For the Wall Street Journal, he named a five best list of books about mortality and existential angst. One novel on his list:
Read about the other books on Krakauer's list.The Moviegoer
by Walker Percy
Oblique and haunting, set in 1950s New Orleans during Mardi Gras, Walker Percy's novel "The Moviegoer" spans a week in the life of John Bickerson "Binx" Bolling. This scion of the Southern aristocracy, wounded in the Korean War, is about to turn 30 and is content working 9-to-5, seducing a succession of pretty secretaries and going to the movies. But one morning he wakes up feeling like a castaway "on a strange island" and begins reconsidering his complacent existence. Binx embarks on an existential quest to transcend the "fitful twilight" of "everydayness" and impulsively decides to marry his manic-depressive cousin, Kate. "They all think any minute I'm going to commit suicide," Kate confides. "What a joke. The truth of course is the exact opposite: suicide is the only thing that keeps me alive. Whenever everything else fails, all I have to do is consider suicide and in two seconds I'm as cheerful as a nitwit."
The Moviegoer is one of Richard Ford's 5 most essential books.
--Marshal Zeringue