Drowned In Sound’s best books of the 21st century - VOTE! (closes 9am Weds 2nd October)

Entertainment!
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If only Anne Rice and Laurell K Hamilton hadn’t dipped dramatically in quality after the turn of the century…

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Oh good I like books

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23

Genuinely can’t think of much outside of Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenedies, which I think is the best novel published this century that I’ve read.

Will have a think.

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24

Remember, non-fiction is fine too.

25

im dumb and also can’t remember much of what i’ve read pre joining goodreads but will give this a go

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26

I think there are some quite good books from this century

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Genuinely can’t remember many of the books I’ve read in the past two decades (that were also published in the past two decades). I’ve spent most of the past year reading War and Peace. It’s excellent (but sadly not eligible). English degrees clearly do a number on you.

I’m much clearer about the books I hate (cough, A Little Life, cough).

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  1. A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara
  2. Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami
  3. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay - Michael Chabon
  4. All My Puny Sorrows - Miriam Toews
  5. The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt
  6. Mo Meta Blues - Questlove
  7. Vernon God Little - DBC Pierre
  8. 25 Poems, 3 Recipes, And 32 Other Suggestions. (An Inventory) - Tim Key
  9. If Nobody Speaks Of Remarkable Things - Jon McGregor
  10. The Sellout - Paul Beatty

Was gonna self-indulgently post the stuff that I said about them in DiS reading threads or churn out some other bollocks but I can’t find old posts. Basically all these books are either amazing examples of the lifetime-spanning-character-piece or they have prose that I love for whatever reason.

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29

Oh mate

30

Ant is back in my good books

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31

I can remember you hating it from the old boards, can’t remember what your main beef with it was though?

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I didn’t know I was out of them!

33

It was awful misery lit for people with tote bags

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34

(Kav and Clay is excellent though, that will be on my list).

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35

This is one of the best books I’ve read in the last few years. Great choice.

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36

Sadly I don’t think he was published this century, so I’m afraid you’ll have to leave him off your list.

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37

It was definitely misery. I thought it was well-constructed enough to rise above “misery porn” into a state where it became intensely and life-changingly empathetic though. It completely destroyed me in a way that never felt exploitative to me but I can very much accept that it’s a tightrope that plenty of people would have plenty of cause to fall off of.

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38

It me

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39

Don’t read many new books as they’re usually shite.

  1. Imaginary Cities - Darran Anderson
  2. The Water Cure - Sophie Mackintosh
  3. Three Body Problem - Cixin Liu
  4. Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman
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40

just googled ‘when was lanark written’
1981 :frowning:

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