LITERARY UNORTHODOXY
With everyone and his doppelganger posting their recommended literary reading list, I’ve decided to post mine.
These are books to read in part because few in today’s literary community suggest reading them. The idea being to find new sources of influence, and thereby, perhaps, discover new ways of writing a novel or story.
Anyway, here are my “Top Ten” suggested novels to read, with brief reasons why you should read them.
1.) The Octopus (1901) by Frank Norris.
About a monstrous business monopoly crushing independent ranchers in a California valley. As timely today, when our economy is run by gigantic companies and ruthless business monopolies.
2.) City for Conquest (1936) by Aben Kandel.
How New York City became New York City. A mass of realism, from the ground up. The kind of writing which is never, ever published now.
3.) Guard of Honor (1948) by James Gould Cozzens.
A three-day examination of problems and personalities on a U.S. Army Air Corps base during the Second World War. An inside look at the creation of American empire. Wonderfully structured. An organization as a system or machine, near-breakdowns included.
4.) Frankenstein (1818) by Mary Shelley.
Amazingly intelligent and well-written. A portrayal of A.I. 200 years before A.I., philosophical questions included.
5.) Farewell My Lovely (1940) by Raymond Chandler.
The genre novel as art. Unsurpassed atmosphere and style.
6.) Villette (1853) by Charlotte Bronte.
Described as a romance, it’s really a mystery– the mystery of personality– with no fantasy, although there is an unforgettable dream(?) sequence.
7.) Passage of Arms (1959) by Eric Ambler.
Arms dealers, terrorists, tourists, entrepreneurs, prisons, government bureaucrats– a timely and timeless look at how the world works. One of a number of Ambler novels which could’ve been included.
8.) God’s Little Acre (1933) by Erskine Caldwell.
Amid the broad, white-trash humor and steamy sex scenes is a subplot about the industrialization of the South, including a strike at a low-pay, harsh-conditions factory. Some Great Depression reality.
9.) She (1887) by H. Rider Haggard.
Likely not politically correct, as the setting is British imperialism in deepest Africa– but the actual journey the adventurers undertake is inside the human mind. Into passages of the subconscious, encountering there the ultimate woman.
10.) The Crimson Circle (1922) by Edgar Wallace.
A pop mystery novel about a secret organization of criminals. Why aren’t novels today this exciting?
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NOTE #1: New Pop Lit‘s Contributing Editor Kathleen M. Crane does not like this list, and will be offering her own, soon.
NOTE #2: The idea behind my list is to offer a difference from the predictable literary norm. What’s the point of a reading list if it’s the same one a college professor would hand you? What? You say a college professor did put together one of those other lists?
NOTE #3: Most of the novels on this list– with the exception of #3– contain strong pop elements of some kind, are not just intelligent, in a variety of ways, but fun to read. Isn’t that what it’s ultimately about: to get people reading?
-Karl Wenclas
My friend, Tom Ray, and I would plea for inclusion of “The Talented Mr. Ripley” on your list, easpecially a not-the-usual suspects list, as we are both fans of Patricia Highsmith. I have read four of your top ten, so I have some reading to do. I have to admit I don’t read much anymore, but in the day I would devour a novel a week. I would like to mention two novels I absolutely could not put down. One was “From Here to Eternity” by James Jones, and the second was “The Rainmaker” by John Grisham. I think they would be compelling candidates for a second “Not-the-Usual-Suspects Reading List.” Looking forward to Kathleen’s top ten. All the best, Nick Gallup.
I rise to the challenge (although I don’t suppose you actually stated a challenge), and provide my list.
Here’s my list, in no particular order:
The Maltese Falcon – Dashiell Hammett – I like everything he writes and pick this one because it’s the most famous. I like the characters he creates and the way he describes a certain part of the world—the underworld in the Bay Area.
Party Going – Henry Green – I like everything of his I’ve ever read and pick this one at random. Again, he describes a certain world—England between the wars. In this particular novel I can feel the stuffy atmosphere of the train station, and get to know the characters, from the crazy old lady who fixates on a dead bird to the worthless rich people looking for a party.
Strangers and Brothers – C.P. Snow – This is the first novel in a series of eleven novels, all of which I loved. I spent my life as a bureaucrat, and Snow’s protagonist is the same colorless drone that I was.
NW – Zadie Smith – She takes me into a world I know nothing about, a section of modern London, and introduces me to sympathetic characters I feel like I now know personally.
