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 White Tiger
Winner of the 2008 Man Booker Prize. More
Just Kids
Legendary artist Patti Smith’s critically acclaimed memoir; winner of the National Book Award. More
People of the Book
Winner of the Australian Book Industry Awards Book of the Year 2008. More
The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly
Memoir offering a haunting, harrowing look inside the cruel prison of locked-in syndrome. More
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
The Pulitzer Prize–winning novel of fate, tragedy, and the meaning of the human condition. More
Their Eyes Were Watching God
One of the most widely read and acclaimed novels in the canon of African-American literature. More
Heather O’Neill
A book that influenced me and why: A Season in the Life of Emmanuel by Marie-Claire Blais More
The Year of Magical Thinking
Winner of the 2005 National Book Award for Nonfiction and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. More
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
An American classic called “one of the books of the century” by the New York Public Library. More
Bring Up the Bodies
Winner of the Man Booker Prize and the first to win as a sequel. More
Pilgrim
A finalist for the Giller Prize and a Canadian bestseller that surpassed the author’s own impressive sales records. More
Middlemarch
Ranked number one in a 2015 BBC poll of the 100 greatest British novels. More
The Hours
Winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulkner Award; made into an Oscar-winning film. 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
Barbara Taylor Bradford
When I say I have the need to write, I do mean need. More
The Stone Diaries
Winner of the 1993 Governor General’s Award (Canada) and the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. More
Michael Chabon
The first writer that I really fell in love with was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in particular his Sherlock Holmes stories, and the first story that I ever wrote was a Sherlock Holmes story. More
Mary Karr
I read to save my life, to take communion, to enter a community of fellow sufferers and rejoicers. More
Angela’s Ashes
The phenomenal worldwide bestseller and Pulitzer Prize winner. More
The Corrections
Winner of the National Book Award in 2001 and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 2002. More
Lauren Weisberger
A book that influenced me and why . . . Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume was incredibly influential to me as a child. More
The Wapshot Chronicle
Winner of the 1958 National Book Award, it established Cheever as a major American novelist. More
A Woman of Substance
With her unforgettable heroine Emma Harte, Bradford popularized the rags-to-riches family saga. More
Our Town
Pulitzer Prize–winning drama; hailed by Edward Albee as “The finest play ever written by an American.” More
The Bell Jar
A haunting classic that chronicles the breakdown of a brilliant, talented, successful young woman. More