Norman Mailer: Ten Favorite American Novels
Mailer's list of his ten favorite American novels, contributed to The Reader's Catalog (1989). Nine of the ten he read in his luminous freshman year at Harvard; he gave the identical list, in the same order, a decade later (99.11).
Mailer’s list of his ten favorite American novels, contributed as a boxed insert to The Reader’s Catalog: An Annotated Selection of More than 40,000 of the Best Books in Print, edited by Geoffrey O’Brien (New York: Jason Epstein/Random House, 1989). All but Huckleberry Finn he read in his first year at Harvard — “Freshman year at Harvard is luminous because of these books.” In his order of importance:
- U.S.A. (John Dos Passos)
- Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)
- Studs Lonigan (James T. Farrell)
- Look Homeward, Angel (Thomas Wolfe)
- The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
- The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
- The Sun Also Rises (Ernest Hemingway)
- Appointment in Samarra (John O’Hara)
- The Postman Always Rings Twice (James M. Cain)
- Moby-Dick (Herman Melville)
He gave the same ten, in the same order, in 1999 (99.11); see also 99.10, 07.44, 09.4.
Related pages
- Jason Epstein | Random House
- 1989
- Norman Mailer (in The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books) (07.44)