Fine. We'll make our own damn list.

There's a new list being created by Book of the Day.  Check out her post about it here.

It's hard to pick.  As I said over at Fuse#8, for a YA title, I'd go with David Klass' You Don't Know Me or M. T. Anderson's Feed.

Comments

[Leila]

Okay, also Chris Lynch's Inexcuseable. Just because it's somewhat new doesn't mean it isn't absolutely incredible.

[steve]

I mean this in the spirit of open and actual curiosity, not snarkiness, but how do you go about picking "best fiction"? What criteria are you using to say that these are "great books" but those aren't? If someone challenged your picks, would you appeal to emotional response, complexity of language, structure, or plot, "authentic" voice (and if so, what's authentic?), or some other judgement of literary merit?

[Leila]

I think that part of the reason that so many people seem to making their own lists is that the whole thing is totally retarded. Picking 'Best Fiction' titles is completely subjective -- and they should be. At least, that's how I feel about the whole thing.

As for criteria, I dunno. (You know me -- I do tend to be a gut-instinct person when it comes to loving books.) I threw out the first few titles that came to mind that I felt were really original, that would stand up to multiple re-reads over time, that I thought about for days after finishing -- there was more to them than just a damn good story. But the subjective thing plays in here, of course -- everyone has their own set of requirements, since no one laid any out to begin with, other that that the books be American and written in the last twenty-five years.

So. What about you? Off the top of your head, what books have really stood out for you? What are your personal 'Best Fiction' picks?

[steve]

You see, I was hoping you wouldn't ask me that, because I really don't have a good answer. There are books that I liked because they were innovative (e.g., Reader's Block by David Markson) and there are books that blew me away with emotional impact (e.g., Galatea 2.2 by Richard Powers) (actually, Reader's Block did that, too). The truth is that a) I haven't read much written in the last 25 years and b) I don't know what critera I would use to juddge the ones I have read. I could give you an answer, but I would have this sneaking suspicion that deep down I knew that the real reason I liked this or that book is because I can write fruitful essays about it. My justification of the book would actually be a poorly disguised justification of my (future- with a little luck) profession.

[Leila]

What about Victoria and the Cowboy?

[steve]

Well, clearly that's a tour de force masterpiece. A novel that is breathtaking in its complexity and stunning in its implications for humanity.