I appreciate these thoughts a lot! I think this list could be more reflective if we had a little more insight BTS - for example, a breakdown of voting demographics (how many librarians? How many authors? Average number of books read per year, ages, etc) or even the voters process (Max Reads’ Substack did a nice insight into this). After listening to the NYT Book Review podcast, I also got curious about teasing out an idea that you bring up here - Most Influential Authors. On the pod, they mentioned some authors split the vote with their own books and thus, didn’t make the list with any, though as an author, they got a ton of nominations. I know just thinking about my own list, I often started with a thought such as “well, I love Hanif Abdurraqib, so I need to include him” and that maybe doesn’t fit the exact assignment? I’m not sure of the exact instructions that the NYT gave (though Max does lay out a few of them), but it’s interesting the effect that “body of work” might have. Thanks for parsing through this!
I love this piece, Hunter! Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this wild list—especially with your NBA reading background. I think you’re onto something with your ideas about a lasting book! For me, I’m not sure those are the only two ways for a book to stand the test of time but they definitely seem like two big ones! I love one of Calvino’s definitions of classic literature as a book that has never exhausted all it has to say. Both of your observations would fit into that category in some way—one because of its literary richness and the other because people will always seek moral guidance and/affirmation. I think this is also why some contemporary literature won’t stand the test of time—if something is too straightforward it easily exhausts all it has to say. I’m going to be thinking about this for awhile and I hope we get to talk more about it!
I appreciate these thoughts a lot! I think this list could be more reflective if we had a little more insight BTS - for example, a breakdown of voting demographics (how many librarians? How many authors? Average number of books read per year, ages, etc) or even the voters process (Max Reads’ Substack did a nice insight into this). After listening to the NYT Book Review podcast, I also got curious about teasing out an idea that you bring up here - Most Influential Authors. On the pod, they mentioned some authors split the vote with their own books and thus, didn’t make the list with any, though as an author, they got a ton of nominations. I know just thinking about my own list, I often started with a thought such as “well, I love Hanif Abdurraqib, so I need to include him” and that maybe doesn’t fit the exact assignment? I’m not sure of the exact instructions that the NYT gave (though Max does lay out a few of them), but it’s interesting the effect that “body of work” might have. Thanks for parsing through this!
I love this piece, Hunter! Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this wild list—especially with your NBA reading background. I think you’re onto something with your ideas about a lasting book! For me, I’m not sure those are the only two ways for a book to stand the test of time but they definitely seem like two big ones! I love one of Calvino’s definitions of classic literature as a book that has never exhausted all it has to say. Both of your observations would fit into that category in some way—one because of its literary richness and the other because people will always seek moral guidance and/affirmation. I think this is also why some contemporary literature won’t stand the test of time—if something is too straightforward it easily exhausts all it has to say. I’m going to be thinking about this for awhile and I hope we get to talk more about it!