Writing.com Updates

Writing.Com Updates

Recent Writing Com Creative Writing

https://theworldaccordingtocosmos.com/?author=1

Writing.com Got an Update

Writing.Com Just Got an Upgrade

Recent Writing Com Creative Writing

I have some great news: Writing.Com — one of my daily go‑to sites — has received a major upgrade! I’ve been a member since 2016, writing under the handle J Cosmos, and the site has played a huge role in my growth as a writer.

If you’re curious, check it all out at Writing.com and consider joining the community.
You can also explore my portfolio here:

http://jcosmos.Writing.Com/

Over the years, I’ve grown tremendously through daily writing challenges, contests, and the feedback of a wonderfully supportive community. I now have more than 1,000 pieces posted on the site.

Writing.Com Update Announcement

Writing.Com recently rolled out a series of updates designed to make your writing experience cleaner, simpler, and more focused.

What’s New

🖋️ New Editor (Now the Default)
A brand‑new writing editor is now the default for all members. Prefer the classic version? You can switch back anytime.

📰 Revamped Newsfeed
Cleaner layout, more welcoming design, and new Trending and Most Reacted sections to highlight community favorites.

🎨 Visual Skins
You can now preview skins before choosing them — a huge improvement! Find them under My Account → Skins & Themes or directly from the header.

🏠 Simpler Front Page
The homepage has been redesigned to be more user‑friendly and less cluttered. Feel free to share it and invite friends.

🔴 Updated Logo & Navigation
Refined and simplified so your writing stands out even more.

Writing.Com continues to evolve thoughtfully and with writers in mind — and I’m genuinely excited about these changes.

Writer’s Cramp

Writer’s Cramp is one of my daily favorites. I participate about once a week and even win a few times each month. The Gift Points add up — sometimes enough for a free renewed membership!

It’s a fast‑paced, creativity‑first daily contest. Grammar is not judged — the focus is on imagination and responding to the prompt within 24 hours.

Daily prompts appear in posts labeled WINNER AND NEW PROMPT.
Entries must:

use a newly created static item
• be posted by 11:59 a.m. (WDC time)
• follow all prompt requirements
• stay under 1,000 words (stories) or 40 lines (poetry)

The latest prompt:

“You’ve dreamed of attending the Winter Olympics your entire life. In 2026, you finally get your chance in Milan. Something unexpected happens… What is it, and how does it impact you?”

Express in Eight

Express in Eight is another wonderful challenge: write a poem in exactly eight lines. It’s precision, conciseness, and creativity combined.

I love poetry — reading it, writing it, sharing it, wandering through it — and this challenge is always a joy.

Participants can write to posted prompts or compose freely. At month’s end, a random contributor receives either a 10K Awardicon or a Merit Badge.

Recent prompts include:

FEBRUARY 2026
EIGHT – 02. 20, 21, 22, 23 .26

EIGHT – 02.20.26
WRITE A POEM ABOUT A MAGICIAN.

EIGHT – 02.21.26
WRITE A POEM ABOUT A SPECIAL COOKIE.

EIGHT – 02.22.26
WRITE A POEM ‘SO PREHISTORIC’.

EIGHT – 02.23.26
WRITE A CRUMPLED POEM.

#3. magic cookies
ID #1109061 entered on February 22, 2026 at 11:20pm [Edit] [0 views]

more on Political Gravity
ID #1108673entered on February 18, 2026 at 7:57pm [Edit] [6 views]

#1. Law of Political Gravity

Poet’s Place

Poet’s Place offers weekly discussions about the craft of poetry, with prompts and writing challenges. This month’s focus is African‑American poetic history and forms in honor of Black History Month. One featured form is the Kwansaba — seven lines, seven words each, and no word longer than seven letters.

Here are a few of my recent contributions:

The Kwansaba is an African-American form of praise, inspired by the Kwanzaa celebration of family, community, and culture ( https://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org/ ). The structure is based on the seven principles of Kwanzaa: 7 lines, 7 words per line, no word exceeds 7 characters, as described and demonstrated in the following links:

https://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/topic/2769-kwansaba/

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/kwansaba-poetic-forms

https://ronrowland.com/kwansaba-praise/

Here are some of my contributions to the Poet’s Place discussion forum

#69. True Love Kwansaba
ID #1108912 entered on February 21, 2026 at 1:56am [Edit] [2 views]

#68. true Love Eintou
ID #1108381 entered on February 14, 2026 at 11:31pm [Edit] [7 views]

#67. Trumpian Nightmares Continued
ID #1107230 entered on January 31, 2026 at 10:23pm [Edit] [11 views]

#66. So many Lies Hultan
ID #1106194 entered on January 17, 2026 at 12:36pm [Edit] [20 views]

#65. Epstein’s Ghost Pantoum
ID #1104344 entered on December 24, 2025 at 11:05am [Edit] [90 views]

#64. I fear the Grim Reaper is coming
ID #1104017 entered on December 20, 2025 at 7:24am [Edit] [48 views]

#63. Insomnia Nightmare Cornish Sonnet
ID #1103567 entered on December 13, 2025 at 9:25am [Edit] [52 views]

#62. Endecha Poem
ID #1103215 entered on December 8, 2025 at 8:29am [Edit] [40 views]

#61. what’s going On?
ID #1102927 entered on December 4, 2025 at 8:10am [Edit] [47 views]

#60. The News Blues Musette Poem
ID #1102146 entered on November 22, 2025 at 3:31am [Edit] [43 views]

#59. I am Happy Rondolet
ID #1101635 entered on November 15, 2025 at 12:51am [Edit] [42 views]

#58. North Korean Rice Pot Speaks Up – Owner Goes to Prison
ID #1101358 entered on November 10, 2025 at 11:30pm [Edit] [46 views]

#57. Democrats Had a Good Night
ID #1101012 entered on November 6, 2025 at 8:13pm [Edit] [49 views]

#56. Government Shutdown Shanzi
ID #1100687 entered on November 1, 2025 at 11:32pm [Edit] [53 views]

#55. Chaos Aquarian Poem
ID #1100684 entered on November 1, 2025 at 11:21pm [Edit] [59 views]

#54. Choose Democracy Cascade Poem
ID #1099441 entered on October 16, 2025 at 9:09pm [Edit] [56 views]

#53. Too Many Men with a Gun
ID #1099258 entered on October 13, 2025 at 9:41pm [Edit] [43 views]

#52. Too Many Guns Trois-par-Huit ghosts Say Bye
ID #1097820 entered on September 21, 2025 at 9:31pm [Edit] [38 views]

#51. Every morning When I watch the news
ID #1096071 entered on August 28, 2025 at 7:48pm [Edit] [71 views]

#50. First Kiss Memories to last a life time
ID #1096070 entered on August 28, 2025 at 7:29pm [Edit] [53 views]

#49. gun Terza Rima Poem
ID #1096069 entered on August 28, 2025 at 7:11pm [Edit] [78 views]

#48. Gun Corona
ID #1096064 entered on August 28, 2025 at 6:08pm [Edit] [57 views]

#47. sci-Fi Haiku five poems
ID #1094989 entered on August 9, 2025 at 5:37pm [Edit] [48 views]

#46. alligator ALcatraz Sparrowlet
ID #1094041 entered on July 24, 2025 at 6:57pm [Edit] [81 views]

#45. Alligator Alcatraz Prison Trimericc
ID #1093832 entered on July 21, 2025 at 2:19pm [Edit] [72 views]

Weekly Challenge

The Weekly Challenge has been running for five years, and I’ve participated in the last three. Each week includes a visual prompt and a list of optional words to incorporate. Minimum 12 lines, no maximum.

Join Us!

Writing.Com is a fun, useful, and welcoming site for writers of all kinds. It has helped me grow, experiment, and connect with others who love the craft.

Here are my recent contributions

Prompt/Week # 27

Write a poem using at least 3 these words:
clock, dwindle, dazzle, frame, collide, singing.

