B-Side Books
Essays on Forgotten Favorites
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- $25.99
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- $25.99
Publisher Description
There are the acknowledged classics of world literature: the canonical works assigned in schools, topping every must-read list . . . and then there are the B-Sides. These are the books that slipped through the cracks, went unread, missed their rightful appointment with posterity. They were ahead of their times or behind their times or on a whole different schedule than the rest of the universe.
What do you do when a book that you love has been neglected or dismissed by everyone else? In B-Side Books, leading writers, critics, and scholars show why their favorite forgotten books deserve a new audience. From dusty westerns and far-out science fiction to obscure Czech novelists and romance-novel precursors, the contributors advocate for the unsung virtues of overlooked books. They write about unheralded novels, poetry collections, memoirs, and more with understanding, respect, passion, and love.
In these thoughtful, often personal essays, contributors—including Stephanie Burt, Caleb Crain, Merve Emre, Ursula K. Le Guin, Carlo Rotella, and Namwali Serpell—read books by writers such as Helen DeWitt, Shirley Jackson, Stanislaw Lem, Dambudzo Marechera, Paule Marshall, and Charles Portis.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Plotz (Semi-Detached), editor of the Public Books website's "B-Side" column, showcases 40 contriubtions to the column in this smart and fun collection. Arranged into seven themes—childhood, other worlds, comedy, strife, home fires, mysteries, and journeys of the spirit—the collection is, as Sharon Marcus notes in her foreword, a "book of books" focused on lesser-known titles. Seeta Changati, for instance, reads Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as a lesson in shamelessness and a means of garnering perspective on the Trump administration. Kathryn Lofton writes about her first encounter with Edith Hamilton's Mythology at age 10 and uses Greek myth as a way of thinking about rape. Ursula K. Le Guin, meanwhile, offers laugh-out-loud praise for the way John Galt's19th-century Annals of the Parish defies "the decree of the Iowa Writing School that controls almost all modern fiction" as he "tells without showing." But more than being just a collection of "what to read next" suggestions, the pieces easily convey a sense of how powerful reading can be. Book lovers are in for a treat.
