The Best Books of 2009 :SK in EW

[Spideyman]

Here is Uncle Steve's list from this weeks EW:

10. Rough Country, John Sandford
9. Ravens, George Dawes Green
8. Gone Tomorrow, Lee Child
7. Drood, Dan Simmons
6. Shatter, Micjael Robotham
5. 2666, Roberto Bolano
4. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie
3. Hollywood Moon, Joseph Wambaugh
2. Revolutionary Road, Richard Yates
1. The Little Strange, Sarah Waters

And a forthcoming novel in 2010- Passage, Justin Cronin

[Mr. Jingles]

Thanks for the list, Spidey....
Wait a sec.....he didn't put any SK on his list!!!
He'd be numero uno on my list, that's for sure.

[Ebdim9th]

Is there a link to EW for the article, or is it a pay-only feature? (not that I wouldn't read Entertainment Weekly from the store, especially when there's LOST stuff in it)

[Stuart Hall]

http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,2031...331246,00.html

Good choices for the most part - Sandford and Child are the progeny of John D. McDonald and Robert Parker and are,usually, better than either, esp, Child. Shatter and Ravens are very good mainstream suspense fictions, though I doubt anyone will remember them a year from now. I love Dan Simmons but gave up on Drood halfway through.( I think Dan's getting paid by the word these days and Daddy must need a new pair of shoes.) Haven't read the next three, but the top two are curious. The Yates book is almost 50 years old and falls comfortably in with Updike's Rabbit series and others of the ilk but why would Steve recommend this in 2009 - like the fifties conformity thing needs to be resurrected. It really doesn't. It's been done. I just think Steve wanted to score points for the book versus the movie. Finally, the top choice, the Sarah Waters ghost story, while well-written and moderately suspenseful, is curiously bloodless, both literally and figuratively; features a cast of really unappealing characters with a very dubious central romance; and is about as far from Steve's work as it's possible to get. I distrust this whole list making thing because it seems to nudge people in the direction of wanting to compose a list that makes them look smart and hip and well-informed. Not that I would ever accuse Mr. King of such things, but I really find it hard to believe that he got that much out of Revolutionary Road and, especially, The Little Stranger. Bag of Bones would rip off its head and poop on its neck.

[Marvelman]

Why would Midnight's Children be on this list? It was published in 1981.

[bopropadop]

Why would Midnight's Children be on this list? It was published in 1981.

He says the following in the article:

"Because I'm a commentator rather than a critic, I don't feel tied to just the new stuff, but for the record, most of these books were published in 2009."