Nineteen novels to understand America

The literary team of The Times (UK) and Sunday Times asked novelists, journalists and US experts to recommend great fiction about America.

I.S. Berry's entry on the list:

Ask the Dust by John Fante (1939)

The Great Depression was one of America’s most defining traumas: our proudly capitalist nation had abruptly plunged from its lofty heights and, accordingly, produced a plethora of great literature. Ask the Dust is an exquisitely written swansong for the American dream — of prosperity, success, religious and secular faith. The iconic protagonist Arturo Bandini, a struggling writer in 1930s Los Angeles, falls in love with unstable, aloof Camilla Lopez, ultimately sacrificing his literary aspirations for her. You won’t love Bandini but you’ll feel for him, and the uniquely American existential futility that pervades the story is revealing, haunting, and palpable.

Read about the other books on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six of the best dark academia novels

At Mental Floss Chris Wheatley tagged six of the best dark academia novels, including:

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

“Write what you know” is a piece of advice often given to aspiring authors, and that’s essentially what American novelist Donna Tartt did in her wildly successful debut. The four years that Tartt spent at Bennington College, a private liberal arts school in Vermont, were formative for the creation of The Secret History—even though Tartt has since denied that Hampden College, the fictional liberal arts institution in the book, is based off it.

The novel follows a group of six students whose lives are devastated by a murder. Tartt makes use of an unconventional narrative structure to add extra layers of intrigue, with the story told from a viewpoint dated years after the shocking event. This allows for reflection on both the aftermath of it and the social dynamics of the college. Despite several near-misses, The Secret History has yet to be adapted for film—a pity, as the evocative setting and intricate relationships captured in this tome would surely make for some rich cinema.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Secret History is among Ali Lowe's six best campus crime novels, Edwin Hill's six perfectly alluring academic mysteries, a top ten Twinkies in fiction, Kate Weinberg's five top campus novels, Emily Temple's twenty best campus novels, and Ruth Ware's top six books about boarding schools.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven historical mysteries where political intrigue powers the plot

Celeste Connally is an Agatha Award nominee and a former freelance writer and editor whose novels include historical mysteries set in Regency-era England and genealogy-themed cozy mysteries set in modern-day Austin, Texas. Whether the mystery is set in past or present, she delights in giving her books a good dose of romance and a few research facts she hopes you’ll find as interesting as she does. Passionate about history and slightly obsessed with period dramas, what Connally loves most is reading and writing about women who don’t always do as they are told.

[The Page 69 Test: Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord]

Connally's new novel is All's Fair in Love and Treachery.

At CrimeReads the author tagged "seven historical mysteries... wherein each uses political upheaval or intrigue to add extra suspense to their plots." One title on the list:

Julia Kelly – A Traitor in Whitehall (The Parisian Orphan, book 1)

As the war heats up in 1940, Evelyne Redfern, once known as “the Parisian Orphan,” has barely begun working in Churchill’s cabinet war rooms as a secretary when she discovers one of the girls she works with murdered. A fan of classic murder mysteries, Evelyne takes it upon herself to look into her co-worker’s death, and finds herself being thwarted at every turn by David Poole, the minister’s aide—until she discovers David is there to uncover a government traitor. The two must then work together to keep England’s secrets safe from the enemy as they risk their lives to uncover a killer.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten gripping nonfiction titles about history’s greatest mysteries

At Mental Floss Jennifer Byrne tagged ten gripping nonfiction books about history’s greatest mysteries. One title on the list:

Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident by Donnie Eichar

This especially “cold” case will seem familiar to fans of True Detective and the 2000 pound “corpsicle” at the heart of season four’s crime story. Writer/director Issa López acknowledged being inspired by the strange case of nine elite Russian hikers who died in the Siberian wilderness in 1959. The real-life mystery of the Dyatlov Pass hikers isn’t so much about how they perished—hypothermia was ruled the cause of death in almost all cases (although blunt force trauma was a factor in three of the deaths). Rather, it’s why, because the peculiar details surrounding that night make this one an enduring mystery.

The bodies were found about a mile from their tent, which had been ripped open, and none of these expert hikers were wearing shoes in sub-zero temperatures. Not only that, but one body was wearing two watches while another was missing a tongue, and some of their clothes tested positive for radioactivity. In Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident, author Donnie Eichar presents a well-constructed and scientifically plausible theory to explain this head-scratcher of a case which, over the years, has been chalked up to everything from the KGB to “Siberian Demon Dwarves.”

Read about the other books on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nine titles about the Spanish Civil War

Julian Zabalbeascoa's fiction has appeared in American Short Fiction, The Gettysburg Review, Glimmer Train, One Story, and Ploughshares, among other journals. He divides his time between Boston and the Basque Country in Spain.

What We Tried to Bury Grows Here is Zabalbeascoa's first novel.

