Book Talks
Novels of Literary Merit—Genres and Reviews
Magical Realism
Magical 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 Future
Imagines totalitarian, degraded society—the
antithesis of utopia
Serve as commentary on social, political,
economic, and environmental issues
Aldous Huxley, Ayn Rand, Margaret Atwood
Period Dramas
Likely 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 Novels
Feature 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 & Politics
Strategy, 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?