Kate's recommended books list

Top Ten Books--in no particular order

1. The Collected Works of Billy the Kid (Ondaatje)
2. Homestead (Lippi)
3. Everything is Illuminated (Foer)
4. The Book Thief (Zusak)
5. Alias Grace (Atwood)
6. The Stone Diaries (Shields)
7. First Light (Baxter)
8. Ship Fever and other stories (Barrett)
9. Girls (Busch)
10. Out Stealing Horses (Petterson)
    

Complete list of recommended books, alphabetized by author's last name -- last modified 10/6/2009

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi

• Half of a Yellow Sun

Allende, Isabelle

• House of the Spirits
• Eva Luna
• The Stories of Eva Luna

Allison, Dorothy

• Bastard Out of Carolina

Alvarez, Julia

• How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents
• Love in the Time of Butterflies

Ambrose, Steven

• Undaunted Courage

Anderson, M.T.

• The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 1: The Pox Party
• The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 2: The Kingdom on the Waves

Atkinson, Kate

• Behind the Scenes at the Museum
• Human Croquet
• Case Histories
• One Good Turn
• When Will There Be Good News?
  

Atwood, Margaret

• The Blind Assassin
• The Handmaid's Tale
• Alias Grace
• Good Bones and Simple Murders
  
• Wilderness Tips
• Oryx and Crake

Barnes, Julian

• Arthur & George

Barrett, Andrea

• Ship Fever and other stories
• The Voyage of the Narwhal
• Servants of the Map

Barry, Sebastian

• The Secret Scripture
  

Bausch, Richard

• Rare and Endangered Species

Baxter, Charles

• The Feast of Love
• First Light
• A Relative Stranger
• Believers
• Saul and Patsy

Beck, Martha

• Expecting Adam

Berendt, John

• Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

Berman, Sabina

• Bubbeh

Bloom, Amy

• A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You

Bragg, Rick

• Ava's Man

Bromell, Henry

• Little America

Brooks, Geraldine

• March
  

Busch, Frederick

• Girls

Byatt, A.S.

• Still Life

Canin, Ethan

• Emperor of the Air

Cantwell, Mary

• Manhattan, When I was Young

Chabon, Michael

• The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
• Summerland
• The Final Solution
• The Yiddish Policemen's Union

Chang, Jung

• Wild Swans

Choan, Dan

• You Remind Me of Me

Chevalier, Tracy

• Girl with a Pearl Earring

Cisneros, Sandra

• The House on Mango Street
• Woman Hollering Creek

Clark, Nancy

• The Hills at Home

Codrescu, Andrei

• Road Scholar

Coe, Jonathan

• The House of Sleep

Collins, Susan

• The Hunger Games
  

Cowan, Andrew

• Pig

Cronin, Justin

• Mary and O'Neil

Cunningham, Michael

• The Hours

Davidar, David

• The House of the Blue Mangos

Davies, Katharine

• The Madness of Love

Davies, Peter Ho

• Equal Love: Stories
• The Welsh Girl

Deane, Seamus

• Reading in the Dark

Dillard, Annie

• The Living
• A Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
• The Writing Life
• An American Childhood

Donati, Sara

• Into the Wilderness (series)

Dorris, Michael

• A Yellow Raft in Blue Water

Dove, Rita

• Sonata Mulattica
  

Doyle, Roddy

• The Woman who Walked into Doors
• Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
  
• A Star Called Henry

Dubus, Andre

• Dancing After Hours

Dunnett, Dorothy

• Niccolo Rising (series)

Earley, Tony

• Jim the Boy

Ehrlich, Gretel

• Heart Mountain
• The Solace of Open Spaces

Ephron, Amy

• A Cup of Tea

Erdrich, Louise

• Love Medicine
• Tracks
• The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse
• The Master Butchers Singing Club

Ernaux, Annie

• A Frozen Woman

Eugenides, Jeffrey

• Middlesex

Fadiman, Anne

• The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

Farr, Judith

• I never came to you in white

Fielding, Helen

• Bridget Jones's Diary

Foer, Jonathan Safran

• Everything is Illuminated
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Frazier, Charles

