Six Books Worth Tracking Down

Many enthusiastic readers have a personal canon—a unique collection of books they return to for pleasure, edification, or escape.

These lists almost always contain works of popular distinction, works so incredible (and so incredibly well-known) that their inclusion surprises no one.

But these private lists also tend to include novels that few other people know well, or at all.

The sheer volume of printed matter means that a book that once rightfully inspired devotion can simply fall out of favor, or even out of print—but for its loyal fans, a work’s obscurity might actually increase its private value.

Below are six books that I believe are unfairly unheralded.

These titles are no longer fashionable, if they ever were.

They largely exist outside today’s literary conversation.

Some have been rescued and reprinted by indie presses; some can be found only in used-book stores or on niche websites.

But should you manage to read one of these selections, you’ll be treated to formal complexity and artistic delight that might just make them permanent additions to your own collection.

Solo Faces , by James Salter Implying that Salter is neglected, let alone forgotten, would be silly: Both his gorgeous, accomplished novel Light Years and the lyrically erotic A Sport and a Pastime remain touchstones.

But I think that the brilliance of these two works has crowded out other masterful efforts, including Solo Faces .

This novel follows Vernon Rand, a mountaineer and wanderer whose obsession with the climb alienates him from the more quotidian aspects of his life.

The result is a lean, flinty story about a modern-day outlaw, a desperate and strangely pure loner ever at odds with the world.

The greatness of Solo Faces is that Salter tests himself as much as Rand does.