Amazon's top ten books of the year.

[Hugh]

Amazon picks its 10 best books of 2012 | Shelf Life | EW.com

Number 1 was The Roundhouse by Louise Erdrich. I didn't read it, but the synopsis in the article tells me why it was number one - a coming of age story. Can't wait to see it get the Pulitzer.

I didn't read any of the books in the top ten, (except for some snippets from Mortality by Hitch), but that's mainly due to the fact that I do most of my shopping in the paperback section of a used book store. I'm several years behind everyone else. And until these book snobs who make the selections for these lists understand that a green eyed monster eating Tokyo is every bit as important as an oppressed villager in Peru, I will continue to give them the Too Cool for School attitude.

 

[beer good]

Well, as far as I can tell about half of those titles are thrillers, war stories or comedies, so I'm not sure how snobbish it is - Amazon's goal is to sell books, after all.

I've heard good things about Gone Girl and The Fault In Our Stars, though not enough to pick them up. Most of the rest, including Hitchens, don't sound all that interesting. As usual with US lists, it's a remarkable coincidence how all the best novels seem to be written by Americans.

 

[Laura173]

The Roundhouse - "EW's grade: A–. Melissa Maerz called it "a gripping mystery with a moral twist: Revenge might be the harshest punishment, but only for the victims."

...aren't all books written this way now? I can't remember the last time I read a good story! Maybe I'm getting old...

 

[Peder]

As usual with US lists, it's a remarkable coincidence how all the best novels seem to be written by Americans.

Hi Beer Good. That's the second time I have seen you make that point, and finally my curiosity has been raised about Swedish best-seller lists (and other country's lists). I've never seen one and wonder what they look like -- for topics, genres, author's nationalities and so forth. Is there an easy way you can provide some information?

 

[Peder]

The Hitchens book, Mortality, is a quick way to learn about Hitchens' personality, in case one doesn't already know him.

 

[beer good]

Hi Beer Good. That's the second time I have seen you make that point, and finally my curiosity has been raised about Swedish best-seller lists (and other country's lists). I've never seen one and wonder what they look like -- for topics, genres, author's nationalities and so forth. Is there an easy way you can provide some information?

Well, first of all I wasn't talking about bestseller lists but about the sort of year-end best-of list that Hugh posted above, since I'm firmly convinced that "best" and "best selling" are two different things. If you're interested, I could dig up some Swedish critics' best-of lists for 2012.

But since you asked, I went looking for some statistics. Sadly, the share of translated books sold in Sweden has dropped quite a bit; from more than 50% in 2000 to about 25% today. (I couldn't find any figures on the share for published, as opposed to sold, books, but it would probably be a bit higher.) This is partly because the book industry as a whole grew a lot in the early 00s, with every other vaguely literate Swede and his dog putting out series of crappy detective novels that for some reason sell a lot, and then went through a massive crunch over the last few years where expensive international rights tended to be the first to go; partly because people are increasingly buying books in English instead*. Still, there's a fairly lively market for translated literature, and not just from English either, though European languages (German, French, Russian, Spanish, Italian) tend to dominate even though there are several smaller publishers who somehow make a living translating Middle Eastern, African, Asian and South American literature.

* According to a bookseller friend of mine, more and more readers have taken this so far that they prefer to read non-English literature in English rather than Swedish - for instance, when Murakami's 1Q84 came out in Swedish, many of his Swedish fans still chose to wait for the English translation that came out six months later since they wanted to read this Japanese book "in the original". Baka.

Also, in the spirit of lighting a candle rather than cursing the darkness, here's a best of 2012 list from the excellent blog Three Percent (named for the share of translated books published in the US):

Three Percent: Three Percent #50: Favorite Translations of 2012 (And Trilogies Tom Likes)

 

[Peder]

Well, first of all I wasn't talking about bestseller lists but about the sort of year-end best-of list that Hugh posted above, since I'm firmly convinced that "best" and "best selling" are two different things. If you're interested, I could dig up some Swedish critics' best-of lists for 2012.

Thank you for the correction. Yes, I too agree that best and best-selling can be two different things. My sloppiness. My apologies. :sad:

But thank you especially for your commentary and the link. I see no overlap whatever between the books I buy and intend to read and the books mentioned there. Except that, perhaps I have read the detective stories that you allude to as trashy in your post.

Thanks for your time and effort.
Peder

 

[pontalba]

Amazon picks its 10 best books of 2012 | Shelf Life | EW.com

........And until these book snobs who make the selections for these lists understand that a green eyed monster eating Tokyo is every bit as important as an oppressed villager in Peru, I will continue to give them the Too Cool for School attitude.

Lists, schmists. All prejudiced, or skewed one way or t'other...

Love the To Cool for School attitude. Keep up the good work.

 

[Peder]

I was surprised to see Amazon list personal picks of editors/critics(?). I'd have expected a best-seller list. After all nobody knows their sales better than they do, and that is what I would have been interested in seeing from them. Literary opinion? Who cares; I'll find mine elsewhere.