The Slippery Subject of Best Book Lists

Oh, the peer pressure! An ad for One Hundred Best Books Condensed by Edwin Grozier. The Guardian recently tested the Pavlovian conditioning of the literary corners of the Internet by releasing a list of the 100 Best Novels compiled from the ten-best lists solicited from 172 novelists, historians, memoirists, and critics. Social media immediately overflowed with predictable reactions: Why novel X? Why not novel Y? Why such lists are pointless. Why such lists are useful. Who decides what’s best, anyway? “Never has such a list been more needed,” asserts The Guardian, performing the literary equivalent of wrapping oneself in the flag. “Dwindling attention spans, screens, Netflix; whatever we blame, reading for pleasure is a dying pursuit.” Yes, and an arbitrary list of 100 books will fix all that. There are enough folks broadcasting their views on The Guardian’s list that there’s no need to add mine, except to observe that none of the 100 can be considered neglected from the simple fact…