Short Takes For August

FRANKENSTEIN BRINGS A MONSTER PRICE AT HERITAGE

What’s not to like about an auction that brings together three of the great works of fiction and gets top dollar for them all. Here’s a brief report from antiquetrader.com noting “a first edition copy of Mary Shelley’s 1818 “Frankenstein: or The Modern Prometheus” rampaged through Heritage Auctions recently, selling for $843,750. The sale was part of The William A. Strutz Library, Part I, Rare Books Signature Auction that totaled $5,655,439. Two other standouts in the sale were The Great Gatsby inscribed by F. Scott Fitzgerald that realized $425,000 and a presentation copy of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit that went for $300,000. Check out the links for additional photos.

NY Times Best Books of the 21st Century (so far)

In July the New York Times announced a list of what they say their panel of experts are calling the Best Books of the 21st Century (so far)

Here are the authors and titles of the Top 10 “as voted on by 503 novelists, nonfiction writers, poets, critics and other book lovers — with a little help from the staff of The New York Times Book Review.”

The NYT’s Top 10

1. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante; trans. by Ann Goldstein 2012

2. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson 2010

3. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel 2009

4. The Known World by Edward P. Jones 2003

5. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen 2001

6. 2666 by Roberto Bolaño; trans by Natasha Wimmer 2008

7. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead 2016

8. Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald; translated by Anthea Bell 2001

9. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro 2005

10. Gilead By Marilynne Robinson 2004

Everyone's a Critic

Here’s a critique of the NYT’s choices by Lincoln Michel; it ran in Substack and asks the questions: Where are the young writers? Why so much fiction, and autobiographical fiction at that? And what happened to the genre-benders? Some good points raised here. Read it for yourself and see if you agree?

The NY Times Readers Have Their Own Opinions

The Times also did a reprise when a little later in July they published a second list showcasing their Readers’ Pick of the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century (so far). Here are the top 10 on the 2nd list. The editors said that there were 39 items on both lists and 61 that only appear on the Readers’ Picks. Here are the Top 10.

The Readers’ Top 10

1. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. No. 61 on the Book Review’s list

2. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

3. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

4. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. No. 46 on the Book Review’s list

5. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. No. 15 on the Book Review’s list

6. Educated by Tara Westover

7. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. No. 76 on the Book Review’s list

8. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante; trans.by Ann Goldstein. No. 1 on the Book Review’s list

9. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. No. 9 on the Book Review’s list

10. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. No. 93 on the Book Review’s list

—-----------

HILLBILLY ELEGY SHOOTS TO #1 ON AMAZON on news that its author, J.D Vance, was selected as the GOP nominee for Vice President of the United States. Opinion seems to be divided whether the 2016 memoir of Appalachian life and values is a good book, but for sure it’s this month’s hot title. Got an extra 11:32? Check out YouTube to hear what "White Trash" historian Nancy Isenberg has to say about Vance, his book and class in America.

AUGUST NOT HOT ENOUGH FOR YOU? Just wait till September when Banned Book Week comes up from the 22nd–28th. The theme for 2024 is “Freed between the lines.” In advance of the occasion the Delaware Division of Libraries posted a list of Top 13 most frequently challenged books.