Marlon and Jake share their "gateway" books by dead authors, the first books they read that that turned them on—or off—the rest of an author's work. From John Steinbeck to Dorothy Parker, Umberto Eco to Norman Mailer, Ayn Rand to Carson McCullers, Marlon and Jake don't hold back in discussing the imprints, footprints, and thumbprints these books left on them. They also ponder the long-lasting consequences of the high school lit class, whether a gateway book can be assigned, and the enduring power of dullness in a novel, no matter the century.  Listen for this and more, including what Marlon and Jake think of The Salt Eaters by Toni Cade Bambara, edited by one Toni Morrison.  The Pearl by John SteinbeckThe Red Pony by John SteinbeckCannery Row by John SteinbeckEast of Eden by John SteinbeckGrapes of Wrath by John SteinbeckEthan Frome by Edith WhartonThe Old Man and the Sea by Ernest HemingwayThe Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-ExupéryMrs. Caliban by Rachel IngallsThe Ballad of the Sad Café by Carson McCullersSula by Toni MorrisonFor Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf by Ntozake ShangeNight of January 16th by Ayn RandThe Fountainhead Ayn RandAtlas Shrugged by Ayn RandA Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le GuinThe Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le GuinOne Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García MárquezChronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García MárquezNews of a Kidnapping by Gabriel García MárquezLove in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García MárquezThe Autumn of the Patriarch by Gabriel García MárquezEnough Rope by Dorothy ParkerThe collected poetry of Dorothy ParkerThe Name of the Rose by Umberto EcoFoucault’s Pendulum by Umberto EcoThe Island of the Day Before by Umberto EcoIn the hand of Dante by Nicholas ToschesAncient Evenings by Norman MailerLady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. LawrenceMiami and the Siege of Chicago by Norman MailerHarlot’s Ghost by Norman MailerAn American Dream by Norman MailerWhy Are We In Vietnam? by Norman MailerThe Executioner’s Song by Norman MailerLook Back in Anger by John OsborneLoot by Joe OrtonWhat the Butler Saw by joe OrtonSaturday Night and Sunday Morning by Alan Sillitoe"The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" by Alan SillitoeAnna Karenina by Leo TolstoyJude the Obscure by Thomas HardyTess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas hardyThe Return of the Native by Thomas hardyAlready Dead by Denis JohnsonThe Salt Eaters by Toni Cade BambaraThe Lesson by Toni Cade BambaraGorilla, My Love by Toni Cade Bambara