Best books (fiction & non-fiction) of the 21st century?

[Mark Sacha]

I loved Caro's Power Broker (what a bastard that guy Moses was, although
fascinating as a character study...), but have been scared away from his
LBJ series for the sheer size of it (five volumes? I don't know if there's
a single figure in history I'd read so much about). Can't say I've read
much nonfiction from this century, would vouch for Burrows and Wallace's
Gotham if it didn't miss the cut off by a year or so.


On Sat, Dec 14, 2013 at 10:33 AM, Mark Sacha <msacha1121 at gmail.com> wrote:

> I loved Caro's Power Broker (what a bastard that guy Moses was, although
> fascinating as a character study...), but have been scared away from his
> LBJ series for the sheer size of it (five volumes? I don't know if there's
> a single figure in history I'd read so much about). Can't say I've read
> much nonfiction from this century, would vouch for Burrows and Wallace's
> Gotham if it didn't miss the cut off by a year or so.
>
>
> On Sat, Dec 14, 2013 at 8:09 AM, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>>  Joseph Tracy sez what I haven't said yet:
>> "I can't even rate books I really liked on a scale. I like them for very
>> different reasons."
>>
>> I am like some pre-industrial cultures I read about in M. Mead once. They
>> count None, One, Many....
>> I judge Great. Good. Bad but I can't really rank either. When I try, the
>> major "ranking' criterion is
>> something like 'richness'. Which means size matters. (I still do not know
>> how to judge whether
>> Huck Finn could be the greater 19th Century American novel, as many great
>> readers say,
>>  since Moby Dick exists.)
>>
>> So, great books of the 21st Century: Against the Day. My emotional
>> involvement makes me judge it
>> so far ahead (of others I've read) that I am a joke judge beyond that
>> book. Therefore an unreliable judge overall.
>>
>> Does anyone else jumping in here actually feel themselves unable to feel,
>> to get, to enjoy many, many fictions
>> because of Pynchon? Or Pynchon and Shakespeare for me?
>> I'm serious here. Most others feel......superficial. Others which aren't,
>> sez everyone,
>> often take a mental wrenching (like the head-turning in The Exorcist)---different
>> from absorbed mental concentration---which I am often not strong enough
>> for ----euphemism for not smart enough for in some sense....
>>
>> I have been reading many older works, "classics" rather than the latest
>> 'masterpiece' . Feeling I missed so many, so much
>> and read or 'looked at' contemporary works too much most of my adult
>> years.
>>
>> Yes, the parts of Caro I read on Johnson---early years which must be from
>> the last century and JFK's assassination and
>> his assumption of the Presidency are among the best of the 21st Century.
>>
>>
>>
>>   *From:* Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net>
>> *To:* P-list List <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>> *Sent:* Friday, December 13, 2013 11:25 PM
>> *Subject:* Re: Best books (fiction & non-fiction) of the 21st century?
>>
>> Who decides?  I can't even rate books I really liked on a scale.  I like
>> them for very different reasons.
>>   Books  from  this century that affected my thinking most? no order
>>
>> Omnivore's Dilemna, Michael Pollan  ( plus his talks and articles from
>> 2004-now)
>> Against the Day, T Pynchon
>> Mad Addam trilogy. Margaret Atwood
>> Eaarth, and Deep Economy, Bill McKibben
>> Murder City, Charles Bowden  affected me more than Bolano's 2666 but both
>> powerful  in different ways
>> Timothy; or notes of an abject reptile, Verlyn Klinkenborg  (
>> demonstrates beautiful clear prose without a verb in every sentence.)
>> Science Set Free , Rupert Sheldrake
>> The Lacuna, Barbara Kingsolver
>> The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein
>> My name is Red, Orhan Pamuk
>>     Fun and good - Michael Chabon, Neil Gaiman,  Jose Saramago,
>>
>>
>> On Dec 13, 2013, at 8:19 AM, James Kyllo wrote:
>>
>> > 2666. The Kindly Ones, The Pale King, Europe Central, The Time of Our
>> > Singing, The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break
>> >
>> >> So what are the best books of the 21st century, thus far?
>> >
>> >
>> > J
>> >
>> > --
>> > http://www.last.fm/user/Auto_Da_Fe
>> > http://www.pop.nu/en/show_collection.asp?user=2412
>> > http://www.librarything.com/profile/Auto_Da_Fe
>> > http://www.thedetails.co.uk/
>> > http://www.songkick.com/users/Auto_Da_Fe
>> > http://big-game.tumblr.com/
>> > -
>> > Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>>
>>
>> -
>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>>
>>
>>
>
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