As a side note, I don’t know if I’m particularly enthralled with austere writing. For example, I really enjoy Andre Dubus, Michael Chabon, Faulkner, et al. And, of course, Eliot is my favorite poet. (How much more of an unoriginal English student could I be???)

I was considering adding one of your top-ten popular or non-fiction books to my summer reading list. Maybe it’ll be The Gunslinger. This summer will prove to be an interesting balance of “non-required” reading, canonical reading, and contemporary fiction. I’ll post it one of these days. Good thing I like all those–yes, I dare write it–genres.

In terms of your other question, the oldest book here is 1978. That wasn’t particularly intentional. It has to do with the distinctions I don’t like — 1950 was my arbitrary cut-off point between literature and literary, so I sort of kept that in mind with popular, too. As though the magic line between literature and fiction took place in 1950, and the divide between literary and popular was basically only so I could include 20 books instead of only ten. Snobbery, clearly, ain’t my bag.

Have you read B.R. Myers’ “A Reader’s Manifesto”? If not, you’d probably find it interesting (though a bit zealous).

Is there a particular timeframe for these works? Obviously “popular fiction” connotes popularity today, but I’m curious about authors like, I don’t know, P.G. Wodehouse. (I’ve never read him, so that may not be the greatest exampe.)

A few people familiar with the books I like have recommended I “start” King with the Stand then, if I like it, move into The Dark Tower series. I say “start” because I’ve read On Writing and The Green Mile.