Why Bookish Lists Do Not Signal Armageddon

Why Bookish Lists Do Not Signal Armageddon Whenever someone publishes a bookish list, it seems, the usual grumpy people get all huffy and stamp their feet and tell us to stop writing bookish lists. Well, guess what, grumpy people- these lists arent going anywhere. First, lets explore what bookish lists are NOT: Satan Armageddon proof that all of humanity is dumber than dumb proof that we like counting more than reading the lazy way out of writing about books Ok, now lets talk about why bookish lists are GREAT: They help you decide where to start with a genre, author, country, etc. BR, as you know, publishes helpful lists on a regular basis, such as Swapnas African Reading List, Jamess list of the finalists for the Best Translated Book Award, and yours trulys list of women who write awesome steampunk fiction, for example. Tor.com has published a list of Favorite Science Fiction and Fantasy in Translation, and The Millions recently listed a bunch of books with colloquial titles. They round up older books youve never heard about- How about a nice, juicy list of 7 Obscure Children’s Books by Authors of Grown-Up Literature (Brain Pickings) or Open Cultures list of neglected books that you should really check out? They give you previews of upcoming books- For instance, Kirkus Reviews put together a list of the 10 Most Addictive Books of 2015 (So Far) and earlier this year on SF Signal, I wrote a list of upcoming SFF in Translation. BR regularly highlights upcoming books in such regular features as Fresh Ink, Ready, Set, Hold, and the new podcast All the Books. They make you think outside the literary canon and think more diversely Recommended Summer Reading: An Alternative List, Our Lists of the Greatest American Authors They help you get organized- where would we be without our personal TBR lists??? THEYRE FUN, FERGODSSAKE. So if youre one of those list-haters, dont write a long, boring essay about why bookish lists are long and boring. If you must express yourself, just put it in a list. ____________________ Book Riot Live is coming! Join us for a two-day event full of books, authors, and an all around good time. Its the convention for book lovers that weve always wanted to attend. So we are doing it ourselves.