Poem should be inspired by the prompt/image in some way
A minimum of 12 lines, no maximum
There are no form requirements
Your submission must be newly written for this week’s promp

#77. The Clock Chimes at O Dark Hundred
ID #1108674 entered on February 18, 2026 at 8:11pm [Edit] [4 views]

#76. My Room with a View
ID #1108281 entered on February 13, 2026 at 5:23pm [Edit] [1 views]

#75. My Room with a View
ID #1108280 entered on February 13, 2026 at 5:19pm [Edit] [4 views]

#74. Whether to Stay
ID #1107661 entered on February 5, 2026 at 6:04pm [Edit] [8 views]

#73. SNOWFLAKE
ID #1107224 entered on January 31, 2026 at 8:10pm [Edit] [9 views]

#72. Equality Under Attack
ID #1106724 entered on January 24, 2026 at 6:52pm [Edit] [10 views]

#71. Growing up Near the Pacific Ocean
ID #1105829 entered on January 12, 2026 at 9:52am [Edit] [17 views]

#70. Blue DragonFly Leads the Alien Attack
ID #1105304 entered on January 6, 2026 at 6:03pm [Edit] [19 views]

#69. Thinking About What May Be
ID #1104183 entered on December 22, 2025 at 10:37am [Edit] [24 views]

#68. Epstein’s Ghost Cinquin
ID #1104179 entered on December 22, 2025 at 10:22am [Edit] [23 views]

#67. week 18 Chocolate Chip Cookies on A Winter Morning
ID #1103698 entered on December 15, 2025 at 10:30am [Edit] [22 views]

#66. week 17 anxiety insomnia blues
ID #1103220 entered on December 8, 2025 at 9:35am [Edit] [29 views]

#65. Week 16 If I Were a Snowflake
ID #1102859 entered on December 3, 2025 at 4:08am [Edit] [39 views]

#64. Week 15 Eintou
ID #1102858 entered on December 3, 2025 at 4:01am [Edit] [30 views]

#63. Week 12 Insomniac Nightmare Blues
ID #1101924 entered on November 19, 2025 at 12:37am [Edit] [28 views]

#62. week 14 Finding Happiness in Small Things
ID #1101922 entered on November 19, 2025 at 12:20am [Edit] [24 views]

#61. week 11 the Turkey Vrs the Eagle Grand Debate
ID #1101462 entered on November 15, 2025 at 12:56am [Edit] [27 views]

#60. Week TenTime
ID #1100689 entered on November 1, 2025 at 11:52pm [Edit] [31 views]

#59. Week Eleven Encounters with the Great Pumpkin
ID #1100688 entered on November 1, 2025 at 11:37pm [Edit] [36 views]

#58. Week Night Little Red Riding Hood Meets the Wolf
ID #1099538 entered on October 18, 2025 at 3:26am [Edit] [36 views]

#57. Week Eight Magic Nine Poem About Watching the News
ID #1098856 entered on October 7, 2025 at 7:51pm [Edit] [51 views]

#56. week seven Luck
ID #1098818 entered on October 7, 2025 at 5:33am [Edit] [39 views]

#55. week five the future is beyond our reach
ID #1097874 entered on September 22, 2025 at 2:54pm [Edit] [36 views]

#54. week six possibilities
ID #1097873 entered on September 22, 2025 at 2:45pm [Edit] [31 views]

#53. Week four BOP It is Happening Here
ID #1097011 entered on September 9, 2025 at 3:25pm [Edit] [60 views]

So log in today, explore the challenges, share your work — and join in the fun.
Tell them Cosmos sent you!

Thanks for reading.

Jake (aka J Cosmos)
Writing.Com Preferred Member

February 23, 2026, 8:36 am 0 boosts 0 favorites

I have some great news: Writing.Com — one of my daily go‑to sites — has received a major upgrade! I’ve been a member since 2016, writing under the handle J Cosmos, and the site has played a huge role in my growth as a writer.

If you’re curious, check it all out at Writing.com and consider joining the community.
You can also explore my portfolio here:

http://jcosmos.Writing.Com/

Over the years, I’ve grown tremendously through daily writing challenges, contests, and the feedback of a wonderfully supportive community. I now have more than 1,000 pieces posted on the site.

Writing.Com Update Announcement

Writing.Com recently rolled out a series of updates designed to make your writing experience cleaner, simpler, and more focused.

What’s New

🖋️ New Editor (Now the Default)
A brand‑new writing editor is now the default for all members. Prefer the classic version? You can switch back anytime.

📰 Revamped Newsfeed
Cleaner layout, more welcoming design, and new Trending and Most Reacted sections to highlight community favorites.

🎨 Visual Skins
You can now preview skins before choosing them — a huge improvement! Find them under My Account → Skins & Themes or directly from the header.

🏠 Simpler Front Page
The homepage has been redesigned to be more user‑friendly and less cluttered. Feel free to share it and invite friends.

🔴 Updated Logo & Navigation
Refined and simplified so your writing stands out even more.

Writing.Com continues to evolve thoughtfully and with writers in mind — and I’m genuinely excited about these changes.

Writer’s Cramp

Writer’s Cramp is one of my daily favorites. I participate about once a week and even win a few times each month. The Gift Points add up — sometimes enough for a free renewed membership!

It’s a fast‑paced, creativity‑first daily contest. Grammar is not judged — the focus is on imagination and responding to the prompt within 24 hours.

Daily prompts appear in posts labeled WINNER AND NEW PROMPT.
Entries must:

use a newly created static item
• be posted by 11:59 a.m. (WDC time)
• follow all prompt requirements
• stay under 1,000 words (stories) or 40 lines (poetry)

The latest prompt:

“You’ve dreamed of attending the Winter Olympics your entire life. In 2026, you finally get your chance in Milan. Something unexpected happens… What is it, and how does it impact you?”

Express in Eight

Express in Eight is another wonderful challenge: write a poem in exactly eight lines. It’s precision, conciseness, and creativity combined.

I love poetry — reading it, writing it, sharing it, wandering through it — and this challenge is always a joy.

Participants can write to posted prompts or compose freely. At month’s end, a random contributor receives either a 10K Awardicon or a Merit Badge.

Recent prompts include:

FEBRUARY 2026
EIGHT – 02. 20, 21, 22, 23 .26

EIGHT – 02.20.26
WRITE A POEM ABOUT A MAGICIAN.

EIGHT – 02.21.26
WRITE A POEM ABOUT A SPECIAL COOKIE.

EIGHT – 02.22.26
WRITE A POEM ‘SO PREHISTORIC’.

EIGHT – 02.23.26
WRITE A CRUMPLED POEM.

#3. magic cookies
ID #1109061 entered on February 22, 2026 at 11:20pm [Edit] [0 views]

more on Political Gravity
ID #1108673entered on February 18, 2026 at 7:57pm [Edit] [6 views]

#1. Law of Political Gravity

Poet’s Place

Poet’s Place offers weekly discussions about the craft of poetry, with prompts and writing challenges. This month’s focus is African‑American poetic history and forms in honor of Black History Month. One featured form is the Kwansaba — seven lines, seven words each, and no word longer than seven letters.

Here are a few of my recent contributions:

The Kwansaba is an African-American form of praise, inspired by the Kwanzaa celebration of family, community, and culture ( https://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org/ ). The structure is based on the seven principles of Kwanzaa: 7 lines, 7 words per line, no word exceeds 7 characters, as described and demonstrated in the following links:

https://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/topic/2769-kwansaba/

https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-poetry/kwansaba-poetic-forms

https://ronrowland.com/kwansaba-praise/

Here are some of my contributions to the Poet’s Place discussion forum

#69. True Love Kwansaba
ID #1108912 entered on February 21, 2026 at 1:56am [Edit] [2 views]

#68. true Love Eintou
ID #1108381 entered on February 14, 2026 at 11:31pm [Edit] [7 views]

#67. Trumpian Nightmares Continued
ID #1107230 entered on January 31, 2026 at 10:23pm [Edit] [11 views]

#66. So many Lies Hultan
ID #1106194 entered on January 17, 2026 at 12:36pm [Edit] [20 views]

#65. Epstein’s Ghost Pantoum
ID #1104344 entered on December 24, 2025 at 11:05am [Edit] [90 views]

#64. I fear the Grim Reaper is coming
ID #1104017 entered on December 20, 2025 at 7:24am [Edit] [48 views]

#63. Insomnia Nightmare Cornish Sonnet
ID #1103567 entered on December 13, 2025 at 9:25am [Edit] [52 views]

#62. Endecha Poem
ID #1103215 entered on December 8, 2025 at 8:29am [Edit] [40 views]

