General Fiction – Vladimir Nabokov, Dorothy Parker, Robert Pirsig, John Cowper Powys & Thomas Pynchon

I think the first book of Nabokov’s I ever read was Invitation to a Beheading which I have in an old Penguin edition somewhere, so it will displayed later. What I do have here and now are three of his masterworks, Lolita (Corgi 1969), Despair (Panther 1969) and Pale Fire (Corgi 1966) in old UK paperbacks.

Dorothy Parker was a member of the Algonquin Round Table and was noted for her wit. The Portable Dorothy Parker (Viking 1975 edition) is a complete collection of her stories, poems, reviews and articles.

Robert Pirsig is mainly known for one book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, which was a runaway bestseller in the early 1970s.

Now, John Cowper Powys is an author who interested me greatly in the 1970s. I seemed to have collected quite a few of his books, after reading and being mightily impressed with A Glastonbury Romance. I have a copy of that book in a Picador edition, but as I am planning a separate feature on Picador I’ll be showing the cover of it at a later date.

In the meantime here are three odd editions of his novels, Weymouth Sands (Rivers Press 1973), Porius (Village Press 1974) and The Inmates (Village Press 1974).

Finally, for this post, Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon , the sole novel by this author in my collection. I must admit, Gravity’s Rainbow is one of the few books I could never finish. It put me off Pynchon for life. Below is the 1974 Bantam paperback edition (still in perfect condition!).

Next – Robbins, Runyon, Rushdie and Russian novels

General Fiction – Per Lagerkvist, Guiseppe Di Lampedusa, Wyndham Lewis, David Malouf, Spike Milligan, Yukio Mishima

Per Lagerkvist was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1951. Barabbas is his most famous novel and tells the tale of the thief who was freed from crucifixion instead of Jesus.

The Leopard by Guiseppe di Lampedusa is a masterpiece, and a book I pick up and reread every so often, it being an old favourite of mine. My old battered paperback edition was published by Fontana in 1969. Also pictured is Two Stories & A Memoir (Penguin 1966).

I appear to have acquired the complete The Human Age trilogy of Wyndham Lewis, comprising The Childermass , Monstre Gai and Malign Fiesta. I’ve never actually got around to reading them. The below editions were published by Jupiter Books (John Calder Publishers) in 1963.

To finish this entry a trio of books – Harland’s Half Acre by Australian author David Malouf, The Bedsitting Room by Spike Milligan and Confessions of A Mask by Yukio Mishima

Next – Nabokov, Parker, Pirsig, Powys and Pynchon

General Fiction – Kesey, Kilworth & Kotzwinkle

To begin, two single novels (though they wrote others) by Ken Kesey and Garry Kilworth.

Sometimes A Great Notion derives its name from the famous Huddie Ledbetter (Leadbelly) song “Goodnight Irene”, a song that has peculiar significance to me from my childhood, which I won’t go into here. It is Kesey’s second novel, not as famous as One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, but well worth including in anyone’s book collection.

Garry Kilworth’s Witchwater Country is a rather good coming of age novel – slightly spooky. I must admit it is the only one of his novels that I have read.

Now on to William Kotzwinkle, known mostly as a writer of comic novels. His somewhat bizzare novels were very popular back in the 1970s, most particularly The Fan Man – the archetypical 60s novel. The edition pictured is 1977 Penguin.

Doctor Rat won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 1977. It’s a savage satirical novel about vivisection. The paperback edition has a fantastic, though gruesome cover.

More William Kotzwinkle – with interesting cover art.

Next – Lampedusa and other authors whose names start with “L” & “M”

General Fiction – Jack Kerouac

My collection of Jack Kerouac novels is quite comprehensive, though by no means complete. I can’t even say if I’ve read them all as I can only recall reading his most famous novel On The Road which I will not be displaying in this post as it’s in a Penguin Modern Classic edition. I will be doing feature posts on the Penguin Modern Classics in the future.

So what I have here are all the other various editions of Kerouac in my library. Desolation Angels is a 1972 Panther, Big Sur is a New English Library edition, also 1972

Visions of Cody & Doctor Sax are both 1980 Panther editions

The antique paperback, Maggie Cassidy, is a 1960 Panther, and The Subterraneans is a 1971 Grove Press (Black Cat) edition.

Both Vanity of Duluoz (1969 Andre Deutsch) and Visions of Gerard and Tristessa (1964 Andre Deutsch) are UK hard cover first editions, and I believe quite valuable these days.

And finally, two books about Jack Kerouac, one a biography (1974) and the other a collection of memoirs.

Next – Kesey, Kilworth & Kotzwinkle

General Fiction – a miscellany

I appear to have only one book by the following authors:

Carlos Fuentes – Terra Nostra
Jean Genet – Our Lady of the Flowers
Hannah Green -I Never Promised You A Rose Garden
Doris Grumbach – The Missing Person

Actually I do have another Joseph Heller book somewhere, but of course Catch 22 is his most famous. It’s still a great read.

Then there are the two Irvings…

John Irving with his famous ‘Garp’ and Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Shirley Jackson’s books have been out of print for decades, but I am pleased to see that her best known books have recently been reprinted in Penguin. She is an extraordinary writer and her We Have Always Lived In The Castle is my favourite of hers and also one of my all time favourite novels. I gave it to my niece at Christmas and she loved it. Merricat Blackwood is one of the most compelling literary creations of all time. My battered old paperback edition is below.

The Haunting of Hill House is one of the scariest, most suspenseful novels I have ever read. There have been several film versions of this book, but nothing beats reading the original. The Lottery is a collection of her best stories. I remember, when I was a member of a small theatrical group back in the ‘60s we performed the play based on The Lottery – I was Tessa, the victim.

Next – Jack Kerouac

General Fiction – E L Doctorow, Umberto Eco, John Fowles,

E L Doctorow first came to my notice with the publication of his novel Ragtime, which I enjoyed reading at the time, though I never really followed his career much after that, other than to acquire Billy Bathgate ten or so years later. I also have a copy of his novel The Waterworks floating around somewhere.

I, like many others, first came across the books of Umberto Eco through his best selling novel The Name of the Rose. Also in my collection is a hard cover edition of Foucault’s Pendulum (previously displayed).

The Magus by John Fowles was one of those novels that everyone seemed to read in the 1960s. This of course lead to his other books, The Aristos, The Collector and The French Lieutenant’s Woman, the latter two books being made into films. I do have a hard covered copy of his novel The Ebony Tower somewhere or other, though i don’t recall seeing lately.

Next – Miscellaneous single novels (f to i) and Shirley Jackson.