The Guardian echoes a suggestion of ours from earlier this month, saying that 2009 “was the year of the short story.” They add, “the consensus running through the end-of-year reviews is that it’s been a vintage year for short fiction.” On top of the releases we already mentioned, they cite collections from Kazuo Ishiguro, Ha Jin, James Lasdun, and AL Kennedy–plus the reissued versions of Raymond Carver’s stories. They praise David Vann’s Legend of a Suicide, “supposedly a novel [but] originally published as a story collection in America.”Guardian
Best of
On the Year and the Decade
USA Today picked The Help as their book of the year, and added these ten top critics’ picks:Spooner, By Pete DexterThe Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, By Katherine HoweStitches, By David SmallUnder the Dome, By Stephen KingTriangular Road, By Paule MarshallLet the Great World Spin, By Colum McCannLosing Mum and Pup, By Christopher BuckleyDorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits, By Linda GordonRevelation, By C.J. SansomHow to Be a Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood, By William J. MannUSAT And the newspaper’s Bob Minzesheimer wrote on a essay on the decade in books. Looking further forward, “asked about 2019, Stephen King […]
Once More, The Best of the Best of 2009
As promised yesterday, we have updated our big fat compilation list of “best books of 2009” lists–now merging over 20 sources–for two “consensus” top 10s: Fiction1. Wolf Hall, By Hilary Mantel (8)2. A Gate at the Stairs, By Lorrie Moore (7)3. Lark and Termite, By Jayne Anne Phillips (6)– In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, By Daniyal Mueenuddin (6)5. The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis, By Lydia Davis (5)6. Love and Summer, By William Trevor (4)– The Anthologist, By Nicholson Baker– Await Your Reply, By Dan Chaon– Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi, By Geoff Dyer– Too Much Happiness, by Alice […]
A Storied Year
Here’s one theme we haven’t seen yet in any of the “year in books” pieces. Though short-story collections rarely sell in big quantities, in 2009 a variety of collections enjoyed wide critical acclaim. For starters, this week’s Entertainment Weekly picks Daniyal Mueenuddin’s In Other Rooms, Other Wonders as their top work of fiction for the year. (Their No. 1 nonfiction pick is Dave Eggers’ Zeitoun; the rest of the list is in print only.) And New York Magazine’s just-published top 10 list (see below) puts Lydia Davis’s collection on top. On our own compilation list, pulling together over of 20 […]
More Lists
The Wall Street Journal reviewers’ nonfiction-focused top 10 “standout selections”: Baader-Meinhof, by Stefan Aust Cheever: A Life, by Blake BaileyThe Age of Reagan: The Conservative Counterrevolution, by Steven F. HaywardGallipoli, by Robin PriorThe Education of an American Dreamer, by Pete PetersonOpen: An Autobiography, by Andre AgassiThe Sellout, by Charles GasparinoLouisa May Alcott, by Harriet Reisen In fiction, they mention our consensus Best of the Best of novel, Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel, along with That Old Cape Magic, by Richard Russo Stephen King‘s top 10, for EW:1. THE LITTLE STRANGER, by Sarah Waters2. REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, by Richard Yates3. HOLLYWOOD MOON, […]
Now We Have Best of the Decade Lists, Starting with EW's Unusual Mix
Entertainment Weekly’s list of 10 best books of the decade includes 3 Oprah picks and a book from this year that has not made any of the nearly 20 “best of” lists we’ve been aggregating: 1. The Road, Cormac McCarthy (2006) 2. Say You’re One of Them, Uwem Akpan (2008) 3. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (2000)4. On Beauty, Zadie Smith (2005) 5. Zeitoun, Dave Eggers (2009) 6. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (2001) 7. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel (2006) 8. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000) 9. Case Histories: A Novel, Kate […]