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

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