A Bohemian Rhapsody: Books Set In The 1960's & 1970's
/100 Years In Books: The Decades Series
As this period dawned, idealism was unbridled. People were unwavering in the pursuit of everything and anything they wanted. The world began to see leaders that were not only charismatic, but also handsome. We were steadfast in our convictions and in our capacity to eradicate both racism and sexism; and the age of sex, drugs and rock and roll was unleashed. Towards the end of this era we understood that we must stand up and fight for not only our own rights, but the rights of others.
Unsurprisingly this was a momentous and rich period in literature for a multitude of reasons. The publication of To Kill A Mockingbird was a triumph and considered second in importance only to The Bible. The women’s movement was further ignited with the release of the Feminine Mystique. Also galvanizing to readers were the birth of the true crime genre and the plentiful release of iconic memoirs.
Popular fiction, the literary equivalent of the best sort of guilty pleasure, gets it’s due! If we weren’t shy about having sex, taking drugs or listening to the devil’s music, why shy away from the books of Stephen King and others of his ilk? And finally, the kitchen became as important as the bedroom with the publication of the Joy Of Cooking on the heels of the Joy Of Sex.
Tag along as we wander through reads set in these decades. Some will be emblematic of the times and others will play with our recollections and perceptions. All will offer up an experience that can only be found in the pages of well written books.
Books Set In The 1960’s…
11/22/63 – Stephen King
If you are expecting a horror novel, you won’t find it here. Instead, you'll find a suspenseful historical story crossed with science fiction that addresses the most compelling aspect of time travel; how actions taken in the past affect the future you are from. English teacher Jake is recruited by his friend Al, the owner of the local diner, to help with the most unlikely of requests. Al discovered a portal in the diner's storeroom that transports him back in time to the era of Ike and Elvis, and he becomes obsessed with the idea of using the portal to go back in time and stop the assassination of John F. Kennedy. But when he realizes he won't be able to complete the mission; he enlists Jake for the job.
Half Of A Yellow Sun – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
With effortless grace, Adichie weaves together the lives of five characters caught up in the extraordinary tumult of the 1960’s. Fifteen-year-old Ugwu is houseboy to Odenigbo, a university professor who sends him to school, and in whose living room Ugwu hears voices full of revolutionary zeal. Odenigbo’s beautiful mistress, Olanna, a sociology teacher, is running away from her parents’ world of wealth and excess; Kainene, her urbane twin, is taking over their father’s business; and Kainene’s English lover, Richard, forms a bridge between their worlds. A powerful and intensely emotional depiction of modern Africa.
The Help – Kathryn Stockett
Skeeter has returned home from college to her family’s cotton plantation where, despite trying to act like a proper Southern lady, she seems to constantly disappoint her mother. Her true ambition, however, is to be a writer. The only job she’s able to find is one she is completely unqualified for, writing a housekeeping advice column for the local paper. Having virtually no experience of her own with housekeeping, Skeeter turns to her friend’s maid, the very poised Aibileen, for help. As she gets to know Aibileen and Aibileen's friend, the very sassy Minny, more intimately, Skeeter is inspired to help tell their stories, and she pitches the idea to write the narratives of 12 Black maids, a very risky project for all of them.
The Girls – Emma Cline
At the start of summer in 1960’s California, a lonely and thoughtful teenager, Evie, sees a group of girls in the park, and is immediately caught by their sense of freedom, their careless dress and their dangerous aura of abandon. Soon she is in thrall to Suzanne, a mesmerizing older girl, and is drawn into the circle of a soon-to-be infamous cult and the man who is its charismatic leader. Hidden in the hills, their sprawling ranch is eerie and run down, but to Evie, it is exotic, thrilling and charged; a place where she feels desperate to be accepted.
Whistling Past The Graveyard – Susan Crandall
Starla is a feisty little girl, born to teenage parents, and being raised by a strict grandmother whose main goal is to ensure that she doesn't turn out like her mom. In the summer of 1963, 9-year-old Starla runs away from her grandmother's home in Mississippi bound for Nashville, where her mom is trying to become a famous singer. Walking alone in the country, Starla happily accepts a ride from a Black woman named Eula who is traveling with a white baby. Eula longs for a child of her own and Starla longs for her mom and dad to be together so she can have the family she dreams of.
Valley Of The Dolls – Jacqueline Susann
In an era when women were expected to become housewives, three best friends instead struggle to make their mark in NYC as they climb their way to the top of the entertainment industry. But once there, they discover there is no place to go but down, into the Valley of the Dolls. A cult classic of trash and debauchery!
American Tabloid – James Ellroy
James Ellroy's trademark nothing-spared rendering of reality, blistering language, and relentless narrative pace are here in electrifying abundance, put to work in a novel as shocking and daring as anything he's written. A secret history that zeroes in on a time still shrouded in secrets and blows it wide open. Where three renegade law-enforcement officers; a former L.A. cop and two FBI agents, are shaping events with the virulence of their greed and hatred, riding full-blast into history.
Coffee Will Make You Black – Stevie Stevenson
In this hilarious and insightful coming-of-age novel, we meet the charming Jean “Stevie” Stevenson, a young woman raised on Chicago’s South Side during an era of irrevocable social upheaval. Curious and witty, bold but naïve, Stevie grows up debating the qualities of good hair and dark skin. As the years pass, her family and neighborhood are changed by the times; from the war on poverty, to race riots and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.; from Black Is Beautiful to Black Power. An enthralling story against a remarkable backdrop.
Go Ask Alice – Beatrice Sparks
Read her diary. Enter her world. You will never forget her. It started when she was served a soft drink laced with LSD in a dangerous party game. Within months, she was hooked, trapped in a downward spiral that took her from her comfortable home and loving family to the mean streets of an unforgiving city. It was a journey that would rob her of her innocence, her youth, and ultimately her life.
