John Cheever, Falconer, John Masefield, The Box of Delights

Falconer was another book where I simply don’t understand why it is on the list of essential novels. Another book where the protagonist is a prosperous middle-aged east coast academic, albeit one serving a life sentence in prison. The greatest praise on the back of the book came from Joan Didion, another writer on the list whose presence I don't understand (based solely on the book 'Play It As It Lays'). What am I missing? I wonder if perhaps these are writers who are thought worthy because of the total sum of their writings, essays, short stories etc, but for whom neither had an iconic book. 'Box of Delights' was a comfort read, bought as yet another attmpet to get Freddie to read more, but he wasn't interested unfortunately. Have found out since though that the Davies family (Freddie is in the same class as Abel) named their eldest Kay as they loved the book so much. William is a big fan of Abel, who he does insists on calling 'Mabel'.