ILX BOOKS OF THE 00s: THE RESULTS! (or: Ismael compiles his reading list, 2010-2019)

I know my gf owns The Counterlife; is that a good one to start with?

sorry, I didn't mean to sound like I don't like this book, I do! I just didn't expect so much Roth love so near the top.

I think this one is damaged by a too-great interest in the super-boring topic of "political correctness" though.

The Counterlife is quite difficult. I read it recently (I think it's the eleventh of his I've read) and I felt it was a bit meta for me even though it's by no means his most meta (though I'm not a fan of meta full stop). I started with The Human Stain then went back to Portnoy's Complaint - both of those are good starting points. The Plot Against America might be the best one to kick off with, it's probably the most straightforward.

I got the Roth/Kidman photo from this article comparing film and book. I haven't seen the film, but I thought the article was really insightful in terms of showing how what works in one doesn't necessarily translate to the other.

the human stain is worse for being a "good book" imo - something in really rebelled against how 'well-crafted' it is

Well, I think the time has come for your number one...

*drumroll*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTo6-Tx7uOU

1. The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen (2001)
(205 points, eleven votes, two first-placed votes)

http://www.themillions.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/franzenbig1.jpg

eephus!:
A big family novel with simple, conventional virtues -- good sentences, good jokes, good story. M Chabon, J Franzen, J Lethem have similar sentence-by-sentence approaches to writing novels; heavy on the wit, heavy on the unexpected adjective, lots of weight placed on dialogue which is (in the world of the novel) is off-hand. Each of the three starts out as a young hotshot in the 90s and comes out with a "big book" this decade (Kavalier and Clay, Motherless Brooklyn -- ok, fall 99 but who's counting --and The Corrections.) But I think the Chabon and Lethem books are in some ways a step back from what they were doing before, a retreat into something easier. While Franzen (who to be fair had done way less than MC and JL prior to the big book) seemed more to have his best material ready for the big stage.

TimF:
I love this novel and I love its structure: burrowing into the minds of each member of a family in turn allows you to absorb each one's prejudices and assumptions re the others only to have them undermined later on; but each character is better and worse than they are imagined to be their siblings. I've heard it described as moralizing but I found the writing to be very tender; Franzen loves his characters for their faults more than anything else.

Moreno:
A family meltdown novel done right. Great book but the movie's gonna suck.

The Corrections
Did anyone else actually get through The Corrections?

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed The Corrections after having read many conflicting reviews about the story. But I was rather entranced with the story - the familial conversations were painfully real, to me - and maybe that is why I felt so mcuh empathy for the mother. I didn't really care for any of the characters - they were almost *too* human in their imperfections, but I could well see where they were coming from and why.
There were some times when I was conscious of the author's voice coming through the words, and sounding self-satisfied - like "Hey, aren't I brilliant?" but for the most part I was able to lose myself within the story and was not conscious of the writer's ego poking through. I don't think that the writing, itself, was anything miraculous, but I do think it fit well with the story that was being told.
― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Monday, May 19, 2003 12:52 AM (6 years ago)

I'm reading The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. It took a while to get up much enthusiasm because it's quite a dull opening - a rather unattractive old couple moaning about old people things - but the rest of the family appear soon enough and I'm drawn right in.
I've had a good run of books set on fault lines of generational, ideological or ethnic divides - how dull, initially, the Midwest seems in comparison! Had I not been softened up by Updike I'm not sure I'd've got over the hump, but it's been worth it. The human conflicts are still there, you just have to burrow deeper to find them.
...
I finished 'The Corrections' last night. It was really good, had me hooked like few books have in the last year or two. I was really looking forward to every opportunity to escape into that world, which was even more impressive because most of it was so ordinary. It didn't even need the Lithuanian bits, I don't think, Denise's story would have carried the action on its own.
― Ismael Klata, Tuesday, September 15, 2009 5:05 PM (5 months ago)

m.e.a. (m.e.a.) wrote this on thread Incongruously Placed Advertising, S&D on board I Love Everything on Apr 30, 2004:
The tire shop near my apartment has a billboard above it...for a different tire shop. And I'm always amused by the corrections page in Slate, which always features an ad for Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections.

xxxxxp,
read a roth interview online recently (from gq maybe) where he was lamenting the film of the human stain, and despairing because the same people had the rights to american pastoral

big meh on this top five for sure. what a whimper.

i kinda liked St. Jude (?) and its denizens in The Corrections, cause it reminded me of home, but just about everything else in that book rubbed me the wrong way.

what a bore of a book.

couldn't disagree more, didn't read #5 but wholeheartedly endorse #4-1

thanks, ismael, this was tremendous!

great book! the characterisation is amazing.

