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
