DeLillomania

New York breaks down the DeLillo oeuvre into Classic, Recommended, For Fans Only, and Avoid. I love pieces like this—well, maybe just this one, since it's a rare case in which I've actually read every title. (I don't think any of DD's books need to be "avoided," though some are definitely not going to make you a DD fan if you read 'em first.)

Here's DD from best to worst (ranked in order per category), according to the mag:

Libra
White Noise
Pafko at the Wall
The Names
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Underworld
Players
Great Jones Street
Mao II
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Ratner's Star
Running Dog
Americana
End Zone
Amazons
Game Six
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The Body Artist
Cosmopolis
Three Plays

The top four choices are solid, though I weirdly am not a Libra fan—I'd put that together with Mao II and probably place it on the lower half of my list. (Both should be read and are "important," but not my favorites.) Well...OK, I guess I should just do my own list:

THE BEST
The Names — WOW — mysterious and sharp and disquieting and it has an amazing ending (which I've compared—at least in my head!—to that of Days of Being Wild)

Amazons (!?!!)(blasphemy?! And yet my friend Jane said this was her favorite, and it's easily the DD title I dip into most frequently for sheer fun)

Americana (some days this could be #1...but then it's depressing to think, "His first book was the best, it's all been downhill since..."; very good, Godardy, jam-packed with observation and killer similes and wit)

Ratner's Star (weirdly love this one; along with Amazons, a showcase for his comic gift, which to me is as impressive than his serious vein, which gets him the acclaim—I don't think I'd read him if he weren't one of the best comic writers of the last 30 years. Also, this is science-fiction—more SF should be like this!)

White Noise (what can one say?!)

EXCELLENT

"Pafko at the Wall" (I'd request the original Harper's version, though—not the one in Underworld nor the one reprinted as a separate volume; the latter two versions, I believe, contain a different opening line—a minor point. A tour de force!)

Running Dog (after reading this for the first time, I thought it was the best; haven't revisited, though)

Great Jones Street (this would be in the first bracket, so much great stuff here, probably the best rock-and-roll novel I've read...but there's one section that doesn't work for me and that I can't explain away...not a very long section...not a dealbreaker...)

VERY GOOD
Underworld (enjoyed reading; was very excited when it came out, as there'd been a DD drought since Mao II, and the Harper's "Pafko" set abnormally high expectations; slight sum- not-greater-than-parts feel by the end; still, could easily be in the higher bracket)

End Zone (haven't really looked at this in a while, so might belong in upper ranks; did dig it quite a bit upon first read, very enjoyable)

Mao II/Libra/Players (would be higher; ending too freaky for me to think about)

AND...
I don't know that Game Six (screenplay) and Three Plays should even be in the running; I enjoyed the film, and saw a production of Valparaiso that was excellent, and read the other two plays, The Day Room (fun to read) and Love-Lies-Bleeding (maybe not fun, indeed a little bit static, but you could see how it might work well on stage).

Alas...I agree that the more recent novels Cosmopolis and The Body Artist haven't been so strong, overall (though they have interesting elements), and perhaps they don't bode well for the new Falling Man—but of course I'm going to read it anyway...

(Via Confessions)