Books of the year features can seem pretty pointless, ladling hype on books that have already been fulsomely praised. In order to elicit livelier responses, Prospect asked a range of contributors to nominate their “most overrated and underrated books of 2006.” Some interpreted the words “of 2006″ to mean “read by me in 2006,” and chose books written in previous years. In a way, they had a point—why bother with new stuff when there are so many older (and often better) books out there? Others ignored any notion of a critical consensus and simply chose books they liked or disliked—hence the inclusion of a few titles (Murder in Amsterdam by Ian Buruma, Bob Woodward’s State of Denial) in both categories.
We thought we could detect one or two schools of thought at work—Ophelia Benson and Jeremy Stangroom’s anti-postmodernism polemic Why Truth Matters struck a chord with liberal neocons such as Johann Hari and Oliver Kamm; the sternest criticism of The God Delusion came from Richard Dawkins’s fellow non-believers. Here we print a selection of choices and comments, as well as a “top three” in each category.
William Skidelsky
Most overratedPaul Barker writer & journalist
Depths, Henning Mankell (Harvill Secker). Gloomy Scandinavian switches his grey-on-grey technique from Inspector Wallander’s dreary quests to a subfusc corner of Swedish history.
Anthony Barnett political writer
Everyman, Philip Roth (Jonathan Cape). A slickly written, shallow and predictable novel of American self-regard and deserved decline.
Don Berry journalist
Saturday, Ian McEwan (Vintage). A preposterous plot written in grossly sub-Tom Wolfe prose.
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