The decade in books as seen by the Post
Jan 03, 2010 in Books
Here it is, the Post’s roundup of books of the decade. My friend and co-editor Mark Medley did an insane amount of work on this and the final product is just astounding. We got two really interesting lists, one of Canadian books of the decade and the other of international books. Here they are, but I urge you to read the whole thing. It’s a great summary of the decade in publishing and books.
The Top 10 Canadian
1. Life of Pi, by Yann Martel (Knopf Canada, 2001)
2. Three Day Road, by Joseph Boyden (Penguin Canada, 2005)
3. The Man Game, by Lee Henderson (Penguin Canada, 2008)
4. De Niro’s Game, by Rawi Hage (House of Anansi Press, 2006)
4. Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Mariage, by Alice Munro (McClelland & Stewart, 2001)
6. Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography, by Chester Brown (Drawn & Quarterly, 2003)
7. Lullabies for Little Criminals, by Heather O’Neill (HarperCollins Canada, 2006)
8. Eunoia, by Christian Bök (Coach House Books, 2001)
9. The Middle Stories, by Sheila Heti (House of Anansi Press, 2001)
10. Natasha and Other Stories, by David Bezmozgis (HarperCollins Canada, 2004)
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The Top 10 International
1. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, by Dave Eggers (Simon & Schuster, 2000, U.S.)
2. The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001, U.S.)
3. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon (Random House, 2000, U.S.)
4. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy (Knopf, 2006, U.S.)
5. Everything is Illuminated, by Jonathan Safran Foer (Houghton Mifflin, 2002, U.S.)
6. Platform, by Michel Houellebecq, translated by Frank Wynne (Knopf, 2001, France)
7. Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro (Faber and Faber, 2005, U.K.)
8. Remainder, by Tom McCarthy (Metronome Press, 2005, U.K.)
9. The Master, by Colm Tóibín (Picador, 2004, Ireland)
10. No One Belongs Here More Than You, by Miranda July (Simon & Schuster, 2007, U.S.)
For the record, I accurately predicted both the top Canadian and top International book. What that says about my taste, I’m not sure. I also want to point out Tom McCarthy’s Remainder, on the international list, a really wonderful novel that got overlooked by a lot of people. The list of books that narrowly missed out on making the lists is also full of some wonderful books.