Glad to see that Maximum City, Out Stealing Horses, and The Secret Scripture made the cut. But, while The Da Vinci Code is a noteworthy book, it ias also a badly written, badly researched, and poorly plotted one populated with stick-figure characters. Home and The Road have their fans, and they are legion, but I am not among them.
Frank, we've previously argued about THE ROAD, but even I am surprised that McCarthy's book gets the #1 spot among the 100 "best of the decade." To my mind, we cannot determine any "best" list until books have been around for at least one or two generations. Then we have a perspective on what has staying power and what does not. Will THE ROAD be around in 40 or 50 years? Who knows. I would prefer to think that McCarthy's BLOOD MERIDIAN will be his legacy much as MOBY DICK is Melville's (though that was a staggering failure when first published).
ReplyDeleteFoarte interesant subiectul postat de tine. M-am uitat pe blogul tau si imi place ce am vazut.Cu siguranta am sa il mai vizitez.
ReplyDeleteO zi buna!
Frank, I've looked more closely at the Times Online list. Some of the selections are--in a word--bizarre: Obama's autobiographical drivel; Dan Brown's mess; Dawkins' delusional rant; and Bob Dylan's incoherent ramblings. I think I'll not be turning to this list for many reading suggestions. And I find it hard to believe that anyone would swallow this list except piecemeal and sparingly. (The readers' comments following the list, though, are rather entertaining.)
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like this list is going more by number of books sold than literary merit of the tome.
ReplyDeleteI've read a hell of a lot of novels in the last decade and most of these would not make my list. Like you, Frank, I found "Home" a huge disappointment -- the annotations to "Gilead," basically.