The Wandering Bibliophile

Stumbling around the web today and I came across this gem on The Guardian website. The Guardian is exploring the literature of “new Europe” in a series of articles, compiling a reading list based on reader recommendations. While I do find this a commendable effort, the problems with this approach are pretty self-evident. A quick glance at their spreadsheet of suggestions will pick up on a number of duplicates – the list would have benefitted from being consolidated and edited in some fashion. I also perceive problems when it comes to leaving the selection solely in the hands of The Guardian’s readership. While they are certainly counted among the highly literary (the Guardian’s book section is excellent), it might have been interesting to speak with scholars or citizens or bookshops and newspapers of the country they are creating the reading list for, because an outsider’s vision of the best of a nation’s literature is certainly going to be limited. Still, a great way to broaden one’s literary horizons. Perhaps I will chime in with my own list of favourites by nation as I continue this blog.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/series/worldliteraturetour

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