Wherein We Elect Our Favourite Novels of 1998

funny how acclaim seems to make so many writers start churning out self-indulgent shit

might actually vote for Laughin' Michel Houllebecq, Atomised is a good piece of dystopian fiction written before his schtick curdled, if schctick can indeed curdle

0/45

I have a copy of The Savage Detectives that I haven't read.
I did read A Man in Full, which is bad. I don't know why I bothered. Worst part was where Wolfe put his personal reactionary views in the mouth of a Black mayor.

IIRC he had another "wise old black man" character in The Bonfire of the Vanities, or maybe I'm conflating the two books

I used to get Breakfast On Pluto and Pluto Nash mixed up

Savage detectives

I also read Michael Cunningham's The Hours. Not terrible but pales in comparison to Mrs. Dalloway.

Agree on what Neil S said about Atomised but I wonder if I'd read it now and feel grubby. England, England is pretty awful from memory. Barnes as blow up doll on auto-pilot. Have read the Nooteboom but honestly can't remember much about it.

Would also have voted for The Restraint of Beasts, An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears or The House of Sleep by Jonathan Coe.

Roth again, he was on a roll mid/late 90s.

Got a few chapters into the Cormac McCarthy around 15-20 years ago, put it down and never picked it up again. I do still have that same copy though, very possibly with the bookmark in place, so never say never. Other than that I draw a blank for this year.

Had a particularly unboundaried English teacher when I was 16 who put Atomised (along with more Houellebecq and Camus and a bunch of other sociopaths) on a reading list, which appealed to my teen edginess a great deal. Some of the ideas are still diverting, but for all the other reasons I just find it too embarrassing to read these days.

The Savage Detectives is a masterpiece of absurdist poetic angst.

Oh and Restraint of Beasts would have been a fine addition

Was Camus a sociopath? I don't think so, but have perhaps not delved deep enough...

Oh, not him. I was thinking mainly of the protagonist in The Outsider. A lazy catch-all...

Don’t know that it’s fair to call him “a lazy catch-all” either, would have to ask the Algerian coach

I don't have a strong memory of Tipping the Velvet but I generally like Waters

I've only read "Atomised" aka "Elementary Particles" and "The Hours". Guess I would vote for Houellebecq.

only one i loved out of this list was savage detectives

also released this year, Thomas Wolfe's A Man In Full, which was my first encounter with a novel by an acclaimed author being dogshit

Gawd that book was bad. Wasn’t it the one with the blatantly racist scene set in Oakland? Iirc aside from generally dehumanizing the black residents of Oakland, he actually compared them directly to animals.

Haven't read any of these. Given how much I liked 2666 I'm guessing The Savage Detectives would be my favorite on here.

People who know me well already know what I voted for here

2666 gets it right where Savage Detectives...doesn't, quite.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Savage Detectives by a mile for me. One of my favorite books ever.

Impressed that I’m not the only Glamorama voter

Wherein We Elect Our Favourite Novels of 1999

special message to the Nick Hornsby voter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROFsV18qrdQ

Lol

loved savage d