Newsweek: 50 Most Important Books of Our Time

[Benny Profane]

We know it's insane. We know people will ask why on earth we think that an 1875 British satirical novel is the book you need to read right now—or, for that matter, why it even made the cut. The fact is, no one needs another best-of list telling you how great The Great Gatsby is. What we do need, in a world with precious little time to read (and think), is to know which books—new or old, fiction or nonfiction—open a window on the times we live in, whether they deal directly with the issues of today or simply help us see ourselves in new and surprising ways.

Linkage (http://www.newsweek.com/id/204300/page/1)


An interesting list that should generate some good recommendations and discussion. I like the angle.

[lovejuice]

Linkage (http://www.newsweek.com/id/204300/page/1)


An interesting list that should generate some good recommendations and discussion. I like the angle.

interesting but a bit funny at the same time. they focus on an important issue then pick "any" book that fits the bill. i doubt american pastoral and anything by gerald brooke will be a good call to the respective issues these books are dealing with.

[Kurosawa Fan]

interesting but a bit funny at the same time. they focus on an important issue then pick "any" book that fits the bill. i doubt american pastoral and anything by gerald brooke will be a good call to the respective issues these books are dealing with.

Seriously. Fuck this book.

[number8]

Seriously. It's like they just went, "What's important right now? Iran? Oh, okay. What semi-popular book is about Iran?"

[Sven]

I dunno, man... David Thomson has never impressed me. And Pollan's writing hurts babies. Good calls, though, on Trollope (one of my faves), Twain, Rushdie, Child, Buford, and Faulkner (I effing love The Bear).

[trotchky]

I'm a little confused about why a list of "Books For Our Times" contains books written a century ago. Also, the subject matter and perspective of these books are so far spread that it reads like a grab-bag of books Newsweek editors have heard have some tangential relation to Issues In American History.

Where's Bret Easton Ellis? Where's George Saunders? Donna Tartt? Irvine Welsh? Martin Amis? David Foster Wallace? Amy Hempel?

This isn't a list of books about "Our Time," it's a list of books vaguely significant to 20th Century America. Don DeLillo's Underworld alongside Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and a Biography of Benjamin Franklin tells me these people have no idea what the fuck they're trying to do.

[Milky Joe]

The lack of Infinite Jest makes this list, to me, a complete joke.

[Kurosawa Fan]

The lack of Infinite Jest makes this list, to me, a complete joke.

Oh, you like that book? I didn't realize.

[Milky Joe]

What gave you that impression?

[Lucky]

Has anyone read God: the Biography? That's the one that struck me as the most interesting.