What were they THINKING??

[intertext]

Readers of The Book Magazine have voted no greater a luminary (sarcasm there is intended) than JK Rowling as the "greatest living British writer." Second to her is Terry Pratchett. Here's the list:

1 JK Rowling
2 Terry Pratchett
3 Ian McEwan
4 Salman Rushdie
5 Kazuo Ishiguro
6 Philip Pullman
7 Harold Pinter
8 Nick Hornby
9 AS Byatt
=10 Jonathan Coe
=10 John Le Carre
12 Doris Lessing
13 Alan Bennett
14 Iain Banks
15 Muriel Spark
16 David Mitchell
17 Martin Amis
18 Ian Rankin
=19 Pat Barker
=19 Alasdair Gray

(Muriel Spark must have died after the vote was taken - or they didn't realize she was dead...)

Those of you who have read my journal for a while will know that I would also remove Philip Pullman, and I don't think Nick Hornby is a "great" writer, either. The others are okay choices... I'm actually pleased to see David Mitchell on there.

But one hopes that everyone realizes how absolutely meaningless a list like this is...

Comments

[ellarien]

"Which of these have I heard of?", maybe?

[lilyfriend.livejournal.com]

Maybe it was more of a .. report on current fame.. rather than talent. I mean, I love the Harry Potter books, but Rowling is a young writer (in terms of experience) and still has a lot to learn.

[intertext.livejournal.com]

yeah, a bit like People's 50 most beautiful people, who are usually the 50 most famous people that year... (not that I read People magazine, you understand, ha ha, cough cough)