21st Century Literature discussion

Share with us some of your favorite Goodreads Lists. What are some of the best and why do you like them?

The lists I use the most are the eligible books lists for prizes, like the Booker, and translated books. These are my TBR builders.

I also like the lists that I use for reference, like past prize winners, books that were published in a certain year, etc.

Hmm, I'm surprised this thread has been so quiet. I haven't been helping, of course!

My favorites:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

I tend to be wary of GR lists, partly because the scoring system favours books that are already very popular, but also because they are often vulnerable to self-promoters and hype campaigns. I will make exceptions occasionally, mostly prize speculation lists but also a few that cater for niche interests.

I'm in agreement with what Hugh said. And I think that's why Bill's lists are useful. The more specific and unique a list, the more likely it is to actually be relevant and not stacked with promotion-bombing.

Most useful list types to me have been mentioned above. Here are some of the ones within those categories that I like/use (it's also helpful that when you go to browse lists in GR, you can click on ones you've created, ones you've liked, ones you've voted on, etc; I rarely vote, but I do like more than a few):

Lists that cover prizes (if there's a specific prize I'm interested in, it's nice to almost always find a list of the winners or of the long/short lists):
- Vincitoria del Premio Strega https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...
- Nebula Award for Best Novel https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

Lists that focus on a particular press/publisher:
- Best Dalkey Archive Titles https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
- Dorothy, A Publishing Project https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8...
- Open Letter Books https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...

Lists that are niche/specific:
- Most Mysterious Books in the World https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9...
- Large Experimental Books by Women https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7...
- Best Transgressive Fiction https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

(I'm sure I've told this story before, but the first list I created on GR was promotion-bombed. It felt like 12 GR marauders/users suddenly started adding and voting on books by this one author who had nothing to do with the list. Since I'm not a GR librarian, I couldn't remove the list. So, instead, I removed all the books I had added and just changed the title of the list to Books I Probably Wouldn't Read https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...)

Marc wrote: "...the first list I created on GR was promotion-bombed. It felt like 12 GR marauders/users suddenly started adding and voting on books by this one author who had nothing to do with the list. Since I'm not a GR librarian, I couldn't remove the list. So, instead, I removed all the books I had added and just changed the title of the list to Books I Probably Wouldn't Read.."

What a master strategist you are, Marc! There's got to be some way I can apply that in my own life ;)

Whitney wrote: "I'm in agreement with what Hugh said. And I think that's why Bill's lists are useful."

Thanks Whitney! I do hang with a specific and obsessive crowd. We love our little obsessions.

Marc, that's a hilarious story about your first list. I see it's mostly populated by books by Zack Love, most of which sound incredibly cheesy to me.

Ha, Nadine! I don't think I even realized when I created the list that others could do more than vote on a public list. Playful revenge is the best kind. :p

Bill, I had the same reaction to Zack Love. Packs of feral promoters promoting crappy books--the scourge of GRrrrrrrrrrr...
Your links have me wanting to go read that essay by Gary Lutz!

Honestly, I forget that lists even exist until a GR friend shows up voting on one.

Do you guys routinely search out lists or ...?

Stacia wrote: "Do you guys routinely search out lists or ...?"

Hardly ever. But every few months I do check on my favorites, in case there are more votes. Queer Fantastika hasn't had new contributions in many months, sniff.

Definitely not routinely, Stacia. Maybe a few times per year when I decide I want to see specific books or a book I'm reading shows up on a list that catches my eye. I didn't even realize I had "liked" 4 pages worth of lists until this thread came up. Maybe a quarter of those are ones I'm highly interested in.

Marc, your response to the list bombing was genius.

I occasionally look at lists when I'm searching out similar titles. I think I most often look when someone asks what are some other books about ..." and I check the lists for ones I've read and enjoyed. Among all the spam, relevant books usually make it as well.

I occasionally look at random books lists. I use other people and groups for books recomemndations. Although how many books can we can add to our TBR, well we can add them all we want. But reading them all...