Best New Novelists

For the second time (first in 1996), Granta has named the Best of Young American Novelists (all of them under 35). Some choices are predictable (Jonathan Safran Foer and Gary Shteyngart), but there are a number I haven’t read but now want to. There’s been buzz in the blogosphere about Daniel Alarcon’s Lost City Radio, so that tops my to-read list. Also, check out the biographies on the site – information rife with awards and creative writing teaching appointments. But please – who exactly created the cover art? Did they think they were appealing to pre-adolescents? Yeah, yeah, it’s a spin-off of brand identities, Dr. Pepper, Dole, yadda, yadda. It’s still rather jarring.