Most of us know Griffin Dunne from his films — “After Hours,” “An American Werewolf in London” and, most recently, “The Discoverers,” in which he won warm reviews as a desperate man — a professor — who wrangles his teenagers into going on one last family road trip.
Dunne’s own family happens to be an extraordinarily literary one: His father was Dominick Dunne, the producer turned writer; his uncle and aunt, John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion.
“John and Joan are about the most impressive aunt and uncle you could ever have,” Dunne tells The Post. “My brother and sister and I devoured everything they wrote.”
Here are four books by other writers Dunne adores.
Property
by Valerie Martin
This is set on a plantation in the 1820s. It’s about the adversarial relationship between the mistress of the house and her house slave. Their hatred of each other is only matched by their hatred of the master of the house. It’s a dark, Gothic story with two incredibly strong female characters who are both, in their way, the property of this man.
Wilson
by A. Scott Berg
Berg is a great biographer, and this period in history always interested me, from the bohemian scene in New York before WWI to what was going on in Europe on the eve of war. Once the war ended, [Woodrow] Wilson brought this country into being a stronger voice than the UK. He was also an intensely romantic man.
The Fun Parts
by Sam Lipsyte
Sam Lipsyte is one of my favorite short-story writers — the way he looks at the world is so funny and so tragic and sometimes so outrageous. I’ve put him on this list in the hopes our paths will cross. He’s a writer I’ve always admired, and he always surprises me.
The Patrick Melrose novels
by Edward St. Aubyn
One of my best friends is the brilliant writer Scott Spencer, When he said, “You’re going to love this,” that’s all I needed to hear. I loved the middle book most, about [Patrick’s] drug addiction. I was the same age as he was in the ’80s, and I’m so glad I didn’t get into cabs then to score on the Lower East Side, the way he did. This book was more like the ’80s than anything else I’ve ever read.