The Secret Life Of Bees – Sue Monk Kidd
After the death of her mother, and abuse by her father, 14-year-old Lily runs away with her friend and nanny, Rosaleen. The two escape to Tiburon, South Carolina where they are taken in by an eccentric trio of Black beekeeping sisters. Lily is introduced to the world of bees and honey, the Black Madonna, and to the town that holds the secret to her mother's past. A truly special read.
Books Set In The 1970’s…
Daisy Jones & The Six – Taylor Jenkins Reid
This novel chronicles the meteoric rise of a fictional, iconic 1970s rock band, The Six, and their beautiful lead singer, Daisy Jones. The story is told through a series of "behind the music" style interviews that will make you feel like you are right there with them in the hard-partying 70s music scene. As you hear from each member of the band, the story of these complex characters unfolds, ultimately revealing the mystery behind the band's infamous breakup. A novel that truly transports you back to the 70’s! A joy of a read.
The Ice Storm – Rick Moody
A potentially devastating blizzard approaches New Canaan, Connecticut, while internal forces of desire and frustration threaten to tear apart two quintessentially affluent, suburban families. Elena rightfully suspects her husband, Benjamin, is having an affair with neighbor Janey, while Benjamin resents Elena and his mounting feelings of ineptitude. As the snow begins to fall, Benjamin and Elena, as well as Janey and her husband, attend a neighborhood “key party,” where they and other respectable suburbanites agree to go home with whoever’s keys they draw from a bowl. Meanwhile, their teenage children are caught up in their own experimentations with sex and drugs as they stretch past the boundaries of their structured upbringing.
Inherent Vice – Thomas Pynchon
Part noir, part psychedelic romp, all Thomas Pynchon; private eye Doc surfaces, occasionally, out of a marijuana haze to watch the end of the era. It's been a while since Doc has seen his ex- girlfriend. Suddenly she shows up with a story about a plot to kidnap a billionaire land developer whom she just happens to be in love with. It's the tail end of the psychedelic era in L.A., and Doc knows that "love" is another of those words going around at the moment, like "trip" or "groovy," except that this one usually leads to trouble.
Invisible Circus – Jennifer Egan
Set in 1978, the political drama and familial tensions stemming from the 1960s form a backdrop for the world of Phoebe, age eighteen. Phoebe is obsessed with the memory and death of her sister Faith, a beautiful idealistic hippie who died in Italy in 1970. In order to find out the truth about Faith’s life and death, Phoebe retraces her steps from San Francisco across Europe, a quest which yields complex and disturbing revelations about family, love, and Faith’s lost generation.
Particular Sadness Of Lemon Cake – Aimee Bender
As a young girl, Rose discovers upon biting into her mom's homemade lemon-chocolate cake, that she has a gift; she can taste her mother's emotions in the cake. Far from a sweet and simple coming of age book, this novel is better described as profound and haunting as Rose's "gift" turns out to be more of a curse. She discovers that her outwardly cheerful mother actually tastes of despair. And it's not just the cake, for the rest of her life, consuming food becomes a peril through which she discovers the secrets of those who make it.
Fortress Of Solitude – Jonathan Lethem
A vividly told story of Dylan, growing up white and motherless in downtown Brooklyn in the 1970s. In a neighborhood where the entertainments include muggings along with games of stoopball, Dylan has one friend, a black teenager, also motherless, named Mingus. Through the knitting and unraveling of the boys' friendship, Lethem creates an overwhelmingly rich and emotionally gripping canvas of race, class, superhero’s, gentrification, funk, hip-hop, graffiti tagging, loyalty, and memory.
Arcadia – Lauren Groff
In the fields of western New York State in the 1970s, a few dozen idealists set out to live off the land, founding a commune centered on the grounds of a decaying mansion called Arcadia House. Arcadia follows this romantic utopian dream from its hopeful start through its heyday. The inhabitants include Handy, the charismatic leader; his wife, Astrid, a midwife; Abe, a master carpenter; Hannah, a baker and historian; and Abe and Hannah's only child, Bit.
White Teeth – Zadie Smith
Zadie Smith's White Teeth is a classic international bestseller and an unforgettable portrait of London in the 70’s. It is a funny, generous, big-hearted novel, adored by critics and readers alike. Dealing with, among many other things, friendship, love, war, three cultures and three families over three generations, and the tricky way the past has of coming back. It is a life-affirming, riotous must-read of a book.
Looking For Mr. Goodbar – Judith Rossner
Theresa Dunn spends her days as a schoolteacher whose rigid Catholic upbringing has taught her to find happiness by finding the right man. But at night, her resentment of those social mores and fear of attachment lead her into the alcohol-and-drug fueled underworld of singles' bars, where she engages in a pattern of dangerous sexual activity that threatens her safety and, ultimately, her life. A controversial lightning rod when originally published.
Hippie – Paulo Coelho
Drawing on the rich experience of his own life, bestselling author Paulo Coelho takes us back in time to relive the dreams of a generation that longed for peace. In Hippie, he tells the story of Paulo, a young, skinny Brazilian man with a goatee and long, flowing hair, who dreams of becoming a writer, and Karla, a Dutch woman in her twenties who has been waiting to find a companion to accompany her on the fabled hippie trail to Nepal.
Drop City – T.C. Boyle
It is 1970, and a down-at-the-heels California commune devoted to peace, free love, and the simple life has decided to relocate to the last frontier, the unforgiving landscape of Alaska, in the ultimate expression of going back to the land. Armed with the spirit of adventure and naïve optimism, the inhabitants of “Drop City” arrive in the wilderness of Alaska only to find their utopia already populated by other young homesteaders.
