I deeply agree with your 3/5s from the list - all I can say is same. I also on the record think those books are so average.
I have been circling around on whether to read Outline this summer and I think I might just have to do it - I have never read any Cusk before. While I don’t always love no plot just vibes, sometimes it really can work for me. And those who seem to love Outline I trust! Equally, I’ve been meaning to read Detransition, Baby and My Brilliant Friend for forever. I’ve only read Days of Abandonment by Ferrante before and while I enjoyed it, dare I say I think I expected more just because of how much she is hyped. Hurricane Season has always been unsure for me because a fair few people I know hated it! But if you haven’t read ‘This Is Not Miami’ by Melchor I seriously recommend it!
I absolutely cannot think about this list anymore, I think I’m at my NYT list capacity. That being said, I think this is the most succinct and useful reflection on the list I may have come across. Bravo Laurel!
Ooh, I *do* think Outline would be a good "summer" read because it is a series of summery, vacation-adjacent settings -- although it does not have the plot momentum I associate with a "summer read". It's a bit more like eavesdropping: the novel.
I obviously strongly cosign My Brilliant Friend, Hurricane Season & Detransition Baby -- the latter is very digestible especially compared to the others (MBF is basically a commitment to 3 more books and Hurricane Season is understandably disliked because it is so, so intense in its subject matter & style)
You’ve completely sold me with just describing it as ‘eavesdropping: the novel’ bc I love nothing more than to eavesdrop. Have you read the Ferrante quartet? I feel a lot of people try to recommend me that, but I would rather just try to read one more novel of hers rather than 3! In regard to HS - okay interesting I do like intense and depressing with experimental style so I will give it a go! This has made me more willing to pick it up - so thank you!
Martha, this might be my favorite piece of commentary on the NYT list, or at least the one with which I most agree.
I will especially co-sign your Outline take. I was equally surprised and pleased to see it on the list - it's such a unique novel and one that has really stuck with me since reading it. Before this list came out, I included it on my "25 Books" post from a few weeks back.
As someone who admittedly went through the list with Blair, knows their own number (read 19) and read both your and Lincoln Michel's thoughts on the matter, my fav response is still a tweet I saw that read, and I quote: "I would like to read a book, does anyone know of a transphobic, warmongering publication under active boycott where I could find out about the good ones? Bonus points if its normal books coverage is infamously narrow and facile." Sucks that the NYT is getting all this attention, and it simultaneously sucks that Sally Rooney didn't make any list of the best books of the 21st century (IMO). Also as Blair pointed out, I'm surprised A Little Life wasn't on it. Beyond that, there are lots of good criticisms to be made of the picks. On a more fun note, I am heartened to see you are also an appreciator of The Year of Magical Thinking, Detransition, Baby, Fun Home and the Neapolitan Quartet, as well as a disliker of the beginning of Station Eleven, the TV show (hated it).
I appreciated the analysis (I'll link below) that it's not even really literary criticism nor was it put together a with discerning eye to what / where literary fiction has gone in the last 25 years (in which case surely Rooney & Yanagihara would've been on)... it's just CONTENT. I fell pray to the call of content! I admit it!
I think above all else, it's an opportunity for litera(te/ry) to talk about the books published in the past 25 years, which we don't really get until a big enough publication does something like this. But I will check out this essay, ty for sharing.
I deeply agree with your 3/5s from the list - all I can say is same. I also on the record think those books are so average.
I have been circling around on whether to read Outline this summer and I think I might just have to do it - I have never read any Cusk before. While I don’t always love no plot just vibes, sometimes it really can work for me. And those who seem to love Outline I trust! Equally, I’ve been meaning to read Detransition, Baby and My Brilliant Friend for forever. I’ve only read Days of Abandonment by Ferrante before and while I enjoyed it, dare I say I think I expected more just because of how much she is hyped. Hurricane Season has always been unsure for me because a fair few people I know hated it! But if you haven’t read ‘This Is Not Miami’ by Melchor I seriously recommend it!
I absolutely cannot think about this list anymore, I think I’m at my NYT list capacity. That being said, I think this is the most succinct and useful reflection on the list I may have come across. Bravo Laurel!
Ooh, I *do* think Outline would be a good "summer" read because it is a series of summery, vacation-adjacent settings -- although it does not have the plot momentum I associate with a "summer read". It's a bit more like eavesdropping: the novel.
I obviously strongly cosign My Brilliant Friend, Hurricane Season & Detransition Baby -- the latter is very digestible especially compared to the others (MBF is basically a commitment to 3 more books and Hurricane Season is understandably disliked because it is so, so intense in its subject matter & style)
You’ve completely sold me with just describing it as ‘eavesdropping: the novel’ bc I love nothing more than to eavesdrop. Have you read the Ferrante quartet? I feel a lot of people try to recommend me that, but I would rather just try to read one more novel of hers rather than 3! In regard to HS - okay interesting I do like intense and depressing with experimental style so I will give it a go! This has made me more willing to pick it up - so thank you!
Martha, this might be my favorite piece of commentary on the NYT list, or at least the one with which I most agree.
I will especially co-sign your Outline take. I was equally surprised and pleased to see it on the list - it's such a unique novel and one that has really stuck with me since reading it. Before this list came out, I included it on my "25 Books" post from a few weeks back.
You're absolutely right that best-of lists like this generally celebrate works with a broad appeal.
As a comparison, a similar list from The Guardian from five years ago:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/21/best-books-of-the-21st-century
As someone who admittedly went through the list with Blair, knows their own number (read 19) and read both your and Lincoln Michel's thoughts on the matter, my fav response is still a tweet I saw that read, and I quote: "I would like to read a book, does anyone know of a transphobic, warmongering publication under active boycott where I could find out about the good ones? Bonus points if its normal books coverage is infamously narrow and facile." Sucks that the NYT is getting all this attention, and it simultaneously sucks that Sally Rooney didn't make any list of the best books of the 21st century (IMO). Also as Blair pointed out, I'm surprised A Little Life wasn't on it. Beyond that, there are lots of good criticisms to be made of the picks. On a more fun note, I am heartened to see you are also an appreciator of The Year of Magical Thinking, Detransition, Baby, Fun Home and the Neapolitan Quartet, as well as a disliker of the beginning of Station Eleven, the TV show (hated it).
I appreciated the analysis (I'll link below) that it's not even really literary criticism nor was it put together a with discerning eye to what / where literary fiction has gone in the last 25 years (in which case surely Rooney & Yanagihara would've been on)... it's just CONTENT. I fell pray to the call of content! I admit it!
It's a very "Heather's Picks" list (derogatory).
https://leighstein.substack.com/p/even-the-ny-times-is-creating-content
I think above all else, it's an opportunity for litera(te/ry) to talk about the books published in the past 25 years, which we don't really get until a big enough publication does something like this. But I will check out this essay, ty for sharing.