Reading the 20th Century discussion

Earlier this month the literary world lost author Tom Wolfe - one of the great American writers of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Have you read much by him, and what were your favourites? I remember being gripped by The Bonfire of the Vanities when it was published, and it came up in our 1980s thread as one of the quintessential novels of the decade.

Here's a link to the Guardian obituary of Wolfe:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...

I haven't read anything by him. I really have been left cold by some of the 'great' male US author's - Saul Bellow and Philip Roth in particular. Is he similar?

I love Wolfe's "classics" - Electric Kool Aid, Bonfire, The Right Stuff


Of their time but I am sure they'd all really stand up well.

I really should revisit him sometime. He'd probably make a good group read.

I remember Bonfire as hugely entertaining and thought-provoking - very long of course, so we would probably need to choose a shorter work if we did go for him as a group read in the future.

The only one I read was The Bonfire of the Vanities, which didn't impress me as much as I was expecting, but maybe the weight of expectation was too high by the time I read it...

I couldn't stand Bonfire. I don't think I made it past page 25. I do have The Right Stuff on my shelf. I loved the movie. Had it on tape for years. I just don't want to get burned like I felt like I did on Bonfire. Where I heard a lot of great stuff about the book and then I just didn't like it.

If you loved the film Jan then I am pretty confident you'll love the book too. One of my all time faves (which I would empathically not say about Bonfire)

I never saw the movie for Bonfire. Maybe my lack of interest about the movie should have tipped me off that I might not have any interest in the book either. Oh, well, it was either free or very cheap (used book sale).

I've only seen the film of The Right Stuff, which I loved - sounds as if I should add the book to my TBR

You really should - every bit as good Judy

The Right Stuff Kindle dead of the day today.