Many newspapers around the world publish "Books of the Year" lists at about this time. At least one British paper, Private Eye, takes the trouble to point out which literary judges have succeeded in promoting the books of their colleagues, close relations, publishers, and agents. The Times Literary Supplement is occasionally mocked for finding books of sublime obscurity. And so the annual dance goes on, lightly scrutinized as usual at the TLS this year for flagrant examples of nepotism or other vices.
Samuel Beckett, Colm Tóibín, Hilary Mantel, and Roberto Bolaño all stand out. Unusually, only these four writers were recommended more than once. In as much as there is a competition here, Beckett and Tóibín won jointly, with four recommendations each. Our 57 writers otherwise showed an astonishing breadth of interest and erudition, from Babar to The New Larousse Gastronomique.
This year there was a special "Agreement with the Editor" Prize for our critics Alex Clark, Roy Foster, and Peter Green. This recognized the special wisdom of those who chose books which I would have selected myself, Hilary Mantel’s magnificent novel, Wolf Hall, Simon Hornblower’s final volume Thucydides, and Cathy Gere’s Knossos and the Prophets of Modernism.
One book which I intend to read as a result of our survey was the recommendation of the columnist and author, Simon Jenkins, who chose Stephen Grey’s Operation Snakebite, a “devastating account,” he says, of the battle for Musa Qala in Afghanistan in December 2007, one which explains why the world’s most sophisticated armed forces are still being defeated by the world’s least sophisticated.
Plus: Check out Book Beast for more news on hot titles and authors and excerpts from the latest books.
Peter Stothard is the author of Thirty Days, a Downing Street diary of his time with British Prime Minister Tony Blair during the Iraq war and On the Spartacus Road: A Spectacular Journey Through Ancient Italy which will be published in January.
