Hi Bookworms. It rained for three days this past week so that helped with the wildfire smoke and drought. My golf and tennis were canceled but at least things are looking greener. The sun came out and we biked in a Granfondo ride event yesterday, which went well. Meanwhile we’ve had a Mama deer and her two fawns staying around our place for the past couple weeks. I haven’t been able to get a picture of the little fawns with their spots but the Mama deer (pictured here) has been more available.
These deer — along with others who visit — are eating machines. I told them they could have the bird seeds from the feeders that fall on the ground but not to eat the plants, trees, and bushes near the house. This talk with them was only partially successful and I need to get the anti-deer spray for a few essential plants. Generally we give them quite a bit of leeway and don’t scare them off .. as the fawns are cute little things and Mom is hungry. But occasionally we have to draw the line.
In book news I’m making good progress on Douglas Stuart’s novel John of John in hardback and Patricia Cornwell’s memoir True Crime on audio. Both seem pretty good and hopefully I’ll finish them next week for a review.
Till then I thought we could discuss the New York Times’ recent ranking of the 50 Best Thrillers of the 21st Century, which came out a few weeks ago. A few other bloggers have also talked about the list, which is interesting to look at and see which ones you’ve read. Granted, I often say I don’t read many “thrillers” but as go through the list I actually see I’ve read quite a few of these and/or seen the screen adaptations. I’m not generally a big mystery reader but I occasionally will read crime fiction.
And I agree a lot of these on the list are quite good. Gillian Flynn, S.A. Cosby, Liz Moore, and Dennis Lehane are pretty go-to authors for me when I’m in the mood for a whopper. I still need to start into the books by Tana French (!) and Attica Locke. I’ve put asterisks by ones on the list (below) that I’d like to read and I’ve put parentheses besides books (below) that I’ve either read or seen the screen adaptation for. Some I’ve read and seen.
A few on the list I don’t really consider thrillers … Donna Tartt’s epic The Goldfinch (#23) and Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer (#30), both of which I’ve read … seem more like great literary fiction in my estimation. They have crimes or secrets that are found out by the end … but in a general sense they are more literary epics and less fast-paced thrillers. Sarah Waters’s novel Fingersmith might also be a bit like this, but I haven’t read it yet. The list makes me want to read more of these …. and some I haven’t thought of in years.
All have their own thriller style or formula. Some of them are super intense like: Emma Donoghue’s Room, or Lionel Shriver’s We Need to Talk About Kevin, or William Landay’s Defending Jacob … and others are twisty crazy (Gone Girl! The Girl on the Train) … and others start more subtly and then explode in some surprising way, like Blacktop Wasteland and Shutter Island.
Apparently the books on the list were voted on by 291 crime novelists, editors, booksellers, librarians and other book lovers. I think they did a pretty good job placing these. If they want to put crazy Gone Girl as #1 and dark Mystic River at #2 … I think I’m okay with it, lol. What are your thoughts on the list? Do you have any recommendations?
The New York Times’ List of the 50 Best Thrillers of the 21st Century
- Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn (book & movie)
- Mystic River, by Dennis Lehane (movie)
- In the Woods, by Tana French *
- The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson (book & movie)
- No Country for Old Men, by Cormac McCarthy
- My Sister, the Serial Killer, by Oyinkan Braithwaite (book)
- The God of the Woods, by Liz Moore (book)
- Razorblade Tears, by S.A. Cosby (book)
- Slow Horses, by Mick Herron (TV series)
- Bluebird, Bluebird, by Attica Locke *
- Blacktop Wasteland, by S.A. Cosby (book)
- The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins (book & movie)
- Case Histories, by Kate Atkinson (book)
- We Need to Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver (movie)
- Dare Me, by Megan Abbott
- The Lincoln Lawyer, by Michael Connelly (TV series)
- Shutter Island, by Dennis Lehane (book)
- 11/22/63, by Stephen King *
- Sharp Objects, by Gillian Flynn (TV series)
- Broken Harbor, by Tana French *
- Room, by Emma Donoghue (movie)
- The Constant Gardener, by John le Carré (movie)
- The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt (book & movie)
- The Dry, by Jane Harper (book & movie)
- Winter’s Bone, by Daniel Woodrell (movie)
- The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown (book & movie)
- Big Little Lies, by Liane Moriarty (TV series)
- The Perfect Nanny, by Leila Slimani (book)
- The Plot, by Jean Hanff Korelitz (book)
- The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen (book)
- Defending Jacob, by William Landay (book & TV series)
- Notes on an Execution, by Danya Kukafka *
- The Witch Elm, by Tana French *
- The Likeness, by Tana French *
- All the Sinners Bleed, by S.A. Cosby *
- The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides
- Your House Will Pay, by Steph Cha (book)
- I Am Pilgrim, by Terry Hayes
- Fingersmith, by Sarah Waters *
- Dark Matter, by Blake Crouch
- Tell No One, by Harlan Coben
- You, by Caroline Kepnes
- Lush Life, by Richard Price
- Jar of Hearts, by Jennifer Hillier
- Mexican Gothic, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia *
- Before I Go to Sleep, by S.J. Watson (book)
- The Push, by Ashley Audrain (book)
- All the Colors of the Dark, by ChrisWhitaker
- Magpie Murders, by Anthony Horowitz
- None of This Is True, by Lisa Jewell
That’s all for today. I hope you all are enjoying your Sunday. August is flying by and sadly I’m not getting to the beach this month. I hope you are. Cheers.
