5.11.2006

Best of the Last 25

The Times Book Review sent out ballots for the best American novel of the last 25 years and the results are in.

The list of judges is pretty impressive (and includes a few familiar names; I'd be curious to hear their choices).

5 comments:

kclou said...

what sticks out to me: three books by delillo and SIX by roth.

is anyone here a huge morrison fan? i know she's both taught and read a great deal, but i don't hear writers weep over her as much as many--if not most--of the others on this list...

Vampiro said...

Wow, let the arguing begin...

I've not read Morrison at all (it's the Oprah curse), but I probably would have voted for Blood Meridian myself. I'm glad to see my horse placed.

But, seriously, kclou is right. DeLillo, McCarthy & Roth are probably three of the best contemporary novelists we have, but do they seriously deserve that many spots?!

Brando said...

Jesus Christ, that list was more of a sausage-fest than a Star Trek convention.

PJKM said...

A very pale sausage fest - just two women and two black writers? (Including one that's both black and female: double score!)

Also, counting is not my strong point, but wasn't it 1981 (i.e. my last year at high school) 25 glorious years ago? Do the last two Rabbit books require the presence of the earlier two to let Updike make the greatness grade?

Jane said...

Yeah, the Rabbit books are definitely in there on a technicality, and barely.

DeLillo three times? Ptooey.

Roth is the man, but I agree that 6 books is a bit much. (And The Plot Against America doesn't belong among them if you ask me.)

I'm surprised Lorrie Moore's 'Birds of America' didn't make the list.