Fifty novels that changed how later novels were conceived

At B&N Reads Jeff Somers tagged fifty novels that changed novels, including:

The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler

How It Changed Novels: Chandler’s novel is one of the first noir detective stories to hit the big time, and in many ways remains the source for many of the noir tropes still in use today. Its famously complicated plot (which Chandler himself admitted had huge holes) mapped out what a noir story should contain, and just about every noir work that follows adheres to that basic outline.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Big Sleep also appears on a list of four books that changed David Free, Jeff Somers's list of five famous books that contain huge mistakes, John Sweeney's top ten list of books on corruption, the Telegraph's top 23 list of amazing--and short--classic books, Lucy Worsley's ten best list of fictional detectives, Becky Ferreira's list of seven of the best books set in Los Angeles, Ian Rankin's list of five perfect mysteries, Kathryn Williams's reading list on greed, Gigi Levangie Grazer's list of six favorite books that became movies, Megan Wasson's list of five top books on Los Angeles, Greil Marcus's six recommended books list, Barry Forshaw's critic's chart of six American noir masters, David Nicholls' list of favorite film adaptations, and the Guardian's list of ten of the best smokes in literature.

--Marshal Zeringue