#61. what’s going On?
ID #1102927 entered on December 4, 2025 at 8:10am [Edit] [47 views]

#60. The News Blues Musette Poem
ID #1102146 entered on November 22, 2025 at 3:31am [Edit] [43 views]

#59. I am Happy Rondolet
ID #1101635 entered on November 15, 2025 at 12:51am [Edit] [42 views]

#58. North Korean Rice Pot Speaks Up – Owner Goes to Prison
ID #1101358 entered on November 10, 2025 at 11:30pm [Edit] [46 views]

#57. Democrats Had a Good Night
ID #1101012 entered on November 6, 2025 at 8:13pm [Edit] [49 views]

#56. Government Shutdown Shanzi
ID #1100687 entered on November 1, 2025 at 11:32pm [Edit] [53 views]

#55. Chaos Aquarian Poem
ID #1100684 entered on November 1, 2025 at 11:21pm [Edit] [59 views]

#54. Choose Democracy Cascade Poem
ID #1099441 entered on October 16, 2025 at 9:09pm [Edit] [56 views]

#53. Too Many Men with a Gun
ID #1099258 entered on October 13, 2025 at 9:41pm [Edit] [43 views]

#52. Too Many Guns Trois-par-Huit ghosts Say Bye
ID #1097820 entered on September 21, 2025 at 9:31pm [Edit] [38 views]

#51. Every morning When I watch the news
ID #1096071 entered on August 28, 2025 at 7:48pm [Edit] [71 views]

#50. First Kiss Memories to last a life time
ID #1096070 entered on August 28, 2025 at 7:29pm [Edit] [53 views]

#49. gun Terza Rima Poem
ID #1096069 entered on August 28, 2025 at 7:11pm [Edit] [78 views]

#48. Gun Corona
ID #1096064 entered on August 28, 2025 at 6:08pm [Edit] [57 views]

#47. sci-Fi Haiku five poems
ID #1094989 entered on August 9, 2025 at 5:37pm [Edit] [48 views]

#46. alligator ALcatraz Sparrowlet
ID #1094041 entered on July 24, 2025 at 6:57pm [Edit] [81 views]

#45. Alligator Alcatraz Prison Trimericc
ID #1093832 entered on July 21, 2025 at 2:19pm [Edit] [72 views]

Weekly Challenge

The Weekly Challenge has been running for five years, and I’ve participated in the last three. Each week includes a visual prompt and a list of optional words to incorporate. Minimum 12 lines, no maximum.

Join Us!

Writing.Com is a fun, useful, and welcoming site for writers of all kinds. It has helped me grow, experiment, and connect with others who love the craft.

Here are my recent contributions

Prompt/Week # 27

Write a poem using at least 3 these words:
clock, dwindle, dazzle, frame, collide, singing.

Poem should be inspired by the prompt/image in some way
A minimum of 12 lines, no maximum
There are no form requirements
Your submission must be newly written for this week’s promp

#77. The Clock Chimes at O Dark Hundred
ID #1108674 entered on February 18, 2026 at 8:11pm [Edit] [4 views]

#76. My Room with a View
ID #1108281 entered on February 13, 2026 at 5:23pm [Edit] [1 views]

#75. My Room with a View
ID #1108280 entered on February 13, 2026 at 5:19pm [Edit] [4 views]

#74. Whether to Stay
ID #1107661 entered on February 5, 2026 at 6:04pm [Edit] [8 views]

#73. SNOWFLAKE
ID #1107224 entered on January 31, 2026 at 8:10pm [Edit] [9 views]

#72. Equality Under Attack
ID #1106724 entered on January 24, 2026 at 6:52pm [Edit] [10 views]

#71. Growing up Near the Pacific Ocean
ID #1105829 entered on January 12, 2026 at 9:52am [Edit] [17 views]

#70. Blue DragonFly Leads the Alien Attack
ID #1105304 entered on January 6, 2026 at 6:03pm [Edit] [19 views]

#69. Thinking About What May Be
ID #1104183 entered on December 22, 2025 at 10:37am [Edit] [24 views]

#68. Epstein’s Ghost Cinquin
ID #1104179 entered on December 22, 2025 at 10:22am [Edit] [23 views]

#67. week 18 Chocolate Chip Cookies on A Winter Morning
ID #1103698 entered on December 15, 2025 at 10:30am [Edit] [22 views]

#66. week 17 anxiety insomnia blues
ID #1103220 entered on December 8, 2025 at 9:35am [Edit] [29 views]

#65. Week 16 If I Were a Snowflake
ID #1102859 entered on December 3, 2025 at 4:08am [Edit] [39 views]

#64. Week 15 Eintou
ID #1102858 entered on December 3, 2025 at 4:01am [Edit] [30 views]

#63. Week 12 Insomniac Nightmare Blues
ID #1101924 entered on November 19, 2025 at 12:37am [Edit] [28 views]

#62. week 14 Finding Happiness in Small Things
ID #1101922 entered on November 19, 2025 at 12:20am [Edit] [24 views]

#61. week 11 the Turkey Vrs the Eagle Grand Debate
ID #1101462 entered on November 15, 2025 at 12:56am [Edit] [27 views]

#60. Week TenTime
ID #1100689 entered on November 1, 2025 at 11:52pm [Edit] [31 views]

#59. Week Eleven Encounters with the Great Pumpkin
ID #1100688 entered on November 1, 2025 at 11:37pm [Edit] [36 views]

#58. Week Night Little Red Riding Hood Meets the Wolf
ID #1099538 entered on October 18, 2025 at 3:26am [Edit] [36 views]

#57. Week Eight Magic Nine Poem About Watching the News
ID #1098856 entered on October 7, 2025 at 7:51pm [Edit] [51 views]

#56. week seven Luck
ID #1098818 entered on October 7, 2025 at 5:33am [Edit] [39 views]

#55. week five the future is beyond our reach
ID #1097874 entered on September 22, 2025 at 2:54pm [Edit] [36 views]

#54. week six possibilities
ID #1097873 entered on September 22, 2025 at 2:45pm [Edit] [31 views]

#53. Week four BOP It is Happening Here
ID #1097011 entered on September 9, 2025 at 3:25pm [Edit] [60 views]

So log in today, explore the challenges, share your work — and join in the fun.
Tell them Cosmos sent you!

Thanks for reading.

Jake (aka J Cosmos)
Writing.Com Preferred Member

February 23, 2026

Cosmos’s Reading List 2025

https://wp.me/p7NAzO-3L5

Books Read 2024
Cosmos Books Read 2021 Update
1001 Books to Read Before You Die List

Cosmos Books Read 2020

Books read 2019

books read during 2018

Reading the Clasics Updated

Cosmos Reading List 2022 Final Updates
Reading TS Elliot
Reading G Keith Chesterton

2025 Reading Goals:

200 books, 2,000 poems, etc total 3,000 to 4,000 books/poems/stories listed numerically and chronologically by month

Read Classics finish reading books. You Must read series

One Thriller Per Month

One history/politics book per month

Read A Lot More Poetry

Read At Least One Book A Year in Spanish.

Read At Least One Book A Year in Korean

While in the States, get books from Little River Turnpike library,DC Library and from the Medford library using the following criteria

One classic book

One poetry book

One Sci-fi book

One history/politics book

One current event book

One thriller

Buy the 2024 best SciFi read in the fall

Buy the 2024 Best Poetry read in the fall

Re-do Mod Po following Mod Po plus poems

Start a different poetry course on Coursea

Start and complete All poetry poetry courses

Alternate between reading Kindle classics, poetry and other books

I will try to finish reading classic books. I have a collection from Kindle of 50 books to read before you die, in three volumes – 15O books in total. See the list below. I have read many of them already which I have noted by bolding. As I read them, I will add them to the chronological listing below, and also have the Harvard classic. I had a hard copy set, but donated it, I have to read it on Kindle. I will also continue to read lots of poetry from the Mod Po class, will do the slo-mo courses then re-do it in September, focusing on reading the additional poems I did not last time in Mod Po Plus.

Numerical Listing

Note: after reading each book, write a review for Bach’s Reading List and for Goodreads copy to my blog entry and cc Substack, Medium, Wattpad, Fan Story, and Writing.com.

