The Unbearable Lightness of Being Kundera’s postmodern masterwork; named one of the best books of 1984 (New York Times Book Review). More
Barbara Taylor Bradford When I say I have the need to write, I do mean need. More Barbara Taylor Bradford
The Hours Winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulkner Award; made into an Oscar-winning film. More
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek Pulitzer Prize winner; considered one of the classic works of creative nonfiction of the late twentieth century. More
Tracy Chevalier I read because I want to know what it’s like to look at the world through someone else’s eyes, and reading is a remarkably efficient and vigorous way of doing that. More Tracy Chevalier
Bel Canto Patchett’s critically acclaimed novel that won the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize for Fiction. More
Room Winner of the 2011 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize regional prize; made into a major motion picture. More
Anthony Doerr We are all mapmakers: We embed our memories everywhere, inscribing a private and intensely complicated latticework across the landscape. More Anthony Doerr
Dorothea Benton Frank You’ve asked me to tell you why I write but I think the answer might be longer than the fifty or one hundred words you’ve allotted me. More Dorothea Benton Frank
The Corrections Winner of the National Book Award in 2001 and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 2002. More
The Shipping News Highly acclaimed international bestseller; winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. More
Pilgrim A finalist for the Giller Prize and a Canadian bestseller that surpassed the author’s own impressive sales records. More
One Hundred Years of Solitude This landmark of magical realism sparked a wave of interest in Central and South American literature. More
The Bridge of San Luis Rey The Pulitzer Prize–winning novel of fate, tragedy, and the meaning of the human condition. More
The Golden Notebook A feminist landmark and the best-known work by Nobel Prize winner Doris Lessing. More
Our Town Pulitzer Prize–winning drama; hailed by Edward Albee as “The finest play ever written by an American.” More
The Wapshot Chronicle Winner of the 1958 National Book Award, it established Cheever as a major American novelist. More
Shilpi Somaya Gowda At every stage of life, since being a kid with a flashlight under the covers, reading has always been my favorite activity. More Shilpi Somaya Gowda
The God of Small Things Winner of the 1997 Man Booker Prize, making Roy the first Indian woman to receive the award. More
The Known World The Pulitzer Prize–winning novel that examines the troubling complexities of slavery. More
The Thorn Birds McCullough’s sweeping family saga of forbidden love in the Australian outback; became a bestselling phenomenon. More
The Bell Jar A haunting classic that chronicles the breakdown of a brilliant, talented, successful young woman. More