Description
Book SynopsisLeading writers, critics, and scholars show why their favorite forgotten books deserve a new audience. In these thoughtful, often personal essays, contributors—including Caleb Crain, Merve Emre, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Namwali Serpell—read books by writers such as Helen DeWitt, Shirley Jackson, Stanislaw Lem, Paule Marshall, and Charles Portis.
Trade ReviewThese diverse, passionate, and persuasive essays are a rare gift—a form of exhilarating literary conversation with brilliant readers.
B-Side Books introduces forgotten gems by beloved authors and undiscovered marvels by unfamiliar authors, in joyful celebration of books that the writers secretly adore. -- Claire Messud, author of
The Emperor's ChildrenItalo Calvino suggests we all have our classics, whatever the canon says. Many of us also cherish books that are an essential part of any world we can imagine or remember. This volume gathers a wonderful set of such books and offers intimate essays about them: treasures upon treasures. -- Michael Wood, author of
The Habits of DistractionPersonal, conversational, and enthusiastic, the writers in this collection come not as critics but as readers fired up by the books they love and who want to pass on these experiences. -- Colm Tóibín, author of
Brooklyn: A NovelB-Side Books is a book about the pleasures of reading that is a pleasure to read. It is motley and varied and tonally wide-ranging in all the best ways. -- Briallen Hopper, author of
Hard to Love: Essays and ConfessionsErudite and appreciative essays on what and why to read. * Kirkus Reviews *
[A] smart and fun collection . . . more than being just a collection of ‘what to read next’ suggestions, the pieces easily convey a sense of how powerful reading can be. Book lovers are in for a treat. * Publishers Weekly, starred review *
This slim volume is the ideal antidote to something like Harold Bloom’s
The Western Canon and the other beefy works that lay out The Official Reading List For All Educated Persons . . .
B-Side Books is a helpful and thoroughly enjoyable curated guide, perfect for quick bedside consumption. The volume will keep your reading list full for years to come, or it can simply serve as a reminder to be grateful for literature’s fertile nooks and crannies. * The Arts Fuse *
Whether identifying 'the perfect anti-Western,' an Iranian comic novel from the 1970s or the cheerful account of a Japanese grandmother’s fitful Buddhist practice, these wide-ranging essays are a prod to pursue the world’s sometimes hard-to-find novels, novellas and memoirs. * Washington Post *
Table of ContentsForeword, by Sharon Marcus, series editor
Acknowledgments
Introduction, by John Plotz
Part I: Childhood, Through a Glass Darkly1.
A Girl of the Limberlost (Gene Stratton-Porter), by Rebecca Zorach
2.
The Young Visiters (Daisy Ashford), by Caleb Crain
3.
The Diary of “Helena Morley” (Elizabeth Bishop, trans.), by Elizabeth Ferry
4.
Brown Girl, Brownstones (Paule Marshall), by Adrienne Brown
5.
An American Childhood (Annie Dillard), by Salvatore Scibona
6.
The Last Samurai (Helen DeWitt), by Toril Moi
Part II. Other Worlds7.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, by Seeta Chaganti
8.
The House on the Borderland (William Hope Hodgson), by Namwali Serpell
9.
Lolly Willowes (Sylvia Townsend Warner), by Ivan Kreilkamp
10.
Mythology (Edith Hamilton), by Kathryn Lofton
11.
Other Leopards (Denis Williams), by Emily Hyde
12.
Solaris (Stanislaw Lem), by Kate Marshall
13.
Riddley Walker (Russell Hoban), by Paul Saint-Amour
Part III. Comedy14.
The Beggar’s Opera (John Gay), by Yoon Sun Lee
15.
Lady Into Fox (David Garnett), by Maud Ellmann
16.
Prater Violet (Christopher Isherwood), by Stephen McCauley
17. “Rogue’s Gallery” (Mary McCarthy), by Sean McCann
18.
Gringos (Charles Portis), by Carlo Rotella
Part IV. Battle and Strife19.
The Road to Calvary (Alexei Tolstoy), by Upamanyu Pablo Mukherjee
20.
The Forbidden Zone (Mary Borden), by Steven Biel and Lauren Kaminsky
21.
Nikola the Outlaw (Ivan Olbracht), by Jonathan Bolton
22.
The House of Hunger (Dambudzo Marechera), by Isabel Hofmeyr
23.
The Short-Timers (Gustav Hasford), by Steven Biel
24.
A Flag at Sunrise (Robert Stone), by Ben Fountain
25.
The Vehement Passions (Philip Fisher), by Lorraine Daston
Part V. Home Fires26.
Annals of the Parish (John Galt), by Ursula K. Le Guin
27.
The Dry Heart (Natalie Ginzburg), by Merve Emre
28.
Life Among the Savages;
Raising Demons (Shirley Jackson), by Sharon Marcus
29.
My Uncle Napoleon (Iraj Pezeshkzad), by Pardis Dabashi
30.
We Think the World of You (A. J. Ackerley), by Kevin Brazil
31.
All Aunt Hagar’s Children (Edward P. Jones), by Elizabeth Graver
Part VI: Mysteries and Trials32.
The Diaries of Lady Anne Clifford, by Ramie Targoff
33.
The Riddle of the Sands (Erskine Childers), by Margaret Cohen
34.
Stamboul Train (Graham Greene), by Penny Fielding
35.
The Hours Before Dawn (Celia Fremlin), by Leah Price
Part VII: Journeys of the Spirit36.
A Life of One’s Own (Marion Millner), by Vanessa Smith
37.
Butcher’s Crossing (John Williams), by John Plotz
38.
Journey in Search of the Way (Satomi Myōdō), by Theo Davis
39.
I Remember (Joe Brainard), by Andrew H. Miller
40.
Transformatrix (Patience Agbabi), by Stephanie Burt
List of Contributors