Then save under Review when posting on the blog post, Zamzar audio clip into the blog piece, and do Spotify and Substack podcasts, later Threads and YouTube vblog starting in the fall

Before reading ask Co-pilot the following questions

Please provide a synopsis, list of characters, author bio and list of books by the author, plus literary reputation. please do not format to make it easier to cut and paste

The List

Fiction

Cather, Willa: My Ántonia From 50 Books Volume One

Chopin, Kate: The Awakening From 50 Books Volume One

Cummings, E. E.: The Enormous Room. From 50 Books Volume One

Dreiser, Theodore: Sister Carrie From 50 Books Volume One

Janet Evanovich Plum Lucky Camp H library In Progress

Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg, the Job – Camp H Library

Bobby Palmer Isaac and the Egg

Fielding, Henry: Tom Jones TBC

Flaubert, Gustave: Madame Bovary TBC From 50 Books Volume One

Flaubert, Gustave: Sentimental Education TBC From 50 Books Volume One

Ford, Ford Madox: The Good Soldier TBC From 50 Books Volume One

Gogol, Nikolai: Dead Souls TBC From 50 Books Volume One

Gorky, Maxim: The Mother TBC From 50 Books Volume One

Huxley, Aldous: Crome Yellow TBC From 50 Books Volume One

James, Henry: The Portrait of a Lady TBC From 50 Books Volume One

JM Baarre Peter Pan (Peter and Wendy) TBC From 50 Books Volume Two

BM Bower – Cabin Fever TBC TBC From 50 Books Volume Two

Frances Hodgson Burnett The Secret Garden TBC TBC From 50 Books Volume Two

Hodgson Burnett A Little Princess TBC TBC From 50 Books Volume Two

-Robert William Chambers The King in Yellow TBC TBC From 50 Books Volume Two

Wilkie Collins The Woman in White TBC TBC From 50 Books Volume Two

Richard Connell The Most Dangerous Game TBC TBC From 50 Books Volume Two

Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species, 6th Edition. TBC TBC From 50 Books Volume Two

Margaret Deland The Iron Woman TBC TBC From 50 Books Volume Two

Andrew Lang The Arabian Nights TBC TBC From 50 Books Volume Two

Michael Proust- Swann’s Way TBC TBC From 50 Books Volume Two

Emerson American Civilization (1862)

Upton Sinclair It Can’t Happen Here

James Rollins Arkangel fairfax library

Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child The Wheel of Darkness fairfax library

Kaline Bradley the Ministry of Time fairfax library

Preston and Child Relic (1995)

Preston and Child Relic Reliquary (1997)

Preston and Child Relic The Cabinet of Curiosities (2002)

Preston and Child Relic The Book of the Dead (2006)

Preston and Child Relic The Obsidian Chamber (2016)

Preston and Child Relic Riptide (1998)

James Rollins Map of Bones (2005)

James Rollins Black Order (2006)

James Rollins The Judas Strain (2007)

James Rollins The Last Oracle (2008)

James Rollins The Doomsday Key (2009)

James Rollins The Devil Colony (2010)

James Rollins The Eye of God (2013)

James Rollins The 6th Extinction (2014)

James Rollins The Bone Labyrinth (2015)

James Rollins The Seventh Plague (2016)

James Rollins The Demon Crown (2017)

James Rollins The Last Odyssey (2020)

James Rollins Kingdom of Bones (2022)

James Rollins Arkangel (2024)

James Rollins Subterranean (1999)

James Rollins Excavation (2000)

James Rollins Deep Fathom (2001)

James Rollins Amazonia (2002)

James Rollins Riptide (1998)

John Connolly and Jenifer Ridyard Conquest Chronicles of the Invasion Medford Library

John Connolly and Jenifer Ridyard Empire Medford Library

John Connolly and Jenifer Ridyard Dominon Medford Library

Harlan Corbin Books

Think Twice (2024)

🔹 Tell No One (2001)]

Gone for Good (2002)

The Innocent (2005)

The Stranger (2015)

O Henry Stories Medford Library

From the four Million

Gift Of The Magi

A Cosmopolitan In A Cafe.

The Skylight Room.

Man About Town.

The Love Philtre Of Ikey Schoenstein

Mammon And The Archer

Springtime Ala Carte.

From The Cabbie Seat.

An Unfinished Story.

The Romance Of A Busy Broker.

After 20 Years.

The Furnished Room.

From Heart of the West

Hearts And Crosses.

The Ransom Of Mack.

Telemachus, Friend .

Handbook Of Hymen.

Hygeia At The Solito.

From the Gentle Grafter

The Hand That Riles The World.

The Exact Science Of Matrimony

Conscience In Art.

From Cabbages and Kings

The Lotus and the bottle.

Shoes.

Ships.

Masters of Arts.

From Options

The Rose of Dixie.

A poor rule.

On the Sixes and Sevens

The Last Troubadours.

Makes The Whole World Kin

Jimmy Hayes And Muriel

The Adventures Of Shamrock Jolnes.

From Rolling Stones.

The Friendly Call.

Sound and fury.

From the Whirlgigs

The Theory And The Hound.

The Ransom Of Red Chief

The Whirligig Of Life.

Have Back Blackjack Order.

$1.00 Worth

From the Voice of the City

A Lickpenny Lover.

Doughtery’ eye Opener.

The Defeat Of The City.

The Shocks Of Doom.

Squaring The Circle.

The Momento.

From the Trimmed Lamp

From the trimmed lamp.

The Trimmed Lamp

Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen.

The Making Of A New Yorker.

A Harlem Tragedy.

The Last Leaf.

The Count And The Wedding Guest

From Strictly Business

.The Robe of Peace.

A Ramble in Aphasia

A Night In New Arabia.

Proof Of The Pudding.

From Waifes and Strays

Hearts and Hands

Non-Fiction

Declaration of Independence

Judge Luttridge 27 Principles from the Declaration of Independence

DC Library December 10, 2025

George Stewart Earth Abides

Joseph Finder The Oligarch’s Daughter

Ward Larsen Deep Fake

Robert Charles Wilson Julian Comstock A Story of 20^th Century America

Poetry

Anne Frank

Anne Frank’s Tree
Anne Frank’s Tree

Entou

Thunder and Lightning
Almost Dead

Lawrencealot

Throw Away Jay’s Way

Linda Varsell Smith

Pathway

Robert Brewer Writers Digest

Robert Lee Brewer – Give Me a Reason Zejel
An Old Hymn Still Singing Zejel

Elegy

David Romano’s “When Tomorrow Starts With Me”
H. Auden’s “Funeral Blues”
John Milton’s “Lycidas”
Mary Oliver’s “In Blackwater Woods”
Ocean Vuong’s “Someday I’ll Love Ocean Vuong”
Walt Whitman’s “O Captain! My Captain”

Haiku

Gypsy Blue Rose – Cows Wander at Night
Zebras Zeal Gallop

Penguin Anthology of Twentieth Century Poetry

Edward Lee Masters – The Hill
Fiddler Jones
Petite The Poet

Edwin Arlington Robinson

Edwin Arlington Robinson
Miniver Cheevy
Flood’s Party

James Weldon Johnson

James Weldon Johnson
The Creation

Paul Laurence Dunbar

The Poet
Life
Life’s Tragedy

Robert Frost – Mod Po Selection

The Death of the Hired Man
Mending Wall
Birches
Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening
Tree in My Window
Directive

Amy Lowell

Patterns

Gertrude Stein – Mod Po Selections

Susie Asado
From Tender Buttons – A Box
From Tender Buttons – A Plate

Alice Moore Dunbar Nelson

I Sit and Sew

Carl Sandburg

Grass
Cahoots

Wallace Stevens – Mod Po Selections

Peter Quince at the Clavier
Disillusionment of 10:00
Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird
The Emperor of Ice Cream
A Mere Being

Angelina Weld Grimke

Angelina Weld Grimke
Fragment

William Carlos Williams – Mod Po Selections

Tact
Dance Ruse
The Yachts
From Apostle that Greeny Flower Book 1, Lines 1 to 92

Sara Teasdale

Moonlight
There Will Come Soft Rains

Ezra Pound

The Jewel Stairs’ Grievance
The River Merchant’s Wife: A Letter
In a Station of the Metro
Hugh Selwyn Mauberley
From Cantos: 56 Libretto – Yet Ere This Season Died A Cold

