37% is still a failing grade; or, stray book recs from That List

yet more thoughts on the nytimes' best 100 books of the 21st century

Here’s some unasked-for addition to the discourse around the New York Times’ top 100 novels of the 21st century.

First and foremost: I read 37 of them. This number feels, somehow, embarrassingly high. It’s a reflection of the fact that I finished my Honour’s bachelor degree in Literature in 2012, exactly halfway through the 25 years documented in this list. I completed that degree in Canada where the “Honours” qualifier means that a quarter of all my classes were on pre-20th century British canon. After this, I committed myself to reading mostly contemporary books. I have since reversed this commitment.

In terms of the mild embarrassment: every best-of list curated by too many people winds up being a celebration of the middle of the road. IMDb ranks the #1 movie of all time as Shawshank Redemption. A defense of snobbery would be another newsletter entirely, so to stay on track: it’s fair to describe the general character of the list as being a little “major American book retailer’s recommended table.” This is coming from someone who devoted lots of their precious reading hours to more than a third of the books on that list! I’m throwing stones from the comfort of my glass house! I’m not owned!

For speed, I’m only really interested in talking about the books from this list that I endorse. Many of books that I’m not going into detail below are ones that I simply found forgettable. As a proud opinion-generator: antipathy is its own opinion.

That said, this exercise is also not necessarily an argument that all of these books should be on a top 100 list. I write all this with the perspective of: if you’ve considered reading one of them, let this be a co-sign! Keep your “to be read” list short, free yourself from your own expectations.

As many better writers have drawn out: many voices and forms were missing from the original list. A consideration of what “should” be on the list is another exercise entirely! Before I caveat myself into a corner, let’s begin.

This is only a handful of the books because I Love the Library and buy books sparingly

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13 Books To Read, If You Want, As Incidentally Curated by the New York Times’ List

My Brilliant Friend - I wanted to cheer like I was watching a sports game when this was #1. In my opinion: entirely correct. That said, the whole quartet is more accurately deserving of the top spot. They’re timeless and remarkably so for being somewhat minute in their scope: a relatively small cast of characters for 4 novels, the changing shape of one city across decades. They’re so specifically about these two women, about their relationship.

I recommend this book if you’re looking for something long to read in the summer and are looking for something driven by its characters and their extremely human emotions.

Never Let Me Go - Lincoln Michaels pointed to the genre-bending nature of 21st century books, and to my mind, Never Let Me Go is the “best” of this — meaning both exemplary of the trend and most enjoyable. Ishiguro’s austere writing style worked best in Remains of the Day (his best book), but in terms of style → subject, his emotionally distant voice adds to the storytelling here.

I recommend this book if you know nothing about it and like to be surprised by books. Go in blind, if you can.

Gilead - Speaking of Remains of the Day, this is another quiet book that pads slowly along until you’re overtaken by the emotional crescendo it has been building. It is a masterwork: profoundly moving in its simplicity, so so much going on (American history, race, theology) underneath a quiet exterior.

I recommend this book if you want to remind yourself of the profound peace of a field in twilight.

The Year of Magical Thinking - The least Didion-ish Joan Didion book. And yet, and so! It is the definitive book about grief for a reason, Didion brings her incredible writing and outsider affect to an intensely personal and emotional topic. In it, she depicts marriage as a lifelong conversation — a description that stuck with me right into my own marriage.

I recommend this book if you want to read something quick but devastating.

Outline - I read Outline in three sittings and subsequently recommended it to as many people as would listen. It’s the kind of book worthy of dissecting slowly, just to admire its formal elegance. It is a series of conversations in which the narrator, present only as an outline, learns the life stories of a series of people she meets on vacation.

I recommend this book if “plotless and contemplative” are selling points to you, this is the #1 book of that genre.

Fun Home - The graphic novel of all graphic novels. Ambitious and sprawling, Bechdel (yes, of the test) blends incredibly personal history with so much more. This is one of the books on the list I studied in university, and one of the (many) books I truly enjoyed reading in that environment because it does so much in its very full pages and rewards analysis of every panel.

I recommend this book if you enjoy reading memoirs, queer history, parental relationships, and grief. A sublime version of all of those things.

The Goldfinch¹ - One of my hotter book takes is that I prefer The Goldfinch to The Secret History. What can I say, I love a long book! This book starts with the bombing of an art museum and never explains any details of that bombing. That’s not relevant to us! Donna says move on, let’s talk about antiques! Instead, what we care about is the sliding doors of chance encounters, art, and childhood friends.

