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Culture War Roundup for the week of July 15, 2024

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It seems awfully presumptuous to write a list for the 21st century given that we're not even a quarter of the way through with it.

Guess it has a better ring to it that '100 best books from the first quarter of the 21st century'.

Looks like they asked writers to name their favourite books, which was always doomed to failure. It's like asking architects to name their favourite buildings. They've been too exposed to the art form to have normal, human tastes, so they end up chasing weirdness and pretence. Only art forms that are subject to public opinion can produce good work. Fortunately, normal people still read books, so we can get a much better list from them.

Even "100 best books since the turn of the millennium" would sound better.