Hilda Doolittle (H.D.) – Mod Po Selections

Sea Rose
Helen
From The Walls Do Not Fall – An Incident Here and There
From Hermeneutic Definition Red Rose and A Beggar – Why Did You Come?
Take Me Anywhere
Venus

Robinson Jeffers

Gala in April
Shine, Perishing Republic
Clouds at Evening
Credo

Marianne Moore

Fish
Poetry

T.S. Eliot

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
The Wasteland

Claude McKay

If We Must Die
The Harlem Dancer

Archibald MacLeish

Ars Poetica

Edna St. Vincent Millay

First Fig
Recuerdo
E. Cummings
In Just-
Buffalo Bill
The Cambridge Ladies Who Lived in Furnished Souls
Next to, Of Course, God, America
Somewhere I’ve Never Travelled, Gladly Beyond
Rpophessagr

Jean Toomer

Reapers
November Cotton Flower
Portrait in Georgia

Louise Bogan

Medusa
New Moon

Melvin B. Tolson

Dark Symphony
From Harlem Gallery: Psi – Black Boys, Let Me Get Up From The White Man’s Table

Hart Crane

From The Bridge
Poem: To Brooklyn Bridge
From The Bridge – Section XI: Powhatan’s Daughter – The River

Robert Francis

Silent Poem

Langston Hughes

The Negro Speaks of Rivers
I, Too, Sing America
Dream Boogie
Harlem

Countee Cullen

Incident
To John Keats, Poet, At Spring Time
Yet Do I Marvel
From The Dark Tower

Stanley Kunitz

Father and Son
The Portrait
Touch Me
H. Auden
Musée des Beaux arts
Epitaph on a Tyrant

Theodore Roethke

My Papa’s Waltz
The Waking
In a Dark Time

Charles Olson

From The Maximus Poems: One – Maximus of Gloucester, To You
The Distances

Elizabeth Bishop

The Fish
Sestina
First Death in Nova Scotia
Visit to St. Elizabeths
One Art

Robert Hayden

Middle Passage
Those Winter Sundays
Frederick Douglass

Muriel Rukeyser

Effort at Speech Between Two People
Then I Saw What the Calling Was
The Poem as Mask

Delmore Schwartz

The Heavy Bear Who Goes With Me

John Berryman

From The Dream Songs
Feeling Your Compact and Delicious Body
Life, Friends, Is Boring. We Must Not Say So
There Shut Down Once
This World is Gradually Becoming a Place
Henry’s Understanding

Randall Jarrell

90 North
The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner
The Woman at the Washington Zoo
Next Day

Weldon Kees

To My Daughter

Dudley Randall

A Different Image

William Stafford

Traveling through the Dark
At the Bomb Testing Site

Ruth Stone

Scars

Margaret Walker

For My People

Gwendolyn Brooks – Mod Po Selection

The Mother
A Song in the Front Yard
The Bean Eaters
The Lovers of the Poor
We Real Cool
The Blackstone Rangers

Robert Lowell

To Speak of Woe That Is in Marriage
Skunk Hour
For the Union Dead

Robert Duncan

Often I Am Permitted to Return to a Meadow
My Mother Would Be a Falconress

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Populist Manifesto

William Meredith

Parents

Howard Nemerov

Because You Asked About the Line Between Prose and Poetry

Hayden Carruth

The Hyacinth Gardens in Brooklyn
August 1945

Richard Wilbur

Love Calls Us to the Things of This World
Cottage Street
The Writer

James Dickey

The Sheep Child

Allen Ginsberg

Howl

Richard Hugo

Degrees of Gray in Phillipsburg
The Freaks at Spurgin Road Field
The Poem Unwritten
Cademon
Swan in Falling Snow
Who Is Simpson?
American Poetry

Carolyn Kizer

A Muse of Water

Kenneth Koch

Fresh Air

Maxine Kumin

Morning Swim

Gerald Stern

Behaving Like a Jew
The Dancing
Another Insane Devotion
R. Ammons
The City Limits
Corsons Inlet

Robert Bly

Snowfall in the Afternoon
Driving into Town to Mail a Letter
Walking from Sleep

Robert Creeley

The Flower
I Know a Man
The Language
The Rain
Bresson’s Movies

John Merrill

Victor Dog
Steps

Frank O’Hara – New York School

Lana Turner Has Collapsed
The Day Lady Died

John Ashbery – New York School

Some Trees
Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror
What Is Poetry?

Galway Kinnell

The Bear
After Making Love We Hear Footsteps
Saint Francis and the Sow
S. Merwin
Air
For the Anniversary of My Death
Yesterday
Chord

James Wright

A Blessing
Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio
Lying in a Hammock at

Wes Merwin

Air
For the Anniversary of My Death

Yesterday
Chord
A Blessing

Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, OH
Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island, MN
In Response to the Rumor That Otis Warehouse in Wheeling, WV Has Been Condemned
My Son, My Executioner
Digging
Rowing

Orion Planetarium
A Valedictorian Forbidding Mourning
From 21 Love Poems 13 The Rules of Break Like a Thermometer

Gregory Corsa

Marriage

Gary Snyder

Hay for the Horses
Riprap
Mid-August at Sourdough Mountain Lookout

Derek Walcott

A Far Cry from Africa
Sea Grapes
Find the Schooner Flight Part 11 After the Storm. There’s a Fresh Light That Follows
The Light of the World
From Omeros Book. 7. 44 I Sing of Quiet, Achilles, Afrolabe’s Son

Miller Williams

Let Me Tell You

Etheridge Knight

Idea of Ancestry

Amira Baraka, Leroy Jones

Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note
Agony As Now
SOS
Black Art

Ted Berrigan

Wrong Rain
A Final Sonnet

Audre Lorde

Power

Sonia Sanchez

Poetry at 30

Mark Strand

The Prediction
The Night, The Porch

Russell Edson

A Stone Is Nobody’s

Mary Oliver

Singapore
The Summer Day

Charles Wright

Reunion
Dead Color
California Dreaming

Lucille Clifton

Homage to My Hips
At Least at Last We Killed the Roaches
The Death of Fry, Alfred Clifton

June Jordan

Home About My Rights

Frederick Seidel

1968
K. Williams
Find My Window
Blades

Tony Hoagland

The Mechanic

Michael S. Harper

Dear John, Dear Coltrane
Last Affair. Bessie’s Blues Song
Grandfather
Nightmare Begins Responsibility

Charles Simic

Stone
Fork
Classic Ballroom Dances

Paula Gunn Allen

Grandmother

Frank Bidart

Ellen West

Carl Dennis

Spring Letter
Two or Three Wishes

Stephen Dunn

Allegory of the Cave
Tucson

Robert Pinsky

History of My Heart
The Questions
Samurai Song

James Welch

Christmas Comes to Moccasin Flat

Billy Collins

Introduction to Poetry
The Dead

Toi Derricotte

The Weakness

Stephen Dobyns

How to Like It?
Lullaby

Robert Hass

Song
That Photographer?
Return of Robinson Jeffers

Lyn Hejinian

From My Life: Trim with Colored Ribbons
H. Fairchild
The Machinist Teaching His Daughter to Play the Piano

Haki R. Madhubuti (Don L. Lee)

But He Was Cool or Even Stopped for Green Lights
Upon To Compliment Other Poems

William Matthews

In Memory of the Utah Stars
The Accompanist

Sharon Olds

The Language of the Brag
The Lifting

Henry Taylor

Barbed Wire

Tess Gallagher

Black, Silver
Under Stars

Michael Palmer

I Do Not

James Tate

The Lost Pilot

Norman Dubie

Elizabeth’s War with the Christmas Bear
The Funeral

Carol Muske Dukes

August, Los Angeles Lullaby

Kay Ryan

Turtle
Bestiary

Larry Levis

Childhood Ideogram
Winter Stars

Adrian C. Louis

Looking for Judas
How Much Lux?
The People of the Other Village

Marilyn Nelson

The Ballad of Aunt Geneva
Star Fix

Ai

Cuba 1963
The Kid
Finished

Yusef Komunyakaa

Thanks
To Do Street
Facing It
Nude Interrogation

Nathaniel Mackey

Song of the Andoumboulou

Gregory Orr

Gathering the Bones Together
Two Lines from the Brother Grimm
Origin of the Marble Forest

