What's the Best Book of 2005?

With the new reader awards coming up in October (see last post) and other annual awards coming up, let’s jump ahead and cast our votes now. What book do you think deserves to be considered one of the best this year–Fiction and Non?

I am remarkably unqualified for questions like this, which is a good reason the literary world ignores me; but still I will chance a nomination.

F: Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead was published in November 2004, so maybe I can’t choose it as the best of this year. But I want to.

N: David McCullough’s 1776 is probably a great book, but I wonder if Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink may be the better book of the year. Even if he’s entirely wrong, Gladwell may have revealed something important about our current cultural mindset–those gut instincts we have which cause us to make snap judgements. As the folk wisdom goes, your first impression is likely the best one.

2 Comments

  1. If I can’t nominate Gilead, then I vote for Acts of Faith by Philip Caputo. The Kite Runner comes in a close second. Nofiction is not my forte although I do read some. I just don’t think I’ve read anything nonfiction published this year.

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What's the Best Book of 2005?

With the new reader awards coming up in October (see last post) and other annual awards coming up, let’s jump ahead and cast our votes now. What book do you think deserves to be considered one of the best this year–Fiction and Non?

I am remarkably unqualified for questions like this, which is a good reason the literary world ignores me; but still I will chance a nomination.

F: Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead was published in November 2004, so maybe I can’t choose it as the best of this year. But I want to.

N: David McCullough’s 1776 is probably a great book, but I wonder if Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink may be the better book of the year. Even if he’s entirely wrong, Gladwell may have revealed something important about our current cultural mindset–those gut instincts we have which cause us to make snap judgements. As the folk wisdom goes, your first impression is likely the best one.

2 Comments

  1. If I can’t nominate Gilead, then I vote for Acts of Faith by Philip Caputo. The Kite Runner comes in a close second. Nofiction is not my forte although I do read some. I just don’t think I’ve read anything nonfiction published this year.

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