So Everything Is Illuminated didn't even place.

i've been trying to decide whether i was interested in reading The Corrections for a while now, i suppose this is enough of a recommendation to give it a go.

an interesting tribute to DFW by Jonathan Franzen here: http://fivedials.com/files/fivedials_no10.pdf

Good result. I know there's a Franzen backlash elsewhere on ILX, on one thread because he had the audacity to take the piss out of late Gaddis, but I like his ambition - "DeLillo with characters you care about" was how he put it iirc (I paraphrase). Strong Motion and the 27th City are good too - less covincing, and more obviously in DeLillo's shadow, but full of ideas and I loved seeing him get (pretty much) everything right on his third attempt. One thing that surprised me about The Corrections was how funny it was - not self-consciously zany, but genuinely witty, especially in the setpieces - the mixed grill sequence springs to mind.

Thanks Ismael - this was fun.

Ah, slight error on my part over Everything Is Illuminated - I inadvertently gave it two slots on my list, both of which fell outside the top 100. It would've placed, but only at joint no.55 or so with Perdido Street Station. I made a similar mistake with Harry Potter but picked that up in time. I don't think there were any others *fingers crossed*

"the mixed grill sequence springs to mind."

absolutely. gary with the bread bag round his cut hand sneaking off to drink vodka while his son spied on him with a surveillance camera. classic.

that the upper reaches of this list are mostly books I own but haven't read yet (except The Road, which I've read, and it was... good! Certainly compelling and well-written, but something about the style and tone I just couldn't completely immerse myself in) suggests I have good times ahead. A shame that Everything is Illuminated wasn't #1, we would've had some of that much desired bile at last. That book I liked, although have the same irritations that everyone else has.

thanks a bunch Ismael, I've enjoyed this a lot.

Thanks Ismael.

Yeah, thanks a bunch.

cheers Ismael

yah thanks!

fwiw i have ~bad things to say~ abt the corrections but cannot order my thought @ the moment. my ballot:

01 alice munro - runaway (2005)
02 roberto bolaño - savage detectives (2007)
03 andre aciman - call me by your name (2007)
04 steven erikson - memories of ice (2005)
05 gary shteyngart - russian debutante’s handbook (2003)
06 james elroy - cold six thousand (2001)
07 george rr martin - storm of swords (2000)
08 mircea cărtărescu - nostalgia (2005)
09 shannon burke - black flies (2008)
10 alice munro - hateship, friendship, loveship, courtship, marriage (2001)
11 amy hempel - collected stories (2006)
12 roberto bolaño - 2666 (2008)
13 david foster wallace - oblivion (2004)
14 mary gaitskill - veronica (2005)
15 alan hollinghurst - the line of beauty (2004)
16 china miéville - perdido street station (2000)
17 robert bingham - lightning on the sun (2000)
18 joseph o'neil - netherland (2008)
19 rivka galchen - atmospheric disturbances (2008)
20 adam haslett - you are not a stranger here (2002)

i bought the aciman on yr recommendation, lamp (i already mentioned this upthread but i'm not sure if you caught it).

Thanks Ismael, sterling work! Don't really care about roth tbh, might give the frantzen a go.

xp: no i hadnt! hoped u like it

kind of lol 2 me: the entire top ten was dudes :/

On that note, I'm surprised Claire Messud's The Emperor's Children didn't make an appearance.

Or Rivka Galchen

Thanks Ismael - my reading list has expanded exponentially!

Glad to see Peter Carey & Murakami place so highly, two of my faves.

The Corrections is my least favourite thing in the top 10 - it amused me at the time but I can't say it profoundly resonated or anything. Okay I haven't read The Human Stain or the Dylan book, but I can't imagine either contain anything as awful as the turd scene.

If there is a bit in the Dylan book where Bob has a conversation with a talking turd, I take that back.

Agreed, Matt DC; I think the Corrections is utterly forgettable. A fairly enjoyable read at the time propped up by Frantzen's literary ambitions (and his big mouth), but essentially forgettable.

