6 book recommendations from Greil Marcus
Lately, the legendary rock critic has been delving into an eclectic mix of Pynchon, Chandler, and Colson Whitehead

Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon (Penguin, $16). I had tremendous fun with this 2009 novel when it came out, but it’s stayed in my mind as a vision of ugliness—heroin in hippie L.A. as a vast conspiracy, the scope of which private eye Doc Sportello is only beginning to glimpse when the book ends, which is why there has to be a sequel.
Eat the Document by Dana Spiotta (Scribner, $15). Inside its 1970s-radicals-gone-underground plot, this novel hides a gleeful, infinitely detailed picture of just how smart a 15-year-old boy can be, especially when he’s obsessed with 1960s music.
When We Were Good: The Folk Revival by Robert Cantwell (Harvard, $39). A now dream-time, now historical-time adventure, across generations, aimed at discovering a scattered, half-secret America inside the one that made the papers.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Apex Hides the Hurt by Colson Whitehead (Anchor, $14). I like Whitehead’s vague, depressed lead characters, in The Intuitionist, in John Henry Days, and here—a New York “nomenclature consultant” who goes to a small town to settle a dispute over what it’s going to call itself. What he ends up renaming, or rewriting, is the country—and in a novel that’s so quiet, or wary, that the story seems like an old ballad, as much hummed as written.
Little Scarlet by Walter Mosley (Vision, $7.50). Mosley started his Easy Rawlins series in 1990 with Rawlins in postwar Los Angeles, investigating racism as much as anything else. As the books went on and Mosley moved Rawlins through history, the question loomed up: How was he—or they—going to handle the Watts riots? This was the answer—a book set just after the event, when some people are trying to pretend nothing happened, some are trying to figure out what did happen, and some are putting it into words.
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler (Vintage, $14). I don’t even like L.A., but for some reason it’s figuring heavily in this list. This 1939 novel is the Los Angeles of old buildings that have charm for a reader now, even if they had none for Chandler, and the beginning of the most indelible vernacular phrase-making in modern America.
—Greil Marcus, the legendary rock critic and co-editor of A New Literary History of America, has a new anthology of writings on Bob Dylan that has just been published by PublicAffairs
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Bryan Burrough's 6 favorite books about Old West gunfighters
Feature The Texas-raised author recommends works by T.J. Stiles, John Boessenecker, and more
-
Tash Aw's 6 favorite books about forbidden love
Feature The Malaysian novelist recommends works by James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and more
-
Richard Bausch's 6 favorite books that are worth rereading
Feature The award-winning author recommends works by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and more
-
Marya E. Gates' 6 favorite books about women filmmakers
Feature The film writer recommends works by Julie Dash, Sofia Coppola, and more
-
Laurence Leamer's 6 favorite books that took courage to write
Feature The author recommends works by George Orwell, Truman Capote and more
-
Amor Towles' 6 favorite books from the 1950s
Feature The author recommends works by Vladimir Nabokov, Jack Kerouac, and more
-
Susan Page's 6 favorite books about historical figures who stood up to authority
Feature The USA Today's Washington bureau chief recommends works by Catherine Clinton, Alexei Navalny, and more
-
Ione Skye's 6 favorite books about love and loss
Feature The actress recommends works by James Baldwin, Nora Ephron, and more