An odd list that is oddly decent
I love rankings: top ten, top hundred, worst twenty, middle fifteen. Write a list, I’ll probably read it, especially if it is a list ranking “great books.” Lists like this are, of course, made to be trashed, but that’s part of the fun. Man, was I ready for some list-trashin’ when I found out that Entertainment Weekly, of all forums, was ranking the top 100 books of the last 25 years. And then, I was disappointed. The list simply makes fun of itself. Take, for example, the top six:
1. The Road , Cormac McCarthy (2006)
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
3. Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)
4. The Liars’ Club, Mary Karr (1995)
5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)
6. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)
Did the editors really put this Harry Potter book after McCarthy and above Morrison? Above Roth? I mean, I’m guilty of having read several of those formulaic Potter books, but classics? I guess it depends on what we mean by classic, but any list that has this top six is a strange list indeed.
To be honest, the list isn’t all that bad. There are a surprising number of really, really good books on it, and a surprising number have never been for sale in airports. You really won’t go too far wrong with any of the books on the list–with the possible exception of The DaVinci Code. And putting The Road at the top warms my heart. Kudos EW. You could have done much worse.