I was stumbling through the Internet earlier when I came across Goodread’s list of the 100 Darkest Books of all time. I was surprised by some of the rankings. For example, 1984 topped American Psycho. Naturally, the list contains a lot of classic horror authors but, surprisingly, relatively few contemporary authors. Most are renowned whether classic or contemporary, however, there are a few with whom I am not at familiar or whose names I haven’t heard. Check it out. Let me know what you think.
I really like this ‘darkest’ lit list. It crosses genre boundaries. For example, The Bell Jar is autobiography, not offered as fiction. Also, I have no problem with the greater number of earlier offerings. Newer books certainly deserve their chance to become classics, but writers should read earlier books that created the dark lit genre. Two books I would like to add to the list are A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter R. Miller and Something Wicked this Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, two of the most brilliant dark lit novels of the 20th Century. They are both masterful examples of dark lit at its very best. I really like TCM’s focus on a broader dark lit spectrum so that writers can express their talents through multiple literary vehicles and genres. This GoodReads’s list is the perfect complement to that.