Noting that my list yesterday of the Top Ten Books (I Read) Over the Past Five Years (i.e., since the first posting on Elliot's Reading), marking the 5th anniversary of this blog, was heavily weighted (8 to 2) toward classic fiction, it was suggested to me by a fellow reader (with whom I live) that I come up with the list of the Top Ten Contemporary Books (I Read) Over the Past Five Years. So, I will add eight contemporary (as in, living, or lived in the 21st century) authors to those already on the Top Ten list -
Alice Munro, Selected Stories 1968-1994
WilliamTrevor, Selected Stories -
to come up with The Top Ten Contemporary Books (I Read) Over the Past Five Years:
Charles Baxter, Gryphon (stories)
Ann Beattie, The New Yorker Stories
Karl Ove Knausgaard, My Struggle, Volumes 1 and 2
Philip Roth, Goodbye, Columbus; and Nemesis (his first and last books)
George Saunders, Tenth of December (stories)
William Sebald, Austerlitz
Eudora Welty, Collected Stories
And who should "replace" Munro and Trevor on the Top Ten (Classic) Books (I Read) Over the Past Five Years? I would have to add Homer's The Odyssey (Mitchell translation) and Franz Kafka, Selected Stories (Modern Library edition).
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With this as a guide to your tastes, I think you might like Marshall Klimasewiski. His "The Third House," was published in the 2014 Best of Tin House and is part of his fabulous short story collection, "Tyrants." Or maybe you are already familiar with him?
ReplyDeleteThanks, I'm not, will check it out.
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