Comments on: Top 50 Favorite Novels of the Decade: 2000-2009

By: mike

mike — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 01:15:27 +0000

“no country for old men” but no “The Road”?

I don’t read much but I couldn’t put “The Road” down.

By: Sam

Sam — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 20:07:51 +0000

Having just finished “The Shadow of the Wind” and having only read a handful of those you mentioned, it is certainly on my list; and judging by your reactions to some of the other works I do think you would like it.

By: kieran

kieran — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:58:51 +0000

who stole my bookshelf? fuckers.

By: Greyweather

Greyweather — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:49:11 +0000

Oh so happy to see Dark Harvest mentioned. Norm Partridge kicked some serious small town ass with that one.

By: Dennis Tafoya

Dennis Tafoya — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:34:36 +0000

Thanks for including Dope Thief, Brian – I’m blown away to be in this company.

By: Norman Partridge

Norman Partridge — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:02:31 +0000

Thanks for the good word, Brian…and there’s more coming. Stay tuned…

Norm

By: Robert Ward

Robert Ward — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:37:30 +0000

Brian:Thanks for mentioning “Four Kinds of Rain”. It took eight years total to write “Red Baker” and “Four Kinds of Rain”. I’m glad you think it was time well spent.

Best,

Robert Ward

By: Paul D. Brazill

Paul D. Brazill — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:12:07 +0000

The only one I’ve read is Saturday Boy which is really great but Beast Of Burden is better.

I’ve never heard of lots of them so I’ll have a gander. Didn’t like the film of Mystic River much so have given Lehane a miss.

I’d give a thumbs up to Small Crimes too. It’s one of the few american novels that’s really impressed me in recent times.

Savage Night, Slammer and Paying For It are some of the books that I think ‘kicked bottom’, as they say. And Charlie Williams Deadfolk made me laugh out loud many times, which is rare these days.

By: Patti Abbott

Patti Abbott — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:06:10 +0000

Thanks for being honest and open-minded to other people sticking their nose in. That’s what makes it fun though. Again, great list.

By: Brian Lindenmuth

Brian Lindenmuth — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 01:14:11 +0000

How about this for honesty. I’ve never read any books by Val McDermid. It’s any one of a number of glaring holes in my reading.

I have a number of them here and I actually want to read her stuff because I think I’ll really like it. But I just haven’t got there yet. I have watched the DVD’s though.

By: Brian Lindenmuth

Brian Lindenmuth — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 01:02:00 +0000

@Keith- Sounds like someone needs to find some time to pick up the gauntlet and write their own list.

Also if someone isn’t here doesn’t necessarily mean I don’t like their work (though it can).

I like Gischler’s and Smith’s work but of the OG’s it’s Doolittle’s work that I like the best.

By: Brian Lindenmuth

Brian Lindenmuth — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:58:55 +0000

@Patti – Yeah I noticed that too, I mean hell I live with a female author :). I tried really hard to avoid the word ‘best’ because there’s no way I could have covered everything honestly.

There were a number of books that were in the liked them a lot category or just missed out on that final round of cuts. And I know this year my readings so far have been like 15% female authors, which isn’t terribly high.

By: Patti Abbott

Patti Abbott — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:14:57 +0000

This is a great list, but the male to female ratio is staggeringly lop-sided. Of course, no one can argue with someone’s personal taste and I respect your opinion. But let me recommend Lippman, Mina, French, Ruttan, McDermid, Spencer-Fleming, Gardiner, Burke, Scoppettone, Flynn, Harris, Winspear, Parrish, Penny, Faust, Ure, Atkinson, Read, Abbott, Rozan, Vargas, and Gran’s other book Dope. Also Woodrell, Guthrie, Smith, Gischler.
But it’s mostly about how sad I am to see the absence of women. Please don’t take this as personal because it’s not. I’m just depressed.

By: Keith Rawson

Keith Rawson — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:35:12 +0000

One more big glaring omission from 2001: The Death of Sweet Mister by Daniel Woodrell. Damn fine novel. And no Guthrie, Smith, or Gischler?
Man, I’ve been thinking about this list a little too much today.

By: Ken Bruen

Ken Bruen — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:17:42 +0000

Brian you star
Phew
Thank you double
And one hell of a list
Magnificent
And you’ve added a few to my tbr pile
Right off the top of me head, I’d add a certain Sandra R. to the list
And not just because I blurbed it
I’d blurb it all over again
Thank you for making me whole week
best
Ken

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:59:37 +0000

@Keith – Honestly, Megan Abbott is another one that I’ve never really connected with.

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:59:16 +0000

@ Jay – Honestly I think that Never Let Me Go is just one of those ones that I forgot about. It is a hell of a book though. House of Leaves was one of the last ones to get cut and I can’t really say why. If I had posted the list 15 mins. earlier or later then it might have made it and something else might have been cut.

Well Powers only had two qualifying novels and since I’d like to get another read of Three Days to Never in Declare made the cut. But my favorite by him? That’s Last Call which was a 90’s book.

By: Jay Tomio

Jay Tomio — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:50:27 +0000

Couple of other things:

Love that People of Paper is mentioned. Everybody should read that book..

Regarding Huston (specifically Pitt), I feel like that is a book (and series) that I feel odd taking to the battle, but Iike the end I’d be glad that I did. Kind of throw-back when ‘page-turner’ was indicative of a successful book. I love me some Joe Pitt!

By: Tom Piccirilli

Tom Piccirilli — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:27:54 +0000

Thanks for the nod towards my work, Brian. Glad you connected with it to such an extent. Much appreciated.

By: Chris F. Holm

Chris F. Holm — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:49:46 +0000

Hear, hear on the Huston (I love me some Joe Pitt), Powers, and Neville. And there’s some stuff on this list I definitely need to check out (not to mention, a few that just jumped to the top of my TBR pile).

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:01:30 +0000

@Ron – Maybe I should have added The Getaway Man by Andrew Vachss (2003) and The Cold Spot (2008) to the mix.

By: Steve Weddle

Steve Weddle — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:00:54 +0000

Great stuff. Thanks for the shopping list.

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:00:53 +0000

@Keith – Cold Spot – I’m withholding judgment. When I read The Cold Spot I was blown away because on it’s own it was brilliant. Then that feeling was diluted some with the second one because if my guess is right and this winds up being a trilogy then I want to see the whole arc come to a close before I fully render a decision.

Once Were Cops – Whatever strengths OWC may exhibit it just doesn’t top American Skin.

Small Crimes – I’m not the Zeltserman fan that others are. Small Crimes was Jim Thompson lite at best and hinged on coincidence.

By: Ron Koltnow

Ron Koltnow — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:45:27 +0000

You pick DRIVE and THE WHEELMAN, both excellent. Do you secretly want to be a getaway driver?

By: Jay Tomio

Jay Tomio — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:28:37 +0000

While obviously there are a number that I haven’t read, it would be hard for me to make such a list without Danielewski’s ‘House of Leaves’ and Ishiguro’s ‘Never Let Me Go’ (though obviously, I don’t know if you’ve read them).

Saramago would be enticing to.

Always interesting to see reader’s favorites regarding Powers and Carroll.

I have to do a new one soon.