The New York Times Best Books List & Booker Prize Predictions

Taos Notes

1.

The New York Times recently came out with its top 100 books of the 21st century… Like a lot of people I had to parse that for a second… Are we really that deep in the new century already?

I wasn’t crazy about their list either. Not surprising, it was heavily skewed to American MFA tastes. Other than On Beauty by Zadie Smith and The Return by Hisham Matar, loving both those writers so much, I thought they missed the boat not including David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas, Yanagihara’s To Paradise and also Alan Moore’s Jerusalem. I haven’t read Elena Ferrante, but really? That is the best book of the past twenty-five years?

And I definitely would have thought my beloved favorite writer Salman Rushdie’s post 2000 novels, Shalimar the Clown and The Enchantress of Florence deserved a place….(!!)

Also, hello, Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk! Orhan Pamuk’s Museum of Innocence?

And a case could be made for Less, by Andrew Sean Greer and Christopher Buckley’s The Relic Master. But the list showed the usual penchant for family drama, character arcs, and “stakes.” The same-old.

2.

Anyway, forget the New York Times!! What I love doing this time of year is making my predictions for the Booker Prize Long List. (They are going to announce it in a few weeks). Do you have any favorites?

So far my wish list includes:

• My Friends by Hisham Matar
  This is the book I think should win the prize—it is an extraordinary book. This was an extraordinary book. It’s a quiet and beautifully written novel with a very leisurely pace that brings a surprising emotional heft. Based again on a son’s estrangement from his home country, Libya, and the trauma of being persecuted by a repressive regime, reading at times I forgot I was reading a book at all… it felt like I was there. As James Wood wrote in the New Yorker, the book is about the divided self. I don’t think I’ll ever forget this story.

• Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez
  This book did have some issues surrounding it due to the fact that the book is based on a real life story about a Cuban-American artist who was likely murdered by her husband (he was acquitted). The author closely adhered to the facts of the real person’s life —without providing her full name except making mention of Ana. The family of the artist was very unhappy about this. I think it might keep this extraordinary book off the long list. But this book was a remarkable portrait of an artist and examined what it means to be an artist. The prose popped. Really great book.

• Orbital by Samantha Harvey
  “In the new morning of today’s fourth earth orbit the Saharan dust sweeps to the sea in hundred-mile ribbons. Hazy pale green shimmering sea, hazy tangerine land. This is Africa chiming with light.”—Samantha Harvey

• Irena Ray by Jenny Croft
  How many times reading this book did I think: I wish I could study creative writing with her!!) The translator of nobel prize winning novelist Olga T., Jenny Croft is a master herself! Playful and really fun read.

• James by Percival Everett, who is one of my favorite writers. Even though this was not one of my favorites of his books, I still think he is one of America’s greatest living writers.

Usually they have a debut novel

• Kaveh Akbar’s Martyr: People are talking about this book as a possible contender. I liked the book a lot, but think the one below is a better contender for best debut.

• Whalefall by Elizabeth O’Connor (Winner of the 2020 White Review Short Story Contest)—the book is gorgeous and reminds me of last year’s shortlisted Paul Harding’s This Other Eden in both story and style.

Haven’t read these yet— but planning to read the first four at least summer and expecting to see on list (definitely the first three are serious contenders according to the “book-tubers”:

• Elif Shafak’s new novel (Coming out next month)

• Claire Messud’s new novel (Looking forward to reading this, though I’ve never read anything by her before)

• Calaedonia Road by Andrew O’Hagan

• Amitava Kumar’s My Beloved Life

• Praiseworthy by Alexis Wright (Very long Australian novel—excellent reviews and on all the prediction lists)

• Choice: A Novel by by Neel Mukherjee

Not as enthusiastic if this makes it:

• Some reviewers on Youtube will mention books they hope are not included. This year two reviewers mentioned Rachel Cusk’s new novel as one they hoped would be passed over. I have not been able to really get into Rachel Cusk either but I was hoping to try again with her new one. For my “skiplist” I think I would choose Absolution by Alice McDermott.

Others mentioned by Book-Tubers:

• Private Lives, by Julia Armstrong (Blackwell’s ships for free to US)

• Rachel Khong’s RealAmericans

• The Night Alphabet by Joelle Taylor (I might skip this one)

• The Road to the Country by Chigozie Obioma (Might avoid this because it involves war)

• Burma Sahib by Paul Theroux (not very Prize-y but I thought it was great)

• The Coast Road by Alan Murran (Mentioned in multiple predictions lists).

• Behind you is the Sea by Susan Muaddi Darraj

My favorite book in translation (so not open to Booker Prize-but International Prize)

• You Dreamed of Empires, by Álvaro Enrigue, Natasha Wimmer (Translator)

And

• What about Verghese’s Covenenat of Water? (On no one’s list but seems like it should be?)