I spend quite a bit of time wandering the literary fiction aisles of bookstores looking for something, or someone, new. I read Publishers Weekly every week hoping to discover a new book or author I don’t know or have forgotten about. I talk to friends; I scour the Internet book blogs. But I have to admit it seems to be becoming tougher and tougher to find something that measures up against the books from the early to mid-twentieth century.
In the current economic times, it’s hard to plunk down $25-30 on a book only to find out that what might have received critical acclaim turns out to be a total snore. So, what’s the solution? To me, it’s the glorious world of reprints. And the treasure house of reprints continues to be the New York Review of Books Classics, a relatively small imprint that publishes previously out of print gems.
I urge you to check out their website. There you’ll find (at very reasonable prices, by the way) beauties such as Elizabeth Hardwick’s Sleepless Nights as well as her Seduction and Betrayal. Spend time and discover (or re-discover) novels by Richard Hughes, Henry James and Alberto Moravia. You’ll find The Moon and the Bonfires by Cesare Pavase, A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr, Joyce Cary’s First trilogy, the historical novels of J.G. Farrell.
And finally, if you’re at all into French mysteries and detective novels, well, there just aren’t many better than those of Georges Semenon. My advice if you’re looking for a way to spend the cold winter that lies ahead? Curl up with the master of psychological detective yarns. There are no less than nine to choose from.
