31 January 2013
The Guardian 100 greatest non-fiction books
The Guardian came up with the 100 best nonfiction books in 2011.
They introduced the list, thus: "After keen debate at the Guardian's books desk, this is our list of the very best factual writing ... "
Under the category "Travel" they included The Rings of Saturn by W. G Sebald. Which is really odd since the book is fiction. In several instances the novel is hardly factual at all.
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I also have some doubts about the factual nature of Also Sprach Zarathustra and In Praise of Folly. "Factual" is an odd descriptor, isn't it? Non-fiction is just a useful negation.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they wanted to be "adventurous" in their choices for "non-fiction". Even so, a disclaimer should have been included in their introduction of the list.
DeleteI remember reading that list back in 2011 and finding it very strange, some of the choices just made no sense to me. I was also not impressed by so many classics being on the list, considering so many of these books's facts have long been discredited.
ReplyDeleteMaybe a more appropriate category would have been Non-fiction-ish. Haha.
DeleteSome great books in that list, but like the 1001 books to read before you die, you could easily spend all day arguing over others selected.
ReplyDeleteYes, of course. The 1001 books list could inspire up to 1001 objections.
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