Guardian’s Top 100 books of the century

[tldr]

www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/21/best-books-of-the-21st-century

I’ve read a handful. Might try reading some more.

Even the list took me down memory lane, back to 20 years ago when I was young(ish) and watching what people were reading on the tube. (White Teeth. Everyone read White Teeth.)

I've read - 19 I've just finished The Silence of the Girls, which I thoroughly recommend. I also recommend Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead - I haven't read anything quite like it.

I don't agree with the list, but I quite like it as giving me some ideas for my next read. I've never read any Martin Amis - is it worth giving it a go, I wonder?

I've read 44, mostly from the fiction and the poetry, and a few of the non ficition. I suppose Harry Potter is on there because of how huge it became and Gone Girl and TGWTDT similarly - they are not particularly 'good' books in terms of literary fiction, but were phenomena.

I like lists (I'm still working my way through the 40 or so books on a Facebook list of 100 difficult books that I hadn't read) as it gives me a structure to my reading. And some on here, particularly non-fiction, I hadn't heard of. I'm now half way through Gilead as I'm starting at the top. I've read 7 of the top 10, but not Gilead, Secondhand Time or Between the World and Me so I've got those waiting....

But I'm in my mid 50s and have been reading a lot for a long time so I'm finding a lot of contemporary fiction very samey. I really enjoyed Ducks, Newburyport because it's an ambitious idea, and I'm enjoying a lot more non-fiction too.

It's an interesting list. I've read (and enjoyed) most of the fiction. I'm always intending to read more non-fiction, but struggle a bit. This might provide some worthwhile suggestions.