GREAT NOVELS:

  • The Emperor’s Children, by Claire Messud
  • What She Saw, by Lucinda Rosenfeld
  • The Deptford Trilogy, by Robertson Davies
  • The Secret History, by Donna Tartt
  • Giovanni’s Room, by James Baldwin
  • A Visit from the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan
  • The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Díaz
  • Lucy, by Jamaica Kincaid
  • The Moviegoer, by Walker Percy
  • White Teeth, by Zadie Smith
  • The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, by Michael Chabon
  • Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace
  • Bright Lights, Big City, by Jay McInerney
  • The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri
  • Call Me By Your Name, by André Aciman
  • The Rachel Papers, by Martin Amis
  • Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
  • The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
  • Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro
  • A Home at the End of the World, by Michael Cunningham
  • The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman
  • The Group, by Mary McCarthy
  • Quicksand and Passing, by Nella Larsen
  • Pastoralia, by George Saunders
  • Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline
  • A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, by Dave Eggers
  • The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath
  • Main Street, by Sinclair Lewis
  • His Dark Materials trilogy, by Philip Pullman
  • Generation X, by Douglas Coupland
  • The Fortress of Solitude, by Jonatham Lethem
  • Housekeeping, by Marilynne Robinson
  • I Love Dick, by Chris Kraus
  • On the Road, by Jack Kerouac
  • Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, by Tom Robbins
  • Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, by Haruki Murakami

GREAT MEMOIRS:

  • Bossypants, by Tina Fey
  • Kitchen Confidential, by Anthony Bourdain
  • How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, by Toby Young
  • The Dirt, by Mötley Crüe and Neil Strauss
  • Lunar Park, by Bret Easton Ellis
  • Just Kids, by Patti Smith
  • Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, by Nick Flynn
  • Oh the Glory of it All, by Sean Wilsey
  • I Don’t Care About Your Band, by Julie Klausner
  • Wild, by Cheryl Strayed
  • Lit, by Mary Karr
  • I’m with the Band, by Pamela Des Barres
  • Dear Diary, by Lesley Arfin

POETRY:

  • The Complete Works of Anne Sexton, by Anne Sexton
  • Actual Air, by David Berman
  • The Collected Poems of Kenneth Koch, by Kenneth Koch
  • Alien vs. Predator, by Michael Robbins
  • The Collected Poems of Audre Lord, by Audre Lord

ESSAYS THAT WILL MAKE YOU THINK AND/OR LAUGH:

  • Me Talk Pretty One Day, by David Sedaris
  • How To Be A Woman, by Caitlin Moran
  • My Misspent Youth, by Maghan Daum
  • Slouching Towards Bethlehem, by Joan Didion
  • Up in the Old Hotel, by Joseph Mitchell

GENERAL LIFE HOW-TO’S:

  • How to Cook Everything, by Mark Bittman
  • How’s Your Drink?, by Eric Felten
  • The Elements of Style, by Strunk & White
  • Letters to a Young Contrarian, by Christopher Hitchens
  • Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, by Betty Edwards
  • He’s Just Not That Into You, by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo

italics suggest any redeeming qualities whatsoever

may 14 2013 ∞
may 14 2013 +