Here's my list for what it's worth:

1. Roberto Bolano - By Night in Chile (2000)
2. Laszlo Krasznahorkai - The Melancholy of Resistance (2000)
3. Cesar Aira - An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter (2006)
4. Roberto Calasso - Literature and the Gods (2001)
5. Mircea Cartarescu - Nostalgia (2005)
6. W.G. Sebald - Austerlitz (2001)
7. Roberto Bolano - 2666 (2008)
8. Fernando Pessoa - The Book of Disquiet (2001)
9. Enrique Vila-Matas - Bartleby & Co. (2005)
10. Cormac McCarthy - The Road (2006)
11. Cesar Aira - How I Became a Nun (2007)
12. Laszlo Krasznahorkai - War & War (2006)
13. Roberto Bolano - The Savage Detectives (2007)
14. Enrique Vila-Matas - Montano's Malady (2007)
15. Horacio Castellanos Moya - Senselessness (2008)
16. J.M. Coetzee - Elizabeth Costello (2003)
17. Gregoire Bouillier - The Mystery Guest (2006)
18. William H. Gass - Tests of Time (2002)
19. George Saunders - Pastoralia (2000)
20. Jonathan Lethem - Fortress of Solitude (2003)

Yes, thanks Ismael. Really enjoyed following the rundown & I've got a few new things to read. Actually finishing a Bolano might be the first task.

The very top end didn't do much for me. Corrections I've mostly forgotten - in my head it's down as The Upper Soap Opera + some iffy literary prose. I read a chunk of the Plot v America, paused & never picked it up again. I liked it, but I just didn't have the urge to return. I've probably said at least once in this thread that I'm not really one for novels, & maybe I mean 'The Novel', & I think Roth is one of the reasons I've come to that conclusion: I come out of his books (I've read 3, started 4 or so more?) thinking 'that's good', or 'that's impressive', but I forget them quickly & on the whole feel like I'm in a different world from all the people saying 'He is the great modern master' - like I want or expect something fundamentally different from prose fiction (tho' a) I'd be hard-pressed to say what that was & b) this sounds too much like I'm pinning Roth as a realist plodder or something - really not intended, he's obvs not like that, & this is just one of those blanks in my taste that I've hit repeatedly & get nowhere with, see also Henry James).

Maybe I'll try Sabbath's Theatre.

My ballot (unordered apart from Remainder):

#1: Tom McCarthy - Remainder (2007 on the list but it is more like 2005)
Simon Armitage - Gawain And The Green Knight (2007)
Christopher Logue - War Music (2001)
Peter Ackroyd - London, The Biography (2001)
Martin Amis - Experience (2000)
Joan Didion - The Year Of Magical Thinking (2005)
Bob Dylan - Chronicles (2004)
Alex Ross - The Rest Is Noise: Listening To The 20th Century (2008)
David Thomson - The Whole Equation (2006)
John Gray - Straw Dogs (2002)
JG Ballard - Complete Stories (2001)
George Saunders - Pastoralia (2000)
William Gibson - Pattern Recognition (2003)
Michel Houellebecq – The Elementary Particles/Atomised (2000)
David Mitchell - Black Swan Green (2006)
David Mitchell - Cloud Atlas (2004)
Thomas Pynchon - Against The Day (2006)
Thomas Pynchon - Inherent Vice (2009)
Paul Morley - Words And Music (2003)
Alice Oswald - Dart (2002)

Thanks Ismael; fantastically organised and very interesting. Will you do a final 1-101 run-down. If you do it'll be easy for everyone to copy and paste the definitive list to use as a reading list.

Thanks for the kind words everyone, but it was my privilege really. I've got a few lessons that I've picked up in the process, in case anyone ever fancies running a write-in poll of their own:

For poll organisers:

1. record everything on some kind of spreadsheet - this is the most important. I did it all longhand and it just gets unwieldy too quickly. A spreadsheet would've made ordering and checking things much easier, and would've meant that the odd book didn't go missing.

2. don't have lots of unnecessary rules because: a) people mostly don't read them; and b) if you make it look complicated it'll put people off voting.

3. don't ask too much of your audience. I started off demanding blurbs from everyone, but some people really don't want to do them and it'll just put them off. (Some others really stepped up here - thanks to woof in particular, but also to eephus! and the others whose names kept cropping up ^ up there, it really improved the thread and I'm grateful. I promised that I would put all orphan blurbs up and will try to do that and the absolute full results at the weekend)

3. keep publicising your poll, even though it's kind of embarrassing to have to be always spamming other threads or bumping your noms & voting threads for no good reason - even if you don't get more votes, at least people know there's a poll coming and will hopefully participate when it arrives. Nobody minds anyway.

