My Favorite Paperback Book Reads of 2024
Two biographies, 3 Novels and 1 Hollywood Film History
Every year is an adventure in reading for me. My only criterion is that the book should be well-written and interesting. Interest is, of course, subjective, but I do try to read adventurously and outside my comfort zone. I try to read mostly paperbacks as they are my favorite type of book and are easy to read, but I do include e-books (mostly for non-fiction) and hardbacks in my reading choices.
The following is a list of my favorite paperback books read in 2024. On another day, I could probably come up with different titles, but these books stuck with me and I want to share them with you, my substack friends.
The List:
The Paperback Art of James Avati by Piet Schuders & Kenneth Fulton
Mrs Palfrey at the Clairmont by Elizabeth Taylor (not the actress).
High Noon: The Hollywood Blacklist and the Making of an American Classic by Glenn Frankel
This biography, by Claire Harmon, reads like a novel and is incredibly sensitive to its subject. The writer Sylvia Townsend Warner was a great discovery for me this year. She was a brilliant and innovative writer who lived a life of intention and love. Lolly Willowes and Mr. Fortune’s Maggot are short novel masterpieces. This lovely biography brilliantly portrays her 30-year relationship with her female partner, Valentine. The ending of the book will leave you in tears.
Chinese novelist, Jin Yong (writing as Luis Cha) is one of the most popular authors in the world having sold millions and millions of copies of his wuxia novels worldwide. Wuxia translates as “martial arts and chivalry” and is a modern genre far from the Hong Kong kung-fu movies popular in the 1970s.
I read, with great pleasure, the four-volume set of Jin Yong’s Legend of the Condor Heroes over two weeks in 2024. It was as if nothing else existed but the world of the simple, but righteous Guo Jing in Imperial China and the vast political, romantic and supernatural characters of this engrossing four-volume series translated into simple, but poetic prose. The cover designs are ace, too.
The four volumes of The Legend of the Condor Heroes are:
A Hero Born by Anna Holmwood
A Bond Undone by Gigi Chang
A Snake Lies Waiting by Anna Holmwood and Gigi Chang
A Heart Divided by Gigi Chang and Shelly Bryant
This is the single best book on one of the great paperback cover artists of our times - James Avati. His story is that of a self-taught artist who through hard work and luck landed the job of his life as a book illustrator. His work was of such high quality that he set a standard that is still respected today.
The authors cover Avati’s process of creating covers (posing models for a photograph which he uses to paint an image). The biographical elements of the book are well-written and very interesting, but it’s Avati’s design work that stands out. And it’s still possible to go into a used bookstore and buy a vintage paperback with an Avati cover for under $10.
I buy more New York Review Books paperbacks than any other publisher: they are well-designed, feature great introductions, and, most importantly, feature neglected authors. This year I discovered the work of Elizabeth Taylor (the writer). Mrs Palfrey at the Clairmont is the story of an old woman who comes to stay in a retirement hotel filled with elderly people who are lost at the end of their lives. Few modern authors write about the elderly as it is stories of youth that sell books. But this moving, funny and disquieting novel will stay with you for a long time.
She writes like no one else. I urge you to read this masterpiece.
High Noon is one of my favorite Westerns because it is anti-western. The film is more political and psychological and does not have the typical “hero-beats-the bad guys” ending. Glen Frankel’s brilliant book on the cultural and political background of High Noon is mesmerizing. Frankel’s meticulous record searches reveal a production caught up on the Hollywood Black List and the Communist baiting of the 1950s. The individual standing up for what’s right vs community hatred and disapproval is not only the theme of the film, but a theme of the times. All of Hollywood had to choose between expediency and integrity. Which would you choose?
Watch the movie and then read this brilliant book.
The High Noon book looks fascinating, and Mrs Palfrey would fit well with my predilection for "novels you probably haven't read that were turned into well-known films."