Daily Lit Links for 10/29
Today’s news is a series of best and worst, with Omnivoracious beginning their “Best Books of the Year” countdown, AbeBooks announcing the “worst pulp novelist of all time,” and Philip Roth foreseeing a fearful reading apocalypse. Scary, and just in time for Halloween.
Philip Roth says to invest in black robes.
- It’s not quite December, but Omnivoracious has begun the countdown for Best Books of the Year. Over the past couple days they’ve posted numbers 100-81 and 80-61, with more to come each day this week. So far big timers like Thomas Pynchon, William T. Vollmann, and Nick Hornby have made the list, along with a vast assortment of other fiction and nonfiction authors. It’s anyone’s guess how they come up with these choices, but a little what-to-read guidance is always appreciated.
- While we’re speaking about countdowns, AbeBooks has come up with a Top 10 list perfect for Halloween - “Top 10 Ghostwritten Books.” If you think celebrities are the only ones hiring ghostwriters, this list will make you think again. One notable ghostwriter on the list in Sinclair Lewis, who went on to win the Nobel prize later in life. Less glamorous is Leo Guild, whom the list describes as “the worst pulp novelist ever.” Ouch.
- Hopefully Philip Roth is not as good at predicting the future as he is at churning out novels. In an interview with the Guardian, Roth foresees the act of reading novels as something that will become rare and “cultic” in the next 25 years. He generously suggests there may be “more people than now read Latin poetry, but somewhere in that range.” With publishing companies earning more year over year and MFA programs bursting at capacity, there seems to be plenty of evidence to suggest he’s wrong, but who knows? We’ll just have to wait 25 years and get over our fear of cults.
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