Not entirely sure your description of “Swamplandia” matches up with the book. Unless “a strange love story” is your euphemism for child rape.

@Nico
Don’t want to speak for Emily, but pretty sure the “strange love story” was Osceola’s, not Ava’s.

@Nico: I think Ms. Temple was referring to the Dredgeman and Ava’s older sister.

Although I didn’t care much for “We the Animals,” I think this is a pretty strong list. Some of these I missed: will have to add them to the reading queue.

@everyone: Yes, of course it was Osceola’s. Doesn’t get much stranger than falling in love with a ghost.

Well thats good. But osceola’s story, like Ava’s, was designed to show that a sense of wonderment or a belief in magic was a dangerous liability. Osceola winds up almost dead, saved only by a stroke of pure luck, and Ava’s belief in osceola’s story is the opening that her rapist exploits.

I personally didn’t like swamplandia, but I could see argument for it as a great book, as long as that argument revolves around it being a traumatizing, harrowing story. Calling it a “semi-magical adventure” and “an epic journey” misses a lot of the point. That’s what its characters want and expect, but the reality is far more gruesome and horrible.

I liked We The Animals a lot more.

It is one of the best books I’ve ever read

Open City was stunning. We the Animals starts off beautiful and ends up ordinary. A vastly overrated book/fragment.

In addition to The Art of Fielding the two new novelists’ novel that blew me away were “Luminarium” by Alex Shakar (very surprised it didn’t end up on more Best of lists) and “The Last Werewolf” which is not just about werewolves in the same way Art of Fielding isn’t just about baseball.

All three incredibly compelling, and each in a unique way with unique well-rendered voices.

If you think that publishing is robust and thriving because it has a few new writers (who do not command top dollar since they have no track record), then I have a certain bridge for sale that might interest you. I can’t think of any other business that has generated more myths than publishing. The power of the New York Times book review is one of those slippery illusions. I had a book there that got listed as a Year’s Notable and came with a rave review. It meant absolutely nothing. In another incarnation, I was an editor at a publishing house, and we had a writer who got another rave at the New York Times. Pop the champagne corks. But not so fast. I pushed aside everything on on my desk so I could deal with the inevitable avalanche in publicity and sales. Only the avalanche did not arrive. That book sold at exactly the rate we thought it would with no New York Times anywhere on the horizon. And not one book more. The New York Times does not sell books. Word of mouth sells books. I was published by the New York Times as well. The experience was meaningless. Editors no longer acquire books. Marketing committees acquire books. If you think that marketing committees are the best way to publish the best books, you are insane. There is nothing more amusing than a marketing director with a power point presentation. Yes, they still do power points in publishing. It only took them twenty years to finally understand email. Publishing has modernized. It is no longer a tasteful gentleperson’s club. It is no longer 1959 in perpetuity. It is 1960 in perpetuity. The New York Times is ephemeral. So is book publishing.

Okay, not a novel, but I recently finished the memoir (and first full length book) of Susan Rosenberg, An American Radical. Fantastic, powerful, well-written writing of her fellow prisoners & experiences in prison. Wow…

@Editor Emeritus Tim Barrus, have your assistant refill your prescription, honey, I think you forgot your meds. Or maybe THE MARKETING STAFF OF THE NEW YORK TIMES STOLE YOUR PILLS….IT’S ALL A CONSPIRACY!!!!!!!….bum pum PUUUUUUUUM…..

The inclusion of the phenomenal “Art of Fielding” notwithstanding, any list that includes “We The Animals” as a best-of has no merit, I’m sorry to break it to you.

The Sly Company of People Who Care, by Rahul Bhattacharya

@Tim Barrus, You’re one to talk about myths. Your novels didn’t sell because pretending to be Navajo and using tropes like FAS is, to be polite, a gimmick.

We the animals is an insanely amazing book. I read it after hearing Justin read a chapter of it on the radio, you will be immersed in dynamics rarely written and a style truly unique.

Here’s another debut novel that’s been getting rave reviews:

http://www.abbyslovin.com

Nico: Regardless of what you feel, comments should never divulge what happens in a major plot line you ass!

