Hooray for the weekend update

It's all about the "Best of" Lists this week, most of which, btw, can be found at this incredibly handy link. But for those who want to scour the papers like I do, let's go:

NYTBR: Want the 100 Notables list? Look right here. In full-length reviews, Sarah Vowell digs the Godfather sequel, Daniel Mendelsohn writes an insanely long treatment of Truman Capote, Jacqueline Carey jumps on the CASE HISTORIES bandwagon, and Laura Miller explains why book recommendations often lead to anxiety attacks.

WaPo Book World: Jonathan Yardley picks his year's favorites, as does the rest of Book World's staff; Daniel Stashower mightily approves of the new two-volume annotated Sherlock Holmes; and Azir Nafisi hopes that literature can save the world.

G&M: I wonder if Margaret Cannon was being just a tad lazy this week. Many copyediting errors (the novel's called DISSOLUTION, and it was published in 2003) and she reviewed the latest James Patterson(?!) although she also looks at releases by Tony Hillerman, Michael Blair, R.J. Harlick, and Lorenzo Carcaterra. Otherwise, Martin Levin looks at the oversized gift book phenomenon, Christine Sismondo examines two books on--yes--ice, and Lynn Crosbie makes me laugh by comparing Tom Wolfe's I AM CHARLOTTE SIMMONS to Sydney Sheldon.

Guardian Review: All sorts of famous writer types weigh in with their favorite books of this past year. Otherwise, Matthew Lewin delivers an exceedingly (and hilariously) cranky thriller column, Todd McEwen explains why he moved back to New York (a siren call I definitely and truly understand) and James Fenton looks at the links between flying and fascism.

Observer: Stephanie Merritt thought it a good year for literary fiction; two new books demonstrate how difficult a personality Lindsay Anderson was; and Robert McCrum offers his dream dinner party literary guest list--and you can, too, for the low low price of--oh, wait, wrong reference. Sorry.

Scotsman & Sundry: Andrew Greig gives the inside scoop on the impetus for his Saltire Award-winning novel; Michael White makes the case that Machiavelli was "misunderstood," but Andrew Crumey isn't buying it; and there's yet another example of why Dick Lit isn't exactly catching on with readers.

All the rest:

Ken Follett was born in Wales and lives in England, but he's donating his archives to the Saginaw (MI) Valley State University. Why? All is explained in this news item from the Saginaw News.

Charles Taylor explains why Ruth Rendell is one of the genre's greats, using her newest US release, THE ROTTWEILER, as a springboard for doing so. (Warning: day pass required)

Matthew Pearl's THE DANTE CLUB may have been released almost 2 years ago, but he's still publicizing it in far flung places like Brunswick, Maine.

Oline Cogdill's on a reviewing tear, giving good notices to Sue Walker's THE REUNION (she liked the book a lot more than I did, though I do want to read Walker's next book), Ben Rehder's FLAT CRAZY and Bob Randisi's anthology MURDER AND ALL THAT JAZZ.

Tom and Enid Schantz return with their monthly mystery column for the Denver Post, looking at new books by Colin Cotterill (hey, why haven't I received a copy of this yet??) Stuart Kaminsky, and Deborah Grabien.

The San Jose Mercury News's John Orr picks his best mystery novels of the year: an interesting, albeit a big ticket item-slanted one.

Dear Telegraph--you suck. Stop putting your reviews online so late! Anyway, Susanna Yager's crime column, which originally ran on the 17th of November, features reviews of new books by Andrew Taylor, Jeff Lindsay, Graham Hurley, Denise Hamilton, Louis Bayard, Jorg Fauser, Thomas Richter, Joe Lansdale, Natsuo Kirino, and Laura Lippman.

Lloyd Hart was once so addicted to smack he stole books and clothes to feed his habit. After turning his life around 10 years ago, he went even further--and opened a bookstore in Orchard Park, MA.

Here's the kind of review of I AM CHARLOTTE SIMMONS I've been looking for--written by a college student for his student newspaper!

And finally, some people claim to have seen a ghost--others try to auction them off.

Comments

[Aldo]

I find it interesting the lack of mystery books on the NYT list. I found that I was in more agreement with the WaPo list, even in the non-fiction selections.

I wonder is the new Godfather book that good? Can you imagine if Bruen was asked to write it what it might be like?

[Fiona]

That Charles Taylor sure gets a big thumbs up from me...

[Rebecca]

Will someone please tell me what's up with Andrew Crumey and Machiavelli? Seldom have I read a more vitriolic and small minded review. Maybe the biography really stinks, but if that's the case, for goodness' sake attack the biographer for trivializing his subject, not the subject himself, who at least deserves some respect as the father of modern political science, and possibly the earliest advocate of a republican form of government in the European tradition. (Yup, that's right. The Prince is just a companion piece to the much longer Republic.) Instead we get a backhanded compliment that White "knows how to tell a story" and then an anecdote with the SHOCKING revelation that a fifteenth century aristocrat treated protitutes with contempt. I imagine MOST upperclass men looked on lowerclass women as their social and intellectual equals, and treated them with all the respect and compassion they deserved...just the way they do today. ;-)

[Aldo]

Rebecca,
Thanks for saying what I was thinking. I find this utterly amazing. We should all be schooled in the classics again, something sorely missing from the public K-12 curriculum.

[Rebecca]

Aldo -

Since we're both in the education business, I'd like to give credit where credit is due here, to an exceptionally good instructor of Columbia's required "Contemporary Civilization" (aka Western Philosophy) course: Nathalie Silvestre, at the time a poli-sci grad student, was the one who presented Machiavelli to me and my class, and did a good job of it.

I think what really troubled me about the review was its smug prurience though. The description of Cesare Borgia as a "psychopath" and the recycling of the incest thing (the case for incest between Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia is about as compelling as the case for incest between Anne Boleyn and her brother) smacked of the old English (or in this instance Scottish) view of Italy as a sort of "sin city" cross between Vegas and Daytona Beach....where you go for warm weather and to get laid. And then ending with the STUNNING statement that "ruthlessness always brings about its own downfall." Huhh??? To modify Chevy Chase: this news just in, General Franco is still dead of natural causes, in his bed, mourned and honored after 40 years of ruthlessness. And by the way, General Pinochet is still alive, as is Fidel Castro (and any number of other ruthless worthies). If you want examples closer to Machiavelli's own time, look at Ferdinand of Aragon, one of the great rivals (and slanderers) of the Borgia family. Crumey is preaching a ridiculous "bad people always lose" doctrine which is either idiotic or disingenuous (since the contrapositive is inevitably that winners are always good people). If you have problems with evil, read Kierkegaard or Unamuno to shore up your faith or Camus or Wiesel to divest yourself of it, but for don't pretend it doesn't exist and that at the end of the day Teacher will come and put the bad boys in detention while the good kids get to go roast smores on a campfire.