5. it's a hell of a lot of work, but it's great fun. Do try and do the countdown in one go though - I put so much into every entry that I had to take a week off in the middle to do real work. Not sure that helped much, but it worked out okay.

For punters:

6. don't be embarrassed about nominating or voting. A lot of people said they didn't vote because they had read too little or not the right stuff. It really doesn't matter, a poll's a broad church and everyone has something to contribute. Even though none of the poetry made the top hundred, I was really pleased that enough people pitched in a little to enable that little countdown at the weekend - it was a nice bonus and opened my eyes to some new stuff.

7. do vote early! I got a bit panicky when the flow of votes dried up after christmas. It turned out fine, but I was worried for time that the whole thing was going to fail. The odd sympathy vote would have gone a way towards easing that (and see also 6).

For authors:

8. give your book a proper title for god's sake! Searching for quotes on 'The Road' that don't relate to someone's house or holidays is next to impossible.

Otherwise, just go for it, it makes for excellent reading. I had a great time and am quite proud of what we managed to put together. Thanks to everyone for contributing!

great job dude this was lots of fun, thanks!!

great job ilx for not voting for everything is illuminated that book sux thx bye!

Quite surprised at #1. I thought the book would show up in the top 20 but not at the first place. Currently reading it halfway through and lagging a bit because it seems to have reached a difficult part but I intend to get through it. It's just so good.

My ballot below. I think I am the definitively mainstream ILX reader because, if I have it right, 19 of 20 placed! (Imperial Life in the Emerald City didn't make it iirc)

1. True History of the Kelly Gang

2. The Corrections

3. Cloud Atlas

4. Homeland

5. Runaway (Munro)

6. 2666

7. Youth (Coetzee)

8. The Road

9 . The Plot Against America

10. Atonement

11. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

12. Imperial Life in the Emerald City

13. On Beauty

14. No One Belongs Here More Than You

15. Veronica

16. Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

17. Notable American Women

18. The Amber Spyglass

19. The Tipping Point

20. Pastoralia

I've only read 9 of the books on this list. My ballot in full:

1. Bob Dylan - Chronicles (2004)
2. Phillip Roth - The Plot Against America (2004)

Looking at my ballot I've realised I criminally and inexplicably forot to put John Banville, "The Sea", in there.

Thanks again Ismael. My ballot felt arbitrary at the time, and now looks kind of baffling to me. Nevertheless:

1. Norman Rush - Mortals (2003)
2. Paul Morley - Nothing (2000)
3. Bob Dylan - Chronicles (2004)
4. David Thomson - The Whole Equation (2006)
5. Catherine O’Flynn - What Was Lost (2007)
6. Jonathan Franzen - The Corrections (2001)
7. Paul Morley - Words And Music (2003)
8. David Peace - The Damned United (2006)
9. Steve Erickson - Zeroville (2007)
10. Paul Farley - The Ice Age (2002)
11. David Cavanagh - The Creation Records Story: My Magpie Eyes Are Hungry For The Prize (2001)
12. Simon Reynolds - Rip It Up And Start Again (2005)
13. Mark Halliday - Jab (2002)
14. Alex Ross - The Rest Is Noise: Listening To The 20th Century (2008)
15. Dean Young - Skid (2002)
16. Alice Oswald - Dart (2002)
17. George Saunders - Pastoralia (2000)
18. Nicholson Baker - A Box Of Matches (2003)
19. Don Paterson - Landing Light (2003)
20. Martin Amis - Experience (2000)

For those too lazy to c&p their own reading lists, here's the countdown in full:

101. Nixonland - Rick Perlstein (2008) (22 points, two votes)
100. Suite Française - Irène Némirovsky (1942, translated 2004) (22 points, two votes)
99. A Storm of Swords - George Martin (2000) (22 points, two votes)
98. Veronica - Mary Gaitskill (2005) (22 points, three votes)
97. How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered The World - Francis Wheen (2000) (23 points, three votes)
96. On Green Dolphin Street - Sebastian Faulks (2004) (24 points, two votes)
95. No Country For Old Men - Cormac McCarthy (2005) (25 points, three votes)
94. Experience - Martin Amis (2000) (25 points, three votes)
93. Look To Windward - Iain M. Banks (2000) (26 points, two votes)
92. Nostalgia - Mircea Cărtărescu (translated 2005) (26 points, two votes)
91. Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell (2009) (26 points, two votes)

