Good news, everyone! The New York Times 10 Best Books of 2008 is out, and I've actually read one of them! That's about the same as I was doing at this time last year, so yay for maintenance. (The numbers look, umm, less good if you take into account that I've read only two of the top 100 notable books of the year, but hey, who's counting? Chances are I'll get to Toni Morrison and Fareed Zakaria soon. Ish.)
Notably missing from both lists is The Wordy Shipmates, Sarah Vowell's latest book, which was pretty much eviscerated last week by Virginia Heffernan. What a sad Thanksgiving in the Vowell house.... Plus, this illustrates reason #46 not to piss off a TV critic in general, and a Times critic especially.
2 comments:
I can't name a television critic I can stand, but I'm actually comforted by reading a review that bad every once in a while. It lets me know that critics are still allowed to really tear into something if they deem it deserving. It's a reminder of how subjective book reviews can be (Heffernan could have the most isolated opinion in the world, or could be riding the prevailing wave of consensus, and the reader will never know without going out and reading three or four more reviews). It's also good to have someone make an argument against something one is predisposed to liking (I think it help keeps one honest).
Anyway, I found the list of ten notable books must less appealing than last year's. Of the hundred, I think I've only read one, and am satisfied with the distilled versions (articles, blogs, reviews) I got from the other interesting ones.
The top ten really was kind of blah--and I'm pretty sure that if you or I had put much thought into it, we probably could have predicted that list.
I've actually heard similar things about the Vowell book from more trusted sources. It just surprised me that a prominent review of a (somewhat) Times-connected author was so candid. If I were Paul Krugman, I'd be scared.
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