Sunday e-mail 4th August

The best everything of the century

Since it’s chic to be late, I have never feared my host turning me away for cheesiness. Other things, maybe, but not that.

It seems everyone has been invited to the latest party to which I have been chic. The news has been everywhere. You’ve seen it all over your social media feed; you’ve heard about it on every podcast. The arguments, the controversy, the conspiracy theories. Was it an inside job? Who exactly knew what, and when did they know it? I refer, of course, to the New York Times and their ‘100 Best Books of the Century’.

Don’t bother to get too dolled up. Treat it all with the dubiety it deserves. History will decide the best books of our century: the New York Times won’t. We all know that’s true and yet…and yet we bibliophiles can’t help getting a bit involved, getting a bit riled up, wondering just how they compiled the guest list and who chose the caterer and my God what is Ali Smith wearing?

For what it’s worth, I was delighted to see Junot Diaz on the list (should’ve been higher, in my opinion) and also Robert Caro (love his stuff). In equal parts I was amazed and not-amazed-at-all to see that Martin Amis (The Zone of Interest) and Jonathan Lethem (The Fortress of Solitude) were no-shows. And - let’s be candid here – Roberto Bolaño’s The Savage Detectives was the least fun I’ve ever had in a novel, ever. I’d have enjoyed it more if I’d used it as a hammer to bang out a fire in my own hair. (If that fellow manages to corner you, I’ll come and rescue you. Will you promise to do the same for me?)

But you don’t care about my literary opinions. Neither should you.

Perhaps I have something to add, though. Today’s bullet list features the ‘Five Best Crime Books of the Century’.

Before that there’s just time to tell you about this week’s Crime & Psychology newsletter. It continues our literary theme. On Wednesday I’ll be proud and pleased to invite you to a brief contemplation of two Great American Writers and what happened when they met Two Less-Great American Convicts. Whatever can we learn from the experience? Find out on Wednesday, Crime & Psychology fan! Never fear, it’s only a few days away! Don’t be late. There will be canapes, but not if Michael Chabon gets to them first. You know what he’s like..

Meanwhile, please bang a blue button. It really does help keep this newsletter going:

·       The London Monster by Jan Bondeson (2001) has the most literal title on our bullet-list. It tells the story of, well, the London Monster – a man who once terrified the metropolis by poking ladies in the posterior with a pointy object. More than that, it tells us vividly all about a time and a people who are lost to history

·       Cosa Nostra by John Dickie (2007) is like a movie – a special widescreen, centuries-spanning epic movie at that. Not only does the author seems to know absolutely everything about his subject but he can teach it to you with pleasure and elegance.

·       Chaos by Tom O’Neill (2019) is the story of a story. Or perhaps it is the story of a story of a story: the one that O’Neill was trying to write until he found himself lost in a labyrinth that led everywhere and nowhere. Nominally about the Manson murders, this book also deals with academic Psychology, the Kennedy assassination, and the Beach Boys… It also features a cameo from Doris (‘You’re out of your mind if you think I’m going to produce your fucking record’) Day

·       The Furious Hours by Casey Cep (2019) has great literature, voodoo, murder, and long road trips. Who could possibly ask for more? It is also insanely well written. This is the most beautiful book on the list.

·       Five Families by Selwyn Raab (2016) is the only book you need to read on its subject. It tells you everything, in detail. Set aside a week to sit in your favourite armchair and be glad you’re in your own house rather than in Manhattan in the 1970s. This is amazing, encyclopaedic, panoptic stuff.