"The New York Times Top Ten Book List (Really 5, As I Only Cover Fiction)" Is So Woke, It Put Me To Sleep!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                           Which is not to say some of them are not worth reading.  What bothers me about the list this year, is the omission of so many varied and quality works!  Whatever happened to literature for quality's sake?   Recently, I looked at some syllabi of AP English classes in random high schools, and was appalled.  The assigned readings given out as AP were books that, in my day, were given to whom we uncharitably called the "dumb kids."  So, have students gotten dumber, teachers lazier, or what?  I suspect technology has dumbed down today's students, and the quality of their thoughts, if they have any of their own, to begin with.  But, getting back to The Times, why is this list so agenda heavy? When mine is revealed, in the next post, it may seem more populist, but all the authors are A-listers, their works sound, and I am alarmed that not one of them made it to the final list.  What does it say about The Times?  Or how that paper is using itself to formulate peoples' perceptions of literature?  Sure, fiction can have social meaning, but does it have to be so pointed and PC?  Why not a little narrative skill along the way?  God forgive me, had Dickens produced a book this year, it would never have made this list.

                                                Now, maybe you have already heard what has been chosen.  But, as George Sanders says in "All About Eve," "For those of you who know nothing of the world around you," it is worth taking a look at.  You have seen some of them in my post on "The 100 Most Notable Books."

                                                      Here we go--

                                                                              

                                         1.  "How Beautiful We Were," by Imbolo Mbue--Really, this is the best of the lot.  As stated, I read it earlier in the year, having loved the author's previous work, "Behold The Dreamers."  Set in Africa, centering on the issues of climate change and corporate greed versus the good of the people--a battle, which, short of a miracle, will go on indefinitely--the novel's issues, combined with the wonderful writing style is one of the few examples of justification for placing this book on the list.

                                                                                 

                                               2.  "Intimacies," by Kate Kitamura--As I said elsewhere, fuhgeddaboudit! I cannot fault the writing, but feel it is emphasized more than the narrative, which kept me disengaged throughout my reading.  Go and attack me, but this one does not belong on ANY list.  Except maybe the scrap heap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                                               

                                         3.  "The Love Songs Of W.E.B. Du Bois," If only it had been Blanche Du Bois!  Really, girls, am I expected to read this?  An enormous tome, devoted to someone I am not especially interested in, and, as you girls know, I am no right winger, but would this book have been listed or published in any other time than the one in which we are now living?  Believe me, there were plenty of Black-centric books--how about "The Prophets," by Robert Jones, Jr.--so why this?  The selection panels badly need me on it to knock some heads together.  A little pretension goes a long way, and too much is ostentatious.  Like this list. 

                                                                              

                                               4.  "No One Is Talking About This," by Patricia Lockwood--I recently purchased this, darlings, so I guess I am bound to read it.  Honestly, till it started turning up on lists, no one talked about it to me.  Supposedly poetic, it sounds like an alternate version of the movies "A.I.," and "Her," both of which I hated.  Is this book really that good?  Are any, with the exception of "How Beautiful We Were?"

                                                                                      

                                            5.  "When We Cease To Understand The World," by Benjamin Labatut--Huh?  Never heard of it, till now.  It is on my reading pile, but really, if, as I suspect, it is too much Aldous Huxley like, I will gag.  I guess you can tell I am not really looking forward to reading this one. Sadly, all that I was looking forward to, I have already read.

                                             Several things to be grateful for.  No Gary Shteyngart on the list; amazing since the book reviewers slaver over every word he writes.  Guess this year they were ordered to be more politicized, because that is what the list amounts to.

                                                I will read and let you know.  But this list has me worried about the future not only of books, but those who write them.

                                                 If The Times keeps this standard of selection up, they will lose readers, ceasing to be influencers and guiders, and more dictatorial, pretentious pedants, governed by the times around them, and not their own sense of quality.

                                                   Heaven help us, girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!