by Sarah Statz Cords
And no, I’m not really referring to the holiday season, also known as the month when I usually end up consuming my own body weight in cookies and fudge.
I’m talking about the end of the year “Best Books” lists. Have you seen some of these? If not, consider checking out the list of lists at the Largehearted Boy blog, or the compilations over at EarlyWord.
Of course it’s nice that all of these people are putting such effort into making book lists for us. But what do they mean, really? Although traditionally I have been a fan of these types of lists, I think I’m starting to turn on them just a bit.* A defining moment hit this week when I found Nick Reding’s nonfiction title Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town on the New York Times Notable book list. I’ve read this book, and I actually did think it was very interesting. But when I talked about it with other readers, several of them (who were actually from Iowa) pointed out factual discrepancies in his text. I’m not trying to pick on Nick Reding, here. But I guess what I’m saying is, if even the New York Times can’t be bothered to question whether or not a book may have needed a little more fact-checking, can I really be bothered to trust their very subjective “best” categorization?
What do you think of these lists?
*I’m also annoyed all these lists come out at a time of year when I have less time for reading. How about waiting on them a bit and putting them out in January? Or maybe June, right before the summer reading season?
MJ,
Oh, who am I kidding, I’m totally addicted to these lists too, even when I don’t agree with them. (Your point that part of the fun is in the scoffing is right on.)
Emailing them to yourself for latest perusal is a great idea! And I know in the summer all the “beach reads” lists come out, but I confess in the summer I’d sometimes like to read something a little more “best” and in the winter sometimes I’m in the mood for something “beachy”! Maybe we’ll have to post opposite lists here next year.
I still really enjoy these lists, warts and all. I confess that sometimes what I enjoy most is scoffing at them… and it drives me crazy how they seem to be universally in agreement that THEIR fiction list is the most distinctive and full of underappreciated gems… while all picking almost the exact same novels. But! I dig them. I almost always find a ton of wonderful books to read from perusing them.
I actually tend to skim them, for my patrons’ sake, in December, but then I email myself the URLs for promising ones, which I then look at in depth (I even take notes) during the post-Christmas winter break when I DO have time. Actually there have been busy years when I didn’t bother to read them until March break, and those URLs were still good!
You probably realize this and were being a bit tongue-in-cheek, but there is NO way in heck these lists will ever stop coming out in November & December – there is a sense in which they are Christmas ads!! It’s a time of year when people are thinking “hm, hm, hm, what can I get this bookish person on my list… *I* don’t know anything about books… let me seek out the opinions of this authority I trust!”
I got the sense when I worked in a bookstore that the “best of” lists were actually valued even MORE by the non-bookish but relatively middlebrow gift-seekers than they were by us booknerds.