Tuesday, May 22, 2007

25 of the Best

British bookshop chain Waterstone's is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a list of the 25 authors it predicts will be the biggest names of the next 25 years. According to Waterstone's website:
The '25 Authors for the Future' were nominated by publishers, editors and agents, who were asked to select the emergent British writers of the 21st Century who they believed would go on to produce the most impressive body of work over the next quarter century. Over a hundred nominations were received, and the final 25 were selected by a panel at Waterstone's. These authors - some familiar and some relatively unknown - were selected from all genres and for readers of all ages, covering everything from children's picture books to literary fiction, historical non-fiction, crime, science fiction, travel and cookery.
And the list in full:
  • Naomi Alderman
  • Susanna Clarke
  • Siobhan Dowd
  • Jasper Fforde
  • Julia Golding
  • Emily Gravett
  • Steven Hall
  • Jane Harris
  • Peter Hobbs
  • Marina Lewycka
  • Robert Macfarlane
  • Gautam Malkani
  • Jon McGregor
  • Charlotte Mendelson
  • Richard Morgan
  • Maggie O'Farrell
  • Helen Oyeyemi
  • Jo Pratt
  • Dominic Sandbrook
  • CJ Sansom
  • Chris Simms
  • Nick Stone
  • Louise Welsh
  • Ben Wilson
  • Robyn Young
  • You can read all about the authors and their books here, and John Ezard's comments in the Guardian here.

    Okay, let's play the "how many" game.

    (Here's where the world sees what a pleb I am.)

    I've heard of ten.
    Possess books by only two of them (Monica Lewycka, Jon McGregor)
    Have only read the first of these.

    6 comments:

    Poppadumdum said...

    I've only read Lewycka's book and thought it was highly-overrated and unfunny...

    bibliobibuli said...

    oh symph, you are just winding me up. you know i really enjoyed her first book and am looking forward to reading the second.

    Poppadumdum said...

    Hehehe! Yes, you're right. But I was really disappointed with her book after reading so many glowing reviews of it.

    bibliobibuli said...

    including mine no doubt. i guess it is also about points of identification ... i could see myself and my sister in the main characters.

    readers have such different tastes. or book club gets together and usually each book has its lovers and haters.

    Poppadumdum said...

    "David Meyer is A Mother" by Gail Parent : that was the funniest book I've ever read. Made me choke with laughter. Parent became a scriptwriter for The Golden Girls. That's one of the books from my past I've loved and lost! :-) Sadly it's also the only book I've ever found funny. Even Tom Sharpe was such a yawn and contrived...

    bibliobibuli said...

    please read "the restraint of beasts" by magnus mills if you haven't and see if that makes you laugh out loud at the same moment you gasp with horror