Pointless Adventures in Literature-Browsing the NYT 100 Best Books Part 2: RGBIB 424

[@davidramnero6126]

Bolaño is fantastic. The books are loong, but the style is very light, you can just pour through it. 2666 is the masterpiece, but Savage Detectives is up there as well.

[@Scottmbradfield]

Lots of Bolano fans have been weighing in, thanks! Stay safe in the bathtub! s

[@aLadNamedNathan]

100. Denis Johnson: Tree of Smoke 99. Ali Smith: How to Be Both 98. Ann Patchett: Bel Canto 97. Jesmyn Ward: Men We Reaped 96. Saidiya Hartman: Wayward Lives Beautiful Experiments 95. Hilary Mantel: Bring Up the Bodies 94. Zadie Smith: On Beauty 93. Emily St. John Mandel: Station Eleven 92. Elena Ferrante: The Days of Abandonment 91. Philip Roth: The Human Stain 90. Viet Thanh Nguyen: The Sympathizer 89. Hisham Matar: The Return 88. Lydia Davis: The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis 87. Torrey Peters: Detransition, Baby 86. David W. Blight: Frederick Douglass 85. George Saunders: Pastoralia 84. Siddhartha Mukherjee: The Emperor of All Maladies 83. Benjamin Labatut: When We Cease to Understand the World 82. Fernanda Melchor: Hurricane Season 81. John Jeremiah Sullivan: Pulphead 80. Elena Ferrante: The Story of the Lost Child 79. Lucia Berlin: A Manual for Cleaning Women 78. Jon Fosse: Septology 77. Tayari Jones: An American Marriage 76. Gabrielle Zevin: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow 75. Mohsin Hamid: Exit West 74. Elizabeth Strout: Olive Kitteridge 73. Robert A. Caro: The Passage of Power 72. Svetlana Alexievitch: Secondhand Time 71. Tove Ditlevsen: The Copenhagen Trilogy 70. Edward P. Jones: All Aunt Hagar’s Children 69. Michelle Alexander: The New Jim Crow 68. Sigrid Nunez: The Friend 67. Andrew Solomon: Far from the Tree 66. Justin Torres: We the Animals 65. Philip Roth: The Plot Against America 64. Rebecca Makkai: The Great Believers 63. Mary Gaitskill: Veronica 62. Ben Lerner: 10:04 61. Barbara Kingsolver: Demon Copperhead 60. Kiese Laymon: Heavy 59. Jeffrey Eugenides: Middlesex 58. Hua Hsu: Stay True 57. Barbara Ehrenreich: Nickel and Dimed 56. Rachel Kushner: The Flame Throwers 55. Lawrence Wright: The Looming Tower 54. George Saunders: Tenth of December 53. Alice Munro: Runaway 52. Denis Johnson: Train Dreams 51. Kate Atkinson: Life After Life 50. Hernan Diaz: Trust 49. Han Kang: The Vegetarian 48. Marjane Satrapi: Perseopolis 47. Toni Morrison: A Mercy 46. Donna Tartt: The Goldfinch 45. Maggie Nelson: The Argonauts 44. N. K. Jemisin: The Fifth Season 43. Tony Judt: Postwar 42. Marlon James: A Brief History of Seven Killings 41. Claire Keegan: Small Things Like These 40. Helen Macdonald: H Is for Hawk 39. Jennifer Egan: A Visit from the Goon Squad 38. Roberto Bolano: The Savage Detectives 37. Annie Ernaux: The Years 36. Ta-Nehisi Coates: Between the World and Me 35. Alison Bechdel: Fun Home 34. Claudia Rankine: Citizen 33. Jesmyn Ward: Salvage the Bones 32. Alan Hollinghurst: The Line of Beauty 31. Zadie Smith: White Teeth 30. Jesmyn Ward: Sing, Unburied, Sing 29. Helen DeWitt: The Last Samurai 28. David Mitchell: Cloud Atlas 27. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Americanah 26. Ian McEwan: Atonement 25. Adrian Nicole LeBlanc: Random Family 24. Richard Powers: The Overstory 23. Alice Munro: Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage 22. Katherine Boo: Behind the Beautiful Forevers 21. Matthew Desmond: Evicted 20. Percival Everett: Erasure 19. Patrick Radden Keefe: Say Nothing 18. George Saunders: Lincoln in the Bardo 17. Paul Beatty: The Sellout 16. Michael Chabon: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay 15. Min Jin Lee: Pachinko 14. Rachael Cusk: Outline 13. Cormac McCarthy: The Road 12. Joan Didion: The Year of Magical Thinking 11. Junot Diaz: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao 10. Marilynne Robinson: Gilead 9. Kazuo Ishiguro: Never Let Me Go 8. W. G. Sebald: Austerlitz 7. Colson Whitehead: The Underground Railroad 6. Roberto Bolano: 2666 5. Jonathan Franzen: The Corrections 4. Edward P. Jones: The Known World 3. Hilary Mantel: Wolf Hall 2. Isabel Wilkerson: The Warmth of Other Suns 1. Elena Ferrante: My Brilliant Friend

[@Scottmbradfield]

Thanks! s

[@skillfulmeans88]

Nothing like a nice aimless adventure in the bathtub. 2666 is a masterpiece, hands-down; the pacing is unmatched. The audiobook is very well done, as well. Cheers my friend.

