None of these books have been on recent bestseller lists (which, by the way, have been known to be rigged, one famously in the last decade with no word on how many others have done so without getting caught!) None of these books are real classics--the kind you might have detested in high school. Most have been popular in relatively recent history and a couple are books I bet Oprah would have picked if she had been doing that when these books were released. Why not give one or all a try? Sandwich them in somewhere between the romance, crime, and psycho-stuff that so many of us keep on our night stands. Here it goes:
" To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee. This is one of my favorites of all time.
Because I so often hear, "I don't read literary novels," or even, "What's a literary novel?" I've compiled a list that I think might convince those who think they hate them to try reading them-- at least every so often. Those of you who already love literary, will find at least one or two books that aren’t already in your library .
"A Painted House" by John Grisham. A recent favorite that few called "literary" but got blasted by Grisham’s fans anyway because, I think, they were all expecting the same old, same old (many of which I loved, too, especially to study his masterful construction of settings!) "The Chinchilla Farm" by Judith Freeman. It’s been around awhile but it one of the few good pieces of fiction set in Utah where I set my first novel. "Dear Corpus Christi" by Eve Caram. This is a lovely little piece by my first writing teacher at UCLA and winner of an instructor’s award from than university. It deserves wider readership. “ A Child of Alcatraz" by Tara Ison. This writer is relatively unknown—still, even after writing several well read and well loved novels. Google he by name. She is a novelist and a screenwriter (no one ever gives screenwriters much credit so very few are famous regardless of the fact that their talent or the lack thereof can make or break a movie). She has taught writing at UCLA and at Antioch University. “ The Sixteen Pleasures" by Robert Hellenga . Apart from an occasional lapse in drawing his female characters truly, this book, set in Florence during the Arno’s infamous destruction, is a winner. Hot! Not a Ten Hot, but hot enough.
By Carolyn Howard-Johnson
(This is an updated reprint from Carolyn’s“Back to Literature”
column at MyShelf.com, a lovely review website that is no more).
15
www.firstchapterplus.com
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs