Lists

I've been thinking about lists a lot lately and how angry they make me and then I made my own and I'm sure I'll be angry at my own list someday

Lists of the ‘best’ books always annoy me. It’s such a cruel word – best. Ranking books is a really weird thing to do, especially when you love books. But there was no stopping the New York Times and their ‘100 Best Books of the 21st Century’. I was pretty happy to have read 80 of the books on the list. If over the past 24 years you have read a lot of American fiction and memoir, it’s likely that you will score highly as the list (compiled by American writers and critics) certainly skewed that way. There were some books I truly disliked on the list so it didn’t completely align with books I’ve actually loved. And there was not a single Australian authored title on the list.

All lists are fundamentally flawed by their very nature. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t compile them and come to some sort of arrangement and understanding about our reading tastes and preferences. Figuring out the kind of books I like to read, as opposed to the ones I was studying, was one of the most fun experiences of my life. It’s ongoing of course and it changes but I know my tastes enough now to know when I should not read a book and I’m a moth to a disassociated narrator unravelling’s flame. I’m very discerning with who I listen to for book recommendations and am always amazed by the trust readers put in me for their reading. If that’s you, thank you. I do not take it for granted.

But back to lists. Over the last couple of weeks, Readings has posted a top 30 ‘Best Australian Books of the 21st Century’ list voted for by Australian publishing and bookselling staff. It was their way to redress the absence of Australian fiction on the NYT list. And good on them for doing it.

But again there were several books on the list I would never have voted for and some absent that outraged me. A couple, I downright detested. No list can match my exact reading taste though, can it? Well, it turns out there is one that can. And it’s one I have made myself. Since the NYT list came out I have been toying with my own 100 Books of the 21st century list. I’m not using the word ‘best’ or ‘favourite’, just ‘books’ and there are 100 of them. There is an order but it’s pretty arbitrary. Book 100 could easily have been book 68. That’s less true as you get closer to the top 20. That’s where things got really tough. But I’m racing ahead. You won’t see the top 20 for 9 weeks. I’m releasing the list 10 at a time weekly so we’re in this for the long haul. The list is simply a list of books I read and loved in the 21st century, nothing more, nothing less. And all I hope to achieve with the list is book chat. I just want to talk books with friends and enemies on Instagram and here. That’s it. I’m happy for readers to be outraged their favourite book is not on the list. I want debate about books that you feel should have ranked higher. I know some authors whose work I love follow me and I hope they are not disappointed if their book is not on my list. It was tough. So many books I love are not on the list. I’ll write next time about how I came to compile the books and rank them and each week I’ll have something to say about the books. Here are books 91–100:

Nobody read The Star Side of Bird Hill when it was published in 2015 and I wasn’t able to draw readers to it at the time (special mention to Georgia Hill who bought the US hardcover from me and loved it as much as I did). The Throwback Special is one of the best and most beautiful books about male friendship I have ever read and there is a scene I think about all the time – the friends who gather annually to re-enact a specific football play end up smoking a cigarette together by the bins, each of them neglecting to mention to the others that he recently quit smoking. I’m not doing the scene or the book justice. It wasn’t even published in Australia! But it HAD to be on this list.

Beautiful Revolutionary is an Australian cult novel I adored and Smart Ovens for Lonely People is a wonderful Australian short story collection (now out of print). I doubt the American writers and critics voting for the NYT list would ever have had the opportunity to read either book. And it’s truly their loss.

The remaining books all received their due on publication. And I just cannot shake them. I loved reading them, I loved talking to readers about them, I loved reviewing them. They stayed with me in some way despite the fact that I have read hundreds of books since I read these books.

100 books is a lot of books, but it’s also just a drop in the ocean. I hope you’ll stay tuned as the list is revealed. I hope you’ll chat books with me and other readers. And if my list makes you angry, I look forward to hearing why. And I cannot wait to talk to you about your list.