Here's Times' list of the 100 Best Books of the Decade:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/book_reviews/article6914181.ece

I think The Road is a fairly safe, though deserved winner.

Gogol Bordello Come Highly Recommended

Illumination

Don't believe them for a moment
For a second,
do not believe, my friend
When you are down, them are not coming
With a helping hand
Of course this is no us and them
But them they do not think the same
It's them who do not think
They never step on spiritual path
They paint their faces so differently from ours
And if you listen closely
That war it never stops
Be them new Romans
Don't envy them my friend
Be their lives longer
Their longer lives are spent
Without a love or faithful friend
All those things they have to rent
But we who see our destiny
In sound of this same old punk song
Let rest originality for sake of passing it around
Illuminating realization number one:
You are the only light there is
For yourself my friend
There'll be no saviors any soon coming down
And anyway illuminations
Never come from the crowned
Illuminating realization number one:
You are the only light there is
For yourself my friend

Dylan Thomas

In my craft or sullen art
Exercised in the still night
When only the moon rages
And the lovers lie abed
With all their griefs in their arms,
I labour by singing light
Not for ambition or bread
Or the strut and trade of charms
On the ivory stages
But for the common wages
Of their most secret heart.
Not for the proud man apart
From the raging moon I write
On these spindrift pages
Nor for the towering dead
With their nightingales and psalms
But for the lovers, their arms
Round the griefs of the ages,
Who pay no praise or wages
Nor heed my craft or art.

NaNoWriMo

Is anybody out there joining us in this year's NaNoWriMo undertaking?

If you're not sure what it is, it's not too late to start. The goal is to write a 50 000 word novel during the month of November (about 1667 words/day), no excuses, no questions asked.

While this goes against everything we believe in at Poets & Thieves, it's quantity that counts, not quality. The novel doesn't have to be publishable (or even readable), so long as you manage to cross the finishing line on or by November 30. (If they'd given us until November 31, we'd be feeling a little more confident...)

Register here in the name of finger fatigue!

Literature for the people

Ben Zander is an enthusiast and conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. Rather than accept that classical music only appeals to 3% of the population and try to increase that to 4% he believes that classical music should be loved by all.

I love the attitude and the parallels with our stated goals of bringing fine literature to more people are obvious. Check out Ben Zander at:

http://legacy.poptech.org/blog/index.php/archives/1445