At Electric Lit the author tagged nine books -- memoirs and novels that can be found in English -- about Spain’s bloody civil war that served as a dress rehearsal for World War II. One title on the list:

Lord of All the Dead by Javier Cercas, translated by Anne McLean

In Lord of All the Dead, Javier Cercas returns to the subject of Spanish Civil War. In his surprising break-out novel Soldiers of Salamis, Cercas documents his attempt (or the attempt of a character with the name Javier Cercas) to tell the story of a Falangist soldier who narrowly escapes being executed by firing squad at the end of the Spanish Civil War, while searching for the Republican soldier who allowed this escape. The exhumation of the past hums along, stalls, hits a wall, then receives help from none other than Roberto Bolaño. In Lord of All the Dead, Javier Cercas (or, again, a character with the name Javier Cercas) tries once more exhuming the story of a soldier from the Spanish Civil War. This time it is the story of Manuel Mena, the great-uncle to both Javier Cercases, who falls under the sway of fascist ideas and enlists at the age of 17. He will die two years later during the Battle of the Ebro. Cercas knows little else of this man whose absence created a lacuna in the family. With Lord of All the Dead, he repeatedly tries and fails to fill it in and to understand why his great-uncle was willing to die fighting for an unjust cause, “for interests that weren’t even his.” Cercas receives assistance from the filmmaker David Trueba, who adapted Soldiers of Salamis for the screen and directed the film and who has also recently lost his wife to a very handsome and very famous actor (the identity is revealed late in the novel). As with Bolaño in Soldiers of Salamis, Trueba prods Cercas along. “We don’t judge Achilles by the justice or injustice of the cause he died for,” Trueba tells Cercas, “but for the nobility of his actions, by the decency and bravery and generosity with which he behaved. Should we not do the same with Manuel Mena?…Look, Manuel Mena was politically mistaken, there’s no doubt about that; but morally…would you dare to say you’re better than him? I wouldn’t.”

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven chilling novels with young people taking charge of their lives

Marie Tierney was a finalist in the Daily Mail First Novel competition. When she isn’t researching criminal history, she writes plays and poetry. Born and raised in Birmingham, England, Tierney dedicated almost twenty years to working in education before becoming a full-time writer. She lives in East Anglia with her husband and son.

Tierney's new novel is Deadly Animals.

At CrimeReads the author tagged seven books that "feature young people who have taken responsibility for their own lives when the adults around them have abandoned or betrayed them." One title on the list:

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King

This is a psychological horror of nine-year-old girl Trish who is separated from her squabbling family during a forest hike and has to learn quickly how to survive on her scant provisions. All the while, she listens to a baseball game on her Walkman which features her favourite player Tom Gordon and it is through listening to the games she gains enough strength to carry on even though she is hopelessly lost, starving and becoming very ill. As the days pass, and a police search ensues, Trish often hallucinates and is sure that something evil is following her. She believes it is the God of The Lost, a confrontation with whom she is resigned to face.

I loved this book, and I appreciated Trisha’s realistic mistakes made while she comes to terms that has to survive in the wilderness.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten riveting nonfiction books on history’s greatest medical mysteries

At Mental Floss Marla Mackoul tagged ten books that "delve into some of the wildest moments in medical history." One title on the list:

Doctors and Distillers: The Remarkable Medicinal History of Beer, Wine, Spirits, and Cocktails by Camper English

Until relatively recently, alcohol was considered a treatment for a variety of ailments. Doctors and Distillers travels through time to show how people across the globe have used it in remedies, from uses for wine in ancient Greece to “alchemical” concoctions in China and India. In fact, many classic cocktails were originally invented for healing or stimulating purposes: the Negroni, the Old-Fashioned, and the Gin and Tonic are just a few examples. This well-researched gem covers enormous ground, including significant historical moments like the Prohibition Era and the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven books of speculative feminism written by women

Vanessa Saunders is a writer from the San Francisco Bay Area. Her experimental novel, The Flat Woman, won the Ronald Sukenick Innovative Fiction Prize and was published by Fiction Collective Two and University of Alabama Press. Her writing has appeared in magazines such as Seneca Review, Los Angeles Review, Passages North, and other journals. Saunders currently works as a Professor of Practice at Loyola University in New Orleans.

At Electric Lit she tagged seven works of speculative feminism written by women. One title on the list:

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

Set in the undetermined future, in The Left Hand of Darkness, a human envoy named Genly ventures to a different planet whose inhabitants are biologically androgynous for most of the year. At the core of the story is Genly’s relationship with Estraven, a diplomat who tries to help Genly gain acceptance in this foreign land.

