Literature Is Not Dead

I’ve read a lot of great books in the past ten years, but many of those were classics written a long time ago. Here are my ten favorite of the ones actually published in the last decade.

1. The Contortionist’s Handbook, by Craig Clevenger – though these are listed in no particular order, The Handbook is probably my favorite of them all. They say Clevenger writes better than Palahniuk, and they may be right.
2. The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruis Zafon – While Bolano got all the write-ups as the big import author this decade, I spent my time reading Zafon, and I’m glad I did.
3. Corrections to my Memoirs, by Michael Kun – I don’t know why people don’t know Kun. This became, all of a sudden, my favorite short story collection of all time. OF ALL TIME.
4. Flora Segunda, by Ysabeau Wilce – Better than Harry Potter. Yes, I said it.
5. No one Belongs Here More than You, by Miranda July – Miranda July is the Queen Midas of modern creativity.
6. Going Postal by Terry Pratchett – Nobody gives Pratchett his due because the books he writes are funny, and funny books cannot also be important. Pratchett is easily the finest satirist I’ve read in the last two decades, and a better storyteller than 90% of writers today.
7. Murdaland – It appears that this journal has since disappeared, but if you can lay your hands on either of their first (and only) two issues, you will possess the finest, grittiest crime fiction written in the decade.
8. The Game, by Neil Strauss – Chauvanist? Yes. Brilliant? Also yes.
9. Truth and Beauty, by Ann Patchett – I tend to read mostly action/adventure, noir and sci-fi. Truth and Beauty is at the opposite end of the spectrum from that sort of thing, but amazing. All I’m gonna say is that Patchett delivers on her title.
10. This spot is reserved for the book I’ve forgotten about. No doubt one of the best has slipped my mind and no doubt someone will remind me.