End of the year review 2017
Like many of you, I have been browsing the best of the year lists. (If you missed them, Large-Hearted Boy has a huge list.) As regards best novels, I have…
Latitude Festival’s Top 20 Books by Women
The Women's Prize for Fiction has just posted Latitude Festival's Top 20 Books by Women. What a disappointing selection! Only one originally written in a language other than English (Allende),…
America Reads
The Library of Congress currently has an exhibition of books people in the USA like reading. It is not an impressive list but then it is not meant to be…
100 best English-language novels
I am a glutton for a good list but I like my lists complete. In The Observer, Robert McCrum has been giving us one a week, which is a really…
End of the year review
I have been following the various best of the year lists, as I enjoy a list as much as the next person. Inevitably, I have learned about some interesting books…
20 best British and Irish novels of all time
The Daily Telegraph has published what it laughingly calls the 20 best British and Irish novels of all time. Three are ludicrous choices - Jilly Cooper, The Sea, The Sea…
Which Books Should We Stop Calling Classics?
Flavorwire has a post on Which Books Should We Stop Calling Classics?, asking a handful of critics, writers, and publishing industry people for their views. Interestingly, only three authors made…
Amazon’s 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime
The Amazon editors have produced a list of 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime, with an associated Goodreads' 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime: Readers' Picks (Amazon, of…
Who’s the most significant historical/literary figure?
The Guardian had an article about the most significant historical/literary figures of all time. To do this, they claim to use a principled assessment of a person's achievements, whatever that…
Best of 2013
I have been watching the best of 2013 lists with interest not least because, pedant as I am, 2013 only finished a few hours ago so it did not seem…