The novel is structured as a series of documents penned by Genly and Estraven as well as myths and legends of the imagined world. Some of the narrative friction comes from the sharp juxtapositions of the styles of the different documents, which demonstrates how digressions are an effective narrative engine. Some of Le Guin’s best writing describes the scenery of this distant planet, especially in the second half of the book where the story of Genly and Estraven reaches its full pitch.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Left Hand of Darkness is among Jeff Somers's ten wintry science fiction & fantasy novels, Andrew Hunter Murray's five best books to make you feel less alone, Kelly Jensen's five inhospitable planets in film and fiction, Ann Leckie's ten best science fiction books, Esther Inglis-Arkell's ten most unfilmable books, Jeff Somers's top five sci-fi novels that explore gender in unexpected and challenging ways, Joel Cunningham's top twelve books with the most irresistible titles, Damien Walter's top five science fiction novels for people who hate sci-fi and Ian Marchant's top 10 books of the night. Charlie Jane Anders included it on her list of ten science fiction novels that will never be movies.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven books about talented criminals and con artists

Jesse DeRoy lives in New York with their family. DeRoy is a former consultant, rock-climbing instructor, and award-winning journalist.

Safecracker is DeRoy's first novel.

At CrimeReads the author tagged seven titles about literature's greatest thieves: talented criminals and con artists that provided inspiration for writing their novel. One title on the list:

David W. Maurer’s The Big Con

Maurer was a professor of linguistics, and even though the book was published in 1940 and is, in some ways, a historical artifact, Maurer’s attention to language means the book still feels alive today. Sure, grifters are running versions of the same cons in 2024 as they were in 1924, but Maurer spent years cultivating sources within the community of swindlers so that he got inside access. Much of the charm of The Big Con is when Maurer’s cast of characters explain moves like the “cackle-bladder” or how to “sew a man up,” but there’s also something delightfully entertaining about having con men let you behind the curtain.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Twelve top books on history’s most notorious diseases

At Mental Floss Marla Mackoul tagged twelve books that dive "into an infamous disease and the people battling it in various capacities, showcasing the unwavering courage and resilience of individuals in the face of indescribable tragedy." One title on the list:

The Fever: How Malaria Has Ruled Humankind for 500,000 Years by Sonia Shah

In The Fever, journalist Sonia Shah offers a compelling investigation into one of humanity’s oldest and deadliest foes: malaria. Despite over a century of knowledge on how to prevent this parasitic disease, it continues to infect almost 250 million people globally and claims nearly hundreds of thousands of lives. Shah traces malaria’s persistent impact on human history while exploring why efforts to eradicate it have repeatedly fallen short. Uniquely strengthened by Shah’s own original reporting from affected regions, The Fever illuminates the enduring threat of malaria and the need for renewed action.

Read about the other books on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nine titles featuring navigating grief through found family

Laura Buchwald is a writer and editor based in New York City. Her strong belief in the afterlife has led her to consult with multiple spiritual mediums, to convincing results. She has spent significant time in New Orleans researching ghosts and restaurant culture—two of her favorite things. She is co-host of the podcast People Who Do Things, a series of conversations about the creative process. Buchwald lives in Manhattan with her husband and dog.

Her new novel is The Coat Check Girl.

At Electric Lit Buchwald tagged nine "books that address the theme of navigating grief through found family." One title on the list:

The Friend by Sigrid Nunez

The protagonist and narrator of this quiet story is mourning the loss of a dear friend and mentor who took his own life. She adopts his equally bereft Great Dane, Apollo, and embarks on an effort to understand who her friend was, flaws and all, while dealing with the threat of eviction for housing a dog in a pet-averse building. What at first seems a relationship born strictly of necessity soon comes to show our protagonist the ineffable bond we can share with our canine companions.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Friend is among Peter Ho Davies’s top ten books about the unknowable, Mia Levitin's ten top books about consent, Lee Conell's seven books about New York City’s stark economic divide and Eliza Smith's twenty books to help you navigate grief.

--Marshal Zeringue

Four horror books featuring artists

Delilah S. Dawson is the author of the New York Times bestseller Star Wars: Phasma, as well as Star Wars Galaxy's Edge: Black Spire, Mine, the Hit series, the Blud series, the creator-owned comics Ladycastle, Sparrowhawk, and Star Pig, and the Shadow series (written as Lila Bowen). With Kevin Hearne, she co-writes The Tales of Pell. She lives in Georgia with her family.

Dawson's new thriller is The Violence.

At CrimeReads the author tagged four horror books featuring creatives. One title on the list:

First of all, let’s remember that writers are artists, too. In Chuck Tingle’s Bury Your Gays, a successful Hollywood screenwriter is finally on the cusp of making it big at the Oscars when the studio bigwigs force him to do the most predictable and soul-killing thing: kill off his gay characters to suit the algorithm. When he refuses, horrifying monsters from his own creations begin to stalk him, breaking the line between reality and fiction. Since the protagonist is a writer and the book is in first person point of view, the reader is treated to beautiful, thoughtful moments where Misha considers the relationship between the writer and story and how past trauma always finds a way in.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue