Re: RARA-AVIS: Top Two list--insult to the genre?

fwillard@mindspring.com
Fri, 04 Sep 98 12:48:10 -0400 In <c1469e8d.35eff30b@aol.com>, on 09/04/98
at 10:02 AM, RMINOT@aol.com said:

>Does anyone out there believe, as I do, that there are far too many "Top
>Ten," "Top 100," "Top 2000" lists out there that don't really tell you
>anything worthwhile? They all boil down to a sleezy "he said, she said"
>(with the corollary "Who cares?") kind of courtroom blather. There are
>simply too many good things out there and bad things out there and what's
>interesting is why a person thinks they are worth looking at. I'm all
>for suggestions for stuff to read and reasons why, but can't we refrain
>from listing them in order of merit? For instance, if someone new to
>hardboiled asked me to suggest what to start with, I'd probably say, "All
>of Chandler and all of Hammett, then take it from there."
>Reeves

I thought the top 100 of the century list was both silly and entertaining
for all the comment it provoked. A list put together by people on
RARA-AVIS would be interesting to me, not because it established relative
merit, but because I'd like to see the books people picked.

Reading the posts here over time, I've come to have a lot of respect for
the tastes and the knowledge of the subscribers.

Fred

-- 
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Down on Ponce by Fred Willard
fwillard@mindspring.com
http://fwillard.home.mindspring.com/
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