Respect Authority

The end of the year means a lot of things - Christmas, New Year’s, 15 pounds in unexpected weight gain, but what most excites me year in and year out is the sudden and significant proliferation of the all-important “Best Books” lists, wherein publishers and media outlets from The Atlantic to Amazon.com reminds people that there’s more to life than Monday Night Football and “Rock Band.” 

It would take me ages to outline the pros of cons of the various lists available to the eager reader, and since I already wasted a significant amount of work time yesterday looking at said lists myself, it’s in my career’s best interest that I get at least mildly less distracted by all this today. (After all, who even has job security anymore?) But for the few of you out there who, like myself, occasionally pause the VH1 to take in some old-fashioned written word, here’s a sum-up of where to look for your fix:

1. The New York Times: Venerable in pretty much everything else, the Times seems to take the easy way out when it comes to picking top books. If you’ve spent the year with any sort of ear to the ground in terms of book releases, then you’re likely familiar with most of their fare (like Robert Bolano’s 2666 which seems to have made every book list this year, yet appeals to me as much as being tarred and feathered in slow motion). That said, the Times effectively splits their picks into a top ten and a more comprehensive list of 100 “notable” books, meaning you can skip the obvi’s and move on to some of the more unique suggestions. And those not written by NYT correspondents. 

2. Amazon.com: Sort of the Billboard of book lists, Amazon also caters to the pop culture phenoms more than anything else, but at least you expect it of them. After all, this is a Web site made famous for selling books, and lots of them, so who can blame Bezos for keeping one eye on quality, the other on sales. Still, Amazon’s list of 100 editors’ picks yields some unique choices, and more than a few that piqued my interest (including 2008 winner Philip Henschers’s The Northern Clemency, the annually necessary “portrait of the American family” book that resonates by virtue of being both brutally honest and woefully depressing). But for those less interested in what Amazon’s literature-conscious staff has to say, the site also provides a list of customers’ picks for the year, topped unsurprisingly by Stephenie Meyers’ Breaking Dawn, the fourth and “final” installment in the much-loved Twilight series. Followed up by tearjerker The Last Lecture and the third book in the Eragon series written by that dragon-loving savant kid, customers’ choices are predictable but probably a good reference for a Jeopardy category on popular reading. 

3. Publishers Weekly: While the go-to industry source for gossip, news and other publishing tidbits, PW has never really tried to appeal to the masses, a reality that makes the publication ideal for true book nerds, and inaccessible for almost everyone else. Their 2008 list, though it contains some of the requisite choices (Netherland, Plague of Doves, and shocker, 2666), is laid out in a way that kind of reminds me why so many people think reading is a rather dry pasttime - or at least an insurmountable one considering the sheer number of titles released. Still, by dividing their selections into various genres (who knew there were enough poetry books to justify top picks?), PW does tackle niches otherwise untapped. Definitely recommended if you just can’t decide which sci-fi book to read during Star Trek commercial breaks.  

4. The Atlantic: I can’t say I read The Atlantic with anything close to regularity, so naming it my fav for top-book lists is kind of a coup - were The Atlantic to give a shit about my opinion. But considering ten seems to be the minimum for book picks, and 100 the average, it was more than refreshing to stumble upon a list limited to a minimalistic six books. To me that suggests intense consideration, and a refusal to tack on runners-up in the interest of rounding out the selection number. Moreover, with the exception of universally lauded Netherland (which really does look like a good book), the titles chosen by Atlantic literary editor Benjamin Schwarz are fairly unique. The fact that you can sound intellectual and well-informed by claiming you heard about your latest book from The Atlantic is just a bonus.