More Fiction Best Books Lists
As much fun as best books list are, so many more have rolled in since our last roundup that we are feeling a bit of “list fatigue,” as NPR labels it. Theirs is so bad that they claim to not be doing a best books list this year (see “The Top 5 Reasons We’re Taking A Break From Lists“).
Don’t believe them. Despite what they say, they’ve published a “non-list” of 200 titles from 2013, calling it a “book concierge.”
The NPR “staff picks” of 59 titles looks like a best books list to us, so we’ve added their picks to our latest roundup (downloadable spreadsheet here 2013 — Best Books, Adult Fiction, Version 3).
Here’s the top 5 reason why we’re ignoring NPR’s claim that this isn’t a list:
5) Their interactive format is fun.
4) They’re the only ones so far to include a book that is surely on every librarian’s to give or to get list, John Bradshaw’s Cat Sense (Basic Books).
3) If dogs are more to your taste, they’re also the only ones to include David Rosenfelt’s Dogtripping (Macmillan/St. Martin’s).
2) Theirs is the 9th pick for George Saunders’ Tenth of December (Random House), sending it to the top of our tally of total picks, allowing us to again quote one of our favorite #libfaves13 tweets, from Andrea Cough, “try one a day for lunch” (even though she used it for a different book of short stories). UPDATE: Just a few hours after we wrote this, USA Today released their top ten, scrambling everything up again. We’re updating the list.
1) NPR’s coverage generates more holds than any other source.
In addition to the NPR Staff Picks, our updated fiction spreadsheet (Version 3) adds the following:
New York Times Book Review 100 Notable Books of 2013 (43 fiction)
New York Times Book Review Top Ten (5 fiction)
Slate Book Review Top Ten (6 Fiction)
Time magazine Top 10 Comics & Graphic Novels (7 fiction)
That’s a total of 487 picks for 290 titles, from 14 sources. We’re expecting this to the the final fiction roundup until Booklist and ALA produce their lists. By the end of the week, we will complete the nonfiction update (including the Kirkus NF list just posted today). The updated children’s list will be posted shortly.
Meanwhile, be sure to add your picks to the list of librarian favorites — #libfaves13. And. don’t let “list fatigue” prevent you from nominating 2014 titles for LibraryReads.