[@Scottmbradfield]

We strive to be aimless AND pointless! Bolano rec noted (see above and below!) s

[@skillfulmeans88]

@@Scottmbradfield To be fair, my comment was first, haha -- Anyways, I'm putting together a Rex Stout / Ross Macdonald collection at the moment, and I'm moving away from the postmodern behemoths. But the rec for 2666 remains. Now that I mention it, have you read American Tabloid by James Ellroy? Or the other 2 novels in the Underworld Trilogy? Those 3 books put him up there with Cormac McCarthy for me as American greats. The Underworld Trilogy blew me away. Had to read the whole thing twice to really get the gist. But yeah, "Transcendent crime fiction on an epic scale." Not to mention his mastery of style, structure and voice.

[@Scottmbradfield]

@@skillfulmeans88 Thanks for all the suds, Philip. I never got into Ellroy but love Stout and MacDonald! Have fun in the tub!

[@jobuckley2999]

Seventeen minutes of I haven't read that or I didn't like that. Perfect.

[@Scottmbradfield]

You mean "Perfectly pointless!" That's our only ambition!

[@pragjyotishbhuyangogoi8363]

Hey, Scott. I recently started reading a book of short stories by Kazuo Ishiguro titled 'Nocturnes' and have found the stories okay-ish. There are two movies based on his Novels which I quite like- 'Never let me go' and 'Remains of the day', though I've never read the novels.

[@Scottmbradfield]

@@pragjyotishbhuyangogoi8363 Hey Prag! Always glad to find you in the bathtub! I love Remains of the Day the movie but couldn't finish the book! I don't get Ishiguro myself, but then it's my stupid bathtub!!! S

[@leolamoon11]

Percival Everett is fantastic! Give him a shot. I won’t complain about publicity stunts to get people to purchase and read books….

[@Scottmbradfield]

Cool, thanks. What sort of publicity stunts? s

[@HideAndRead]

I was waiting all day for this! A list of books I wont read. 😅 Edit: Persepolis was good

[@Scottmbradfield]

From someone who hasn't read them! s

[@nickdolan3741]

My tip re: Marilynne Robinson is to try some of her essays. She is definitely one of the finest essayists in America today. And I say this as someone who also doesn't love the novels. Her book The Death of Adam is from the 90s but if it were a bit later would definitely deserve a spot here. Also, please read Outline at some point, if only so you can read the other books in the trilogy, Transit and Kudos. You would blaze through each of those very quickly. The end of Kudos is a brilliant gut-punch, which is especially impressive since it's not plot-heavy.

[@Scottmbradfield]

Interesting, ok. I will suspend judgment on her essays until I read them (not that I'm rushing out to get them...) s

[@lukestables708]

You've read a lot more than me but I feel like we would agree about a lot. I feel these lists are just for certain types of critics. I read The Known World for a book club and just found it very boring, quite surprised it's so high but there we go. I suspect I'd find a lot of these books very boring too. My favorite would easily be The Road. I feel a lot of these books a usually just very SERIOUS with no sense of humor and terrible dialogue. I'd easily put something by Houellebecq on the list. It might not be GREAT LITERATURE but at least he has a sense of humor. Maybe you could try your own entirely subjective top 10?

[@Scottmbradfield]

Yeah I think most good books are pretty easy to read and bad ones (however many you've read) aren't, and I couldn't get through na couple stories by the author of KNOWN WORLD. It's amazing how many award winning novels are pretty bad. Just enjoy yourself in the tub is all that matters, screw the NYT taste-masters! s

[@Altranite]

“Number 69 - Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy. Heard of it, never read it”

[@Scottmbradfield]

Thanks, I must've missed that. Planning to read it soon tho... s

[@ToddCobler]

Could never get into Gilead, but Housekeeping is one of the few novels I've read multiple times. Beautiful prose. Loved the Bill Forsyth film, as well.

[@redfordgrange3507]

I like the life and times of Michael K by Coetzee - a Booker winner - a lot.

[@Scottmbradfield]

OK! I like what I've read of Coetzee, but not that one. Yet... s

[@redfordgrange3507]

The Rings of Saturn is the key Sebald work I reckon. Unoriginally.

[@reaganwiles_art]

Slowly crawling my way through Bovary, caterpillar style, chewing every sentence slowly, gaining sustenance from Flaubert's faultless sensibility-no gimmicks, no cleverness or authorial intrusions; and the deep understanding of these people by their author is so sad and yet endearing. About a 3rd in. A serious author, a serious man to be sure, an artist non pareil.

