"I include this quirky novel in my list, because it is a satiric gem and one of the guiltiest of guilty pleasures. Terry Southern was a comic genius (Dr. Strangelove, Candy) who has never quite been given his due. The argument of The Magic Christian is a simple one, namely: There is no limit to what you can make people do, if you give them enough money. Everyone has his price. In this slim volume, Southern illustrates this point in a story that becomes increasingly outrageous and culminates in one of the most absurdly comic scenes in the American literary canon."

"An unabashed disciple of Cormac McCarthy, this is the first book by a reclusive man who had old Tennessee pumping in his veins. Youth versus experience, love versus hate, this is a distinctly southern tale of a honkey tonk, murder, young lovers, and retribution."

"The Grandmama of southern gothic literature, O'Connor unabashedly tackles faith and faithlessness head on. Grotesque, funny and oftentimes creepy, these stories draw a picture of a society on the brink of moral bankruptcy. I find them more relevant today than ever....even on a desert island."

"I have to include Faulkner. With multiple narrators, shifts in time, and sentences that go on for a thousand words, it is an Everest-like challenge. But its epic story of the doomed Sutpen dynasty is a masterpiece of Southern literature. Read it slowly (you pretty much have to) and savor every word."