So this was way less pleasant than I expected. I mean, we all know top 10 lists are exercises in bogus click-whoring, so standard caveats apply, blah blah blah. But still: painful. (And this is probably the tenth top-10 list I've written this month. Some of these books I've already summarized three or four times in the past two weeks. My summarizing finger is all tuckered out.)
And I'm making it worse by lumping together fantasy and science fiction, which are intimately related but still fundamentally distinct genres, into one list. Why would you do that, Lev? Why?
What, did you miss the part about click-whoring?
Doing this made me realize two things. One, it forced me to confront how little I've actually read. For example, I haven't read Ilium. I haven't read Old Man's War. Or Altered Carbon, or a single word by Charles Stross. I know, I know, I know. The deeper I went, the more I wanted to turn back. But I kept going. Because the Internet needs another top 10 list.
Two, I realized what an incredibly great decade it's been for fantasy. Seismic: Tons of new and newish voices putting out amazing, innovative books that are blowing out the walls of the genre on all sides. Six of the books on this list are straight fantasy, and two more are borderline, leaving only two "straight" SF titles. One of which is by Kazuo Ishiguro.
But listen, all caveats aside, I totally stand by these picks as great books that will endure.
And that goes double for my number one.
By the way, sorry about the very terse summaries that go with each item. I was limited to maxi-tweets of 300 characters. The things we had to do to WordPress to make it display these lists at all were unspeakably horrible. Seriously. China Miéville could write a novel about it.
Perdido Street Station is one of the best, most depressing books that I have ever read. Then again, I have yet to read anything by Mieville that wasn't excellent. Just read name of the wind, which was also quite excellent. It was somehow able to check every box of a fantasy cliche, while still being a total page-turner.
Also---Thank you for giving me 5 books that I can read over Christmas break.
hobermal
Dec. 10, 2009 11:14am
I appreciate your honesty regarding the click whoring, and for that I will click away oh god I am not going to complete that analogy.
Rorschach
Dec. 10, 2009 11:45am
Just leave the money on the dresser.
Lev Grossman
Dec. 10, 2009 13:32pm
Gawd, I loved Jonathan Strange. Did not want it to end. It amazes me that crap like Twilight became such a phenomenon when such a regal masterpiece was also published this decade to far less fanfare. But I digress.
I don't have as much acclaim for American Gods. It was enjoyable, but Gaiman has written far better works. Surely, it's not fair to compare him to his earlier works.
crispy4
Dec. 10, 2009 13:39pm
Lev, have you ever read R. Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing series? It's pretty good. I'd put it on par with American Gods.
jurble
Dec. 11, 2009 00:17am
I can't wait until HBO makes a documentary series about click whores...
Can't really argue with the ones I read on here, and I'm sure picking 10 out of the last ten years is is pretty tough. However, I must file a formal protest that Anathem by Neal Stephenson didn't make the cut.
Kemper
Dec. 12, 2009 07:04am
I think I may be the only human who thought American Gods was meh. It was okay. I am surprised to see it on every top 10 of the decade list. Ditto Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel. I thought that one was kind of a yawner, as well.
I'm going to have to try out China Mieville again, I guess. I couldn't get into The Scar, and hadn't picked up anything else of his. Maybe I'll just read everything on this list in order. Ye olde Kindle has been taking a backseat to video games lately.
masurix
Dec. 13, 2009 15:01pm
Also, I think you summed up exactly why I hate G.R.R Martin's books. "...delivers blow after stunning blow to his characters." It's the same reason I end up hating most TV shows. When every single moment is, "GASP! dun dun dun!" I just lose interest. There has to be some kind of buildup for those big moments to matter, they can't just be one after another after another of 'the most SHOCKING revelation on TV' or, in this case, in print. I have to care to be shocked, and I feel like Martin skips that part.
masurix
Dec. 13, 2009 15:32pm
Certainly an interesting list, but I would have had Neal Stephenson's "Anathem" somewhere near, if not at the top of the list. A fascinating story of another planets culture, and their first contact with aliens. An incredibly well developed world, filled with people you actually care about. All the action in the world can never take the place of empathy for the people you are reading about. I want to be immersed in the story. If you ever do a list on a series, I hope you take a look at the "Belasarius" series by David Drake and Eric Flint. They totally got it right. Action packed with characters you want to talk to. Like all top 10 lists, this one is subject to cordial debate. And, by getting to see other people's ideas, we just might find something new to read!
morgansjc
Dec. 15, 2009 01:15am
I would have had Altered Carbon, Old Man's War, and Anathem on my list, but vive la difference!
13enster
Dec. 16, 2009 20:44pm
13enster-
If you read Anathem, you know what I mean by "Say zhoost!" Altered Carbon, in fact all the Kovacs novels should be on the list, such as Broken Angels. Maybe we need a "Top 20" list instead of a top ten. I haven't read Old Man's War, so I did indeed get a new book to read. Thanks! In my NTBHO, Anathem was the best book I read this year. If you liked Altered Carbon, try Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, the author of Anathem. Good reading.
morgansjc
Dec. 17, 2009 10:11am
Sorry, but one more that should have made the cut was Tim Powers "The Stress of Her Regard". Powers has been my favorite author way back when I discovered "The Drawing of the Dark". Pardon me for digressing a bit, but when I mentioned this to my daughter she said "Daddy, I know him! I took a class with him." She then arranged for us to meet and have dinner. It was awesome! He told us an anecdote about being mugged in the alley behind his house when he and his wife lived in Santa Ana, CA. His wife came out with a shotgun, fired a round over their heads, and told them the next one wouldn't miss. Saved him from a severe beating or worse. Now there's the kind of wife to have. After 22 years of marriage, mine might have tossed THEM the shotgun...
morgansjc
Dec. 17, 2009 10:35am
I thought Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell was good, but not great. I'll have to reread that now. Of the other books listed that I have read, I concur that they are towards the top of the list.
However, I'm in agreement with the other posters that Anathem should have replaced at least one of those books on the list and I also think that at least one book that either Tad Williams, Stephen Donaldson or Robin Hobb wrote in the last decade should have made the list.
heneversaidhewasagod
Dec. 18, 2009 12:58pm
I think it's about time to drop John Grisham and Ken Follet and dive into some of the sci-fi I've been recommended for the last few years.
nemerzain
Dec. 19, 2009 11:37am
M John Harrison, " Light" Some of the most beautiful prose ever written in the scif genre and the mind-expanding concepts teeter just on the edge of overwhelming w/o going over it.
As for the continued love-fest with China Mieville, I just don't get it.., oh wait yes I do. People love gimmicks! Take a little scifi slap it together with some fantasy and there you go—Genius! Whatever.
rtl3
Dec. 28, 2009 10:12am
This is long since dead, but seriously- no Cryptonomicon? No Pattern Recognition?
solidstatemind
Jan. 6, 2010 12:35pm
I'm in agreement on most of these, but I do disagree with Never Let Me Go... mainly because there are two young adult novels (The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer and Unwind by Neal Shusterman) that covered the same topic better. One of them was even out before Ishiguro's. Ah, well.
On the other hand, American Gods was one of the best books I read last year, and I read a lot of damn good books!
mlwl
Feb. 3, 2010 23:10pm