Power Up Your Digital Library with Hard-to-Find Favorites

Just because a book is massively popular when it’s first published doesn’t necessarily mean it has staying power. And great books that might not have made a big splash when they were first released can go on to win a wide audience. Thanks to the digital revolution, many previously hard-to-find gems are making a comeback as they re-emerge as ebooks. So Power Up your ereader and start a trend. We’ve put together a list of ebook comeback titles for you to enjoy and recommend, including gritty noir masterpieces, thought-provoking dramas, and historical sagas.

As New York Times bestselling author Peter Blauner says, “I’ll always love the printed page but a great story is a great story no matter how it ends up in your hands.”

1. Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye by Horace McCoy. McCoy’s novel They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? became increasingly famous when it was adapted into a well-known film starring Jane Fonda. But many critics and readers consider the noir story Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye to be McCoy’s best work. Goodbye looks at one man’s relentless attack on American society, conjuring a memorable antihero.

2. The Man Who Loved Children by Christina Stead. With her searing novel about a highly dysfunctional clan, Stead revealed the bitter resentment seething below the surface of a large family. The Pollits have too little money, too many children, and too much anger towards each other—and readers can’t look away.

3. October Light by John Gardner. This novel won a National Book Critics Circle Award for its portrait of the tumultuous relationship of two elderly siblings. It encompasses captivating themes, such as identity and political extremism.

4. April Morning by Howard Fast. Beginning with the morning of April 19, 1775, Fast evokes the American turning point of the Battle of Lexington and Concord. This historical novel opens as fifteen-year-old Adam Cooper waits on the battlefield while the first musket shots ring out.

5. The Marriage of Sticks by Jonathan Carroll. Carroll has long been considered a cult-classic author. His novels are intelligent, modern, and often uncomfortable—although they don’t fit neatly into a genre, they’re compared to Haruki Murakami’s work for their elements of magical realism. In The Marriage of Sticks, a woman struggles with her grip on reality, and must learn to walk the razor-thin line that separates this world from the next one.

6. A Touch of Death by Charles Williams. Williams has long been considered one of crime fiction’s best-kept secrets. A Touch of Death,like many of Williams’s gritty, 1950s noir novels, is about a guy down on his luck, seduced into crime by the temptations of money and gorgeous, manipulative femme fatales.

Be sure to check out our entire Power Up list, specially curated for those of you looking to start the New Year out right with great ebooks.