Ten minutes to write. Less time to read.

On September 1, the New York Times issued its opinion of the best books of the 21^st century. While I appreciate that the newspaper is the last in the country to offer its readers a separate book review section every week, I didn’t get past the first page with its announcement that the best books of this century seem be already published when there are 75 years to go.

Inside, there was an explanation of how the list was compiled; but the methodology seemed cumbersome to me. It was voted on by “503 novelists, nonfiction writers, poets, critics and other book lovers..” BUT in fine print it also notes that they had “a little help from the staff of the NYT book review.” It also said that each contributor could define “best’ in his or her own way and not against any uniform criteria.

I studied the list and have read some, but not an overwhelming number, of the books on it. I loved Bel Canto, published in 2001, and hated The Overstory, published in  2018. But my favorite book of this century, A Gentleman in Moscow published in 2016, didn’t even make the cut. I’m not sure why.

I love books and articles about them, but this edition of the NYT book review isn’t the best of the 21^st century.