Another Kind of Journey: 2010 the Year of Rogues, Rascals and Roues

Stretching the point, 2009's list of 50 States was a kind of journey across America, looking to find what might account for regional differences, local oddities and inter-generational traits. Any overarching theme was not something I had used to guide my travels. I did run across whole towns of unusual, sometimes bizarre, people: think the Beans of Main, the entire town of Knockemstiff, Ohio, and the medical quacks of Charlatan. Strangely enough, those surprise encounters became the germ of my idea for the 2010 book list resolution: to read novels where the main character is on his or her own personal journey towards some idealistic goal and is continuously detoured by a whole world of immoral, corrupt, diseased and otherwise disgusting fellow travelers.

Theophilus North, Thornton Wilder's late in life alter ego, aspires to be one such rogue, el picaro, but the good citizens of Newport, Rhode Island are way too tame to hold their own against more notorious picaresque classics, and North's heroics are way too well thought out, too Ivy League. But that book was a great segue and his quote about the attractiveness of being a bit of a rascal is included in last year's posting for RI.

So without further ado, here are another 50-odd books classified as picaresque. All will be novels, but intentionally selected to represent many countries literary best, to include well-known authors who have ventured into this comic structure as well as a host of books published more recently. As with 2009, although listed by year of publication, there is no compulsion to read them chronologically, merely as they can be obtained from the library or wherever. And as I did last year, if one or another is particularly bad or unexpectedly good, I will add alternates or supplements to the list.

Thinking ahead to the end of 2010, I do have expectations and a model of what I think we should find in the story that is most picaresque: a lead character, replete with human weaknesses and foibles, with a heart of gold, no malice, and best intentions; a supporting cast of characters that surprise rather than repulse; and a reconciliation or insight by the lead character at the conclusion of the tale.

For 2010:

1. Satyricon, Petronius Arbiter
2. Golden Ass, Apuleius
3. Don Quixote, Cervantes
4. Gil Blas, Le Sage
5. Moll Flanders, Defoe
6. Joseph Andrews, Fielding
7. The Luck of Barry Lyndon, Thackeray
8. The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Fielding
9. Candide, Voltaire
10. The Algerine Captive, Royall Tyler
11. The Adventures of Hajii Baba of of Ispahan, Morier
12. Dead Souls, by Nikolai Gogol -- April 16, 2010
13. Martin Chuzzlewit, Dickens
14. Sentimental Education, Flaubert
15. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain
16. Kim, Kipling
17. The Good Soldier, Jaroslav Hasek
18. The Enormous Room, by e. e. cummings -- February 28, 2010
19. The Good Companions, J. B. Priestley
20. Zorba the Greek, Kazantzakis
21. The Adventures of Augie March, Bellows
22. Path to the Nest of Spiders, by Italo Calvino -- February 21, 2010
23. The Tin Drum, by Gunter Grass -- March 26, 2010
24. Tropic of Cancer, by Henry Miller -- April 10, 2010
25. The Painted Bird, Kosinski -- January 6, 2010
26. The Witches of Karres, Schmitz
27. Flashman, Fraser
28. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter Thompson --February 19, 2010
29. Rubyfruit Jungle, Rita Mae Brown -- January 6, 2010
30. The Great American Novel, by Philip Roth -- March 10, 2010
31. St. Jack, by Paul Theroux -- February 10, 2010
32. Nightwork, by Irwin Shaw -- April 10, 2010
33. Palinurus of Mexico, Del Paso
34. The Dog of the South, by Charles Portis -- January 1, 2010
35. Budding Prospects, T. C. Boyle -- January 25, 2010
36. Eva Luna, Allende -- February 9, 2010
37. Sot-Weed Factor, Barth
38. Solomon Gursky Was Here, Richard
39. Dirty Weekend, by Helen Zahavi -- May 3, 2010
40. Book of the New Sun, Volume 1, Wolfe
41. Faserland, Kracht
42. Breakfast in Babylon, Martin -- February 9, 2010
43. The Puttermusser Papers, Ozick
44. Hotline Healers, Vizenor
45. The Revised Kama Sutra, Prabhu -- January 13, 2010
46. One of the Guys, Young
47. The Autograph Man, Zadie Smith -- March 31, 2010
48. Chancey on Top, Wareham
49. The Disinherited, Ong
50. The Lies of Locke Lamora, Lynch
51. All the Tea in China, by Kyril Bonfiglioli -- March 3, 2010
52. Last Last Chance, Maazel

Okay, I'm getting carried away but I found a dozen more picaresque from a genre search through the local library. Here's more, 2010 will definitely be a pick and choose rather than a "to-do" list.

53. Illywacker, Carey
54. Headhunter, Timm -- gave up on page 294 after several renewals September 25, 2010
55. Imperial Kelly, Bowen
56. On the Contrary, by Andre Brink -- May 8, 2010
57. Diary of a Humiliated Man, de Azua -- July 8, 2010
58. Ripley Bogle, Wilson
59. Childhood: A Novel, by Andre Alexis -- March 4, 2010
60. Meely LaBauve, by Ken Wells -- April 20, 2010
61. The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint, Udall
62. X Out of Wonderland, by David Allan Cates -- February 20, 2010
63. A Rogue's Life, Wilkie Collins -- July 24, 2010
64. Mr. Vertigo, by Paul Auster -- April 12, 2010
66. Shedding Skin, by Robert Ward -- January 14, 2010
67. Hey, Cowboy, Wanna Get Lucky?, by Baxter Black -- February 20, 2010