90. Stasiland - Anna Funder (2004) (27 points, two votes)
89. Bel Canto - Ann Patchett (2001) (27 points, two votes)
88. Stiff: The Curious Lives Of Human Cadavers - Mary Roach (2003) (28 points, three votes)
87. The Elementary Particles also known as Atomised - Michel Houellebecq (2000) (28 points, four votes)
86. Sinai Diving Guide - Alberto Siliotti (2005) (28 points, two votes, one first-placed vote)
85. The Shock Doctrine - Naomi Klein (2007) (29 points, three votes)
84. Freakonomics - Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner (2005) (29 points, five votes)
83. Death With Interruptions - Jose Saramago (2008) (30 points, two votes)
82. Fun Home - Alison Bechdel (2006) (30 points, three votes)
81. Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned: Stories - Wells Tower (2009) (30 points, three votes)

80. Black Swan Green - David Mitchell (2006) (31 points, two votes)
79. Rabbit Remembered - John Updike (2001) (31 points, two votes)
78. Engleby - Sebastian Faulks (2007) (31 points, two votes)
77. An Episode In The Life Of A Landscape Painter - Cesar Aira (2006) (31 points, three votes)
76. Memories of Ice - Steven Erikson (2005) (31 points, two votes)
75. The Whole Equation - David Thomson (2005) (31 points, two votes)
74. What's Left? - Nick Cohen (2007) (31 points, three votes)
73. The Creation Records Story: My Magpie Eyes Are Hungry For The Prize - David Cavanagh (2001) (32 points, four votes)
72. Nothing - Paul Morley (2000) (33 points, two votes)
71. The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell (2000) (33 points, four votes)

70. Blink - Malcolm Gladwell (2005) (33 points, four votes)
69. Europeana: A Brief History of the Twentieth Century - Patrik Ouředník (2005) (34 points, two votes)
68. Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage - Alice Munro (2001) (34 points, five votes)
67. Stalin: Court of the Red Tsar - Simon Sebag Montefiore (2003) (35 points, two votes)
66. Words and Music - Paul Morley (2003) (35 points, three votes)
65. Against The Day - Thomas Pynchon (2006) (35 points, four votes)
64. Tree of Smoke - Denis Johnson (2007) (37 points, two votes)
63. Death And The Penguin - Andrey Kurkov (2001) (37 points, two votes)
62. London: The Biography - Peter Ackroyd (2001) (37 points, three votes)
61. The Year Of Magical Thinking - Joan Didion (2005) (38 points, four votes)

60. White Teeth - Zadie Smith (2000) (40 points, two votes)
59. Twilight - Stephanie Meyer (2005) (41 points, two votes)
58. Youth - JM Coetzee (2002) (41 points, two votes)
57. Saturday - Ian McEwan (2005) (41 points, three votes)
56. No One Belongs Here More Than You - Miranda July (2007) (41 points, four votes)
55. Perdido Street Station - China Miéville (2000) (42 points, three votes)
55= Everything Is Illuminated - Jonathan Safran Foer (2002)
54. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - JK Rowling (2000) (45 points, four votes)
53. Netherland - Joseph O'Neill (2007) (45 points, four votes)
52. Gilead - Marilynne Robinson (2004) (45 points, two votes, one first-placed vote)
51. Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris (2000) (46 points, five votes)

50. The Perry Bible Fellowship: The Trial Of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories - Nicholas Gurewitch (2008) (46 points, six votes)
49. 45 - Bill Drummond (2000) (47 points, three votes)
48. House Of Leaves - Mark Z Danielewski (2000) (49 points, five votes)
47. The Yiddish Policemen's Union - Michael Chabon (2007) (49 points, two votes, one first-placed vote)
46. The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins (2006) (50 points, four votes, one first-placed vote)
45. The Complete Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi (2007) (51 points, six votes)
44. Remainder - Tom McCarthy (2007) (52 points, two votes, one first-placed vote)
43. Our Band Could Be Your Life - Michael Azzerad (2001) (53 points, four votes)
42. Fooled By Randomness - Nasim Taleb (2001) (53 points, three votes, one first-placed vote)
41. On Beauty - Zadie Smith (2005) (54 points, five votes)