I recommend this book if you like big long books that have a little dash of thriller, a little dash of coming of age, and only if you care 10% about verisimilitude.

The Flamethrowers - I’m a documented historical fiction skeptic, but Rachel Kushner uses her historical setting not to demonstrate her extensive research (the thing that often drives me from the genre) but as an extension of her many themes. It’s an expansive novel that is, among many other things, about the tension between waiting and action, and who gets to do either. A description from the novel that stuck with me:

I thought of the girl in photo in Ronnie’s studio, the one on layaway. She was probably waiting for him this very moment, somewhere downtown. Checking the clock, applying lipstick, concetrating herself into an arrow pointed at Ronnie. Doing the various things women did when they wanted.

Another recommended if you like long books that take you across continents and zones.

Hurricane Season - This book was so upsetting it ruined my week when I read it. For one, the subject matter. For two, it’s readably dense. It feels like being in the dark witch’s house that’s a feature of the story. All of that makes it really hard to “recommend” it — but I do. Translating a book with this intensity and style is in of itself an incredible feat.

I recommend this book if you like books in translation in general, and if you’re in the mood for something truly singular.

Detransition, Baby - I commented on Celine’s post that I think Torrey Peters is the exemplary writer of the late 2010s, 2020s genre loosely defined as “millennial fiction about women in crisis.” Sally Rooney is the star of this genre, despite her lack of appearance on the list.² In terms of this book: it’s so rare for a book to be serious but laugh-out-loud funny! There are lots of pronouncements about what gender, aging, and being alive is like (a table, Sex & the City, to name a few).

I recommend this book if you want to laugh while reading something with a keen observational eye, lots of plot, and forward momentum.

The Sympathizer - The other exemption from my historical fiction rule. So many historical fiction novels are deeply sentimental and this is so intensely not. It’s a scorcher of a book, with a writing style that’s like reading a breathless rant — after all, the story is presented as a jail cell confession. The sequel, The Committed, is just as good. I’m excited to know there’s a third.

I recommend this if you dislike books that hold your hand: this one grabs you by the throat and starts running.

Salvage the Bones - I love the phrase “prose stylist,” and it applies to Jesmyn Ward. This is an atmospheric, painful book that leaves you with several indelible images. It’s told over several days leading up to Hurricane Katrina, and evokes that looming sense of dread in every page, rolling like a mist over you as you read it.

I recommend this book if you’ve ever read Faulkner and wanted more.

Station Eleven - I stopped watching the HBO adaptation of this show when the apocalypse trauma porn kept going for three or more episodes. The particular strength of this book is that it mostly elides the specifics of what happens when the world ends. It’s interested in something much bigger and less television-worthy: what’s next? How to find meaning, then, or anywhere?

I think this is the most “accessible” book I’m recommending here — lots of action, great writing, and something beautiful to say about fighting to stay alive.

Stray thoughts on the remaining 25:

Erasure - I recommend this if you found American Fiction the movie a little tepid. I liked the film as a very moviey-movie, but it is so different from the book. Based on a sample size of two (this + The Trees) Everett wields satire like a baseball bat: blunt and unforgettable, but repetitive. The My Pafology section felt like punishment to be endured to enjoy the rest of the book, which is maybe the point.

Trust - Recency bias, surely? I liked this book! It’s fun, but I don’t know that it’s in the best books of 2022 either!

Books I read that I think are good but find I have nothing to say about:

Say Nothing;³ A Visit From the Goon Squad; The Underground Railroad; The Fifth Season; Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage; The Friend; An American Marriage

Books I loved in high school but read too long ago to endorse with gusto:

• The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

• The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

• White Teeth

• On Beauty

Books I’m going on record as thinking are a solid 3/5:

Wolf Hall, Pachinko, The Overstory, Cloud Atlas, The Vegetarian, The Great Believers, Exit West, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Alright, that accounts for all 37 books. Maybe I’ve liberated myself from thinking about this for at least 36 hours.

1. I shared this list with my roommate Alanna who implied that recommending The Goldfinch invalidated this whole exercise… It’s so important to sow discord in your own home!

2. I did not like ‘Beautiful World Where Are You’ very much, however, I did see it at *multiple* airports in multiple countries, and while that has nothing to do with whether she should be on best-of list, it does underline how much she has her finger on the pulse of something, whether or not you want to hear that beat.

3. I think I found Empire of Pain the “better” of his two doorstopper long-form narrative nonfiction, but both are stand-outs of the genre