The Salon. com reader's guide to contemporary authors Book

Still essential, fifteen years after publication. Maybe the only book I've read to the point where the binding split in half in my hands. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of lazy and mediocre writing in here, and a number of extraordinary writers are neglected. But when it comes to great commentary and recommendations for future reading, this book is a goddamn diamond-studded treasure trove: Michael Silverblatt on John Hawkes, Brian Bouldrey on Kathy Acker, Christopher Sorrentino on William Gaddis, Gary Kamiya on Denis Johnson, Laura Miller on Stephen Wright (and others), Jonathan Lethem on Kazuo Ishiguro (and others), David Foster Wallace's top five neglected American classics, A.S. Byatt's favorite historical fiction, David Bowman on noir novels, John Clute on literary science fiction . . . I could go on. There's a lifetime of reading to be found here.