Booklists
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Adult Reading Round Table Booklists |
Challenge your opinions, attitudes and perspectives. These contemporary novels wrestle with moral and social issues that and are thought-provoking, powerful and maybe even disturbing.
Allende, Isabel
The House of the Spirits
1985, 368 p.
A magical fantasy colors the reality of 20th Century in this study of the
Trueba family and their tangled relationships. On one level this can be read as a rather
mystical saga of family members, both legitimate. The contact with the outside world lends
a sense of timelessness, even other-worldliness, to the story. But this is also a novel
that raises questions about the political, social, and economic turmoil of Chile during
the seven decades and four generations covered, as theTruebas interact with the often
violent and certainly fantastical outside world.
Ballard, J.G.
High-Rise
1975, 204 p.
A new forty-floor high-rise has just opened on the outskirts of London. Social climbing
takes on a literal meaning as a new social order develops with the wealthy professionals
on the top floors and middle class families on the lower. When the building’s
electricity and other utilities begin to fall, the tenants regress into territorial
tribes, using violence to maintain their turf. Has technology separated these individuals
to the point where they no longer have humanitarian instincts or is technology the only
barricade against their primitive nature?
Banks, Russell
Continental Drift
1985, 366 p.
Two parallel stories portray desperate people beset by tragedies: some of their own
making, some because of their vulnerability and some because of society in general. The
main story follows Bob Dubois who, because he wants a better life, uproots his family to
run a liquor store for his no-account brother and later a fishing boat, but all the time
his life and marriage are falling apart. The counterpoint story centers on Vanise
Dorsinville who is fleeing ill-treatment, escaping island to island in a frantic journey
to freedom. A stark and fascinating portrayal of dislocated people whose lives become
inexorably connected.
Brown, Rosellen
Civil Wars
1984, 419 p.
Once heroically involved in the Civil Rights Movement, now, ten years later, the white
family is living in a black neighborhood. A Civil War is going on in their neighborhood,
where they are unwanted, a Civil War going on in their marriage, and with their own two
children, suddenly they take in a boy and girl brought up by emphatically segregationist
parents. A novel that is intricately imagined, emotionally suspenseful, and haunting. A
deeply human novel.
Casey, John
Spartina
1989, 375 p.
Winner of the1989 National Book Award for Fiction. Casey’s novel centers on
43-year-old Dick Pierce. Pierce is a Rhode Island fisherman whose hopes and dreams are
tied to the 50-foot boat he is building in his backyard. With pressures on him mounting on
all sides, the hard-pressed Pierce is forced to face his failures in life as he is tested
by an unexpected love affair and a ferocious hurricane.
Corman, Avery
Prized Possessions
1991, 320 p.
Date rape is the social issue explored here as college freshman Elizabeth Mason is raped
by senior, college tennis team star Jimmy Andrews during the first week of school at
Layton College. The novel shows the devastating effect upon the young Elizabeth and the
repercussions felt by both her family and the Andrews boy and his family. With the help of
her friends and a special counselor, Elizabeth is able to confront her feelings and take
action against Andrews. Although Layton College administrators are reluctant to deal with
the date rape issue, they eventually see the necessity of educating their students and
faculty about the present day problem. While dealing with the date rape problem, the novel
also highlights the issue of the nature of consent and the ways in which society views
female sexuality.
DeLillo, Don
White Noise
1985, 326 p.
A witty and cynical view of American culture in the mid-eighties. It’s even better on
second reading. The chairman and founder of the Hitler studies department at the College
on the Hill discovers that his wife Babette is taking a mysterious drug called Dylar. What
is Dylar? And what modern anxiety does it relieve? As our hero discovers the answers to
these questions he must deal with escaping toxic clouds and his own fears of life and
death. "How does a person say goodbye to himself ? It’s a juicy existential
dilemma…A person spends his whole life saying goodbye to other people. How does he
say goodbye to himself?"
DeSarto, Joseph P.
Sanctuary
1989, 437 p.
