Getting a Read on My Reading

I was starting to think that nobody would invite me to take part in the latest Facebook meme. Finally, though, my friend (and January Magazine editor) Linda L. Richards tagged me. The challenge is to name 10 books that have “stayed with you” in some way. You shouldn’t think too hard on the matter, and the books you choose don’t need to be great works of literature, just those that you hold a little piece of in your heart. Well, here goes my list:

• Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry (1985)
• Lincoln, by Gore Vidal (1984)
• The Underground Man, by Ross Macdonald (1971)
• The Little Book, by Selden Edwards (2008)
• Homer & Langley, by E.L. Doctorow (2009)
• Riven Rock, by T.C. Boyle (1998)
• Mohawk, by Richard Russo (1986)
• Never Cross a Vampire, by Stuart M. Kaminsky (1980)
• The Steam Pig, by James McClure (1971)
• Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt, by David McCullough (1981)

As I said, I put these picks together quickly, without over-thinking the exercise. That my list features only three crime novels shouldn’t be terribly surprising; they represent my early experiences with the genre, back when I was still trying to decide whether it offered the storytelling scope and writing quality that would keep me interested in the long run. (Obviously, it did!) I am more surprised to see that only two of the books I mention were published within the last 15 years.

Even extending my tally to 22 titles (I couldn’t bear to trim any more out of it) adds only two 21st-century works:

• The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, by Oscar Hijuelos (1989)
• Ringworld, by Larry Niven (1970)
• The Theory of Everything, by Lisa Grunwald (1991)
• The Barbary Coast: An Informal History of the San Francisco Underworld, by Herbert Asbury (1933)
• The Eighth Circle, by Stanley Ellin (1958; more here)
• All the King’s Men, by Robert Penn Warren (1946)
• The Blind Man of Seville, by Robert Wilson (2003)
• The Big Sky, by A.B. Guthrie Jr. (1947)
• Looking for Rachel Wallace, by Robert B. Parker (1980)
• Leavenworth Train: A Fugitive’s Search for Justice in the Vanishing West, by Joe Jackson (2001--more here)
• Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer, by Steven Millhauser (1996)
• Angel in Black, by Max Allan Collins (1981--more here)

Have I become increasingly critical of books over time? Was I more open to new works during the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s--is that why those decades are best represented here? Perhaps my standards for excellence have risen over the many years I’ve been reviewing books, and it’s harder now for a new yarn to win my love. That’s as good an excuse as any.

On Facebook, participants in this meme were asked to tag others, who would then feel pressured to submit their own book choices. I am declining to do that here. But if you’d like to share your top-10 lists in the Comments section below, that would be cool.