40. The Damned United - David Peace (2006) (55 points, four votes)
39. Notable American Women - Ben Marcus (2002) (55 points, three votes, one first-placed vote)
38. Rip It Up And Start Again - Simon Reynolds (2005) (60 points, six votes)
37. Anathem - Neal Stephenson (2008) (60 points, two votes, one first-placed vote)
36. Vernon God Little - DBC Pierre (2003) (60 points, three votes, one first-placed vote)
35. The Rest Is Noise - Alex Ross (2008) (61 points, six votes)
34. The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao - Junot Díaz (2007) (63 points, four votes)
33. The Russian Debutante's Handbook - Gary Shteyngart (2003) (64 points, three votes, one first-placed vote)
32. Austerlitz - WG Sebald (2001) (65 points, five votes)
31. Runaway - Alice Munro (2005) (65 points, four votes, one first-placed vote)

30. The Line Of Beauty - Alan Hollinghurst (2004) (70 points, four votes)
29. Complete Stories - JG Ballard (2001) (70 points, five votes)
28. Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides (2004) (70 points, six votes)
27. Pictures At A Revolution - Mark Harris (2008) (70 points, two votes, one first-placed vote)
26. Homeland - Sam Lipsyte (2004) (70 points, four votes, one first-placed vote)
25. Safe Area Goražde - Joe Sacco (2000) (72 points, three votes, one first-placed vote)
24. The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time - Mark Haddon (2003) (74 points, five votes, one first-placed vote)
23. A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius - Dave Eggers (2000) (76 points, seven votes)
22. Pattern Recognition - William Gibson (2003) (77 points, four votes)
21. Pastoralia - George Saunders (2000) (79 points, nine votes)

20. Collapse: How Societies Choose To Fail Or Succeed - Jared Diamond (2004) (79 points, three votes, one first-placed vote)
19. Consider The Lobster - David Foster Wallace (2005) (80 points, eight votes)
18. Q - Luther Blissett (2003) (80 points, three votes, one first-placed vote)
17. Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro (2005) (86 points, five votes, one first-placed vote)
16. Oblivion - David Foster Wallace (2005) (87 points, five votes, one first-placed vote)
15. The Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman (2000) (88 points, nine votes)
14. By Night In Chile - Roberto Bolaño (2000) (91 points, four votes, one first-placed vote)
13. Fortress Of Solitude - Jonathan Lethem (2003) (91 points, six votes, one first-placed vote)
12. Atonement - Ian McEwan (2001) (93 points, five points, one first-placed vote)
11. The Savage Detectives - Roberto Bolaño (2007) (104 points, six votes)

10. Chronicles - Bob Dylan (2004) (115 points, seven votes, one first-placed vote)
9. The True History Of The Kelly Gang - Peter Carey (2001) (115 points, four votes, two first-placed votes)
8. 2666 - Roberto Bolaño (2008) (120 points, eight votes, one first-placed vote)
7. The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier & Clay - Michael Chabon (2000) (121 points, seven votes, one first-placed vote)
6. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell (2004) (122 points, six votes, one first-placed vote)
5. Kafka On The Shore - Haruki Murakami (2004) (128 points, seven votes, one first-placed vote)
4. The Road - Cormac McCarthy (2006) (142 points, eleven votes)
3. The Plot Against America - Philip Roth (2004) (147 points, twelve votes)
2. The Human Stain - Philip Roth (2000) (152 points, seven votes, one first-placed vote)
1. The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen (2001) (205 points, eleven votes, two first-placed votes)

Coming soon - the shirt off my back.

Thanks Ismael, this was amazing, much better than I was expecting, and as a consequence has provided some useful lessons: 1) I was aware of and had read more than I had thought from the past decade 2) shd still engage more with contemporary writing for all sorts of reasons, not least there's some good stuff out there! Really enjoyed everyone's contributions.

'Fraid Roth doesn't do a lot for more, and will risk accusations of juvenile philistinism by saying I find him boring. Shd possibly read the Kelly Gang, but disliked Jack Maggs so much that I swore I'd not read another Carey. Will definitely be checking out the William Gibson and getting the Ballard. Have already checked out Europeana (it's good as far as it goes, its circular method and laconic delivery producing a sort of impressionistic aesthetic of the 20th Century). And it's reminded me to read Black Swan Green as soon as possible.

I've read one other Carey, The Tax Collector, which was rubbish, The Kelly Gang is nothing like it.

I didn't know The Corrections was so well liked. I'll have to read it soon. (I got a copy last year. The Human Stain is in the mail, too.)