when newspapers gather what they have read over the past year and make wonderful lists of this year’s best:
The The Guardian follows the NYT in polling for the best British (or Irish, or Commonwealth) novel in the past 25 years….And the winner is JM Coetzee’s Disgrace. I haven’t read Disgrace, but I have read the The Life & Times of Michael K, which was a startling and vivid tale of humanity.
As I am a big fan of lists, I enjoy this kind of article despite how much it reminds me of all of the books that I have not read in the past 25 years. I like the debate, albeit, it’s never quite an open debate considering the article also has a hint of the American vs. British sensibility:
In the novel, as in everything else, there are Anglo-Saxon and American attitudes. We celebrate a literary tradition of astonishing variety. They want to believe in the Great American Novel, the classic exemplar, the last word. We don’t really believe in the last word, prefer not to be told what’s best and would rather make our own discoveries. They subscribe to the pursuit of (literary) happiness.
Of course, not so much so that they avoid creating a long list of the “best novels” of the past 25 years.
You can find a great list of anticipated books of 2006 over at The Millions where you can also find a link to a cool website about book cover design.
The Guardian and the Boston Globe have previews of what to read in 2006.
The Chicago Sun-Times has an interesting end of the year literary wrap-up, which includes a “best books” list, (brief) commentary on the American literary state, and snippets of interesting literary events of 2005.
Here’s a sampling:
SHOWDOWN AT ST. ANDREW’S CORRAL. Cary McNair, a wealthy film producer, demanded that Annie Proulx’s stunning short story “Brokeback Mountain” — about two gay cowboys — be yanked from the 12th grade reading list of St. Andrew’s School in Austin, Texas, or he’d withdraw his $3 million donation to the building fund. The courageous school refused to give in and McNair took back his donation, but writers everywhere came to the school’s support and it easily made up the money elsewhere. (The movie wasn’t bad, either.)
THE INBRED WORLD OF BOOK REVIEWING. Stung by a snarky review of his novel Until I Find You in the Washington Post, John Irving complained that the reviewer, Marianne Wiggins, had an unacknowledged “prior association” with the author — a no-no on many book pages (including this one). “Had we known that Irving had dedicated one of his earlier novels to Marianne Wiggins’ ex-husband, Salman Rushdie, and had we known that Irving and Wiggins had socialized in the past, we would not have made the assignment,” the Post said in a rare apology. “Socialized”? Hmm.
PUSILLANIMITY PRIZE. To the New York Times, for refusing to print the title of chess champion Jennifer Shahade’s book Chess Bitch: Women in the Ultimate Intellectual Sport in two articles on the same day — including the op-ed piece she wrote at the Times’ request.
THIS IS A DEMOCRATIC NATION? Turkey put its most famous novelist, Orhan Pamuk, on trial for telling unpleasant truths about Turkey.
New York magazine has the year’s best ‘end of year’ list for its creative categories and not so typical choices.
You are currently browsing the archives for the Lists category.
Seattle, WA