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

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.)

Thanks Ismael, this was amazing

Seconded. I missed most of the run-down, but a great way to reconnect with what's going on, as I had a lost decade in some ways, with life getting in the way of reading much. I too was ware of and had read more than I had thought from the past decade, though. Will definitely try some Bolano, although having just started a 900-page Neal Stephenson novel, it won't be for some time. Will check out Steven Erikson too (*nerd*).

http://www.longpauses.com/blog/01_18_06.jpg

That reminds me xp: when I saw this picture I was chuckling to myself at a story I read where the author was urged to come along to see his book being filmed, and was heavily tipped off by the director that a certain day was the one when he wanted to turn up - i.e. the 'closed set Nicole Kidman nude scenes day'. I wondered if that explained her cheeky look and his slightly caught-unawares expression

I got the film wrong though - it was actually Eyes Wide Shut, and Stanley Kubrick leching off to Frederic Raphael (who was too much of a gent to take him up on it, he says).

Oh, I missed the denouement! Thanks for all yr hard work, Ismael. Really looking forward to reading some more of these. It's been a very interesting thread all round.

Went into Oxford's Blackwell's bookshop yesterday and they had a table with their books of the decade on. You can see it (alphabetical order, no ranking) on their website too.
http://bookshop.blackwell.co.uk/jsp/editorial/browse/botdecade.jsp?oldSearch=&oid=-167552&page=7&page1=7&search=&Next.x=19&Next.y=3

I've had fun comparing + contrasting with the ILX one. (Whoever nominated that Marcus du Sautoy book on theirs is crazy though, I hope that's not even in the best 100 pop-maths books this decade)

I started the Diarmaid MacCulloch book on the Reformation that's on their list. Seems v good, but so big - treating it as something to chop and fillet whenever I need info ('quick what happened in SWeden?????')

here is my list. it is unordered except for oblivion being my #1 pick.

David St. John And Cole Swensen, Eds. - American Hybrid: A Norton
Anthology Of New Poetry (2009)
Alison Bechdel - Fun Home (2006)
Bryan Lee O’Malley - Scott Pilgrim (2004-2009)
Tsugumi Ohba And Takeshi Obata - Death Note (2005-2007)
Emmanuel Carrére, I Am Alive And You Are Dead - A Journey Into The
Mind Of Philip K. Dick (2005)
David Foster Wallace - Consider The Lobster (2008)
Linda Williams, Ed. - Porn Studies (2004)
Lorrie Moore - The Collected Stories (2008)
George Saunders - The Brief And Frightening Reign Of Phil/In
Persuasion Nation (2006)
David Foster Wallace - Oblivion (2004)
Roberto Bolaño
 - 2666 (2008)
Roberto Bolaño - Savage Detectives (2007)
Mark Danielewski - House Of Leaves (2000)
Dave Eggers - A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius (2000)
Jonathan Lethem - Fortress Of Solitude (2003)
Ben Marcus - Notable American Women (2002)
George Martin - Storm Of Swords (2000)
Joseph O’Neill – Netherland (2008)
Thomas Pynchon - Against The Day (2006)
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire (2000)

also, fu to everyone who voted for jonathan franzen

Ismael, thanks for doing this.

My ballot:

1 Nicholson Baker And Margaret Brentano - The World On Sunday: Graphic Art In Joseph Pulitzer’s Newspaper (1898-1911) (2005)
2 Mark Harris - Pictures At A Revolution (2008)
3 David Peace - The Damned United (2006)
4 Bill Drummond - 45 (2000)
5 William Shaw - Westsiders (2000)
6 Nicholas Gurewitch - The Perry Bible Fellowship: Trial Of Colonel Sweeto And Other Stories (2008)
7 Peter Biskind - Down And Dirty Pictures (2004)
8=David Kynaston - Austerity Britain, 1945-1951 (2007)
8=David Kynaston - Family Britain, 1951-1957 (Tales Of A New Jerusalem) (2009)
10 David Cavanagh - The Creation Records Story: My Magpie Eyes Are Hungry For The Prize (2001)
11 Simon Reynolds - Rip It Up And Start Again (2005)
12 Ben Thompson - Ways Of Hearing: A User’s Guide To The Pop Psyche, >From Elvis To Eminem (2001)
13 Rick Perlstein – Nixonland (2008)
14 Alex Ross - The Rest Is Noise: Listening To The 20th Century (2008)
15 Jonathan Wilson - Inverting the Pyramid (2008)

Stuff I've got which polled, but haven't got round to reading yet:
How Mumbo Jumbo Conquered the World, Outliers, Freakonomics, Nothing, Words and Music, White Teeth, London:the biography, Chronicles

Stuff which I'll check out now:
Europeana, Netherland, Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and the Robert Bolano and Philip Roth.

