What Are Some Of Your Favorite GR Lists? (7/4/21)

[Marc]

First off, do you ever use or look at the lists on GR? If so, do you have any favorites? There seem to be a huge number and range covering almost every literary prize to very specific, esoteric ones (e.g., Best Books of the 21st Century to Neustadt International Prize Laureates to Simple Adjustments to Your Microwave Oven That Will Give Birds Panic Attacks).

Are there ones you've found favorable, helpful, or just plain interesting?

[Paul]

As a prize fan I like the ones showing eligible books for prizes to help with reading, and it acts as a form of crowdsourced predictions. Indeed I curate a few myself (International Booker, Goldsmiths Prize)

E.g. for the forthcoming Booker Prize there is:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

[Luke]

I used to really like Listopia (the Neustadt list is mine), but there's little point to creating them in the days of mass list spam if you don't have GR librarian powers. Recent ones I've liked include 'Women who were Nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature but didn't Win' and ' Portable Library of Korean Literature'.

[Paul]

Yes on the prize list ones there does seem a tendency to add self-published ineligible books and get 35 bot/friends to vote for them. I do use my librarian powers to delete those from lists where I have interest -although listopia comes up with an ominous warning when you do suggesting you should only do this in extremis.

[Lily]

Paul wrote: "Yes on the prize list ones there does seem a tendency to add self-published ineligible books and get 35 bot/friends to vote for them. I do use my librarian powers to delete those from lists where I..."

How sad, is my reaction to this, Paul. Do we seem as a society to not only not recognize "truth", but many rather are willing to deliberately confound it?

[Bill]

This is probably my favorite list:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...

And also:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8...
(I'm actually reading a book that would fit on the Curiosities list, but I'm grumpy enough about it that I probably won't vote for it.)

Would love to see contributions from the group!

[Luke]

Bill wrote: "This is probably my favorite list:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...

And also:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8......"

I've a number of queer books that I believe fit the bill for the first, but I'm rather hazy as to what for sure qualifies as 'Magical Realist/Slipstream/Surreal Fiction'. Guess there's only one way to find out.

[Bill]

Aubrey wrote: "I've a number of queer books that I believe fit the bill for the first, but I'm rather hazy as to what for sure qualifies as 'Magical Realist/Slipstream/Surreal Fiction'."
I've never communicated with Craig Laurance Gidney, who created the list, so I don't know for sure either. But there's quite a range on it.

I see we're both fans of Patricia Duncker's Hallucinating Foucault (which I forgot to vote for, for some reason). I've put a couple of your books on my to-read list.

[Luke]

Glad to hear it, Bill. I hope they go well for you.

[Marc]

I like the prize ones and being able to search for specific lists (e.g., experimental books by women, black avant-garde, etc.). It's pretty handy if you want to see a publisher's catalog (assuming there is a list already). Often, much easier to peruse than the publisher's website or online catalog.

Looks like I've liked quite a few lists:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/liked/18218857-marc