Matt Teller. A reporter for "Here & There" tabloid news newspaper, starts
out to track down a story about a two-headed shar-a pet dog and finds something much
grizzlier. Alcoholic baseball scout Bill Buchanon goes to Gauatemala looking for a
fantastic pitcher (his "arm") and returns home with a dismembered arm,
supposedly from that pitcher. Soon the paths of the two men cross and they find themselves
deeply involved in South American politics and terrorism, to the peril of both their
lives. Of great interest to those concerned about U. S support of South American
dictators.
Dexter, Pete
Paris Trout
1988, 306 p.
Trying to collect on a loan, Paris Trout kills an innocent fourteen-year-old girl in a
small Southern town. Because of the debt and especially because she was black, Trout who
is white the murder is justified and is indignant over his arrest. But this is the
1950’s and the author, Pete Dexter, portrays Trout as a desperate symbol of the Old
South clashing against townspeople (including Trout’s wife) who can no longer accept
unwarranted violence and racial injustice.
Drabble, Magaret
A Natural Curiosity
1989, 309 p.
Alix living in a small city in the north of England, visits regularly with an imprisoned
murderer. She tracks his father, then his mother trying to satisfy her natural curiosity
about the man she knows, trying to figure what made him into a murderer. The lives of the
friends of Alix intertwine. Shirley who disappears after her husband is killed or commits
suicide. Lawyer Clive who knows family secrets; little plots throughout the book that
fester, break out. A Natural Curiosity questions how we live and what happens to us. Are
we victims of circumstances or do we have some control over our lives?
Dunn, Katherine
Geek Love
1989, 348 p.
There probably isn’t a single "read alike" in the whole wide world for Geek
Love. It’s unique--a completely original, one-of-a-kind book--and either you will
find it fascinating or you will hate it. It’s about a carnival family of freaks. But
more than that, it concerns how the parents purposely breed these children as freaks with
the explicit idea of exhibiting them for commercial gain, and how those children feel, how
they cope, and how they survive. The author is clearly writing about exploitation here,
but at the same time, it is not her objective to exploit. There’s an edge of black
humor to the story, narrated with powerful articulation by one of the daughters, a bald,
albino hunchback dwarf. Her sisters are Siamese Twins, her brother is known as Aqua Boy
because he has hands and feet (flippers) but no arms or legs, and her other brother is
almost normal, except for –well you get the picture. Not an easy book, or a pleasant
one, but if you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be a freak, or why some
so-called "normal" folks enjoy looking at freaks, maybe you ought to read it.
Duras, Marguerite
The Lover
1985, 117 p.
A woman looks back at her life in French Saigon where at 15 she sought out a wealthy
Chinese and became his mistress. As her lover drives her to and from school in a black
limousine, colonial society is shocked. Death, sensuality and madness pervade this slim
novel, punctuated by an elegant style. The girl’s mother is a helpless beauty. One
brother is a brute, the other an innocent. The tone of this novel is everything and is
reminiscent of Jean Didion. It is an intense story, disturbing in it precise, almost
glamorous decadence. Duras is best known for her screenplay. Horishima Mon Amour.
Ellis, Bret Easton
Less Than Zero
1985, 208 p.
Long before he wrote American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis was controversial. This
book, his first novel, focuses on a group of beautiful, wealthy young peoples in Southern
California who casually waste their lives away in a seemingly endless marathon of drugs
and sex (both hetero and homo- and a few kinds in between). It’s not the story
that’s particularly interesting, but the flat, world- weary way in which Ellis
relates it. The characters float through their sleek but empty environment with a sense of
exquisite boredom and disinterest, yet as each new and shocking sequence unfolds, the
reader feels a strong presence of cold anger and intense despair, stifled beneath the
surface. Ellis was only 20 years old when he wrote this appalling account, and critics
wondered, how could someone so young know so much about alienation and loneliness, to say
nothing of some people’s relentless obsession with the superficial details of
unearned affluence? However he did it, he appears to have got it exactly right. He acts as
our merciless witness to a determinedly lost generation, and the result is frightening,
disgusting, and ultimately, very sad.
