Five books about what was happening behind the scenes of famous novels

At B&N Reads Jeff Somers tagged "five absorbing investigations into what was happening behind the scenes of five famous novels," including:

The Most Dangerous Book: The Battle for James Joyce’s Ulysses, by Kevin Birmingham

When people imagine the classic suffering novelist, they may not always realize Jame Joyce is the original template. He struggled to get his work published in his lifetime, suffered myriad physical maladies exacerbated by constant money troubles, and loved recklessly. His novel Ulysses is one of the most difficult and most celebrated in the English language—and for a time was banned as obscene. Birmingham follows Joyce’s life from the initial inspiration for what became Ulysses in 1904 to its final vindication and publication in the U.S. in 1934. He takes what sounds like a dry legalistic plod and makes it into a thriller, with the Good Guys fighting small-minded bluenoses in the name of one of the greatest novels ever written.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue