Are there any novels that take place in the desert?

[waryan]

I am looking for novels that are set either primarily or entirely in the desert, or heck if it's even partially set in the desert, please let me know! Thanks everyone!

[TheFifthElement]

The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe is set entirely in the sandy dunes. Might be seaside based, I can't entirely remember, but it is certainly sandy!

[Silas Thorne]

I can think of David Gemmell's Jon Shannow/The Jerusalem Man novels from the tip of my tongue.

[hazelk]

Try "Quarantine" by Jim Grace...A fascinating read.

[billl]

Dune, by Frank Herbert
The Sheltering Sky, by Paul Bowles

[Scheherazade]

The Alchemist *shudder*

The English Patient (Enjoyed this one very much).

[lichtrausch]

The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe is set entirely in the sandy dunes.
This one came to my mind first too. Great book.

[LitNetIsGreat]

I am looking for novels that are set either primarily or entirely in the desert, or heck if it's even partially set in the desert, please let me know! Thanks everyone!

Just out of curiosity, but why the desert? Are you going on a trip there or something or were you just musing?

[Virgil]

Cormac McCartthy novels are mostly all set in the American southwest. If you're not too familiar with the geography, that's predominantly desert.

[hazelk]

"The Red Tent" by Anita Diamant.

"One Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseine

Lots of sand in both.

[Sapphire]

The only one that comes to mind is Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence

For years we lived anyhow with one another in the naked desert, under the indifferent heaven. By day the hot sun fermented us; and we were dizzied by the beating wind. At night we were stained by dew, and shamed into pettiness by the innumerable silences of stars.

[Gregory Samsa]

Desert by Nobel laureate Le Clézio and The Little Prince by Saint-Exupéry. Two wonderful books.

[kiki1982]

I suppose Saramago's Gospel According to Jesus Christ would do? Certainly the part where Jesus gets tested in the desert by the devil should be in it... Brillianbt book though, so read anyway.

[the facade]

Can't go wrong with Dune!

[Patrick_Bateman]

Ask The Dust - John Fante

[kelby_lake]

I think a bit of The English Patient is set in the desert.

[Seasider]

I haven't read the book but I saw the film of "The Garden of Allah" by Robert Hichens. Charles Boyer plays the part of a Trappist Monk who has escaped from the Monastery. He meets Marlene Dietrich who has come to the desert seeking spiritual renewal. He doesn't tell her about his past but it is all revealed by some some French Legionnaire. Cant remember the rest.

[LuggageFan]

The Journey of Ibn Fattouma by Naguib Mahfouz.

[Lulim]

"The Sheltering Sky", by Paul Bowles.

[Karl Rommel]

The Little Prince by Saint-Exupéry.

Also: Wind, Sand and Stars

[Emil Miller]

I haven't read the book but I saw the film of "The Garden of Allah" by Robert Hichens. Charles Boyer plays the part of a Trappist Monk who has escaped from the Monastery. He meets Marlene Dietrich who has come to the desert seeking spiritual renewal. He doesn't tell her about his past but it is all revealed by some some French Legionnaire. Cant remember the rest.

Just as well. A Trappist monk and Marlene Dietrich? Only in Hollywood could such a combination have ever been committed to film.

[WyattGwyon]

A portion of T. C. Boyle's Water Music, oddly enough, takes place in the Sahara.

David Foster-Wallace invents a fictional desert (which covers a major portion of Ohio no less—an improvement of which we can only dream) in The Broom of the System.

Don DeLillo's Underworld has a number of chapters unfolding in the desert southwest. If I remember correctly, Ratner's Star also has some desert settings.

As someone pointed out, Cormac McCarthy. Blood Meridian especially.

[dfloyd]

a novel of King Richard, Saladin, and the crusades.

[Modest Proposal]

There are several nature writers who wonderfully take up the desert in nonfiction, particularly 'Desert Solitare'.
As far as fiction that hasn't been named here yet--though I will second 'The Sheltering Sky'--, I just started 'Ben-Hur' today. It's good so far and the author used a commission as governor of an American Southwest territory as inspiration for the biblical setting.

[byquist]

some desert, and mountains, The Monkey Wrench Gang, Ed Abbey