Erdrich, Louise
Tracks
1988, 226 p.
A novel told in the alternating voices of a wise leader of the tribe and a young,
embittered mixed- blood woman. Tracks is part story, part folk-lore of a North Dakota
India tribe struggling to keep what remained of their lands. The clash of culture and the
loss of trust between the Indian and the white man makes a compelling story.
Fowler, Christopher
Rune
1990, 340 p.
Rune is a fast-paced horror story set in London. This London is an urban nightmare, a city
of anonymous strangers, high-tech buildings and endless traffic. Harry Buckingham’s
father is a victim of what appears to be a freak accident. When several
"accidents" occur. It seems that they are all connected to a combination of
ancient runic language, subliminal advertising and computer technology. Rune is full of
scary hideous happenings, but it does not drip with unnecessary blood or obscenities. A
clever, suspenseful novel, Rune startles the reader with the possibilities of primitive
evil in our modern world.
Hijuelos, Oscar
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
1989, 407 p.
Enter a world of Latin rhythms and sexual desire that nearly vibrate off the pages in this
tale of two Cuban brothers who immigrate in the early 1950’s to New York City.
Starting a band known as The Mambo Kings they achieve success in the Latin clubs and even
perform on the "I love Lucy Show". But is this story true? Told by son of one
brother-someone who was not there and can piece together conflicting evidence—the
reader must separate reality from dreams and decide where truth really exists—in fact
or in memory.
Irving, John
The World According to Garp
1978, 437 p.
As the illegitimate son of a nurse who becomes a feminist celebrity after writing her
autobiography, T.S. Garp finds its difficult to find readers for his own, more serious,
writing. Surrounded by the eccentrics who flock to his militant mom, and trying to
navigate past self-doubt and a morbid fear of death, Garp searches for his identity as a
writer and a man. This is a black comedy –violent, funny bizarre, and true.
Kennedy, William
Ironwood
1983, 227 p.
Can you go home again after abandoning your family 22 years earlier? This is what Francis
Phelan, Ex-baseball player, and now skid row bum tries to find out when he returns to
Albany, New York, to visit his family. Francis is plagued by visions of his infant son who
died after falling out of his arms, and the haunted images of his infant son who died
after falling out of his arms, and the haunted images of his violence-prone past. Yet two
women also haunt his life—Anne, the wife he deserted and who still loves him, and
Helen, the faithful derelict who also loves him. With wit and compassion Kennedy draws an
insightful picture of a tough-minded man who will not break in the face of adversity.
Leffland, Ella
The Knight, Death and the Devil
1990, 718 p.
Recounting the life of Hermann Goring, Hitler’s second-in –command, portrayed as
the embodiment of the German soul, a man caught up in his personal desire to see Germany
fulfill her destiny as a great power, yet somehow distanced from the evils necessary to
bring that about. Goring cherishes a tattered copy of Albert Durer’s woodcut,
"Knight, Death, and the Devil," as a reminder of the noble ideals and code of
behavior of the medieval knight, a code to which Goring himself adheres and by which he
justifies his unconditional loyalty to Hitler and his country. Leffland leaves the reader
to decide how best to judge this charismatic and enigmatic figure: war criminal or German
patriot bound by an ancient chivalric code?
Lessing, Doris
The Fifth Child
1988, 133 p.
Harriet and David have the perfect marriage, home and family, almost too perfect. And then
Harriet becomes pregnant again; immediately there are difficulties and when their fifth
child is born different, the problems increase. How does the perfect family deal with
imperfection? There are no easy solutions. The family forces Harriet to send the child
away. But she retrieves her child and suffers the consequences. An involving story that
reads quickly and invites discussion of Harriet and her ambiguous choices.
Mailer, Norman
The Executioner’s Song
1979, 1056 p.
No list of provocative books would be complete without an entry by Norman Mailer.
