I think Bascombe would consider it a triumph of sorts, albeit he's adrift enough not to know what he wants. I don't think the governing intelligence of the book would judge it a win though - especially given what comes in the next two books.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Wednesday, 21 July 2021 13:56 (two years ago) link
Re: Banks, both those novels were in my lists before I had to whittle them down to 50, and in both cases they got cut because wikipedia didn't give much indication of how well regarded they are.
― Daniel_Rf
I know you're doing your best on your own, no insult to your list-making intended. I'm not sure which of his sci-fi books as Iain M. Banks should be included, if any, but I'd say of his non-SF works you should probably at least include The Crow Road in '92. I might not vote for it but I'd guess at it being #2 to The Wasp Factory in terms of Banks notability.
Also I probably did know he was dead but I'd forgotten that fact and just got all sad.
― emil.y, Wednesday, 21 July 2021 15:38 (two years ago) link
How well The Wasp Factory is regarded is an interesting question as my copy included several damningly bad reviews accusing Banks of everything from moral degeneracy to being a shock-value huckster, actually printed at the front of the book.
― A viking of frowns, (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 21 July 2021 15:47 (two years ago) link
O shit, yeah, I remember that! I was impressed by the chutzpah of putting them in.
― emil.y, Wednesday, 21 July 2021 15:48 (two years ago) link
I remember Alan Moore in an interview saying that his main reaction to the death of Thatcher was that Banks, who had been diagnosed by then, had managed to outlive her and that there was some joy to be wrung from that.
― Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 21 July 2021 15:52 (two years ago) link
I'm not sure which of his sci-fi books as Iain M. Banks should be included, if any
First three or four Culture books are definitely the best imo. Haven't read (the non-Culture) Feersum Endjinn though, which I know a lot of people rep for.
― a cad, a bounder, a rotter, a really bad sort (Matt #2), Wednesday, 21 July 2021 17:13 (two years ago) link
I've not read Banks in about 20 years. Curious to know how it'd hold up. From memory, I'd certainly rep for Feersum Endjinn. Consider Phlebas, too.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Wednesday, 21 July 2021 17:38 (two years ago) link
Can you include The Medusa Frequency by Russell Hoban in the list for 1987, please?
― Lily Dale, Wednesday, 21 July 2021 19:01 (two years ago) link
The first four culture novels (can't lose excession) & feersum enjinn & against a dark background definitely all top tier banks.
― At Easter I had a fall. I don't know whether to laugh or cry (ledge), Wednesday, 21 July 2021 20:20 (two years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Thursday, 22 July 2021 00:01 (two years ago) link
Will do, Lily!
― Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 22 July 2021 07:28 (two years ago) link
Voting for It, for me easily the peak of the king project - bleak and disturbing and sordid, its greatness I think inseparable from its most ill-judged elements (ie yes that scene, but also the general misogyny & homophobia, the bloat, the 2d characterisation); maybe you have to encounter it at the age of the young protagonists, as I did
― Woolf & Stein 3d (wins), Thursday, 22 July 2021 18:45 (two years ago) link
Starting to get some Vintage Contemporaries on the list. Interesting how some big hitters are missing from these lists (Ellis, McInerney, Bobbie Ann Mason, etc.).
The Sportswriter, and the Frank Bascombe novels, are my least favorite Ford, though maybe I should try again. Barthelme’s Paradise is a fun, hard-earned wisp.
― ... (Eazy), Thursday, 22 July 2021 20:14 (two years ago) link
i'm sure i've read and enjoyed books by worse people, but ford is such a legendary asshole that i've never been tempted to try.
(also the sportswriter at least *sounds* like more updike/roth 'aging writer rages that no one wants to fuck him anymore' crap)
― mookieproof, Thursday, 22 July 2021 21:29 (two years ago) link
I could have written this exact post but it would have been about The Stand
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 22 July 2021 21:30 (two years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Friday, 23 July 2021 00:01 (two years ago) link
did not see that coming but then again there's not a book here that wouldn't have felt like a surprise win
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Friday, 23 July 2021 01:45 (two years ago) link
what? this had the most obvious winner out of all these polls afaict
― Linda and Jodie Rocco (map), Friday, 23 July 2021 01:54 (two years ago) link
Poor Maryse Condé. I would have voted for you, had I seen the poll in time.
― justfanoe (Greg Fanoe), Friday, 23 July 2021 01:59 (two years ago) link
Not more obvious than Ulysses tbf, map.
― Daniel_Rf, Friday, 23 July 2021 08:40 (two years ago) link
Wherein We Elect Our Favourite Novels of 1987
― Daniel_Rf, Friday, 23 July 2021 09:32 (two years ago) link
I didn't see It coming either, but I have no idea which Stephen King novels are considered his best.
― o. nate, Friday, 23 July 2021 13:28 (two years ago) link
Would've voted for "Innocence" if it had been on the list. Human Voices/At Freddies/Innocence/Beginning of Spring is PF's imperial phase for me.
― Chuck_Tatum, Friday, 23 July 2021 14:28 (two years ago) link
Wasn’t Innocence on there for another year already?
― Two Severins Clash (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 23 July 2021 17:17 (two years ago) link