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

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Laszlo Krasznahorkai - The Melancholy of Resistance (2000)
wmlynch - "Krasznahorkai's writing is dreamlike yet specific and terrifying, sort of like a Lynch film without the quirkiness (though not without humor). This is a book to get lost in, to feel trapped in, but also to want not to end; it is a labyrinth with a dead whale's eye at its center. This Hungarian's writing is reminiscent of Kafka and Schulz and Sebald and Bernhard even while remaining unmistakably his own"

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Roberto Calasso - Literature and the Gods (2001)
wmlynch - "Calasso's study of how myth is intertwined with and underpins modern literature is stunning for containing such brilliant ideas presented so brilliantly. Despite its weighty content, the book reads much like a novel (I believe he even considers most of his books to be novels) and leaves the impression of having confronted a great mind. This is part of a series in which he examines Indian myth (Ka), Greek myth (The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony), and the works of Kafka (K.), the latter two of which I also highly recommend"

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Joe Sacco - The Fixer
jabba hands - "looks even better [than Safe Area Gorazde] - beautiful cinematic artwork in that one, although the story's maybe not quite as compelling as the earlier books. all good though!"

... and that's them all I think. Belated thanks to those of you who stepped up.

Was this ever done for the whole of 20th century lit? Though not a participant, I am digging the 20th century poll results thread over on ILM and would be keen on a big one like that for the book nerds...

Would support, not likely to be organising myself any time soon though. There was an abortive 'all time' poll nominated for a few years back (and which only came to my attention midway through this one, but I don't think it ever got to voting stage.

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ftw

is that lemur wearing the madonna pointy bra?

no

He most certainly is...

Is the only book poll that was done on ILX? ILX needs to do more book polls oh so badly.

What do you have in mind? I sometimes toy with doing some kind of bestsellers/blockbusters/exciting/genre-thriller poll, but I've never really settled on what the parameters might be. Also, these things take a lot of work and I can't really tell in advance how busy I'm likely to be (hence slow pace of and big gap in the middle of this one), so have put the idea off for a while.

whoa, for some reason i thought Joan Didion was a folk singer. thanks for setting me straight Books of the 00s thread!

Is there a sci-fi poll of any kind? That would be cool

What do you have in mind? I sometimes toy with doing some kind of bestsellers/blockbusters/exciting/genre-thriller poll, but I've never really settled on what the parameters might be. Also, these things take a lot of work and I can't really tell in advance how busy I'm likely to be (hence slow pace of and big gap in the middle of this one), so have put the idea off for a while.

I didn't really have anything specific in the mind, but sci-fi and/or fantasy poll sounds intriguing. I wouldn't be able to vote because I haven't read any sci-fi other than early Vonnegut or any fantasy other than The Hobbit. I suppose that the last thing I need is another book poll to give me one more list of books to feel guilty about not getting around to reading. I would like to make the time to read close to three quarters of the books listed in this poll alone. It would probably help if I spent less tims online.

i wld be willing to organize a sff poll but realistically i dont think wed get very many votes

I think that's probably the issue with a lot of book polls. It's why the heavy hitters threads work well I think - attract people interested, not too many choices to dilute the discourse. Favourite/best private investigating detective might be a good one.

hmm, not book related but i've been toying with the idea of a favourite screen detective poll.

Not that dreck that was the Zen programme that's for sure. My word. Did anyone see that? The Dibdin books aren't amazing, but the early ones especially aren't at all bad. Especially Ratking. One of the things that gave them a certain degree of charm was the world weariness of the main character. Charm and world weariness were not characteristics that could be discerned in the TV programme.

I think an sf/f poll might do ok-ish for voters - it seems to be the home genre for a lot of posters. may need to encourage them to jump that 'oh i haven't read much' voting roadblock though.

Thought about it myself, but my schedule's mad till spring then unpredictable; also having a more active f/sf fan (I dip in and out) in charge wld make sense.

(oh we talked about Zen prog a little on that Michael Dibdin thread in ILB. To repeat self, I was distracted to madness by some of the characters having Italian accents)

Oh right, somehow missed that. Cheers. (and I meant 'aren't at all bad' rather than 'aren't all bad'). s/f one undoubtedly the way to go I think. My knowledge is decent but sketchy at best (and that goes for s/f as well ahem), so I'd definitely be looking forward to the results.

man the lynda barry thread being bumped makes me really regret not having Cruddy on my list.

How did we manage to poll 101 books without Wolf Hall even placing? If we were to rerun the thing now it'd stand a pretty good chance of winning the whole thing.

how long had it been out then? 6 months?

I still haven't read The Corrections.

People have decided to hate Franzen but I bet I'd still really like The Corrections if I read it again now.