Everything this "bad boy of literature" has written has been calculated to raise
eyebrows and hackles, and this hefty volume, which he describes as a "true life
novel," is no exception, Mailer takes as his subject a real person, convicted killer
Gary Gilmore, and the real events surrounding him-the crimes he committed and his ultimate
execution by a Utah State Prison firing squad. It’s a long book-over a thousand
pages- but it’s delivered in a very readable snatches; little bits of conversation,
interior mono-logues, pieces of letters interspersed with snapshots of reportage. The
final effect is that Mailer has developed Gilmore as a full-blown character, but
there’s so much detail, we’re never sure what’s true and what’s been
invented. In addition to Gilmore’s lover, Nicole, the voices of many others are
heard-all those whose lives were in some way touched by this dark, devious, and finally,
doomed man. The reader may wonder at Mailer’s passionate interest in bring-ing such
precise scrutiny to so negative an individual-but as is in all his writing, he works
tirelessly to create understanding and to reveal humanity. Those are the real reasons to
pick up the book-and to stick with it.
Moore, Brian
Lies of Silence
1990, 197 p.
Michael Dillon is a hotel manager in Belfast who, along with his estranged wife, becomes a
hostage of the IRA. A bomb, intended to explode at the hotel during a Protestant rally, is
planted in Michael’s car. Although his wife’ life is at stake, Michael warns the
police. He is transferred to London, but the IRA knows that Michael can identify one of
their men. Caught between the police and the IRA, Michael wrestles with his options.
Cinematic style, smart dialogue and suspenseful pace heighten the entertainment. The crux
of the novel lies in the conflict of the individual versus the crushing weight of
political and religious unrest.
Morris, Mary McGarry
A Dangerous Woman
1991, 358 p.
What’s wrong with Martha Horgan? She’s not fat or ugly or physically
handicapped…and yet, she’s different. Martha herself spends much of her time
staring at other girls wondering why she is so unpopular. She was nearly gang-raped at
seventeen which has set her further apart from others. As an adult she loses the only
friend she’s ever had and in trying to regain this relationship, she becomes
desperate. The author explores the pressures to conform and to ridicule those who are
different in this riveting novel.
Morrison, Toni
Beloved
1987, 275 p.
Vivid characterization and heart- wrenching stories of slavery, escape, and life after
slavery fill this poignant, multi-layered, and evocative novel, the dramatically portrayed
and beautifully written story of ex-slave Sethe. Now safely settled in Ohio, Sethe’s
past literally comes back to haunt her, until she can come to terms with it and the
daughter she killed rather than allow this child to suffer a life of slavery.
Naylor, Gloria
The Woman of Brewster Place
1982, 192 p.
"Like an ebony phoenix, each in her own time and with her own season had a
story." Each chapter in this compelling novel tells the story of one of seven quite
different women trapped in Brewster Place-a black, city neighborhood. Regularly deserted
by the few men in their lives, Mattie, Etta Mae, and the others pit the power of their
spirits, laughter and their love for one another against inescapable poverty, brutal
surroundings, and constant disappointment. The Women of Brewster Place should appeal to
anyone as examination of the human will to survive.
Oates, Joyce Carol
Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart
1990, 405 p
Iris Courtney, a white girl, and a black boy, Jinx Fairchild grow up in an upstate New
York river town, Civil Rights stirrings have begun in the nation, but they are not
reflected in Hammond, New York. The Courtney’s material aspirations don’t match
their incomes. By Junior High, Iris lives in a poor white neighborhood. Her mother,
Persia, is loving, but is caught up in her own unhappiness, leaving Iris is fascinated by
Jinx. When the body of an obnoxious adolescent is dredged from the river, a link is formed
between Iris and Jinx. It will serve as a bond and a barrier in their future lives. What
is truth? Can it always lead to justice? If a child is not "cared for" can she
grow into a health adult? Can telling lies survive lead to becoming a pathological liar?
Will a marriage survive based on lies? Ever the strong story teller. Oates forces the
reader to reexamine questions of class, racial injustice, parental morality, and the many
forms of love.
