The NY Times recently released their list of the top 10 books for 2008 here:

http://www.oculture.com/2008/12/10_best ... _2008.html

I managed to read none of them this year.

Does this mean that I am missing out on the cutting edge consciousness of literature?

Or do large review based institutions such as the NY Times Book review Department merely promote the distribution of prosaic ideas?

thanks for the post, i am going ahead and purchasing one of hte books on there....the one by robert bolano, called "2666: A Novel"
i will let you know how i liked it, though that shouldn't be for a couple of months...
cheers!

An interesting call in program of people recommending books they have read this past year:

http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R81222090 ... c79360f3f8

I especially enjoy the guy who recommends Limits of Power.

Again with a simple google search I was able to find:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... d=96539642

This time a collection of collections filled with books that I have no interest in reading. Who reads/buys this stuff? I had been under the assumption that NPR constituted "smart" media, of course opencultre often serves up little better. Ah well I guess I have a full year of books to look forward to.

I di dnot read any of these this year. I read so many children's books throughout the year I try to read simply for the enjoyment - stuff that is light and humorous. No heavy lifting!!

{quote} grim:Or do large review based institutions such as the NY Times Book review Department merely promote the distribution of prosaic ideas?

I think you have it right here Grim...but no list is going to suggest books that please everyone...theirs seems quite mundane most of the time. Grindle

I read none of the top ten list last year - I don't think I've ever seen them around before either.

However, there are a few on the top 100 list I am trying to find to read like Sir Gawain. I might have to check out Borders while I am there tomorrow if I get a chance.

It might just be me, but I always find some of these top ten/100 lists seem to have either hard to obtain books [for whatever reason - out of print, unavailable readily,etc], obscure books some people haven't heard of or books that are/can be only heard of in the country where the list is compiled. Thoughts?

I didn't read any of these. I was too busy studying! I hardly got any reading done outside of assigned texts. I do appreciate the list though!

I haven't read any of these books either. However I have read a review of the Bolano book which is meant to be very good.

Do people have their own ideas of a top 10 list for 2008?

I have read Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth. Having been a big fan of Indian expat writers (though Lahiri is not really an expet herself), I may be biased toward her. But I think this is a great work. I bought this hardcover because I could not wait its paperback published.