Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Dumb stupid list

Elaine pointed me to a mega-listicle from Esquire, The 80 Best Books Every Man Should Read. Just two of its books predate the twentieth century, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Brothers Karamazov . (Note to magazine: there’s no the in Twain’s title.) Only one book on the list is by a woman, Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard to Find.

Esquire’s sole comment on its no. 4 book, The Grapes of Wrath: “Because it’s all about the titty.” Grow up, Esquire . Oh, wait: you were born in 1933.

comments: 2

Chris said...

Apparently the definite article is used in many current editions of the Twain. The list is hilarious. Books about booze, sports, guns, and animals attacking each other with their fangs. Real books for real men!

Michael Leddy said...

But also Borges! Clearly a list made by multiple hands.

The question of the title is complicated, but I didn’t want to cut Esquire any slack. Here’s a good discussion.