Revisiting big-name books of the 1900s

The connection between these stories is, admittedly, a bit tenuous, but all three feature a well-known book — or a book that inspired well-known adaptations — from the 1900s.

• S. Zainab Williams explains why you can't consider yourself to be well-read unless you've read Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (Book Riot). 

• Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos may have gained most of its fame through the Marilyn Monroe movie adaptation, but Maureen Corrigan argues in its centenary year that the novel is just as fun (NPR).

• Apparently Patrick Bateman, the main character in American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, is — unironically — inspiring couture, perfumes, and bars (The New York Times Style Magazine).