• Cold Mountain

Freud, Esther

• Summer at Gaglow

French, Albert

• Holly

Fuchs, Elinor

• Making an Exit

Fuller, Alexandra

• Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight
• Scribbling the Cat

Gallant, Mavis

• Collected Stories

Garcia, Cristina

• Dreaming in Cuban

Gibbons, Kaye

• Ellen Foster

Glass, Julia

• Three Junes

Golden, Arthur

• Memoirs of a Geisha

Golding, William

• The Princess Bride

Goodman, Allegra

• Kaaterskill Falls
• The Family Markowitz

Gopnik, Adam

• Paris to the Moon

Gordimer, Nadine

• Burger's Daughter
• July's People
• My Son's Story
• The Conservationist
• Jump!

Gray, Spaulding

• Morning, Noon and Night

Groff, Lauren

• The Monsters of Templeton
  

Gurganus, Allan

• The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All

Gutterson, David

• Snow Falling on Cedars

Hagedorn, Jessica

• Dogeaters

Hansen, Ron

• Mariette in Ecstasy

Hardinge, Frances

• Fly by Night

Harrison, Jim

• Dalva

Haruf, Kent

• Plainsong

Hellenga, Robert

• The Fall of the Sparrow

Hempel, Amy

• Tumble Home

Henkin, Joshua

• Swimming Across the Hudson

Hillenbrand, Laura

• Seabiscuit

Hoffman, Alice

• Seventh Heaven
• Here on Earth
• The River King

Hoffmann, Yoel

• The Book of Joseph

Howard, Maureen

• Big as Life
• A Lover's Almanac

Hulme, Kerri

• The Bone People

Ishiguro, Kazuo

• A Pale View of Hills
• The Remains of the Day
• Never Let Me Go

Jenkins, Emily

• Mister Posterior and the Genius Child
  
  

Jhabuala, Ruth Prawer

• Heat and Dust

Jiles, Paulette

• The Color of Lightning
  

Jin, Ha

• A Free Life

Jones, Edward P

• The Known World

Joyce, Graham

• The Facts of Life

Kazischke, Laura

• Suspicious River

Karr, Mary

• The Liar's Club

Kingsolver, Barbara

• Animal Dreams
• Homeland
• The Bean Trees
• The Poisonwood Bible

Kingston, Maxine Hong

• The Woman Warrior

Krouse, Erika

• Come Up and See Me Sometime

Lahiri, Jhumpa

• The Interpreter of Maladies
• The Namesake
• Unaccustomed Earth
  

Lamott, Anne

• Operating Instructions
• Hard Laughter
• Traveling Mercies
• Plan B
• Bird by Bird
  

Leffland, Ella

• Rumors of Peace

Levy, Andrea

• Small Island

Link, Kelly

• Pretty Monsters
  

Lippi, Rosina

• Homestead

Lively, Penelope

• Moon Tiger

Livesey, Margot

• Eva Moves the Furniture

MacLaverty, Bernard

• Cal

Maine, David

• The Preservationist
• Fallen

Maitland, Sara

• Angel Maker

Mallon, Thomas

• Dewey Defeats Truman

Martel, Yann

• The Life of Pi

McBride, James

• The Color of Water

McCall Smith, Alexander

• The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency (series)

McCourt, Frank

• Angela's Ashes

McCracken, Elizabeth

• The Giant's House

McDermott, Alice

• That Night
• Charming Billy
• After This

McEwan, Ian

• Saturday

Mendelsohn, Jane

• I was Amelia Earhart

Minot, Eliza

• The Brambles

Minot, Susan

• Lust
• Folly
• Evening

Mitchell, David

• Black Swan Green
• Cloud Atlas
• Ghostwritten

Moore, Lorrie

• Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?
• Birds of America

Morris, Mary

• Nothing to Declare

Morrison, Toni

• The Song of Soloman
• The Bluest Eye
• Sula
• Jazz
• Beloved

Mukherjee, Bharati

• Jasmine
• The Holder of the World
• The Middleman and other stories

Munro, Alice

• The Progress of Love
• The Love of a Good Woman
• The Beggar Maid
• The Moons of Jupiter

