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


Allende, Isabelle


Allison, Dorothy


Alvarez, Julia


Ambrose, Steven


Anderson, M.T.


Atkinson, Kate


Atwood, Margaret


Barnes, Julian


Barrett, Andrea


Barry, Sebastian


Bausch, Richard


Baxter, Charles


Beck, Martha


Berendt, John


Berman, Sabina


Bloom, Amy


Bragg, Rick


Bromell, Henry


Brooks, Geraldine
  • March

Busch, Frederick


Byatt, A.S.


Canin, Ethan


Cantwell, Mary


Chabon, Michael


Chang, Jung


Choan, Dan


Chevalier, Tracy


Cisneros, Sandra


Clark, Nancy


Codrescu, Andrei


Coe, Jonathan


Collins, Susan

  • The Hunger Games


Cowan, Andrew


Cronin, Justin


Cunningham, Michael


Davidar, David


Davies, Katharine


Davies, Peter Ho


Deane, Seamus


Dillard, Annie


Donati, Sara


Dorris, Michael


Dove, Rita



Doyle, Roddy


Dubus, Andre


Dunnett, Dorothy


Earley, Tony


Ehrlich, Gretel


Ephron, Amy


Erdrich, Louise


Ernaux, Annie


Eugenides, Jeffrey


Fadiman, Anne


Farr, Judith


Fielding, Helen


Foer, Jonathan Safran


Frazier, Charles


Freud, Esther


French, Albert


Fuchs, Elinor


Fuller, Alexandra


Gallant, Mavis


Garcia, Cristina


Gibbons, Kaye


Glass, Julia


Golden, Arthur


Golding, William


Goodman, Allegra


Gopnik, Adam


Gordimer, Nadine


Gray, Spaulding


Groff, Lauren

  • The Monsters of Templeton

Gurganus, Allan


Gutterson, David


Hagedorn, Jessica


Hansen, Ron


Hardinge, Frances


Harrison, Jim


Haruf, Kent


Hellenga, Robert


Hempel, Amy


Henkin, Joshua


Hillenbrand, Laura


Hoffman, Alice


Hoffmann, Yoel


Howard, Maureen


Hulme, Kerri


Ishiguro, Kazuo

Jenkins, Emily

Jhabuala, Ruth Prawer


Jiles, Paulette

  • The Color of Lightning


Jin, Ha


Jones, Edward P


Joyce, Graham


Kazischke, Laura


Karr, Mary


Kingsolver, Barbara


Kingston, Maxine Hong


Krouse, Erika


Lahiri, Jhumpa


Lamott, Anne


Leffland, Ella


Levy, Andrea


Link, Kelly

  • Pretty Monsters


Lippi, Rosina


Lively, Penelope


Livesey, Margot


MacLaverty, Bernard


Maine, David


Maitland, Sara


Mallon, Thomas


Martel, Yann


McBride, James


McCall Smith, Alexander


McCourt, Frank


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


Ondaatje, Michael


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


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


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


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


Urrea, Luis Alberto


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.


Yamanaka, Lois-ann


Zusak, Markus

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