the tennesee williams new orleans literary festival is over for another year, but we’re still in a new orleans state of mind, and will be indefinitely, with a great list to read on. As the famous writer and playwright said: “America only has three cities: New York, San Francisco and New Orleans. everywhere else it’s just cleveland.” while we’re not sure what other major cities might want to say about this, in terms of literature, the big easy one is certainly up there. After Susan Larson took us through his essential books on the city, from the Streetcar to a Confederation of Fools, we turned to our readers to round out the list. These are some of his recommendations. if your favorite is missing, add it in the comments.
1. the awakening of kate chopin (1899)
“madame bovary cajun style,” said guillaume d’hautacam on twitter. This turn-of-the-century novel about a woman’s emotional and sexual awakening caused outrage and was out of print for decades, after coming out in a world that wasn’t ready for a book that presented “women as real people instead of paper prints.” a masculine disposition,” barbara kingsolver wrote in the guardian. this feminist book about female passion didn’t make a significant resurgence until women in the 1960s began reading and discussing it. a fascinating story in itself. it was also recommended by a librarian drowned.
You are reading: Books set in new orleans
in quotes from the book:
The atmosphere of the city has certainly improved it. somehow she doesn’t look like the same woman.
The voice of the sea is seductive, it never stops, whispering, crying out, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander in abysses of solitude.
I would give up the non-essential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but it wouldn’t give me. I can’t make it any clearer; it’s just something that I’m beginning to understand, that is being revealed to me.
2. going through the massacre of michael ondaatje (1976)
This book by novelist and poet michael ondaatje, who won the booker award for the english patient, is an all-time favorite of czech greek, “brilliantly captures new orleans jazz in both story and structure and the rhythm of the prose. absolutely brilliant.” the book chronicles the life of jazz musician buddy bolden, considered one of the inventors of jazz, at the beginning of the 20th century and, with some of the rhythms of the music he describes, ondaatje mixes fiction and non-fiction, history and interviews, dramatic reconstruction and photography.
kalehawley also praised it:
a brilliantly imagined early novel about buddy bolden and the early days of jazz in new orleans.
in quotes from the book:
It was a music that had so little wisdom that you wanted to clean up almost every note that passed, passed along the way as if traveling in a car, passed before he even got close and saw it properly. there was no control except the mood of the power of him…and that’s why it’s a good thing you’ve never heard him play on recordings.
The correct ending is an open door that you can’t see very far through. it can mean the exact opposite of what you’re thinking.
3. lew griffin series by james sallis
Best known for his 2005 novel, adapted into a film of the same name, James Sallis wrote a seven-book crime series centered on Lew Griffin, a bourbon-drinking detective who wanders the bleak city streets trying to find missing persons and, as the cliché goes, himself. “Subtle and oblique in content, [her stories of him] are meditations on America rather than tales of cops and robbers; This sets them apart from much of the crime genre,” Gart Cartwright said of the series in The Guardian. slovenia46 said:
James Sallis’ brilliant six-book series Lew Griffin is set in New Orleans (primarily), but it’s less the city and more the soul of a man. better read that series in order.
id0686782 added: “lew griffin’s books were excellent, and very different from drive, so most people probably know him.”
in quotes from books:
See Also: Lauren Blakely – Book Series In Order
in the dark things always move away from you. memory stops you while regret and sadness drive you crazy. the only help you’ll get is a few stiff drinks and the morning. of the long-legged fly
I was coming to a cross street when a man in a crappy suit came around the corner of the building across the street and stepped into my path. […] a shiver ran through me. somehow, indefinably, I felt, felt with the kind of unspoken, bewildered understanding we have in dreams, that I had just caught a glimpse of a possible future self. ” black hornet
4. patrick cleane twelve bar blues (2001)
please please trina recommended this novel: “the twelve bar blues covers the city’s past and present and the story itself is excellent.” And that story intertwines the lives of a young bugler in early 20th-century New Orleans and a retired prostitute in modern-day London. the novel won that year’s whitbread award, now the costa award, for best novel.
in quotes from the book:
her eyes were a curious mixture of innocence and knowledge, like a naive character who has just seen too much.
5. a hall of mirrors by robert stone (1964)
Robert Stone’s “brilliant debut,” recommended by miasmadude, used the city as the setting for an eclectic mix of America’s dark side that emerged in the ’60s, “something I tore my youth up against.” It won the William Faulkner and Houghton Mifflin Awards for First Novel. stone had been literally registering new orleanians as a census worker in 1960. with the spirit of the vietnam war clearly in the background, his characters include a right-wing disc jockey and failed musician, civil rights activists, corrupt politicians and many more fish. out of the water.
in quotes from the book:
the american way is innocence. […] in all situations we must and will show an innocence so vast and amazing that the whole world will be reduced by it. American innocence will rise in mighty clouds of vapor at the scent of heaven and confuse the nations!
