quote:

The 10 Books That Defined the 1970s
Books that paint a fair picture of the landscape of literary culture for the decade.

Interesting look back. I’ve read some of the ten and a bunch more from the addendum. I wonder what I would think about them if I reread them now.

https://getpocket.com/explore/...source=pocket-newtab

I am woefully under-read, but just reading the titles brings back the era. I read Zen and the Art… and Working (from the addendum) but there is a copy of A Hundred Years of Solitude floating around. The Pynchon sounds interesting. (I read his later work, Inherent Vice.)

If I were to go back to those books, though, I would worry that I’m retreating from the present day.

The Other Side of Midnight

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Originally posted by RealPlayer:
there is a copy of A Hundred Years of Solitude floating around

I remember being totally blown away by it when I read it.

Definitely worth reading. And that recommendation comes from someone who rarely reads fiction.

I've read them all -- I had a lot more free time in the 70s!

I agree, I was totally blown away when I read it, too.

I read "Zen and the Art...." and was decidedly not blown away by it. Ditto for "Gravity's Rainbow," which I forced myself to get through.

A perhaps glaring omission here (and one I'd gladly swap "Zen.." for) is "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues," though I suspect if I were to reread it now I might cringe.

Ooooh! The 60's version has Didion's "Slouching Towards Bethlehem." Incredible, amazing writing. I LOVED that book, and found it has held up over time, along with most of her essays. I read "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" in school and lived to tell about it. I'm pretty sure it's at the top of many school library banned lists. I'm pretty sure I read it in middle school.

I've read four.

I was expecting an Erica Jong novel and Jonathan Livingston Seagull to be there too.

Interesting, I've also read 4 from their 60s list and 4 from their 50s list.