Robert Hill Long

Reaching Yellow River

Albert Goldbarth

Away

Heather McHugh

Language Lesson 1976
What He Thought

Leslie Marmon Silko

In Cold Storm Light

Olga Broumas

Calypso

Victor Hernández Cruz

Latin & Soul

Jane Miller

Miami Heart

David St. John

Iris
D. Wright
Why Ralph Refuses to Dance
Girlfriend Poem #3
Crescent

Carolyn Forché

Taking Off My Clothes

Jorie Graham

San Sepolcro

Marie Howe

What the Living Do

Joy Harjo

She Had Some Horses
My House Is the Red Earth

Garrett Hongo

The Legend

Andrew Hudgins

Begotten
We Were Simply Talking

Brigit Pegeen Kelly

Imaging Their Own Hymns
Song

Paul Muldoon

Meeting the British
Errata
The Throwback

Judith Ortiz Cofer

Quinceanera

Rita Dove

Parsley
Daystar
After Reading Mickey in the Night Kitchen for the Third Time Before Bed

Alice Fulton

Our Calling

Barbara Hamby

Thinking of Galileo
Hatred

Mark Jarman

Unholy Sonnet

Naomi Shihab Nye

The Traveling Onion
Arabic
Wedding Cake

Alberto Ríos

Nani
England Finally Like My Mother Always Said We Would

Laurie Sheck

Nocturne Blue Waves
The Unfinished

Gary Soto

Field Poem
Oranges
Black Hair

Susan Stewart

Yellow Star and Ice
The Forest

Mark Doty

Brilliance
Esta Noche
Bill’s Story

Harryette Mullen

Black Nikes

Franz Wright

Alcohol

Lorna Dee Cervantes

To My Brother
Love of My Flesh, Living Death

Sandra Cisneros

My Wicked, Wicked Ways
Little Clowns, My Heart

Cornelius Eady

Jack Johnson Does the Eagle Rock
Crows in a Strong Wind
I’m a Fool to Love You

Louise Erdrich

Indian Boarding School: The Runaways

David Mason

Spooning

Marilyn Chin

How I Got That Name
Compose Near the Bay Bridge
The Survivor

Cathy Song

The Youngest Daughter

Annie Finch

Another Reluctance
Insert

Li-Young Lee

The Gift
Eating Together

Carl Phillips

Our Lady
As from a Quiver of Arrows

Nick Flynn

Bag of Mice
Cartoon Physics

Elizabeth Alexander

The Venus Hottentot

Reetika Vazirani

From White Elephants
A Million Balconies
Train Windows

Sherman Alexie

What the Orphan Inherits
The Powwow at the End of the World

Natasha Trethewey

Hot Combs
Amateur Fighter
Flounder
E. Stallings
The Tantrum

Joana Klink

Spare

Brenda Shaughnessy

Postfeminism
Your One Good Dress

Kevin Young

Quivira City Limits
Everywhere is Out of Town
Whatever You Want

Terrance Hayes

At Pegasus
Lady Sings the Blues

Terrance Hayes

At Pegasus
Lady Sings the Blues

Pablo Neruda

Viente Poemas De Amor Poems of Love 1924
Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening
Cuerpo De Mujer (Body of a Woman)
Ah Vastness of Pines
Leaning Into the Afternoon
Every Day You Play
Thinking, Tingling Shadows
Tonight I Write
Pablo Neruda, “Tonight I Can Write the Saddest Lines”

Gypsy Blue Rose

Gypsy Blue Rose Light of the Bright Moon
Gypsy Blue Rose Love Birds
Gypsy Blue Rose I see you dance across life’s stage
Gypsy Blue Rose Adrift Cherita

Jejeu

Gypsey Blue Rose Over Green Hills a limpid brook flows
Pillow Woman
Steady Breathing warms my Neck
Brian Compton Might I Interject AHD

Judi Van Godner

Sioux

Mask

429. Angel’s Dilemma

430. Where Frogs Are

431. Garland Seox

Quin Jejeu Chinese Form

432. Ishikawa Jozan Mount Fuji

433. Cheng Hao Autumn Moon

434. Gyspy Rose BLue

Waka

Gyspy Rose blue Geologist

435.

Free Verse

436. Sierra Scribbler BLISS

437. Crookston 2 Daffodil

438. Noland Reflections

Bragi

439. Judi Van Gorder Persimmon

440. Linda Versa Smith The snowplow heaves snow banks so high

Lune

441. Robert Brewster Trees Never Wander Lune

Rondel

442. Lady And Louis Two Silver Rings Rondel

443. Mountainwriter49 Forever In My Heart Rondel

Abhanga

444. Judi Can Gorder Incomplete Abhanga

445. Judi Can Gorder Magic Moment abhanga

446. Rachael the Library is Wwhere Abhanga

447. Astrologically Speaking Aghanga

448. Tukaram, Words Are The Only Jewels I possess Ahanga

Writing Com reviews

449. Dean Koontz Dragon Tears

450. Harlan Ellison“A Boy And His Dog.”

451. Fritz Leiber“Spacetime For Springers,”

452. Matt Griffin “Schrodinger’s Cat”

453. Larry Niven, Rescue Party,

454. Azimuth R. Daneel Olivaw

455. Roger Zelazny For A Breath I Tarry

456. Genesis

457. Goethe’s Faust

458. E. Housman A Shropshire Lad

459. Keith Laumer“Combat Unit”

460. Eregon Proofreading Hell

461. Christine B Demonstration of Proof

462. Allen Charles A Love Beyond Pain

463. Professor Moriatty’s True Confession

464. Bobby Lou Steveson Vanwolf

465. Beholden Seven

466. WD Wilcox Valkyrie

467. Kare Enga Pasta Alfredo Please

468. Gervic A Hawk’s Gift

469. Sumojo Vexatious Valentine

470. Cubby on the Road Again, Clinging Hearts

471. Peris Throckmortorf Hearts and Darts

472. Fye a Simple Blue Note Book

Manardina

473. Lawrencealot – Do All Deceive (Form: Manardina)

Free Verse

474. Kafka The Metamorpousis

475. John Gardner Grendel Old English Beowulf

476. John Gardner, The Art Of Fiction

477. Walt Whitman“Song of Myself.”

478. William Carlos Williams’ “The Red Wheelbarrow”

479. William Carlos Williams’“This Is Just to Say”

480. Gwendoly Brooks’ “We Real Cool.”

481. TS Elliot the Waste Land

482. Sylvia Plath Daddy

483. Wallace Stevens Disissluionment of Ten O Clock

484. Allen Ginsberg America

485. David Ryan Do Not Resuscitate

Etheree

486. Judi Van Gorder Etheree

487. Andrea Dietrich Your Wild Awakening

488. Andrea Dietrich Anonymous Solitude

489. Andrea Dietrich The Lair

490. Marie Summer Red Poppy

491. Marie Summer Blurred Vision (Double Reversed Etheree)

492. Marie Summer Ashen Despair (Double Reversed Etheree)

Zen Haiku

493. ]

494. Gypsy Blue Rose at night zen haiku

495. Gypsy Blue Rose at the Bay zen Haiku

Japanese Love Poems

496. Gypsy Blue Rose When I am Gone Japanese Love Poem

knitelvers

497. Judi Van Gorder How Many Times Knitelvers

498. Larencealot Riskless Investment (Knittelvers)

499. EE Cummings 24 Xaipe One Day a Nigger Caught in his Hand

500. EE Cummings 48 Xiaipe A kite is the Most Dangerous Machine

TH Palmer

501. TH Palmer Try Again

Clerihew

502. E Clerihew Bentley Sir Humphrey Davy

503. Dan, I Am Taylor Swift

504. Alan Mc Alpine Douglas The Road Runner

505. James Dean Chase Diana Dalton

506. James Dean Chase Corporal Klinger

507. Judi Van Gorder The King Of Pop

508. Judi Van Gorder Ms. Amber Heard

509. Frank Gibbard Royal

510. Jay O Toole Clerihew Bob Denver

511. James And Marie Summers Garfield The Cat

512. Linda Varsell Smith Supreme Wordster

513. Linda Varsell Smith Electrifying Inventor

Tanka

514. Princess Nukada I wait for you

515. Takuboku I Shut My Eyes

516. Judi Van Gordner Chill of Soundless Night

517. Dendrobia A cool wind blows in

518. Can Sonmez Subtle hints of spring

519. Cheri L. Ahner Peaceful solitude

520. Ono no Komachi (825-900) Tanka –

521. Ono No Komachi See how the blossoms

522. Tada Chimako

523. A Spray of Water: Tanka

524. June Jordan On Time Tanka

525. Ono No Komachi The Ink Dark Moon Tanaka

526. Mrs. KT Early Spring Rains Thrum

Other famous poems

527. John Donne, “The Sun Rising”

528. Emily Dickinson, “I Felt a Funeral in My Brain

529. Richard Brautigan Gee You’r So Beautiful That is starting to rain

530. Chief Seattle Man Does not weave this web of life he is merely a strand of it What he does to the web, he does to himself

531. Anita Shreve A house with any kind of age will have dozens of stories to tell. I suppose if a novelist could live long enough, one could base an entire oeuvre on the lives that weave in and out of an antique house.

