The end-of-year making of lists is at once ridiculous (contrived, so subjective, and rarely comprehensive) and compelling (like a little, neatly-tied package). Regardless of your take on the practice, the time for end-of-year lists is upon us starting with the New York Times's publication of its annual list of 100 notable books of the year. I have read only 3 of the novels--Absurdistan, Arthur & George, and Terrorist--and none of the non-fiction. Of the books that came out this year that I have read, (only 6 or 7) I think Daniel Woodrell's Winter's Bone (review coming soon) deserved to make the list, but I am most certainly biased in favor of my fellow Missourian.
- I'm looking forward to reading: The Keep (I've been on the library's wait list for ages! Please, someone, return it!), Eat the Document, and The Inheritance of Loss.
- My curiosity is piqued by: Intuition, One Good Turn, Suite Francaise, and The Uses of Enchantment.
- I will not be reading: Against the Day (I've successfully avoided Pynchon thus far--why start now?), Everyman (too depressing), The Road (too masculine), The Emperor's Children (too annoying), and Special Topics in Calamity Physics (we're bordering on Dave Eggers and Jonathan Safran Foer hype here).
2 comments:
I agree with you that "Winter's Bone" should have been on there (also am a biased Missourian, however). It would have been nice to see Atwood's "Moral Disorder." Glad to see so many books by new and women authors, but kind of dissapointing to see the usual suspects (i.e., Roth and Updike) whose books didn't seem all that thrilling this year. I have a feeling those two could write anything and it would be listed among the notable books. Which makes me ask, why not the same reaction for Atwood? And what's up with the "Apex Hides the Hurt" hype? I feel like the only person on earth who thought that book was just bad.
I've read a few on the list -- certainly not even half. But I suspect that has quite a bit to do with the fact I'll sooner gouge my own eyes out with a red hot poker than read anything by Pynchon or Ginsberg. Make that all poetry.
I must confess I'm probably one of three people in the country who finds Cormac McCarthy painfully boring.
I'd recommend Suite Francais (although it is a HUGE downer), Beasts of No Nation (again, not uplifting), or anything by David Mitchell.
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