Five of the best novels written by poets

In 2015 at B&N Reads, Jeff Somers tagged "five novels written by poets you should absolutely check out," including:

Deliverance, by James Dickey

These days, when people think of Deliverance (whose author was, lest we forget, Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1966–68) they likely think of the film’s “dueling banjos” sequence. Deliverance is a powerful novel, written by a writer who uses words like bricks, building sturdy, beautiful structures. The novel has many deep themes and ideas, but can be read simply as a harrowing, dark adventure tale; a story of civilized men who enter an American “no-man’s land” as it’s about to be wiped away by a dam project and discover just what civilized means—and what it doesn’t.

Read about another entry on the list.

Deliverance is among T.C. Boyle's six top books that explore man's inherent violence and Pat Conroy's six favorite books.

--Marshal Zeringue