Score

The system found and removed one duplicate.

When Breath Becomes Air is not fiction.

Mainon wrote: "When Breath Becomes Air is not fiction."

Nice catch! Hugely literary, but in no way fictitious. Deleted:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

I confess I fell for that one myself, and I am usually better at catching such things. It's gone now, and those wishing to promote it--oh, it was so good--can go to other 2016 lists, or to the memoirs listopia.

Thanks, Mainon.

Also, the system has found and deleted 3 duplicates.

Death at SeaWorld: Shamu and the Dark Side of Killer Whales in Captivity by David Kirby (listed as #70) is nonfiction.

Brianna the Bibliophile wrote: "Death at SeaWorld: Shamu and the Dark Side of Killer Whales in Captivity by David Kirby (listed as #70) is nonfiction."

Nice catch, BB. It's gone now. Removed for genre:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

The system also found 1 duplicate.

100 Selected Poems, by ee cummings, was not published in 2016.

Jeannie wrote: "100 Selected Poems, by ee cummings, was not published in 2016."

...not to mention that poetry is not literary fiction. It deserves to be removed twice, but since that's impossible, I'll just pull it once. Removed for copyright and genre problems:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7...

The system found and removed 1 duplicate.

Thanks so much for your invaluable help cleaning this list!

Kara wrote: "Thanks so much for your invaluable help cleaning this list!"
And thank you for the kind words, Kara. I confess I became a volunteer Goodreads librarian specifically so that I could do this. Seeing a misplaced book affects me like an itch I have to scratch.

Our new overlords at Amazon tend to favor closed lists, things like "our employees' 20 favorite books". The way to continue featuring open ended, democratic listopias is to keep them as hassle free as possible for actual Goodreads employees. Retired English teachers like me are a good fit.

Anyone that reads this thread and thinks they might want to do this, check the librarian thread. I offered my teaching certificate number, but I don't think they checked it. They just want to make sure librarians know enough to do the job right and aren't impossible trolls that will go beyond the guidelines of what a GR librarian may do.

Boy Erased: A Memoir (currently at #110) is not fiction.

Perhaps I'm mistaken as to the correct definition, but are Passenger, The City of Mirrors and Before the Fall really literary fiction?

Raluca wrote: "Perhaps I'm mistaken as to the correct definition, but are Passenger, The City of Mirrors and Before the Fall really literary fiction?"

The confines of the category are a lot more fuzzy than say year of publication when dealing with genre -- espeically this one. I agree with you completely as to Passenger being a poor match to this list's focus, but I see no reason to have it removed. Better to add and support more suitable and worthy choices, no? I guess as list creator I have a desire to see more additions and activity (selfishly).

As to After the Fall, I think it qualifies as literary fiction within its genre, if you know what I mean(?) I read it as such -- see for example Michael Cunningham's blurb (I am looking on the Amazon page). That alone, in addition to other acclaim makes it a contender for consideration in this category, IMHO.

My case for the Justin Cronin trilogy finale is less solid in my own mind, but looking again to the trusty resource that is amazon.com, I see that the book is marketed specifically in the "literary" category. That makes if fair game I think. I view the hazy absurd common definition of literary fiction with considerable dismay on an aesthetic level, but only so many truly literary works of real merit are published in any year...being more inclusive in this reader appreciation/casual context seems to me more fun. And, it clearly serves to raise these questions about what should count as literary in our minds, which I think is a good outcome, no?