Whenever you compile a list of "top tens" (December 29, 2007), you realize that you left some very important things out. Sometimes the things you left out are so clearly important it's like being hit in the face with the flat side of a shovel.
I don't know what I'd leave off the lists I already posted, but James Crumley's The Last Good Kiss is certainly one of my favorite books--way up there. It's the best mystery I think anybody's ever written. If anyone's the true heir of Raymond Chandler, it's Crumley.
In terms of poetry, David Lee is one of the contemporary gems. Since I've limited myself to individual collections, I guess I'd have to list The Porcine Legacy, the first of his "pig" books, but Driving and Drinking is a close second. Driving and Drinking is a kind of rural take on Dante's Commedia, except it's also funny as hell. But The Porcine Legacy contains two absolute jewels, "Racehogs" and "For Jan, with Love."
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