October Staff Rankings

FICTION

1. Exit Ghost - Philip Roth (Jonathan Cape)
'The final Zuckerman novel: if nothing else, it reads as a fraught secquel to the first Zuckerman novel, 1978's Ghost Writer.'

2. The Gathering - Anne Enright (Jonathan Cape)
'An outside choice to win, maybe - but the Booker has led us to some wonderful hidden books before, and this will be read by thousands in the next few weeks.'

3. The Road - Cormac McCarthy (Picador)
'Before the dust has settled on a post-apoclayptic America, a father and a son make their way down the long road to the coast, not knowing if they'll make it. Harrowing, utterly gripping, and ultimately uplifting.'

4. Darkmans - Nicola Barker (4th Estate)
'A novel about everything ... ambitious, challenging, satisfying.'

5. The President's Last Love - Andrey Kurkov (Harvill Secker)
'A potential successor to Bulgakov, satirising the state of Russian politics in a highly impressive fashion.'

6. No One Belongs Here More Than You - Miranda July (Canongate)
'The word "quirky" is much over-used, but perfectly sums up Miranda July. Funny, sad, and ever-so-slightly disturbing.'

7. Falling Man - Don DeLillo (Picador)
'Despite the sense that history has finally caught up to and passed DeLillo by, the once prophetic master is on fine form in his best and most vital work since Underworld.'

8. The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid (Hamish Hamilton)
'A book that has sparked interesting and intelligent conversation amongst many people, which is rare enough these days.'

9. On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan (Jonathan Cape)
'Not flawless - he is, for example, better at bare words than bare bodies - but typically well crafted.'

10. Mister Pip - Lloyd Jones (John Murray)
A simple, charming story about the power of reading. Winsome and accessible.

Other books of urgency: Gods Behaving Badly - Marie Phillips (Jonathan Cape), The Loudest Sound and Nothing - Clare Wigfall (Faber), Tree of Smoke - Dennis Johnson (Picador), Maynard & Jennica - Rudolph Delson (4th Estate)

NON-FICTION
1. The Shock Doctrine - Naomi Klein (Allen Lane)
Klein on Iraq was never going to be a barrel of laughs, but this is well-argued, vital stuff.

2. The Wild Places - Robert McFarlane (Granta)
An exquisitely written journey in search of the wilderness of Great Britain and Ireland, from one of the finest nature writers around.

3. The Stuff of Thought - Steven Pinker (Allen Lane)
'Simply brilliant.'

4. Peeling the Onion - Gunter Grass (Harvill Secker)
'The most fascinating memoir you'll read this year.'

5. London City of Disapperances - Ian Sinclair (Penguin)
'A multitudinous book, gathering together work from many different writers, about the vanishings of place and people in London.'

6. Cool It - Bjorn Lomborg (Cyan-Marshall Cavendish)
'Must be read along with a critique - but this is extremely thought-provoking.'

7. Dandy in the Underworld - Sebastian Horsley (Sceptre)
'Addictive reading about an addictive man. Despite his arrongant swagger you can help but be secretely envious of him.'

8. Bring the Noise - Simon Reynolds (Faber)
'Some of Reynolds' best music writing from the last 20 years collected in one book: sort of starts where his phenomenal history of post-punk, Rip it Up and Start Again, left off.'

9. The Family Who Couldn't Sleep - D.T. Max (Portobello Books)
'Over three centuries a mysterious illness that manifested itself in the inability to sleep killed all the members of a Venetian family.'

10. The Islamist - Ed Husein (Penguin)
A personal journey into (and retreat from) radical Islam in Britain - makes for powerful and eye-opening look at terrorism and multiculturalism.'

Other books of urgency: Wildwood - Roger Deakin (Hamish Hamilton), Other Colours - Orhan Pamuk (Faber), Eating for England - Nigel Slater (4th Estate)

Staff Employees of the Month:

Editor of Fiction - Francesca Main - Simon & Schuster
Editor of Non-Fiction - Daniel Crewe - Profile Books
Published Author - Tom Darling (Glass People is being published by To Hell with Publishing - http://www.tohellwithpublishing.com)
Unpublished Author - Sunita Soliar-Katib (her first novel, Perfecting Corpse, is ready soon)
Literary Agent - Juliet Pickering - AP Watt
Critic - Tod Wodicka (Tod is also a novelist but check out his recent review of the Zuckerman series: http://www.newstatesman.com/200710040044)
Independent Bookseller - Marcus Gipps - Blackwell Books
Independent Bookseller - Tom Smith - Daunt Books
Wild Card - Professor Jon Cook - UEA, Director of the Centre of Creative Performing Arts

We are looking for bloggers interested in books - do get in touch with us on k_conroyscott@hotmail.com

September 2007 Staff Rankings

FICTION

1. The Road - Cormac McCarthy (Picador)
Apocolyptic horrors depicted with a beautiful, mythical language; but also a fascinating story of a father and a son.

2. Tokyo Year Zero - David Peace (Faber)
A devastating and brilliant thriller set among the post war horrors of Japan. Superb.

3. The Ministry of Special Cases - Nathanial Englander (Faber)
Nathanial Englander's Kafkaesque story set in Buenos Aires at the height of the dirty war brings one man's search for a dissappered family member face to face with a terrorist state.

