title: Books of the Century: A Hundred Years of Authors, Ideas, and Literature
author: New York Times Book Review
description: <i>Books of the Century</i>, modestly subtitled <i>A Hundred Years of Authors, Ideas, and Literature</i>, is a fine and firm rebuff to anyone who has ever thought the <i>New York Times Book Review</i> the stodgiest of institutions. Sifting through the archives, the editors have come up with a wealth of killer critiques, beginning with an ambivalent notice of <i>The Spoils of Poynton</i> and ending with Martin Amis's ecstasy over <i>Underworld</i>. Many of the reviews feature matches made in editorial heaven: Randall Jarrell on e.e. cummings, Welty on E.B. White's classic <i>Charlotte's Web</i>, and Joan Didion on John Cheever's <i>Falconer</i>. But the essays and interviews are just as enticing. Henry Bech interrogates his creator, John Updike; Isaac Bashevis Singer catechizes Laurie Colwin ("Are you trying to convince me that I'm a big shot?"); and Philip Roth asks Milan Kundera the burning question, "What does sex mean to you as a novelist?"
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  c Century London 
   
  Published by Century 2007 
   
  2468 10 9753 1 Copyright © Belfry Holdings, Inc 2007 
   
  John Grisham has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the 
  author of this work 
   
  This novel is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author's imagination and any 
  resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. 
   
  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired 
  out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than 
  that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the 
  subsequent purchaser. 
   
  First published in Great Britain in 2007 by Century Random House, 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 
  2SA 
   
  www.rbooks.co.uk 
   
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