One title on the list:The Day of the Locust by Nathanael WestRead about another book on the list.
Set in 1939 Hollywood, in the midst of the Great Depression, Nathanael West's novel The Day of the Locust centers on Tod Hackett, an aspiring set-designer come to Los Angeles to work in the film industry. West's exploration of those who struggle on the margins of Hollywood brings to a light a very real world full of desperation, hope, grit, and pain as Tod fights for love and success in the most unforgiving of environments.
The Day of the Locust is on Jerome Charyn's list of the five best tales of dislocation, Jane Ciabattari's list of the five best novels on Hollywood, Jonathan Kellerman's list of the top ten LA noir novels, and Peter Conn's list of the five best novels from the Great Depression; it also appears on Jonathan Evison's list of books about the Spirit of California and John Mullan's list of ten of the best riots in literature.
--Marshal Zeringue
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