The New York Times has released it's list of the 10 best books of 2005. As can be expected, they have the usual mix of really good books, some authors who are only on the list because of past amazing books, and some head scratchers. Overall, the list is actually pretty decent this year...
KAFKA ON THE SHORE, By Haruki Murakami. This one is only on here because Murakami is a good writer who has written some amazing books. The problem with this book is that the second half falls apart. Murakami allows the narative to get to difficult in the first half of the book. Then the second half turns predictable and boring.
ON BEAUTY , By Zadie Smith. Smith is one of the writers who once wrote a great book. This books is boring.
PREP , By Curtis Sittenfeld. This book is the first novel for Sittenfeld and is actually a really enjoyable book. I think that the themes are sort of obvious, but Sittenfeld does a good job of surprising the reader.
SATURDAY, By Ian McEwan. Yawn.
VERONICA, By Mary Gaitskill. I haven't read this book, but from what I've heard if it's one of the 10 best then 2005 was a bad year.
The rest of the books are nonfiction, so I won't comment on those.
Sunday, December 04, 2005
The Best Books of 2005
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2 Comments:
Hey, I have the unfortunate habit of going by the book store after work or on the weekends and browsing though the new release section or hot authors or whatever they call it. Then I skim and don't buy or love it and buy it. Now I've got like 50 books that haven't been read because I watch movies when I get home.
My screenname on a lot of im services and login for other websites comes from a character in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.
Are you going down towards San Antonio before long? If so, it's not as cool as Austin but still a great city.
By 
Curtis, at
6:22 PM, December 08, 2005
alyoshka (depending on the translation the spelling varies)
He represented religious faith that's being tested, tormented, and nearly destroyed. Sigh.
Hence why I sympathize with your recent post :)
By Curtis, at
6:28 PM, December 08, 2005