Percy , Walker
Thanatos Syndrome
1987, 372 p.
Behavior control by means of drugs in the water supply is causing unusual symptoms in the
population of Feliciana, Louisiana. Dr Tom More, fresh out of prison on parole for drug
sales, has noticed some of his patients have a vacant gaze and are exhibiting some very
strange behavior patterns. In addition, are the children being molested at their exclusive
school? Why won’t Father Smith come down from the fire tower? Thanatos Syndrome is an
interesting novel, which will appeal to the medical thriller reader.
Piercy, Marge
Woman on the Edge of Time
1976, 381 p.
Imprisoned on the horrific world of a psychiatric hospital, Connie Ramos, poor and
powerless, has a place to which she escapes. Time traveler, Luciente, takes her to the
utopia of 2137, a world which makes many of the accepted conventions of present-day life
seem absurd or even insane. The contrast between Connie’s two worlds is provocative
and vivid, serving both as a vision of the future and condemnation of the past.
Rossner, Judith
Looking for Mr. Goodbar
1975. 284 p.
Therese Dunn is a quiet young woman who teaches in a parochial school. She is totally
unremarkable except that she finds escape from the rigidity, boredom and loneliness of her
life by picking up strange men at single’s bars and having sex with them. It is one
of these pickups who murders her. Rossner thoughtfully explores the single life in
contemporary America and shows that behind the cool façade is a complex woman trying to
come to grips with a guilt-ridden past. Whether read as feminist novel, as a morality
play, or as a stark picture of contemporary urban life, this is a disturbing novel which
makes you ask, "What’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?"
Singer, Isaac Bashevis
Enemies, a Love Story
1972, 280 p.
Herman Broder, a Holocaust survivor, lives in Brooklyn with his polish wife, Yadwiga. He
stays in the Bronx with another wife, Masha and visits Tamara, still another wife living
on East Broadway. His parents and children dead, Herman feels guilt from surviving and is
attracted to death. Moving from wife to wife and job to job, he complicates his life
beyond all hope of extricating himself. The characters, all Holocaust survivors
demonstrate the different ways individuals react to tragedy. Tamara is wise: Yadwiga is
patient; Masha is temperamental; and Herman is paralyzed by despair. Beautifully written
and darkly humorous.
Smiley, Jane
Ordinary Love & Goodwill
1989, 197 p.
Two novellas look at the hidden power of parenting to cause unexpected and frightening
consequences. In Ordinary Love, Rachel’s husband ran away with her children after she
told him she was having an affair. Now one summer, twenty years later, she has her
children around her and decides to tell them the real story of her divorce from their
father. In Good will, Bob and Liz Miller live and idyllic life of self-sufficiency in a
rural setting until their son Thomas begins acting out in most curious and unpredictable
ways. Read these evocative stories with a friend for you will surely want to talk to about
them when you are done.
Spark, Muriel
The Abbess of Crewe
1974, 116 p.
Scandal rages in the media concerning the Abbey. Reporters scale the walls for photograph.
But within the convent, the Rule continues, the Divine Office marking off the Hours of the
day. A façade of calm. Placed and known by only a few nuns is electronic surveillance
equipment. Although the confessionals are not bugged yet, almost everything else is.
Competition for the office of abbess, a sex scandal, a theft and inquiries from Rome
complicate life further in this modern morality tale. Obviously inspired by the Watergate
Scandal, this novel caused controversy because of its religious setting. Under the
Benedictine Rule, The Abbess is given tremendous authority. Here it is absolute and
greatly abused. Also, because of the comedic presentation. Spark has been accused of
making her satanic characters too attractive. Additionally, the question of the
media’s influence on contemporary life is raised.
Styron, William
Sophie’s Choice
1979, 515 p.
