What Makes Great Literature?

The other night I went out to dinner with my friend John Connolly (author of the great Charlie Parker series) and a book buyer for Barnes & Noble, a wonderfully smart and passionate woman who had very strong opinions on what makes a great book. Our opinions differed greatly, which didn’t surprise me at all.

I’ve always been partial to Stephen King. Granted, I’m somewhat biased. When my parents wouldn’t let me see the movie version of The Shining, they allowed me to read the book. That experience cemented two things for me – the power of a great story and giving me that “light-bulb” moment when I realized this is what I wanted to do with my life. I’ve devoured every Stephen King book since and I truly believe that some of his books are, in fact, literature – books such as The Green Mile, The Shining, The Dead Zone and Misery. There, I said it. Those books, in my humble opinion, are great literature. How can I say such a thing?

Because they’re my definition of great literature.

And that’s what it comes down to, isn’t it? The books that speak to us – the books that leave marks in our memories and hearts – are our definition of great literature. It’s a deeply personal thing, which is why I’m always dubious of those lists that come out of, say, “The Best Books of All Time.” There are books that I truly feel are classics – books such as William Brodrick’s The 6th Lamentation. It’s not an easy read – the prose is sometimes hard to understand and requires patience – but man oh man what a great story. And really, isn’t that why we all read? For a great story?

My wife and I don’t share the same reading tastes. She doesn’t read crime novels. She’s a Jane Austen fan and belongs to a book club whose tastes are more, say, “high-brow” than mine. But I thought it was interesting when my wife read Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight and devoured it over the course of two days. She then went out a bought the rest of the series and finished them off during an entire week. Why? Because she absolutely loved the story.

What the literary establishment fails to understand is that writers like Stephanie Meyer and James Patterson are important. First, they’re so widely popular that the income generated from their novels allows publishers to take chances on more literary fare. Second, I believe popular books are what I call “gateway drugs.” They hook you into reading. Because of my love of Stephen King, I have branched into other genres, and now my reading tastes are wide and varied to classics such as Sophie’s Choice to more commercial fare like Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse vampire series (basis for the HBO show True Blood). I’ve enjoyed these books equally. They couldn’t be more completely different, but their unifying element is a great story.

So, what do you think makes a great book? What are some books you feel are classics? Here are some of mine:

• Sophie’s Choice by William Styron
• The Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy
• The 6th Lamentation by William Brodrick
• The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
• The Harry Potter series
• The Viper Tree by Joseph Monniger
• The Night Gardner by George Pelecanos
• The Hours by Michael Cunningham
• A Simple Plan by Scott Smith