A Top 10 0f 2009
I love lists. Individual lists, group think, professional, or amateur--I love the fodder they provide for my own reading.
I especially love the lists produced in blogdom by people I've come to trust with regard to their opinions. To my mind, the opinions of people like me hold greater weight and validity in helping me decide future reading than two dozen academic critics. (Which is not to say that I don't respect academic critics--merely that having narrowly escaped from that world, I'm aware of how it is shaped and how little of it actually has to do with the quality of the book and how much of it is based on the importance of appearing high-brow.) High-brow, middle-brow, low-brow, uni-brow, no-brow--I don't care, what I'm interested in is what people enjoyed.
And what I like about this list is that while it is dated 2009, that merely refers to the reading year; there is much here from 2009, but we also encounter My Cousin Rachel. Chronological boundaries for best of are at best arbitrary and at worst silly, so it is good to see someone transcend the inherent chronochauvism of the review site and remark on the books most enjoyed in the course of the year--whether this year's vintage or not.
Bravo!
I especially love the lists produced in blogdom by people I've come to trust with regard to their opinions. To my mind, the opinions of people like me hold greater weight and validity in helping me decide future reading than two dozen academic critics. (Which is not to say that I don't respect academic critics--merely that having narrowly escaped from that world, I'm aware of how it is shaped and how little of it actually has to do with the quality of the book and how much of it is based on the importance of appearing high-brow.) High-brow, middle-brow, low-brow, uni-brow, no-brow--I don't care, what I'm interested in is what people enjoyed.
And what I like about this list is that while it is dated 2009, that merely refers to the reading year; there is much here from 2009, but we also encounter My Cousin Rachel. Chronological boundaries for best of are at best arbitrary and at worst silly, so it is good to see someone transcend the inherent chronochauvism of the review site and remark on the books most enjoyed in the course of the year--whether this year's vintage or not.
Bravo!
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