1. Novels set in the South Bronx during the 1940's and 1950's. It's where my Mom was born and grew up and Marty is a favorite movie of mine. But sadly when it comes to NYC there are very few novels set in the Bronx. Tons of novels about Manhattan and Brooklyn but not so much about the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island
2. I would love to find a biography of the poet C. P. Cavafy.
3. A new collection of essays from Vivian Gornick.
4. Books about the Great Depression of the 1930's. I know I have romanticized this era as a time of can do spirit where everyone was pulling together and trying to make ends meet. It's different today where poverty is still out there but it's not a national story the way it should be and everyone is on their own.
5. Books about Jack Kerouac. What's odd is that I have never been able to get through On The Road but my fascination with Jack Kerouac stems from Ann Charters' wonderful biography Kerouac. Read it many years ago and her biography has made a lasting impression on me.
6. Amarillo by Morning by George Strait is a favorite song of mine and wouldn't that song make a great novel about the lives of cowboys who ride the rodeo circuit? A lonely life I would imagine and dangerous and yet they love it. Reminds me that Larry McMurty's Moving On needs to be on my TBR list!
7. Christmas Romance Novels. Around October they certainly put me in the Holiday Spirit.
8. Van life memoirs. Have loved this genre since I read William Least Heat-Moon's Blue Highways in my 20's.
9. 19th century homesteading novels set in log cabins.
10. Books set in remote parts of Alaska or Antartica.
11. Haunted House Novels where a young person down on their luck arrives at a lonely isolated mansion hoping for a new start. And it helps if they bring their cat with them.
How about you? What are your favorite type of books to read?
Very interesting to read! I'll make a note and try to do a similar post to yours as I love the idea.
ReplyDeleteApologies, that last comment was me... I forgot to do the signing in thing. :-)
ReplyDeleteHi Cath, thanks for commenting and I would love to read your list. It's a list of books with subject matter that we can't get enough of or books that no one has thought to write but we wish they would.
DeleteKathy, that is quite a variety. I also love books set in remote areas, especially Antarctica. I would love to come up with a post like that too, as Cath mentioned.
ReplyDeleteHi Tracy, Antartica or any remote place is a fascinating setting to any novel. I couldn't live there but books can transport you and I have The Great Alone in my kindle. Set in remote Alaska I must start reading!
DeleteThis is a great post! Love to hear about your rabbit holes of reading. I do love Antarctica & Arctic polar expedition books! Shirley Jackson has some good haunted house books. I'm very curious to hear you like Kerouac ... that's wonderful. I have not read the biography but I went thru a Kerouac reading phase maybe in the late 1980s ... after reading On the Road ... the Beats were pretty interesting to me. They seemed to have a zest for living ... and creating and being wild too.
ReplyDeleteThanks Susan and I would say for anyone curious about !erouac and the Beats in addition to Ann Charters book they must check out Minor Characters by Joyce Johnson. Winner of the Natiinal Book Award the book came out about 20 years ago. It's her memoir of the two years she lived with Jack Kerouac when she was in her early twenties. Joyce was his girlfriend for a time and its a loving tribute to him and also she talks about the lives of the women of the beat generation (Minor Characters) and how it wasn't easy. This book is a classic.
DeleteGreat to know Kathy. I am writing both titles & authors down for me to read sometime. You make me want to get back into the Beats.
DeleteI really enjoyed reading about your favorite topics to read about. You are right--the Bronx is definitely ignored when it comes to novel settings! I agree about the 1930s--my parents were Depression-era kids having been born in the early 1920s--and it did sound like life was hard but people were creative in how they dealt with that hardship.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes to the Christmas romance novels--love them!!!
Thanks Jane and I don' t know why the Bronx gets ignored but there you have it. I do like the 1930's great depression era although I know I over romanticize it. And there is no shortage of novels set in the Great Depression.
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