Anonymous wrote:Delighted to see You Dreamed of Empires on there. Bold and hilarious book and I still think about it. And definitely not/not bourgeois navel gazing.

This one is on my list! Was immediately taken with the premise.

Interesting to compare to Financial Times (I generally like their books section more). They had:

The Voyage Home. Pat Barker.
Long Island Compromise. Taffy Brodesser-Akner.
Orbital. Samantha Harvey.
Rosarita. Anita Desai.
James. Percival Everett.
Small Rain. Garth Greenwell.
Our Evenings. Alan Hollinghurst.
Intermezzo. Sally Rooney.

Delighted to see You Dreamed of Empires on there. Bold and hilarious book and I still think about it. And definitely not/not bourgeois naval gazing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have read about 80 books this year and none of them were on the NYT top 100 books for this year.

Were they all published in 2024?

Oh, yeah that is a good point. Only two of the books I have read this year were actually published this year.

Anonymous wrote:I have read about 80 books this year and none of them were on the NYT top 100 books for this year.

Were they all published in 2024?

I have read about 80 books this year and none of them were on the NYT top 100 books for this year.

I could not get into All Fours. As soon as she started redecorating the motel room I was out! Loved James and Martyr! was beautifully written.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only one on the list I've read is James. Agree 100%. It was brilliant.

I'm just glad to see Creation Lake is NOT on this list.

I'm glad someone else shares my distaste for Creation Lake.

I was also exasperated with Creation Lake!

Oops. I haven't read any.

I’m only interested in James, and maybe the Wide Wide Sea.

I’m with the audience typically and not the critics

Anonymous wrote:The only one on the list I've read is James. Agree 100%. It was brilliant.

I'm just glad to see Creation Lake is NOT on this list.

I'm glad someone else shares my distaste for Creation Lake.

I've read close to 200 books this year and All Fours was one of only two that I DNF. Granted since I didn't finish it I can't have a full opinion, but that book was just not for me. To quote someone else's comment about it, it was too much "bourgeois navel gazing." It felt like narcissistic drivel. I remember the exact point I decided to give up was when the protagonist described sticking her finger in herself and pulling it out to sniff it. I'm not a prude but cumulative with the rest, that part just made me roll my eyes too far back into my head and say no more. And I'm a 44 year old female, exactly the target audience.

I also didn't like Good Material. It was just dull and the male character was so whiny. I didn't find it funny. There are so many other novels published this year that are more deserving.

James is very deserving of all the accolades, as is Martyr! I didn't quite have the WOW reaction to Martyr! that most people had but I think I will reread it as perhaps I was not in the correct place for it at the time of first read.

I have not read the fifth fiction choice or any of the nonfiction.

I'm not entirely surprised that my tastes don't quite align from this list considering they chose The Bee Sting last year and I hated that book with a fiery passion.

The only one on the list I've read is James. Agree 100%. It was brilliant.

I'm just glad to see Creation Lake is NOT on this list.

All Fours was very intriguing and readable even with the explicit s*x scenes. I am not perimenopause yet, but I can see how this would be a good topic. Loved James and Good Material too.

Here is a gift link to the New York Times top 10 books of the year. Discuss.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/03/books/best-books-2024.html?unlocked_article_code=1.e04.RWA8.1c9R4Ln1y6l2&smid=url-share