What the New York Times Missed

Last week, The New York Times Book Review published a list of the “100 Best Books of the 21st Century.” (Well, so far, obviously. Why not just call it the best books of the last 25 years? Do they know something we don’t? Oh well.) To put it together, the Book Review surveyed “hundreds of novelists, nonfiction writers, academics, book editors, journalists, critics, publishers, poets, translators, booksellers, librarians and other literary luminaries,” asking them to pick ten favorite books published in the US since 2000. Then, “respondents were given the option to answer a series of prompts where they chose their preferred book between two randomly selected titles.” (Unclear what, exactly, this means, but it’s giving Hot or Not.)