As selected by the prolific novelist Jeff Lindsay:
The Deep Blue Good-by by John D. MacDonald (Random House, $16). The first appearance of Travis McGee, one of my heroes. He makes a living — and a life — out of being an outsider, which allows him to make social commentary that I’ve always found wise. McGee overcomes this book’s memorable villain, Junior Allen, but with damage.
The Devil Drives by Fawn M. Brodie (Norton, $25). A brilliant biography of my favorite Victorian, Sir Richard Francis Burton, who was a great explorer and linguist and the first non-Muslim to visit Mecca. He also wrote standard manuals on the sword and falconry, and translated ancient erotica, including the Kama Sutra.
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (Dell, $8). “Listen: Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time” is one of the greatest-ever lines for sucking the reader into a story. It also makes Billy the ultimate outsider, a man who is excluded from his own life. Slaughterhouse-Five is gripping, beautifully written, and even brings a porn star, Montana Wildhack, into the literary mainstream.
Macbeth by William Shakespeare (Dover, $3). Macbeth is an outsider in his own marriage. His blood-soaked climb to the throne is gripping partly because it is a reluctant ascension, spurred by a wife who is either inhuman or all too human, depending on your view of humanity.
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein (Ace, $9). Mars-born Valentine Michael Smith is a human who is not really a member of the human race. His story transcends the sci-fi genre as it morphs into social commentary, philosophy, and finally religion. Growing up, I always loved Heinlein. This book grew up with me. It’s an adult read and Heinlein’s best.
The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats (Scribner, $22). Part of the joy here is tracking Yeats’ progress from good to great. Later poems like “Easter, 1916” and “A Prayer for My Daughter” are among the best in the English language. Joy also comes from tuning in to the lunacy of A Vision, a lunacy that propels Yeats to unparalleled heights of half-mad genius in signature poems like “The Second Coming.”
—With his latest novel, Dexter Is Dead, Jeff Lindsay wraps up the series that inspired the Showtime drama about a Miami crime-scene specialist who moonlights as a serial killer.
