Scott, A. O. "In Search of the Best." nytimes.com. 21 May 2006.

This is a very good essay about a pretty arbitrary but of course very fascinating study: What's the best work of American fiction produced over the last 25 years? (No, it's not from the future...the Times decided to hype it online before printing it in an upcoming edition of the Book Review.)

The winners are:

1. Morrison's Beloved
   
2. DeLillo's Underworld
   
3. Updike's Rabbit novels (collected in the 90's, which inclusion I find cheap as fuck)
   
4. McCarthy's Blood Meridian
   
5. Roth's American Pastoral

I've never read any of these novels. Well, I read Rabbit, Run and didn't much like it, but again this shouldn't count because it was written far longer than 25 years ago. The essay, which I guess I'll go ahead and link to here, has a nice bit at the end about the way "American letters" seems to have a case of elder worship you won't find anywhere else in our youth-loving culture. I should be happy for this. Most young recording artists and screen stars make me feel like a knob-kneed geezer in plaid pants, and happily so at the ripe old age of 27. But I'm not happy for this. My top five would include none of these books nor, probably, any of their authors (who, again, I haven't read, with the exception of DeLillo's Mao II and The Body Artist, as recorded by Laurie Anderson, who, really, should read everyone's novels on tape (oh, and how F-ing disingenuous: I read Portnoy's Complaint, but so has everyone)).

Without spending too much time on it, here are mine, unordered:

• Wallace's Infinite Jest
  
• Franzen's The Corrections
  
• Foer's Everything is Illuminated
  
• Lethem's The Fortress of Solitude
  
• Barthelme's Forty Stories (if we're gonna be cheap about it)

Looking at this, I'm reminded of my pal Adam's observation about his students—that, when asked what their favorite movie is, most will say the latest good thing they saw. Something from last summer, maybe. Look how new all those are. Oh, and lemme also toss in Ware's Jimmy Corrigan, even though its a graphic novel, not just a linguistic one. Anyway, look how new they are. Also, I hate women, apparently. And gay people and non-honkies.

Feel free to post yer own in comments. As I said, it's arbitrary and fascinating, and I promise to let it reveal everything I need to know about you.