After World War 11, Stingo, a young Southerner, comes to a Brooklyn boarding house so that
he can write a novel. In Yetta Zimmerman’s house, he meets Sophie Zawistowska, a
Polish Catholic who survived Auschwitz, and Nathan Landau, her lover and brilliant but
unstable Jewish intellectual. Stingo is dazzled by this exotic pair but is soon drawn into
the dark sides I of their lives-Sophie’s death-ridden past and Nathan’s descent
into madness. This novel presents a compelling picture of love and survival in the face of
death, insanity, and man’s greatest inhumanity to man-the Holocaust.
Thomas, D.M.
The White Hotel
1981, 274 p.
Lisa Erdman, a patient of Sigmund Freud, experiences debilitating physical agonies and
evocative sexual fantasies. This basically sensible, shy woman heals her life and pursues
a moderately successful singing career. Eventually she marries a widower with a young son,
but the arrival of the Nazis in Kiev shatters the happiness Lisa had struggled to attain.
Lisa’s tragic life explores perceptions of the subconscious, both psychological and
spiritual, and the role of fate in our lives.
Vidal , Gore
Burr
1973, 430 p.
Well-documented historical novel about a controversial figure in our country’s
history. Aaron Burr, accused of treason by some, had served as Vice President under Thomas
Jefferson. While remembered as the survivor of a duel in which Alexander Hamilton was
killed, Burr played an active role in the history of the U.S. Burr is the first volume of
a trilogy which includes 1876 and Washington, D.C. The book will undoubtedly evoke strong
feelings in the reader. You’ll either dislike the book or consider it to be an
important fictional work. You won’t remain indifferent.
Vonnegut, Kurt
Hocus Pocus
1990, 302 p.
In a rapid fire, tongue-in-cheek tone, the hypocrisies of society, government and our
economic system are undressed. Set in the near future and written as a personal narrative,
this bizarre tale revolves around a university for dyslexics and a Vietnam vet who becomes
a teacher there. In a nearby black prison a riot occurs; the school is taken over, and our
hero is held responsible. While awaiting trial he relates how the school came to be and
how he, a frustrated rock performer who only wanted to go to the University of Michigan,
went to West Point to please his father. Besides the controversies stirred by
Vonnegut’s stand on society war, economy and personal relationships, Hocus Pocus will
definitely call out comparisons, pro and con, to the author’s earlier work.
Weldon, Fay
The Cloning of Joanna May
1989, 265 p.
Because of his abused childhood, Carl May, nuclear entrepreneur extraordinaire, refused to
allow his wife to have children. When Joanna experienced what proved to be a hysterical
pregnancy, Carl insisted that she have an "abortion". When a ripe egg was
recovered as a result of this procedure, Carl and a gynecologist engage in an experiment
which produces four fertilized eggs that are implanted in four women. By the time Joanna
learns of the experiment, her four daughters/sisters are in their thirties, still unaware
of each other and of Joanna. The meeting of the five producers both happy and tragic
consequences. Will appeal to those who have been following recent ethical debates over
genetic manipulation.
Wiggins, Marianne
John Dollar
1989, 214 p.
John Dollar is a sailor who suffers a bizarre fate. He falls in love with Charlotte, an
English school- teacher, who has come to Burma in the fall of 1917 to escape life as a
single woman in postwar England. An done day Charlotte, John and her young colonial
charges go sailing away from civilization to claim an island for the king. Written in a
very literary style that mixes stream-of-consciousness with narrative and vague dialogue,
the tragedy of what happens on the island is gradually revealed. A multi-layered book.
Wilhelm, Kate
Huysman’s Pets
1986, 247 p.
Stanley Huysman, a brilliant geneticist and winner of the Nobel Prize for his work on
plant clones, became very secretive about his work when he began trying it on chimpanzees
and even more so as he began a later experiment. After his death, questions began to
develop about that last experiment which was now being carried on by his assistant. How
could this work be of interest to certain senators interested in defense work, and just
exactly what were Huysman’s pets? Search for the answer to these questions unleashes
experiments and greed gone awry and drastically changes the lives of all concerned. Also
of interest to those who have been following recent ethical debates over genetic
manipulation.
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Adult Reading Round Table
This page was last updated on 03/04/2009.