6. a walk on the wild side by nelson algren (1956)
nelson algren’s novel tells the story of a texas country boy who moves big and easy in search of a better life…representing the world of prostitutes, pimps and con men, the book pokes fun at of the american dream and, again, takes place against the backdrop of period vietnam. Algren himself said: “The book asks why lost people sometimes become better human beings than those who have never been lost in their entire lives. why men who have suffered at the hands of other men are the natural believers in mankind, while those whose part has been merely to acquire, to take all and give nothing, are the most contemptuous of mankind.” It was also the initial inspiration for the Lou Reed song. recommended by lazz.
in quotes from the book:
never play cards with a man named doc. never eat at a place called mom. never sleep with a woman whose problems are worse than yours.
Without hesitation, Paloma chose the path of nowhere. because that was the only place, deep in her heart, that she really wanted to go.
“I don’t know what kind of great I’m destined to be”, Paloma considered her prospects calmly, “The only thing I know for sure is that I was born to shake the world.”
7. tom robbins jitterbug perfume (1984)
This novel features four main stories, set in bohemian 8th century and present day Paris, Seattle and, of course, New Orleans. one of the best “inappropriate” books for teens by writer patrick ness, which he nonetheless enjoyed as a teenager: “i was surprised to discover that fiction could be, of all things, fun. that he didn’t always have to be polite. that he might have runaway metaphors just for laughs.” recommended by sophia jackson.
in quotes from the book:
if new orleans isn’t quite in the mainstream of culture, it’s also not quite in the mainstream of time. without a well-defined present, he lives somewhere between his past and his future, as if unsure whether to go forward or backward. perhaps it is his perpetual ambivalence that constitutes his secret charm.
never underestimate how much help, how much satisfaction, how much consolation, how much soul and transcendence can be in a well made taco and a cold bottle of beer.
See Also: 25 Books Like Twilight to Sink Your Teeth Into | CitizenSide
It is better to be small, colorful, sexy, careless and peaceful, like flowers, than big, conservative, repressed, fearful and aggressive, like thunder lizards; a lesson, by the way, that the earth has yet to learn.
8. the world that made new orleans: from spanish silver to the square of the congo by ned sublette (2008)
songwriter and musician ned sublette explores in depth the history and musical and cultural influences of new orleans, focusing on the first century of the city’s existence. He explores Cuba and St Domingue as crucial influences, and offers many fascinating tidbits on topics including the beginnings of tango, the infamous dish of gumbo, and the origin of words like vaudeville and voodoo. delphio said:
sublette’s book is a must read if you want to know the history of the city. but be prepared for hard truths.
was also recommended by foxiix and leedsmusiclib.
9. nine lives: death and life in new orleans by dan baum (2009)
“an amazing book that shares stories of nine very different people from nola’s real life”, according to vilove4, nine lives was written by ex-new york writer dan baum. He was one of many journalists who covered the excruciating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, but he actually stayed in town when most of the reporters had left. this book is more about the personal experiences of nine of the people he encountered than it is about the political (in)action that followed the devastating hurricane, which he covered extensively for the magazine. And it’s an attempt to re-imagine the swamp town and its unique character as it had been before Katrina.
rb2inglasgow called it:
A brilliant piece of post-Katrina reportage that traces the city’s recent history through nine interlocking narratives ranging from a Mardi Gras Indian to a city cop, a transgender bartender, and a carnival king.
in quotes from the book:
that was the point of mardi gras, right? serving and honoring all the people, bringing to life a touch of royalty and greatness… presenting a show like this, at no cost, was an honor. new orleans was sick and hurt, but no other city in the world had a celebration like this. it was beautiful precisely because it was so frivolous.
in new orleans, no matter how much money you had in the bank, you looked at poverty every day.
new orleanians are often late, if at all, because they generally don’t keep calendars. calendars are tools for managing the future, and in new orleans the future doesn’t exist.
living in new orleans is about making the present, this moment, right now, as enjoyable as possible. therefore, new orleanians, by and large, are not tortured by the frenzy to achieve, acquire, and manage the unmanageable future.
10. poppy z brite books
poppy z brite “gets new orleans,” said neighbourhooduk. Adam Thomasson agreed: “Poppy Z Brite has written many great books about New Orleans. He was known early on for his horror and fantasy books, but he succeeds with his series of books, starting with the liquor, about a couple of chefs who open their own restaurant.” He’s talking about the booze series, of which the New York Times said: “Brite’s stark affection for the life of his cooking hands, the feeders of New Orleans’ fabulous belly, shines through. In the acknowledgments, Brite says that he completed Soul Kitchen the night before Hurricane Katrina hit. the book is more eloquent as a postcard of new orleans before the flood, of everyday life as it was before it was gone.”
in quotes from books:
Didn’t he have to grudgingly admit that in some kinky corner of his brain the thought of having to be out of town before sundown appealed to him? new orleans had been the only constant in her life. but didn’t she get itchy feet sometimes, didn’t she sometimes think of throwing all her stuff in the car and driving away?
of course he did. everybody did it, even the regular folks, the ones with triple mortgages and orthodontist bills and responsibilities for everything but what they really wanted. to draw blood
Did we miss your favorite? add it in the comments.
See Also: Announcing the 2019 Tournament of Books – The Morning News