Category: essential reads
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Collected Stories by Carson McCullers
These characters are lonely, despondent, often spiralling, and nobody writes them as well as McCullers.
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The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Shattering, beautiful and essential
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Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Even better and more readable than I expected
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The Trees by Percival Everett
What if Mel Brooks and Jordan Peele wrote an Elmore Leonard novel? This is unbelievably good.
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Happening by Annie Ernaux
It’s less than 100 pages long and shook me to the core. Absolutely essential and unforgettable.
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The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
Beautifully written, impossible to put down, with an ending full of shocking twists. Probably perfect. You should read it.
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The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
McCullers writes about misfits, loneliness and the need for human connection in a way that fully overwhelmed me.
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Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution by Steven Levy
The prototype for the modern tech history. The influence and reach of this book can’t be overstated.
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What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver
A bunch of short stories that you’ll want to re-read as soon as you finish.
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Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Essential reading. Even if you have no interest in American history or the Civil War.