Best-of lists are always imperfect, something I'm even more sensitive to when they involve fiction. But this is the kind I enjoy the most, the kind where each recommendation is tied directly to one specific writer/recommender, so that subjectivity is the name of the game. (Or should be. There are a lot of books on this list that have gotten a lot of buzz in the other usual places, and the cynic in me can't quite write that off entirely to coincedence or merit.)
That said, I am most entertained when I agree with a recommending writer's choice and assessment even when I'm not a particular fan of that recommender. Lev Grossman is my token example here, as I found The Magicians way too angsty for someone at my time of life (ie, not nineteen). But I couldn't agree more with his comment about George R. R. Martin's impressive ability to plot out something like 20 main characters over the course of a book of doorstop proportions.
Yup, I said it. I've read some Martin. And while there are several moments of queasy racial/cultural assumptions, the man can plot.Â
