A Call for Titles: Significant Books of the 1970s?

December 7, 2012 7 Comments

I know Fridays are supposed to be for Faith or Family on Fridays, but I’m breaking my own “rules” today. That’s what they’re for, right?

So, I’m doing research for a new project and I’d love to have your help. I’ve started a list of popular books published in the 1970s. I’m after books that had social/cultural significance. Fiction or nonfiction. Here’s my list so far:

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelous (1971)

The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin (1972)

The Optimist’s Daughter by Eudora Welty (1973)

 

Fear of Flying by Erica Jong (1973)

Sybil by Flora Rheta Schreiber (1973)

Looking for Mr. Goodbar by Judith Rossner (1975)

The Easter Parade by Richard Yates (1976)

The Women’s Room by Marilyn French (1977)

The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough (1978)

Sophie’s Choice by William Styron (1979)

The White Album by Joan Didion (1979)

Any suggestions/additions?

 

7 thoughts on “A Call for Titles: Significant Books of the 1970s?”

  1. I think the Virgin Suicides came out in the early 90s (1993 according to Wikipedia.)- the author was born in 1960.

    Otherwise, I’d agree with your list. Maybe the “World According to Garp” by John Irving (which I admit I’ve never read, but I’ve read other Irving novels.)

  2. Jonathan Livingston Seagull – Richard Bach

    Jaws- Peter Benchley ( can you read that title and not have your mind begin the music of the shark rising out of the deep).

    I would not personally read these books again, they did make a large impact on the culture of the 70’s.

    1. Thanks. Not looking for books to read again, but books that some of the characters in an upcoming book might be reading….

  3. Our Bodies, Ourselves by Boston Women’s Health Book Collective (1971).

    Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach (1970).

    The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1973/1974).

    All the President’s Men by Woodward & Bernstein (1974).

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