Top 16 Books About Deception Updated 04 /2024

You'll have to keep an eye on who you believe in these books by authors like James Baldwin, Anita Brookner, and Thomas Hardy. The reason I fell in love with these books was not because they were full of lies, but because I read them with no guilt. They took me into worlds that I thought were true to the core. My father made a world that I thought was real, and I thought it, too. My book, A Book of Untruths, talks about how he and I both tell stories, and how memories can be deceiving while still being one of the most important things we own. From illegitimacy and rape to beefeaters being woken up too early and lino getting burned by mistake, the lies I tell cover every level of dishonesty I can think of.

They are lies, and they were made public at a time when purposeful lying, like that of Donald Trump and the leaders of Brexit, is making it harder to be deceitful. As with the Untruths, this Top 10 isn't very purposeful, and it's not as stark or clear. In these books, they prefer to look into complicated lies with the kind of subtlety that we want in good writing. Some of the most interesting writers are those who have been shamed because of their gender, sexuality, or race. We often lie to avoid shame. Write with great subtlety, taking advantage of one of the best plot lines there is.

The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy (1886)

Hardy's book is full of lies. Riddled. People who tell them are killed. illegitimate children are passed off as legitimate offspring, wives are sold, debts are hidden, and long-lost fathers are turned away from the truth. However, at least in Casterbridge, all the liars get caught and pay for their crimes!

The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas by Gertrude Stein (1933)

Gertrude writes to her lover, "nicely ugly" Alice, and says that she likes her. She is taking advantage of the autobiographical genre, which makes it easy for her to brag about herself and slam other people. She became a literary sensation when her book was published. The Parisian writers and artists she had helped retaliated. In A Testimony Against Gertrude, they said that she didn't write very well, didn't speak very well in French, and likened Henri Matisse's wife to a horse, among other things. Matisse himself said that the book was "without taste and without any connection to the real world."

Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin (1957)

For this list, I read Baldwin again, and I found it even better than the first time. The narrator, David, is very honest, but he shows how his shame has made him sick. The lies he tells hurt other people: the older "fairies," who have money and power, a woman he meets in a bar, his fiancee, and his lover. Eventually, being humiliated will be the reason someone kills. Giovanni waits for the guillotine as the book starts. This is how it works:

My Father and Myself by JR Ackerley (1968)

Only after his father died from syphilis did Ackerley learn that Dad had always had a mistress, and three daughters, who lived in Barnes just a few miles away. In between these secrets are other secrets: Ackerley's life as a gay person. This might be why My Father and Myself was only published after Ackerley died. This is why.

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (1979)

It is the biggest lie in the world: white people are better than black people. Morrison's first book questions that. There are a lot of broken marriages in this community, as well as cruelty and murder. In beautiful and sometimes amusing prose, she gives voice to black women. People who are black do to each other what white people have done to them. When Pecola, who only wants blue eyes, is raped by her father, she is shocked. Morrison, who was inspired by a real girl, thought that this desire for blue eyes was an expression of "racial self-loathing," which was also seen in many of the other characters. The book is hard to read, but it shows us the parts of humanity that we pretend we don't have. It also shows us how lies can lead us to places that are very bad.

Waiting for the Barbarians by JM Coetzee (1980)

I loved this book! There is a state of emergency now. People say that "Barbarians" are going to attack a town on the edge of a forest. A magistrate who is loyal to the government tells about the official trips into the native lands that took place. Troops come back with captives and start torturing them, encouraging the town people to do the same thing. As long as "the other" is lied about, it will go on.

Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner (1985)

Prize-winning book Edith is sent to Coventry for telling the truth in this story. : Some people thought it was nice, but others thought it was snobbish and snobby. Yet when my housemistress gave it to me when I was 17, it was the first book I had ever bothered to read. Other than Jilly Cooper and the A-Level syllabus, it was the only book I had ever read. A gift that looks good. I should stay away from futures that I was too young to guess about, she told me. In a hotel in Switzerland, Edith meets a group of women who aren't very interesting or good, but who are very well-drawn. They all have to live their lies, commit to them, and get rid of everything that was good or interesting about them.

Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson (1995)

"Just Ruby" is the kind of narrator that you want to go back to as often as you can, because she is so good. Her stories about how her ancestors died with a smile on their faces are very untrustworthy. When she was young, she had a bad memory. Her brain has erased that memory. As soon as she gets home, she sees that everyone else has changed. Big sister, who isn't going to live long, is also being nice. A big sister who lied in order to protect herself.

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (1997)

In Roy's beautiful writing, he tells quiet lies. Estha, a discarded twin, can't, or won't, speak about them. When Estha's mother first marries a drunk, pathological liar, and then divorces him, she finds love with an untouchable. In order to save the family, Baby Kochamma tells a lot of lies. They fall like dominoes through Estha's childhood like a wave.

The Secret Life by Andrew O’Hagan (2017)

That's where this collection of three essays starts, with my experience as Julian Assange's ghost writing his memoir. To me, ghostwriting a memoir is one of the weirdest lies. It doesn't matter how hard O'Hagan works to make this work. He goes to great lengths to keep his identity hidden, but even he can't hide from himself. Assange, who is interested in "masks inside masks," goes to great lengths to keep his identity hidden. Even himself can't hide from himself. Because of this conclusion, "the truth was not his friend."

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