10 Books That Authors Think Everyone Should Read
Over the past several years, I’ve asked dozens of authors to tell me about their favorite books—both for a literary series I produce specifically about writerly influence and in passing conversation. While their answers vary, certain titles have come up again and again with a frequency that feels like something more than coincidence. What follows is not a list of the greatest books ever written, nor a list of the most influential books. Rather, these 10 titles are books that notable writers say are among their favorites and are quick to recommend.
Books that writers love
- ‘Invisible Cities’ by Italo Calvino
- ‘The Golden Notebook’ by Doris Lessing
- ‘Song of Solomon’ by Toni Morrison
- ‘Madame Bovary’ by Gustave Flaubert
- ‘The Copenhagen Trilogy’ by Tove Ditlevsen
- ‘Hopscotch’ by Julio Cortázar
- ‘Labyrinths’ by Jorge Luis Borges
- ‘Go Tell It on the Mountain’ by James Baldwin
- ‘The Age of Innocence’ by Edith Wharton
- ‘2666’ by Roberto Bolaño
‘Invisible Cities’ by Italo Calvino
While this list is presented in no particular order, it was Calvino’s 1972 surrealist masterpiece that inspired me to write it in the first place, because I don’t think I’ve heard any other novel cited as frequently. From uber-realist Karl Ove Knausgård to sci-fi writer Helen Phillips and authors spanning a dozen literary realms in between, everyone took something from the book’s bizarre tale of 55 fantastical cities as described by Marco Polo to Kublai Khan.
‘The Golden Notebook’ by Doris Lessing
Mentioned with almost as much frequency, Lessing’s epic exploration of domestic and societal collapse has left its mark on surrealists, literary historians, kitchen-sink dramatists, memoirists, writers of mystery and thrillers and more. Recommended by authors including Jennifer Egan, Olga Ravn and Claire Dederer, The Golden Notebook has the kind of slow-burning reputation that is going to ensure its place in the canon for centuries to come.
‘Song of Solomon’ by Toni Morrison
Morrison’s work is frequently discussed in general, and while I suspect that the wider public is more familiar with Beloved, her earlier novel Song of Solomon not only brought her initial success but seems to be the title that authors recommend most. It has a lyrical atmosphere that inspired poets like Kevin Young and a mythic quality that influenced writers like Yaa Gyasi and Jonathan Franzen.
‘Madame Bovary’ by Gustave Flaubert
I know I said Calvino was the most frequently cited, but I take that back—Flaubert’s rollicking tale of marital strife and the search for passion is probably the most oft-mentioned when you look at what writers spanning the past 170 years have had to say about their influences. In fact, there is an argument to be made that the images and narrative structure in Madame Bovary played a direct role in shaping how visual storytelling would later be used in film. Few books have had such a major impact on multiple mediums.
‘The Copenhagen Trilogy’ by Tove Ditlevsen
While Ditlevsen has been well known as a poet and novelist in her native Denmark since the mid-20th Century, the lack of translation prevented most of the rest of the world from knowing what it was missing. Then in 1985, her scandalous three-part diary was published in English, and her literary stock has climbed steadily ever since. Detailing a lifetime of struggle and addiction, it resonated with disaffected Gen-X and Millennial authors, and recent first-time translations of her poetry will only continue to expand her impact.
‘Hopscotch’ by Julio Cortázar
Oftentimes, when I ask an author who they’d like to discuss, they ask if anyone has picked Cortázar yet. The Argentinian’s Hopscotch isn’t the most widely read book, but among novelists, its influence is enormous. According to the author, the chapters of the 1963 novel are to be read in two different prescribed orders, and then upon a third reading, in any order at all. There really isn’t any other book like it, and every author seems to love it.
‘Labyrinths’ by Jorge Luis Borges
There must be something in the water in Argentina, because it produces no shortage of literary brilliance. Typically, when an author mentions Borges, they are referencing a specific one of his short stories, but most of them can be found in his most renowned collection, Labyrinths. Perhaps the most unexplainable work on this list, you’ll just have to explore its twists and turns for yourself.
‘Go Tell It on the Mountain’ by James Baldwin
I think there is an argument to be made that James Baldwin is the single most influential American novelist of the 20th Century. His impact was not merely literary or artistic, but was foundational to some of the most important political movements of his day and beyond. While several of his titles tend to come up in discussions of the greats, Go Tell It on the Mountain was one of those generational works that has been held in the utmost esteem ever since.
‘The Age of Innocence’ by Edith Wharton
You expect some books to impart a wide-ranging influence, but I’ve been surprised by the breadth of writers who have directly cited The Age of Innocence. Everyone from Jennifer Egan to Ta-Nehisi Coates to Colm Tóibín has hailed its glittering language and courageously unhappy ending.
‘2666’ by Roberto Bolaño
At this point, it’s considered somewhat cliché to recommend 2666, but there is a good reason people come back to it again and again. Brutally unique, epic in scale… Stephen King—himself no slouch when it comes to exploring the bounds of narrative—once said it made him change the way he reads fiction. If you talk with authors in general, most of them will agree that reading either 2666 or Bolaño’s The Savage Detectives is a must, and you can’t go wrong with either.