The Wapshot Chronicle Winner of the 1958 National Book Award, it established Cheever as a major American novelist. More
Just Kids Legendary artist Patti Smith’s critically acclaimed memoir; winner of the National Book Award. More
One Hundred Years of Solitude This landmark of magical realism sparked a wave of interest in Central and South American literature. 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 Diving-Bell and the Butterfly Memoir offering a haunting, harrowing look inside the cruel prison of locked-in syndrome. More
The Shipping News Highly acclaimed international bestseller; winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. More
The Unbearable Lightness of Being Kundera’s postmodern masterwork; named one of the best books of 1984 (New York Times Book Review). 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 Hilary Mantel
The Bridge of San Luis Rey The Pulitzer Prize–winning novel of fate, tragedy, and the meaning of the human condition. More
The Hours Winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulkner Award; made into an Oscar-winning film. More
Barbara Taylor Bradford When I say I have the need to write, I do mean need. More Barbara Taylor Bradford
Jane Eyre Brontë’s masterpiece of Gothic romance; a milestone title in the history of British feminist literature. More
Pilgrim A finalist for the Giller Prize and a Canadian bestseller that surpassed the author’s own impressive sales records. 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 Michael Chabon
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith This 1972 Booker Prize–nominated novel was also made into a 1978 Australian film. 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 Stone Diaries Winner of the 1993 Governor General’s Award (Canada) and the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. More
The Corrections Winner of the National Book Award in 2001 and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 2002. More
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn An American classic called “one of the books of the century” by the New York Public Library. More