The fanzine known as the NYT Book Review recently decided that the best novel in the last 25 years was Toni Morrison’s Beloved, which you can take or leave. But some of the judges who helped make the choice have various dissenting opinions, including some remarkably petty admissions of sabotage voting to block the winner, which was mostly championed by 27-foot-tall novelist Jane Smiley.
Check it out if you can stay awake, including an entry that author and critic Michael Cunningham blogged while he was temporarily in Big D:
I find myself in Dallas, a block away from the Grassy Knoll, with a free 20 minutes. And really, what better place to think about where and how American literature overlaps American history, and whether or how much the overlap matters.
Then file under “More reasons why I changed my major from English to agriculture,” or “What’s the difference between comparing Jessica and Britney or Toni Morrison and John Updike?”
Stay tuned for a special literary reading on “American Idol.”
