tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27696312.post114814512750604261..comments2023-08-29T03:30:31.733-04:00Comments on Philip Booth's Scribe Life: Question of the Day: What is the best work of American fiction published in the last 25 years?Philip Boothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15082363500641853690noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27696312.post-1148222608478881882006-05-21T10:43:00.000-04:002006-05-21T10:43:00.000-04:00I saw that list the other day or saw it referred t...I saw that list the other day or saw it referred to and was happy to see that Denis Johnson's book of linked stories, Jesus' Son was mentioned. I'm not sure what year that was written but for me that's a seminal work that I must constantly avoid mimicking. I've already been told once by an editor that I was covering ground already covered by Johnson. Evidently ol' DJ has cornered the market on unreliable narrators. Oh Well. But the best, the best work of fiction in the last 25 years? Let me just name a few that have changed me: Larry Brown's novel, Dirty Work, Thom Jones' book, Sonny Liston was Friend of Mine, Carver's, Where I'm Calling From, McCarthy's, Suttree. These are big works for me. Also, you can't fuck with Updike's, Rabbit is Rich; he does things in that book I naively thought you couldn't do. Peace.Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07486022056486821223noreply@blogger.com