Wide Sargasso Sea – Jean Rhys – Writing that pulls me in, and rips to shreds one of those silly Bronte novels (in this case, Jane Eyre). Shows what a jerk Mr. Rochester was. Villete is on your list Karl? Really?
The Talented Mr. Ripley – Patricia Highsmith – Like Nick Gallup says, gotta have Patty Highsmith on the list. How can she make me root for a totally reprehensible character? Fascinating plot.
Brighton Rock – Graham Greene – Another engrossing slice of England, with a tough old broad protagonist and a ratty little villain who I almost feel sorry for, but I’m glad to see lose in the end.
Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy – Can anybody depict human misery better than Hardy? This story of a young man trying to make his way upward in the world tore my heart out.
The Good Soldier – Ford Madox Ford – A clever use of the unreliable narrator, a guy who sounds perfectly normal at the beginning, but soon shows himself to be either really stupid or really nuts. We don’t realize until the end that he’s narrating a tragedy.
Get Shorty – Elmore Leonard – I like every Leonard novel I’ve read and pick this one to stand in for them all. Funny characters in situations rendered hilarious. Love that Chili Palmer, Karen Flores, Harry Zim, and all the rest.
Skin Walkers – Tony Hillerman – Another whose novels I always like, and I pick this one at random to represent them all. He has in common with most of the others I list the ability to create a world and characters that draw me in; in this case, a Navajo reservation in the Southwest and the Tribal police.
All the best,
Tom Ray
I like Graham Greene and Dashiell Hammett. But I like Eric Ambler and Raymond Chandler more.
What I love about Charlotte Bronte’s writing is it combines intelligence, emotion, and a dream-like quality. Like her sister, she was very much in touch with her subconscious. Parts of her novels (like the Rider Haggard book, which both Jung and Freud referenced) read like dreams. In Jane Eyre when the character takes the long walk back to the mansion (and finds it near deserted?). It’s not strictly realistic, but isn’t intended to be.
Three scenes of several that grabbed me in Villette: 1.) When she begins teaching a class. Reminded me of substitute teaching I’ve done. Very authentic. -The unexpected fire at the theater. A key moment. -The dream-like sequence when the character attends a festival at night, but no one seems to see her. Almost like she was visiting the town again in the afterlife.
She’s not for every reader, certainly, but had the rare ability to take her narratives to another level.
Interesting comments, gentlemen, but I have trouble following suit, which, while impolite, is politically corrrect these days.If we’re going to discuss detective novels and their creators, we would be remiss not to mention the greatest detective novelist of all time. And how do we define greatest? Well, the number of novels published and sold would certainly be a vital criteria. Who’s the GOAT there? Why, none other than Agatha Christie, who sold more novels than any writer who ever lived. She modestly once remarked she was not a great writer, but also said that her strength lay in her plots, and she added that her writing was just good enough to not get in the way of them. There is simply not a murder plot you can come up with that Agatha hasn’t already used in one of her many novels. I once came up with what I thought was a novel plot for a detective novel. A man, who wanted to murder his wife, decides to commit a number of random serial killings and includes his wife amongst the victims. A great idea, and I was seriously thinking about putting pen to paper and writing it until I happened to run across Agatha’s novel, “The ABC Murders.” She had stolen my plot even before I was born. And how’s this for brilliance? In her novel, “Ten Little Indians,” the murderer is one of the people murdered. And in “Murder on the Orient Express,” the murderer is everybody. Hurts my brain to even think about her talent. I think Agatha would say, “It’s about time,” if I nominated one of her books for inclusion in a “Not-the-Usual-Suspects” list. She went out of her way to not have one of the usual suspects as the murderer. Does that make sense? I’m not very good at making sense with double negatives. Hopefully, you get my point, though. So, I respectfully nominate “Ten Little Indians for inclusion on my “Not-the-Usual-Suspects List.” Nick Gallup.
Raymond Chandler once wrote a takedown of Agatha Christie and similar authors, called “The Simple Art of Murder”– in which he also lauded Dashiell Hammett.
Like most readers, I’ve read scores of Agatha Christie novels in my life, and enjoyed them. Her problem is she pursued the genre too well, covering every possible plot situation and means of murder. Any she missed were no doubt covered by her many imitators. The question becomes: Is there possibly a way to reinvent the detective novel?
That’s where my ideas of multiple viewpoint and multi-dimensional fiction might come in. Increased ways to either hide or reveal secrets and happenings.
Kenneth Fearing did some of this in the 1940’s, in The Big Clock, as well as a few other novels. I should’ve put him on my list!