Last month, Boston.com released their list of the decade’s best… I starred (**) the ones I’ve read already and questioned (?) the ones I tried but could not finish… If possible, I linked my review to the icon (my blog is only two years old, so I had read many prior to 2007).
White Teeth by Zadie Smith ?- Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri **
- A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers **
- The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon **
- A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide by Samathana Power
- My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk
- The Known World by Edward P. Jones **
- Gilead by Marilynne Robinson **
- Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Means by Michael Pollan
- 2666 by Robert Bolano ?
So, should I read Omnivore’s Dilemma (even though I’ve been a vegetarian for 23 years), My Name is Red, and A Problem from Hell? Should I give White Teeth a second chance (I did read her second novel in its entirety)?
Oh no! A question for White Teeth? Actually, that’s been a common response when I asked people over at my blog for their favorite Zadie Smith novels – that White Teeth is un-get-into-able. I looked back at my notes from when I read it 5 years, and also noted I didn’t really start enjoying the book until the characters fully emerge about 100 pages in, but after that, I loved it! Give it another try!
Sigh… I know I should give it another shot
I just found On Beauty a bit tedious, though. Thanks for the recommendation, though!