4. Mr. Pip - Lloyd Jones (John Murray)
A compelling evocation of the power of storytelling.

5. Apples - Richard Millward (Faber)
Debut novel by a depressingly young author. Funniest thing you'll read all year. Exploding with energy.

6. The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid (Hamish Hamilton)
Will there ever be a better novel on sympathy for those we don't know?

7. All Shall Be Well; And All Shall Be Well; And All Manner of Things Shall Be Well - Tod Wodicka (Cape)
A strange and wonderful book - comic and resolutely human, with a masterful portrait of its anti-hero, Burt Hecker.

8. Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn (Weidenfeld & Nicholson)
Unbelievably creepy whodunnit set in small town America. Would make David Lynch lean forward in his chair.

9. On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan (Cape)
Beautifully written and a wonderful evocation of love lost during the frigid years of the early 1960's.

10. Diary of a Bad Year - J.M Coetzee (Harvill Secker)
The master resurfaces.

Other novels of urgency: Falling Man - Don DeLillo (Picador), The Dead of Summer - Camila Way (Harper), Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs - Irvine Welsh (Cape), My Revolutions - Hari Kunzru (Hamish Hamilton)

NON-FICTION

1. Imperial Life in the Emerald City - Rajiv Chandrasekaran (Bloomsbury)
A wonderful insight into the occupation of Iraq. Does for stupidity what M*A*S*H* did for absurdity.

2. Black Mass: Apocalyptic Religion and the Death of Utopia - John Gray (Allen Lane)
A thought provoking book on how the secular utopias that have governed world politics for the last century have failed, baring the way for apocalyptical religions.

3. Travels with Herodtus - Ryzard Kapucinski (Allen Lane)
Superb collection from one of the great war reporters and travel writers of the 20th Century. His passionate relationship with Africa shines out of the pages.

4. The Wild Places - Robert Macfarlane (Granta)
The award winning author tracks down some of teh remaining wild places of the UK.

5. God is Not Great: The Case Against Religion - Christopher Hitchens (Atlantic)
An elegant, thoughtful essay on why religion is such a pernicious force in the lives of so many.

6. The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism - Naomi Klein (Allen Lane)
Shock, awe and dinero - Naomi Klein lifts the lid once again.

7. Bring the Noise - Simon Reynolds (Faber)
Absorbing and culturally rich compliation of writing on art, rock and hip-hop by Britain's best writer on contemporary musical culture.

8. The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine - Ilan Pappe (Oneworld Publications)
Unquestionably the most incisive and rigorous account of the catastrophic 1948j Palestine-Isreal war, by a brave and brilliant Isreali historian.

9. Non Format Love Song - Kjell Ekhorn and Jon Forss (Die Gestalten Verlag)
New monograph by the creative team who have managed to define the contemporary notion of graphic cool.

10. Crow Country - Mark Cocker (Cape)
An absorbing study of a land and its birdlife.

Other non-fiction books of urgency: Talking Heads - Alan Bennett (BBC Books), The Bastard of Istanbul - Elif Shafak (Viking), Queuing for Beginners - Joe Moran (Profile).

Staff Employees of the Month:

Fiction Editor - Helen Francis, Faber & Faber
Non-Fiction Editor - Tom Penn, Verso
Published Author - Peter Hobbs, his debut, The Short Day Dying was shortlisted for the Impac Award
Unpublished Author - Brian Chikwava, Caine Prize winner in 2004, just finished his debut novel, Harare North
Literary Agent - Kerry Glencourse, David Godwyn Associates
Blogger - Tom Bevan, illustrator and blogger
Literary Critic/Journalist - Justin Quirk, FHM (check out Justin's blog - http://englandfortheenglish.blogspot.com/)
Independent Bookseller - Sophie Lambert, Foyles @ Selfridge's
Chain Bookseller - the young Waterstone's employee asked to remain nameless
Wild Card - Clare Conville, Conville & Walsh literary agency

Staff Rankings of the Month

'What is a bestseller but a book that sells well simply because its selling well?'

Dear Reader,

The Institute of Important Books will be starting its monthly staff rankings as of September the 1st, 2007.

We have carefully chosen a list of 10 staff members from the following categories:

1) Independent Bookseller
2) Chain Bookseller
3) Published Author
4) Unpublished Author
5) Literary Agent
6) Editor of Fiction
7) Editor of Non-Fiction
8) Literary Critic
9) Blogger
10) Wild Card

The Institute of Important Books is an ageist society based in London. Each staff member is a member until the day of their 35th birthday, on which date said membership will expire. Our hope is to bring a youthful sense of urgency to books and an avoidance of nepotism and cronyism. The Wild Card who participates each month is over 35 years of age. We do this to respect our elders.

- There are ten people who rank 10 recently published books (both fiction and non-fiction) they have either read or want to read, in order of urgency to read or talk about
- Books that have been published that week or have been published within the last six months can qualify (hardback or paperback)
- The Voting panel do not know who each other are
- Their tenure as 'employees of the month' lasts one month
- Staff are not allowed to vote for their own work or work published by their house or represented by their agency

We look forward to seeing the results for August on September 1st.

Kind Regards,


Professor B
Institute of Important Books
Fellow and Founder
Age 33

© The Institute of Important Books 2007