Every form of entertainment has its own way of reaching an audience. Movies are fantastic at advertising because they are extremely visual; they look great on posters and billboards and in commercials. Music finds an audience by simply existing in as many places as possible: In every store you walk into, in your car, in movies and television. The large amount of exposure means more people are going to know the best songs of each year. People know what the most popular songs of the year were because they heard them all the time.
But books... Books are in the mind. They don’t look exciting on a billboard, and people don’t expect to hear them when they walk in their favorite department store. Since people are exposed to the contents of so few books in everyday life, it can be hard to know where to start, even when someone is curious about contemporary literature. The last three years for me have included my own a foray into the world of adult fiction, and I wanted to offer this piece as a stepping stone to anyone interested in reading some awesome books and looking for a place to start.
The most dominant forces in this new discovery of literature were the novels written by Cormac McCarthy. McCarthy is an enigmatic figure at best: A literary genius and a recluse, a National Book Award winner and former alcoholic. His books like "The Road" and "No Country for Old Men" have become box office successes, and novels like "All the Pretty Horses" and "Blood Meridian" modern American classics. McCarthy resurrected the genre of classic westerns, spinning tales of cowboys and Indians and love and death and man. His stories are gritty and unforgiving, with no promises that the main character is actually the good guy. But do not fret, the brutal hardships endured by the characters in his novels are balanced out by the beauty and depth of the writing.
In the midst of the grit and grime, McCarthy will point out that “Our enemies ... seem always with us. The greater our hatred, the more persistent the memory of them so that a truly terrible enemy becomes deathless. So that the man who has done you great injury or injustice makes himself a guest in your house forever. Perhaps only forgiveness can dislodge him.” That beautiful passage comes from "No Country for Old Men," a book about a man with a million dollars in cash trying to evade bounty hunters through the state of Texas. Just one example of McCarthy’s uncanny ability to mix the violent with the pure, to find the eternal truths in the momentary struggles.
A second lesson I have learned is that if someone is incredible at one discipline of writing, they are likely great at another. For example, David Benioff is one of the writers of "Game of Thrones," one of my favorite TV shows, and he also wrote "City of Thieves," one of the best books I’ve read in years. So look at the credits of your favorite shows and movies, and take a look at what else the writers have done; odds are, you’ll love it.
I’ve suggested the people that I have because they were the authors that truly made me love the genre of fiction literature, so I think they may be able to help other people love it, as well. But the moral of the story here is to find what you love, and the only way to do that is to start reading. So, grab a book and start your search.
