Book TalksNovels of Literary Merit—Genres and Reviews

Magical RealismMagical elements blend with the real world

Plots focus on family, relationships, and often love, violence, and war

Isabel Allende, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Laura Esquivel, Rudolfo Anaya, Toni Morrison

Dystopian FutureImagines totalitarian, degraded society—the antithesis of utopia

Serve as commentary on social, political, economic, and environmental issues

Aldous Huxley, Ayn Rand, Margaret Atwood

Period DramasLikely to be made into Masterpiece Theatre miniseries or Merchant-Ivory films

Romance, relationships, social roles and other character-driven complications

Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, George Eliot, Thomas Hardy, E.M. Forster

Epic NovelsFeature large casts of characters and sweeping spans of time, adventure

Often VERY long—1000+ pages!

Charles Dickens, William Thackeray, Alexandre Dumas, Walter Scott

Small Town/Salt of the Earth

Focus on relationships, setting

Turn of the century American drama

Willa Cather, Sinclair Lewis, John Steinbeck

War & PoliticsStrategy, action, social commentary and personal drama

Ernest Hemingway, Joseph Heller, Robert Penn Warren, Erich Remarque

Race, Ethnicity, Cultural Studies

Sherman Alexie, Rudolfo Anaya, Zora Neale Hurston, David Guterson, Helena Maria Viramontes, Change-rae Lee, Joy Kogawa

Exile, Journeys, Self Discovery

Vikram Chandra, Isak Dinesen, James Fenimore Cooper, Cormac McCarthy, Yann Martel, Khaled Hosseini

Personal Recommendations

Mine: TC Boyle, Edwidge Danticat, Junot Diaz, Ralph Ellison, Ian McEwan

Yours?