532. Anita Shreve A house with any kind of age will have dozens of stories to tell. I suppose if a novelist could live long enough, one could base an entire oeuvre on the lives that weave in and out of an antique house.

533. Benjamin Franklin You may delay, but time will not

534. Bill Keane Yesterday’s the past, tomorrow’s the future, but today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present

535. Geoffrey Chaucer Time and tide wait for no man.

536. Horrace Mann Lost – yesterday, somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered, for they are gone forever.

537. Nora Robert’s Three Fates The past is but a thread in the tapestry of our future

Mad Cow Pastoral Poem

538. Lawrencealot (December 18, 2014) Waiting for Us

539. John Keats’s Odes to a Nightingale

540. Joyce Kilmer Trees

541. Anonymous They Learn What We Live

542. Edward Lear’s the Owl and the Pussy Cat

TS Elliot

543. T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock “

Allen Ginsberg

544. Allen Ginsberg Howl

Lune

545. Robert Brewster Trees Never Wander Kelly Lune

546. Robert Brewster An Envelope Labeled Collum Lune

Pantoum

547. John Ashberry Hotel Lautréamont

548. Natalie Diaz My Brother At 3 A.M

549. Denrobia Osprey

550. Natalie E Illum Curious George Can’t Swim: A Pantoum

551. Blass Falconer A Ride in the Rain

552. Judi Van Gorder the Wanderer’s Return

553. Judi Van Gorder Seamrog

554. Judi Van Gorder Hello Goodbye

555. Maria Hummel Station

556. Kiandra Jimenez Halcyon Kitchen

557. Donald Justice Pantoum of the Great Depression

558. Chip Liningston Punta Del Este Pantoum

559. Hailey Leithauser O, She Says

560. Randal Mann Politics

561. Randal Mann Pantoum

562. Sally Ann Roberts It All Started with a Packet of Seeds

563. Clinton Scollard In The Sultan’s Garden

564. David Scheider Pins and Needles

565. Evie Shockl

566. ey Pantoum Landing, 1975

567. Linda Vsrsell Smith Our Changing Cosmic Fabric

568. Linda Varsell Smith Grandchildren are Rainbow-light

569. Linda Varsell Smith an Eccentric Grandma

570. Linda Varsell Smith Mole Hole Mode

571. Linda Varsell Smith When Saturn Returned

572. Linda Varsell Smith In Gardens of Earthly Delights

573. Linda Varsell Smith Pantoum: Western version of a Malaysian

574. E Stallings Another Lullaby For Insomniacs

575. Marie Summers Celestial Dreams

576. Marie Summers Seasonal Whispers

577. Sasha Steensen Pantoum

578. Chellie Wood Dance In The Rain

579. Robert Lukeman Life – A Marriane Poem

580. Gypsy Rose Blue Billowing Clouds Chain Haiku’

581. Yamanoue no Okura When I eat Mellons Choka

582. anonymous They Learn What We Live

Acrostic

583. Gabriella 2 Masqueraders

584. .Dportwood Rejoice in Life

585. .Dportwood Boots and Spur

Funny Poems

586. Anne Scott Missing

587. Shel Silverstein Messy Room

588. My One-Eyed Love” by Andrew Jefferson

589. Larry Huggins Doggy Heaven

590. Cynthia C. Naspinksi Our Imperfect Dog”

591. Shelby Greer “The Life of a Cupcake”

592. Joanna Fuchs Yes! No!”

593. Cecilia L. Goodbody “Tinkle, Tinkle, Little Car”

594. Robert Lewis Stevenson My Shadow”

595. “I Atte a Chili Pepper” by Barbara Vance

596. Snap, Crackle, Pop” by Catherine Pulsifer

597. Ogden Nash “The People Upstairs”

598. Spike Milligan “Granny”

599. Julie Hebert ” Dessert Last”

600. Richard Leavesley “Belly Button Magic”

601. Anonymous “Have You Ever Seen”

602. Laura Elizabeth Richards “Ele telephony”

603. Anonymous “Do You Carrot All For Me?”

604. Darren Sardelli “My Doggy Ate My Essay”

605. Jack Prelutsky “Be Glad Your Nose is On Your Face”

606. Gelett Burgess “My Feet”

607. Inna Renko “Home Alone”

608. Nandita Shailesh Shanbhag Not Smart Enough For a Smart Phone”

LImericks

609. Edwar Lear Sit variorum megrim evacuation

610. Unknown There was a young lady of Niger

611. Judi Van Gorder The parrot was messy and loud.

612. Judi Van Gorder An Irishman came to my city

613. Judi Van Gorder In the flick of an eye she went down.

614. Judi Van Gorder There once was a poet called Tinker

615. Limericks I cannot compose,

616. There was a young woman named Bright,

617. There was an odd fellow named Gus,

618. There once was a fly on the wall

619. There once was a man from Tibet,

620. There was a young woman named Bright,

621. I need a front door for my hall,

622. There once was a boy named Dan,

623. A newspaperman named Fling,

624. I know an old owl named Boo,

625. I once fell in love with a blonde,

626. I’d rather have Fingers than Toes,

627. There was a Young Lady whose chin

628. Hickory Dickory Dock,

629. There was a faith healer of Deal

630. My dog is really quite hip,

631. A painter, who lived in Great Britain,

632. There is a young schoolboy named Mason,

633. There was a young schoolboy of Rye,

634. An elderly man called Keith

635. There was an old man of Peru,

636. The Incredible Wizard of Oz,

637. Once I visited France,

638. It goes quickly, you know,

639. Is it me or the nature of money,

640. There once was a farmer from Leeds

641. A fellow jumped off a high wall,

642. A man and his lady-love, Min,

643. There was a young lady of Cork,

644. There once was a Martian called Zed

645. There once was a girl named Sam

646. Said the man with a wink of his eye

647. A wonderful bird is the Pelican.

648. There was once a great man in Japan

649. There was a young man so benighted

650. There was an old man from Sudan,

651. A maiden at college, Miss Breeze,

652. A canner, exceedingly canny,

653. A mouse in her room woke Miss Dowd

654. There was a young woman named Kite,

655. A flea and a fly in a flue,

656. A major, with wonderful force,

657. A nifty young flapper named Jane

658. “There’s a train at 4:04,” said Miss Jenny.

659. A canny young fisher named Fisher

660. Here’s to the chigger,

661. A cheerful old bear at the Zoo

662. The bottle of perfume that Willie sent

663. I bought a new Hoover today,

664. A crossword compiler named Moss

665. I’m papering walls in the loo

666. There once was an old man of Esser,

667. To compose a sonata today,

668. There was a young lady named Perkins,

669. There was an old man of Nantucket

670. There was a young lady of Kent,

671. There was a young lady named Hannah

672. There was a dear lady of Eden,

673. A certain young fellow named Bee-Bee

674. Remember when nearly sixteen

675. There was an old person of Fratto

676. There was a young man from Dealing

677. As 007 walked by

678. A tutor who tooted the flute

679. No woodsman would cut a wood, would he

680. There once was a man from the sticks

681. A poet whose friends called him Steve

682. If you catch a chinchilla in Chile

683. There once was a man named Mauvette

684. There once was a beautiful nurse

685. There was a young girl from Flynn

686. There once was a man from Gorem

687. Dylan Thomas

688. The Hand that Signed the Paper

689.

