Ten of 2011.

It’s that time of year — time for the Top Ten lists. Here on WV, we like to let you savor an interview, so we only have time to air five clips from the Top Ten Shows of 2011. Click on the full show links to hear the full interviews. What follows is in alphabetical order.

1. Tahmima Anam, THE GOOD MUSLIM
In 2008, Host Francesca Rheannon spoke with Tahmima Anam about her acclaimed debut novel, A GOLDEN AGE. It told the story of the widow Rehana Haque and her two teenage children as they become involved in Bangladesh’s struggle for independence. The Liberation War was an armed conflict that pitted East Pakistan and India against West Pakistan. It ended in the secession of East Pakistan, which became the independent nation of Bangladesh. Now Anam is back with a terrific sequel: THE GOOD MUSLIM. It tells what happened to Rehana’s children, Maya and Sohail — how the war of independence changed them and how they each deal so differently with the lesions the trauma of war has seared into their souls.

2. Teju Cole, OPEN CITY

Teju Cole’s celebrated novel OPEN CITY takes place in a New York City marked by the events of the 9/11 attacks. Its narrator and protagonist, Julius, is a young Nigerian-German immigrant, doing his residency as a psychiatrist at a New York City hospital. The interplay between outsider and insider, between trauma and consequence, and human connections acknowledged and denied are explored in this powerful and evocative novel. 

3. James Kaplan, FRANK: The Voice

James Kaplan’s terrific biography of Frank Sinatra, FRANK turned me from someone totally indifferent to Sinatra into a fan. Reading like fast-paced hard-boiled fiction, the biography takes the reader on a fascinating journey through the life one of America’s greatest musical talents. It’s a personal, cultural history, and musical history of Frank Sinatra’s life, loves and times.

4. Susan Rosenberg, AN AMERICAN RADICAL: A Political Prisoner in My Own Country

Susan Rosenberg’s powerful prison memoir, AN AMERICAN RADICAL, exposes systematic human rights abuses in the U.S. prison system. But what’s even more moving is her searing account of her own experience of more than 16 years behind bars. We play a clip of Rosenberg reading an excerpt from the book about the Washington DC jail, where she spent her first months in prison.

5. Carl Safina, THE VIEW FROM LAZY POINT: A Natural Year in an Unnatural World

Lazy Point is a “flat peninsula of scrubby pines” in Amagansett, New York. It’s marine ecologist Carl Safina’s vantage point on the world’s oceans — oceans that are in deep trouble from multiple assaults. In the book, Safina alternates between two poles. lyrical descriptions of the beauty of place — interwoven with strong warnings about the impact of climate change and environmental abuse. He also has some inspiring success stories. One place where there is both good and bad news is with corals. We could lose 50% of coral reefs this century. Yet, there is also reason to hope. 

Go to the Writers Voice website for links to the full show episodes to all the Top Ten of 2011.