Books
Classic books, the ones you read for school or because they are on some list. Are they any good? Find out for yourself. Here are some classics that have publication anniversary dates in May. Have you read these classics?
May 4, 1948 – Norman Mailer published his first novel, The Naked and the Dead when he was 25 years old. The book follows a platoon during WWII and Mailer was able to use some of his experiences in the Philippines during the war. The book was turned into a movie and Mailer went on to have a long and prolific career.
May 18, 1953 – Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin is about a boy named John in 1930s Harlem and is somewhat autobiographical. Baldwin writes about John’s family history and his stepfather, a violent man and Pentecostal minister. Baldwin also shares the positive and negative impacts of the church as John tries to discover his own identity. The book was Baldwin’s first and was also turned into a movie for PBS.
May 1967 – One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez is about seven generations of the Buendía family that establishes the fictitious town of Macondo, in the Columbian jungle. Macondo transforms from isolation to prosperity to ruin as the reader follows the family’s misfortunes. The last surviving member finds an old manuscript that foretells the destruction of the Buendía family. García Márquez's masterpiece sold millions of copies internationally and introduced many readers to the genre of magical realism.
Authors
These authors are celebrating birthdays in May. Have you ever read their books? If not, give one a try. If you have, make sure you've read their most popular book or series. Have you read all their books? Make sure you've read their latest.
Jeffery Deaver was born on May 6, 1950, in Glen Ellyn, Ill. Deaver wrote for his high school’s literary magazine and newspaper. He earned his bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri in 1972 and his law degree from Fordham University. He was a journalist and a corporate attorney before becoming a full-time writer in 1990. Deaver is divorced and his sister, Julie Reece Deaver, writes young adult novels. Deaver’s first novel was published in 1988 and his third novel received the first of eight Edgar Award nominations. Deaver has written several standalone novels and five different series, the most popular being the Lincoln Rhyme novels. Rhyme is a quadriplegic forensic criminologist who solves crimes with his young assistant, NYPD officer Amelia Sachs. The first book in the series, The Bone Collector was turned into a film starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. Deaver’s newest series features Colter Shaw, the son of survivalists and an expert tracker, who helps the police and private citizens find missing persons. The Shaw books have been adapted into the television series Tracker, starring Justin Hartley which debuted in February 2024 and has been picked up for a second season. Deaver has been the editor for several criminal fiction anthologies in addition to writing several books of short stories. He has several international and lifetime achievement awards and has been the president of the Mystery Writers of America twice. Deaver’s latest book is The Watchmaker’s Hand, the 16th Lincoln Rhyme book. His newest novel Fatal Intrusion will be published in late 2024 with author Isabella Maldonado. (author photo by Avery Jensen from Wikimedia)
Jodi Picoult (pronounced pee-koe) was born on May 19, 1966, in Nesconset, N.Y. on Long Island. Her father was an analyst on Wall Street and her mother taught preschool. Picoult always loved reading and writing and had two short stories published in Seventeen while in college. She graduated from Princeton University studying English and creative writing and got a job writing bond portfolios on Wall Street. She then married Timothy van Leer in 1989 and worked as a copy editor and teacher. She earned her master’s degree in education from Harvard University and had her first child. Picoult’s first novel, Songs of a Humpback Whale, was published in 1992 and she became a full-time writer and mother. Picoult has three children, Kyle, Jake, and Samantha. With the success of her career, her husband was eventually able to be a stay-at-home dad. Picoult writes about topics that people might not want to talk about, things that make them uncomfortable, are frightening, or that have no easy answers. She likes to get a conversation going by writing about suicide, race, sexual abuse, illness, abortion, wildlife conservation, euthanasia, marital issues, murder, missing children, school shootings, religion, parenthood, gene therapy, and gender identity and orientation. Picoult has written two young adult books with her daughter about a lonely girl who falls for a prince in a fairytale and together they try to break him out of the book. A few of her novels have been turned into movies, most notably My Sister’s Keeper starring Cameron Diaz. Picoult has won several awards and her books regularly are #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list. Her latest book is Mad Honey co-written by Jennifer Finney Boylan. Picoult’s newest novel, By Any Other Name, will be published this summer. (author photo by Deborah Feingold)
Douglas Preston was born in Cambridge, Mass., on May 20, 1956. His father was a lawyer and his mother was an academic. Preston and his two brothers spent their childhood in a quiet Boston suburb, so they created their own excitement by making incendiary devices and homemade rockets. Preston went to Pomona College and studied several areas of science before turning to English literature. After graduating, Preston worked as a writer, editor, and manager of publications for the American Museum of Natural History. He then worked for a British publisher and started writing nonfiction books. Preston taught nonfiction writing at Princeton and then worked as a research associate in an anthropology lab. He has been a contributing writer to the Smithsonian, The Atlantic Monthly, National Geographic, and The New Yorker. He married Christine, a photographer, and they have three children. Preston began writing novels in 1994 and then paired up with his editor Lincoln Child to write Relic, the first novel in the Pendergast series. Pendergast was only a supporting character in Relic and Reliquary. With the success of the novels, Preston and Child elevated FBI Agent Aloysius Xingu Leng (A.X.L) Pendergast to be the protagonist starting with the third book, The Cabinet of Curiosities. The pair continued writing together except for a few novels and nonfiction books, such as the Wyman Ford series. They have also written the Gideon Crew series and the Nora Kelly series. Dr. Kelly is a museum curator, first seen in the Pendergast novels. Preston’s background in science and journalistic travels have been very useful in his novels. Preston has written almost 40 books, over half of them New York Times bestsellers. The newest Nora Kelly book is Dead Mountain. The most recent Pendergast novel, #21, is The Cabinet of Dr. Leng. Preston's latest nonfiction work is The Lost Tomb: And Other Real-Life Stories of Bones, Burials and Murder. Preston’s newest novel is Extinction. (author photo from Open Library)
Factual information from Gale: Biography in Context and the author websites of Jeffery Deaver, Jodi Picoult, and Douglas Preston.