[@Scottmbradfield]

@@reaganwiles_art glad you’re enjoying it. One of my favorite rereads. Kind of never lets you go right into the horrors.

[@samferguson9171]

Sebald is brilliant - maybe too lugubrious for the bathtub? His understated sense of humor (especially in Rings of Saturn, his best book) alleviates the constant thrum of melancholy.

[@redfordgrange3507]

Also G, by Berger, although it’s been decades since I read it.

[@dennisbento7440]

Scott, the movie you were thinking of was Living-a remake of Ikiru. I thought it was good in a Masterpiece Theater sort of way. Ikiru is arguably Kurosawa's best film and one of the greatest movies ever made. Living was not in the same league although I was rooting for Bill Nighy to win the Oscar.

[@timmclain375]

At last, my status as an old fart is confirmed. I've read an even dozen of the 100. Of those I'd consider returning to The Road, Fun Home, Train Dreams, and Pulphead (fascinating essays by JJ Sullivan.) The rest barely made ripples, though The Goldfinch almost killed me. Three vaunted writers I've tried my best to appreciate -- N.K. Jemisin, David Mitchell, Jennifer Egan -- have been serious disappointments. Two of my faves from this century are story collections, Sidle Creek by Jolene McIlwain and Exhalation by the great Ted Chiang. And Rusty Brown by Chris Ware, a graphic novel that rocked me, however not for all tastes. Thanks for showing me what I've missed, and that's it's all right not to care!

[@ReadingIDEAS.-uz9xk]

Wow, I've not read any of these. Saw a bit of the film Atonement but not all of it. Watched all of the film The Last Samurai (if it is the same thing). Watch the tv series Wolf Hall. Am I missing out on reading any of these or are they, you know, 'modern?'

[@Scottmbradfield]

They're all pretty modern but if you like older style books, Hollinghurst's THE LINE OF BEAUTY is quite "Jamesian" and while many don't like him, I think Franzen writes beautifully about modern cities... LAST SAMURAI the movie has nothing to do with the book! (Tho I haven't read the book.) Stay safe in the bathtub! s

[@donaldkelly3983]

Robinson isn't Raymond Chandler but I did like Housekeeping.

[@zanejennings2235]

no inherent vice!

[@Scottmbradfield]

@@zanejennings2235 I agree that’s idiotic! Or Bleeding Edge!

[@excelsiorathletic]

I watched American Fiction, enjoyed it, read, 'Erasure,' liked that too. Will read more of Everitt. Never let me go by Ishiguro is terrible: the whole premise is pointless and doesn't stand up to scrutiny. He gets evisecerated for dabbling in speculative fiction that has no basis in logic. Underground railroad is vastly overrated too: another dabble in SF . Harlem Shuffle was ok but is a Chester Himes rip off. Donna Tartt : yawn. Milkman, by Anna Burns, isn't on this list, is a book set in N.I. but is excellent. Very original.

[@Scottmbradfield]

Yeah I sort of sympathize with those readings, not that I've read the books (and still don't want to) by Ishiguro/Whitehead...

[@larrycarr4562]

A less than my brilliant list to the latest century start… and not particularly interested in what’s coming. I have 900 unread books on my kindle to keep me busy in the 🛁. Predominantly cheap, good ebooks gathered in the past 10 years in Bezos bargainville from the 2nd 1/2 of the 20th century… mystery laden but some quality “lit” in the mix. My 🛁 is overflowing. I have read 15 of the NYT 💯 list, ✅ off a dozen more as want to read, but not rushing to get any… the 21st century largely unwanted in my tub, movie releases lack interest, social & comedic topics can get off my lawn, & political-environmental news makes me feel like -Lucky. But life is good, and my kindle shall see me through, cheers Scott & bathers.

[@Scottmbradfield]

I think I agree-I've had enough of the 21st century to last me a lifetime... s

[@larrycarr4562]

I stay young in the 🛁, at 75 -I’m on the 5 year plan…I hope to re-up my membership at 80… those 900+ and growing unread ebooks in my kindle loom large ….should exceed 100 books read this year, but the mind and body both are dwindling. How about Biden? ‘bout time. But haven’t a clue wtf happens next… I think we’re screwed. As Pogo, famously said, we’ve met the enemy & it is us! Stay safe out west, I’m guarding the eastern flank.

[@Scottmbradfield]

@@larrycarr4562 Yeah we're fucked. The same idiots who stuck us with Hilary (who lost to the worst candidate in the world, Trump,) and stuck us with Biden (who came within a few thousand votes of losing to the worst President of all time, Trump,) have now tossed out Biden so they can stick us with Harris, who can't give a speech to save her life, and she will lose to the biggest criminal in presidential history, Trump. And those idiots keep their jobs into their eighties, jeez. Yeah, build bigger bathtub! s

[@larrycarr4562]

@@Scottmbradfield Kamala gives me the heebie jeebies, won’t happen but I’d go with a Whitmer-Bashear ticket.