A Prayer for Owen Meany
Irving’s beloved coming-of-age tale that ranks among the most cherished of American classics. More
The Corrections
Winner of the National Book Award in 2001 and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 2002. More
Blonde
A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. More
The Known World
The Pulitzer Prize–winning novel that examines the troubling complexities of slavery. More
The Shipping News
Highly acclaimed international bestseller; winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. More
The God of Small Things
Winner of the 1997 Man Booker Prize, making Roy the first Indian woman to receive the award. More
Bring Up the Bodies
Winner of the Man Booker Prize and the first to win as a sequel. More
To Kill a Mockingbird
Much-loved Pulitzer Prize–winning classic, voted by librarians across America as the best novel of the twentieth century. More
Hilary Mantel
I read out of hope and avid curiosity, and in an attempt to live in other times, and inhabit bodies that are not my own. More
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Kundera’s postmodern masterwork; named one of the best books of 1984 (New York Times Book Review). More
Bel Canto
Patchett’s critically acclaimed novel that won the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize for Fiction. More
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
The Pulitzer Prize–winning novel of fate, tragedy, and the meaning of the human condition. More
Middlemarch
Ranked number one in a 2015 BBC poll of the 100 greatest British novels. More
The Golden Notebook
A feminist landmark and the best-known work by Nobel Prize winner Doris Lessing. More
Caroline Overington
I read to observe the world as it is seen by others; to walk the planet as strangers do; to breathe a story that is not my own. More
Lionel Shriver
Why I write: To find out what I think. More
Go Set a Watchman
This newly discovered novel from beloved author Harper Lee became the bestselling book of 2015. More
Wolf Hall
Winner of the 2009 Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. More
One Hundred Years of Solitude
This landmark of magical realism sparked a wave of interest in Central and South American literature. More
The Hours
Winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulkner Award; made into an Oscar-winning film. More
Namita Gokhale
I read to share the world, to treasure words, to learn and intuit and recognise experiences to which I have no direct access. More
Half of a Yellow Sun
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s masterpiece, and winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction. More
Matt Haig
It sounds ridiculous, but reading saved my life. More
The Thorn Birds
McCullough’s sweeping family saga of forbidden love in the Australian outback; became a bestselling phenomenon. More
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Multimillion-copy global bestseller that won critical acclaim for its beautifully wrought depiction of innocence corrupted. More
The White Tiger
Winner of the 2008 Man Booker Prize. More
Jane Eyre
Brontë’s masterpiece of Gothic romance; a milestone title in the history of British feminist literature. More