Time has released a Best 10 Fiction Books of the past 10 years. It's an interesting list. I've considered reading all but one of these books, and have most of them in the house somewhere. I should try to read through this list.
A Visit from the Goon Squad - Jennifer Egan (2010) (see my review)
My Brilliant Friend - Elena Ferrante (2011)
Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn (2012)
Americanah - Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche (2013)
Life After Life - Kate Atkinson (see my review)
Tenth of December - George Saunders (2013)
The Sellout - Paul Beatty (2015)
Sing, Unburied Sing - Jesmyn Ward (2017) (see my review)
Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng (2017)
The Nickel Boy - Colson Whitehead (2019)
30% read. Not a terrible result for me. I listened to two of them, and read one.
It's a very American-centric list. 70%
60% female authors.
The Time article claims that Gone Girl is responsible for the whole Girl genre thing. I think that actually dates back at least to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo which was released in English in 2008. I saw the movie and really didn't like the last third. I'd passed on the idea of reading the book, but maybe I'll have to look at it now?
I'd also decided to pass on My Brilliant Friend. I didn't read it at the peak of the hype, and then I read a picture book by Elena Ferrante (The Beach at Night), which I really, really hated...
Time has released both Fiction and Nonfiction lists. I think I need to try and look at my best books of the decade.
These lists are always interesting, even if it's just to see how American-centric this list is! Ferrante's picture book does not reflect her tetralogiy, although I did struggle to finish all 4 books. I got tired of the two girls and their dramas.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the girl genre started with Tattoo, perhaps they meant to say that the unreliable narrator/s theme that is the main feature of Gone Girl, spawned a whole stack of other books with unreliable narrators...from a female perspective.
This list has made me realise that I no longer read a lot of contemporary American writers. Goon Squad and Gone Girl are it. Although I did read Saunders Booker winning novel a few years back.