I suppose you out-of-date scandal hounds think that the New York Times still publishes an independently distributed publication. Maybe you were thinking of the New York Review of Books. Or maybe you were thinking of the internet weekend eCompilation. Nowadays even the reviews come via email.

And much of the best writing is also found there, although the best of the best is video now.

Try to keep up.

Prairie Mary
(Mary Scriver)

In regard to “You Deserve Nothing”, a letter I wrote to Ms. Sebold, to which I am still awaiting reply.

Oct. 13, 2011
Dear Ms. Sebold,

I am writing in regard to the novel, “You Deserve Nothing,” recently publish by Tonga at your selection. I’m sure you already know everything I’m going to say, but I could not in good conscience let it go unsaid. I was a student in the author’s senior AP English class at the American School of Paris, 2005-2006, as well as a close friend of the girl he had an affair with during that time. I wonder if you had done much research into the author’s past or his time at the American School of Paris (ASP). I would like to think that you may not have published this manuscript as a novel had you known it was strictly true.

It’s not a bad book, I read it in one 5 hour sitting; but then again I had the advantage of already knowing the entire story. Within the author’s retelling of my senior year of high school every plot point of significance was lifted directly from reality. The characters can all be generally identified as real teachers and students, all the major events are true, and the chronology is accurate.

Everyone from ASP has been talking non-stop about this book from the first press-release on. Rumors and speculation have been making the rounds, and now that we all have read it, there is more gossip still. This book stirred up a lot of unnecessary and unwanted memories for everyone, especially for the young woman in question. I happen to know that she has received emails from former teachers inquiring how she “feels” about the book. I am simply bringing this up as evidence that I am by no means the only one who acknowledges the extreme similarities between the book and reality. And because of the lack of disguise, there is speculation about what is factual and what is fiction. Of course there are things that were invented, but those readers, who were not as close to the events and cannot distinguish, are likely mis-attributing actions and dialogue. Because of the sensitive nature of the events, it seems wrong to bring them up again like this, without the author clarifying his intentions.

Ironic, that the main theme of the book is bravery vs. cowardice, and yet the brave thing to do would have been to publish it as a memoir, or at least based on a true story; for the author to put himself out there and really confront the repercussions of his actions. Lucky for him, he wasn’t fired from the school, simply asked to resign, which I will attribute to the cowardice of the school board and their aversion to negative publicity. From what I understand the incident never went on his record.

Let me be clear, I am not moralizing about the events portrayed in the book. I am questioning the ethics of labeling this book as a novel when I think you will find many, many people who can verify almost every occurrence and character. There can be no doubt that the author wrote this in part to process the events and his role in them. The writing and even the publishing of this book is not so much what concerns me. Call it what it is, some type of non-fiction. I am quite a fan of yours and that’s part of the reason I was surprised that you would have been involved in this project if you knew what I’ve relayed. Despite being two completely different situations, the fact that you bravely wrote a memoir about your experience and this author chose to shield himself with a work of fiction pretty much sums up my point. This book could have been a more authentic and demanding experience for the reader and more cathartic for the author had he followed your lead by writing a memoir or at least a “based on a true story”.

With fiction, the author has freed himself to explore character’s voices and thoughts that he would not otherwise be able to had he written a memoir. I understand that this is what makes the book so appealing and intriguing. Considering that his characters are primarily real people, we can safely say that he has put words in their mouths and even distorted those things they actually did say. All of us from ASP are painfully aware that this is not fiction and that the young woman is having this period of her life put under a microscope again, as if it wasn’t bad enough the first time around.

I hope I have made some points that you will take into consideration when working with this author in the future. I have tried to keep my own feelings about the events out of this letter, although I’m sure you can guess them. But I sincerely believe that this was the wrong way to go about things and I hope you can see our side…those of us for whom this wasn’t a novel.

Regards,
Siobhan Steen

Clearly we are in tumbling Times. CultureGrrl today reports hundreds of culture reporters expressing betrayal. Janet Robinson, CEO and President of the NYTimes is resigning with $5 million in her pocket. No wonder we are outraged at both the false and the true — who can figure it out?

Prairie Mary

The inclusion of Swamplandia! and The Borrower, and the disinclusion of The Tiger’s Wife, invalidates the list altogether.

Where is The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern???!!!!!!!!!