Stuff which I would've voted for it if it was nommed:
David Thomson - Have You Seen, New Biographical Dictionary of Film. Heston Blumenthal - The Fat Duck Cookbook. Thomas cairns Livingstone - Tommy's War. Vic Reeves - Me:Moir. Frank Kogan - Real Punks Don't Wear Black. Patrick cGilligan - Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light.

Oh and seriously I'm going to check out some Harry Stephen Keeler, the descriptions of his work are quite extraordinary.

George Saunders - The Brief And Frightening Reign Of Phil/In Persuasion Nation (2006)

i've been thinking of picking up the latter -- the short story with babar in the future was terrific. do you have a preference between the two books?

Phil is my least favorite of his books

In Persuasion Nation is fantastic

what i would have voted for, had i voted (glad to see many of them made it anyway):

20. The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
19. 2666 by Roberto Bolano
18. 20th Century Boys by Naoki Urasawa
17. Haunted Weather by David Toop
16. Lush-life by Richard Price
15. Everything is Cinema by Richard Brody
14. Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon
13. Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson
12. Promethea by Alan Moore, J.H. Williams, and Mick Gray
11. Pictures at a Revolution by Mark Harris
10. Master of Reality by John Darnielle
09. Kill All Your Darlings by Luc Sante
08. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
07. Ninja by Brian Chippendale
06. Europe Central by William T. Vollmann
05. The Rest is Noise by Alex Ross
04. Pastoralia by George Saunders
03. Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware
02. Oblivion by David Foster Wallace
01. Veronica by Mary Gaitskill

9. Steve Erickson - Zeroville (2007)

Love this book... guess I should check out Memories of Ice. Or is that the other Steve Erickson?

- kogan's, darnielle's, vollmann's books all things i would have voted for/nominated if i had thought about it maybe a bit harder, oh well

- memories of ice is the fantasy steve erickson. zeroville is the film-crit/pomo steve erickson. they don't actually spell it the same way.

- "the short story with babar in the future was terrific. do you have a preference between the two books" — i voted for them that way because in the UK they're one book, which is my favourite of his books, as one book. individually i'd go for civilwarland in bad decline first, i think, though actually i'm not sure about that, i don't like the last story, or think it has, like, problems, i'd say either that or persuasion nation, anyhow

the fantasy is erikson the britmo is erickson

Really enjoyed the countdown while watching from far, far away...though its a shame I am not that inspired to actively go out and pick anything much apart from By Night in Chile (way more to do with my interests in reading matter REALLY). And I HATE Alex Ross (more to do with how he talks about the music I like and what I've heard about him 2nd hand).

Didn't know The Book of Disquiet qualified? Good stuff. Wish I had voted just to vote for that, might have made the top 100.

1/ dbc pierre - vernon god little
2/ andrei kurkov - death and the penguin
3/ joseph o'neill - netherland
4/ michael azzerad - our band could be your life
5/ haruki murakami - kafka on the shore
6/ naomi klein - the shock doctrine
7/ kazuo ishiguro - never let me go
8/ miranda july - no one belongs here more than you
9/ simon reynolds - rip it up and start again
10/francis wheen - how mumbo jumbo conquered the world
11/charles burns - black hole
12/david cavanagh - my magpie eyes are hungry for the prize:the creation records story
13/douglas coupland - hey nostradamus!
14/david sedaris - me talk pretty one day
15/martin meredith - the state of africa
16/paul kimmage - half time
17/patrick mccabe - call me the breeze
18/chuck palahniuk - fugitives and refugees
19/paul morley - nothing
20/steven levitt - freakonomics

Just finished Updike's "Terrorist" - absolutely fantastic book of the noughties as well!

I want to thank this thread for getting me to read The Fortress of Solitude (amazing!) and Cloud Atlas (amazing!).

Thank you.

i forgot cloud atlas was in here. i revived the thread about it the other day. i didn't have much to say about it, though.

Since this thread I have read By Night in Chile. Really enjoyed it a bunch, I love my South American dictator type literature I do! (although its not strictly dictator stuff)

I can't believe I didn't participate :(

I want to thank this thread for getting me to read The Fortress of Solitude (amazing!) and Cloud Atlas (amazing!).

Thank you.

Ha, that's weird, those are the very same books I read as a result of this thread! (finishing up cloud atlas this weekend)

if Alfred and i had voted then "Gilead" may well have gone top ten!

well, top 20 maybe.

s'ok i read it anyway, thanks to this thread and a couple of other recommendations. it's now in my all-time top 5.

I have it sitting on my bookshelf after seeing it in a charity shop - maybe this thread is what made my eye take it.