Paul Theroux's 6 favorite books

Paul Theroux's latest novel is Mother Land. One of his six favorite books, as shared at The Week magazine:

The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West

The ultimate novel of Hollywood, written by a native (and the author of the masterpiece Miss Lonelyhearts). I read this when I was young, and my admiration fueled my ambition to be a writer. It is funny, wicked, satirical, and wholly in the American grain.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Day of the Locust is on Joel Cunningham's list of nine Hollywood novels to get you in the mood for Oscar night, Amy Sohn's six favorite books list, Megan Wasson's top 5 list of books about Los Angeles, 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.

Learn about Theroux's five top travel books about an intense experience of a particular place.

--Marshal Zeringue