Good and Trashy

If a book is a runaway best seller, it can’t be good, right? These four blockbusters defy that common wisdom.

The Carpetbaggers, by Harold Robbins
(Forge Books, $8, www.amazon.com).
No one merges sentimentality and sleaze better than Robbins, who drew on the life of Howard Hughes for this 1961 pulse-racer. One chapter, “The Story of Nevada Smith,” may be among the best Westerns ever written.

The Exorcist, by William Peter Blatty
(HarperTorch, $8, www.amazon.com).
The 1971 occult shocker is even scarier — and, thankfully, more logical — than the movie version. Trivia: Blatty reportedly based the character Chris MacNeil, the actress mother, on his neighbor Shirley MacLaine.

Jaws, by Peter Benchley
(Random House, $16, www.amazon.com).
True, not one of the characters is particularly appealing. But this 1974 fish tale is a lot like its man-eating villain: fast, streamlined, and relentless.

Valley of the Dolls, by Jacqueline Susann
(Grove Press, $14, www.amazon.com).
Young women seek success, men, pills, and marriage (not necessarily in that order) in this bicoastal roman à clef set (and first published) in the 1960s. The original sex-and-shopping novel.