| The New Yorker’s editors and critics choose the year’s essential reads in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction.  During one of my first weeks working at The New Yorker, I was eavesdropping on a conversation in the office when I heard someone exclaim, “What’s the point of reading if you can’t remember anything?” I saw the flash of a skirt, two women walking, and then the voice disappeared. What, indeed, is the point? It’s a question that many of us have asked. I sometimes fail to recall the most fundamental details—the main character’s name, the central plot—to say nothing of summoning my own interpretation of a story. But what often remains is the vague outline of a haunting scene, or even just a thrilling sentence. Mohsin Hamid’s “The Last White Man,” which was excerpted in the magazine, begins with such a line: “One morning Anders, a white man, woke up to find he had turned a deep and undeniable brown.” The novel is on a list of two dozen nonfiction, fiction, and poetry books that New Yorker editors and critics have identified as essential reads this year. We hope you’ll find these as captivating as we do—even if you only manage to remember a line or two in the end. —Jessie Li, newsletter editor Support The New Yorker’s award-winning journalism. Subscribe today » | 
No comments:
Post a Comment