Murray, Sabina

• The Caprices

Naylor, Gloria

• Bailey's Cafe
• Mama Day

Nemirovsky, Irene

• Suite Francaise

Ness, Patrick

• The Knife of Never Letting Go
  

Ondaatje, Michael

• The Collected Works of Billy the Kid
• In the Skin of a Lion
• The English Patient
• Coming through Slaughter
• Running in the Family

Ozeki, Ruth L.

• My Year of Meats

Patchett, Ann

• Bel Canto
• Run
  

Pears, Iain

• An Instance of the Fingerpost
• The Dream of Scipio

Pears, Tim

• In the Place of Fallen Leaves

Petterson, Per

• Out Stealing Horses
  

Pipkin, John

• Woodsburner
  

Powers, Richard

• Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance

Proulx, E. Annie

• Postcards
• The Shipping News

Pullman, Philip

• The Golden Compass
• The Subtle Knife
• The Amber Spyglass

Rakoff, David

• Fraud

Reichl, Ruth

• Tender at the Bone
• Comfort Me with Apples

Richards, Mark

• Fishboy

Roberts, Michele

• Daughters of the House
• During Mother's Absence

Robinson, Kim Stanley

• Red Mars

Robinson, Marilynne

• Housekeeping
• Gilead

Rouaud, Jean

• Fields of Glory

Rowling, J.K.

• Harry Potter (series)

Russell, Mary Doria

• The Sparrow
• Children of God
• A Thread of Grace

Salzman, Mark

• Lying Awake

Saramago, Jose

• Blindness

Sedaris, David

• Barrel Fever
• Naked
• Me Talk Pretty One Day
• Dress Your Family in Cordoroy and Denim

Senior, Olive

• Summer Lightning

Seth, Vikram

• A Suitable Boy

Shields, Carol

• The Stone Diaries
• Unless

Sidhwa, Bapsi

• Cracking India

Silber, Joan

• Ideas of Heaven
• In My Other Life
• The Size of the World

Silko, Leslie Mormon

• Ceremony

Slater, Nigel

• Toast: The Story of a Boy's Hunger

Smiley, Jane

• A Thousand Acres
• The Age of Grief
• The Greenlanders
• Barn Blind
• The All True Travels and Adventures of Liddie Newton
• Horse Heaven

Smith, Lee

• Fair and Tender Ladies
• Family Linen

Smith, Sarah

• The Knowledge of Water

Smith, Zadie

• White Teeth

Spark, Debra

• Coconuts for the Saint

Stegner, Wallace

• Angle of Repose

Strout, Elizabeth

• Olive Kitteridge
  

Swift, Graham

• Waterland

Tartt, Donna

• The Little Friend

Thompson, Jean

• Who Do You Love

Tinti, Hannah

• The Good Thief
  

Tomalin, Claire

• Jane Austen: A Life

Trevor, William

• The Hill Bachelors
• My House in Umbria
  

Trillin, Calvin

• Messages from My Father
• Family Man
• Feeding a Yen
• About Alice
  

Truong, Monique

• The Book of Salt

Tyler, Anne

• Accidental Tourist
• Saint Maybe

Unsworth, Barry

• Morality Play

Urrea, Luis Alberto

• The Hummingbird's Daughter
  

Walker, Alice

• The Color Purple

Wallace, David Foster

• A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again

White, Bailey

• Mama Makes Up Her Mind

Winterson, Jeanette

• The Passion
• Sexing the Cherry
• Oranges are not the Only Fruit
• Tanglewreck

Wolff, Tobias

• In Pharaoh's Army
• Old School

Wright, Richard B.

• Clara Callan

Yamanaka, Lois-ann

• Blu's Hanging

Zusak, Markus

• The Book Thief