The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje: The book that I will ask you if you've read. She hides the mirrors.  She's so wounded inside that she can't even bear the sight of her own reflection.  And that's a throw-away detail.  Wow.

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf: The greatest work of the greatest author of the 20th century (and Joyce can put that in his pipe and smoke it.)  I'll fight for this book to the death. Clarissa never gets a fair shake.  You've thrown parties too.

The Hours by Michael Cunningham: It's not that this is the greatest book I've ever read (it's not close, really) but it makes Mrs Dalloway all the more amazing. Smart too. This man knows his Woolf.

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez: There's nothing to compare this book to.  I'm sure it changed my life, but I can't exactly say how.  Perhaps that's the best thing about it.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon: Read this book and thank me later.

The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie: I should stop this list now because there's no way I can do this justice, but still . . . So. damn. good.

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway:  I understand that some people don't like Hemingway and that's ok, I just don't want to hear about it.  The ants on the log!  In the fire!  The indifferent God!  So painful and so beautiful.

Infinite Jestby David Foster Wallace: Yes, a mind fuck.  But more than that, too.  A novel that's less cynical than it wishes it was.

Underworld by Don Dilillo: More an opus than a novel.  Like looking at America through a kaleidoscope.

A Lazy Eye by Mary Morrissy: No, the book as a whole can't compare to the rest of the list.  And yes, I know it's cheap because I was in her workshop.  But "Rosa" alone is a short story that can hold up to just about anything I've ever read.
 

Home