690. W. H. Auden

691.

692. 2

866666

693. 8Political Poetry

Dylan Thomas, ‘The Hand That Signed the Paper’

W. H. Auden, ‘Epitaph on a Tyrant’

Audre Lorde, ‘Power’

Maxine Kumin, ‘Woodchucks’

“Bloody Halos and Porcelain Chains” from “The Lie Within The Line” [18+] by Jeremy (704)
“Hidden Bruises” [E] by Sumojo (759)

“Run From the Devil” [18+] by Jayne (1,493)

“Death’s Spell” [E] by DMCarroll (66)

“Light’s Labor Lost” [E] by ChristineB (99)

“Motherhood, Lost ” [13+] by Robin:TheRhymeMaven (211)

Monotetra

Linda Newman Paper Dreams

Michael Walker An Angel Spoke To Me Today

Allan J Wight A Poet On The Launching Pad

Robert Brewster No Chance

Robert Lee Brewer “Waiting for April Showers,”

Jan Turner Spring Eternal

The Senses of Spring Jan Turner

SP Quill Magazine Spring 2006, Vol. #10

Andrea Ditrich A Summer Alouette

Judi Can Gorder Month of August

Linda Varsell Smith Future Possibilities

Linda Varsell Smith Fourth Dimensional Blueprint

Lune

Robert Brewster Trees Never Wander Kelly Lune

Robert Brewster An Envelope Labeled Collum Lune
71. There once was a man from the city

694. 72. There once was a gal from Decatur

695. 73. What happens when you retire?

696. 74. At times I’m so mad that I’m hopping.

697. 75. One Saturday morning at three,

Political Poetry

1. Dylan Thomas, ‘The Hand That Signed the Paper

2. W. H. Auden, ‘Epitaph on a Tyrant’

3. Audre Lorde, ‘Power

4. Maxine Kumin, ‘Woodchucks’

5.
“Bloody Halos and Porcelain Chains”  from “The Lie Within The Line”   [18+] by Jeremy (704)6.
“Hidden Bruises”   [E] by Sumojo (759)7.
“Run From the Devil”   [18+] by Jayne (1,493)8.
“Death’s Spell”   [E] by DMCarroll (66)9.
“Light’s Labor Lost”   [E] by ChristineB (99)

10.
“Motherhood, Lost ” [13+] by Robin:TheRhymeMaven (211)

Monotetra

11. Linda Newman Paper Dreams

12. Michael Walker An Angel Spoke To Me Today

13. Allan J Wight A Poet On The Launching Pad

14. Robert Brewster No Chance

15. Robert Lee Brewer “Waiting for April Showers,”

Aloulette

16. Jan Turner Spring Eternal

17. The Senses of Spring Jan Turner

18. SP Quill Magazine Spring 2006, Vol. #10

19. Andrea Ditrich A Summer Alouette

20. Judi Can Gorder Month of August

21. Linda Varsell Smith Future Possibilities

22. Linda Varsell Smith Fourth Dimensional Blueprint

Lune

23. Robert Brewster Trees Never Wander Kelly Lune

24. Robert Brewster An Envelope Labeled Collum Lune

Writing com

Capuchine Safety Dance

Solang Bring Be Careful Out There

Solang Bring Bermudagrass

Robert Brewer “Semantically Speaking,”

Robert Brewer Full Throated

Donald Justice“There is a gold light in certain old paintings,”

Edgar Allan Poe The Philosophy of Composition

Robert Lee Brewer Property

Robert Lee Brewer What I gained

Pantoum Poems

Natalie E Illum Curious George Can’t Swim
Kiandra Jimenez Halcyon Kitchen
Chip Livingston Punta del Este Pantoum
Donald Justice Pantoum
Pantoum of the Great Depression
Natlie Diaz Hotel Lautréamont
Natlie Diaz My Brother at 3 A.M.
Randall Mann Politics
Randall Mann Pantoum Landing 1976
Evie Shockley pantoum: landing, 1976
Sasha Steensen Pantoum
Hailey Leithauser O she Says Pantoum
Randal Mann Politics Pantoum
Blas Falconer Station Pantoum
AE Stallings Another Lullaby for Insomnias
Another Lullaby for Insomniacs
Linda Varsell Smith Mole Hole Mode
Kiandra Jimenez Halcyon Kitchen
Chip Livingston Punta Del Este Pantoum
Donald Justice Pantoum of the Great Depression
Linda Varsell Smith Mole Hole Mode

John Donne, “The Sun Rising” – Yelling at the sun to go away because his love is more important. Close the curtains, man.

Emily Dickinson, “I Felt a Funeral in My Brain” – Emotional distress is a funeral procession inside her head. A great poem worthy of an awkward “Can I, uh, get you a glass of water or something?”

Pablo Neruda, “Tonight I Can Write the Saddest Lines” – This one is a bit meta since he knows he’s being overwrought, claiming his love was so powerful that even the stars shivered in response.

Richard Brautigan, “Gee, You’re So Beautiful That It’s Starting to Rain” –

David Schnider The Art of Presumption (E)

Lyrette Form

Anonymous lyrette meta poem

Gypsy Blue Rose Sunrise and Sunset Lyrette Poem

Lawrencealot Our Store circa 1949 (Lyrette)-

Pantoum

Chain Haiku

Gypsy Rose Blue Billowing Clouds Chain Haiku

Choka

Yamanoue no Okura When I eat Mellons Choka

Other famous Poems

Edward Lear’s “The Owl and the Pussy-Cat” may seem like whimsical nonsense, but its playful rhymes and surreal imagery also gently mock the seriousness of courtship traditions. Plus, let’s be honest, it takes a bold poet to toss “runcible” around like it meant something.

T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” flirts with the absurd by pairing profound existential musings with questions about eating peaches and rolling one’s trousers. A reasonable exploration if one is both profoundly sad and struggling with fruit logistics.

“Howl” by Allen Ginsberg uses surreal and absurd imagery to critique societal norms, capitalism, and conformity. Moloch is especially absurd, depicting a monstrous deity that consumes individuality. “Moloch whose mind is pure machinery! Moloch whose blood is running money! Moloch whose fingers are ten armies!” Nothing like some Lovecraftian capitalism to keep my nightmares consistent

Richard Brautigan, “Gee, You’re So Beautiful That It’s Starting to Rain” –
John Donne, “The Sun Rising”

Emily Dickinson, “I Felt a Funeral in My Brain” –

Pablo Neruda, “Tonight I Can Write the Saddest Lines”

T.S. Eliot Hollow Man

John Keats Ode to a Nightingale

Langston Hughes I, Too

Langston Hughes Mother To Son .

If

Rudyard Kipling “Is You?” .
Rudyard Kipling IF

Other

Eragon Proofreading Hell

Christine B Demonstration of Proof

Jay O Toole Quality Assurance Each Day

Mandarina Form

Lawrencealot – Do All Deceive? December 19, 2014 (Form: Mandarina)

Tanka

Ono No Komachi The Ink Dark Moon

David Smith ‘Night Pleasures’

Dave Scheider Snowflake

Mrs. Kt Early Spring Rains Thrum

Dendrobia A cool wind blows in Tanka

Can Sonmez Subtle hints of spring Tanka

Cheri Abner Peaceful solitude Tanka

Ono no Komachi (825-900) Tanka –

Tada Chikako A Spray of Water:

June Jordan On Time Tanka –

Princess Nakada I wait for you

Takatoku I Shut My Eyes

Judi Van Gordner Chill of Soundless Night

Dendrobia A cool wind blows in

Can Sonmez Subtle hints of spring

Cheri L. Ahner Peaceful solitude

Ono no Komachi (825-900) Tanka –

Ono No Komachi See how the blossoms

Tada Chikako

A Spray of Water: Tanka

June Jordan On Time Tanka

Marie Summers Celestial Dreams

Marie Summers Seasonal Whispers

Sasha Steensen Pantoum

Chellie Wood Dance In The Rain

Acrostic

Gabriella 2 Masqueraders

Dportwood Rejoice in Life

Dportwood Boots and Spurs

Other

Bandit’s Mama City Sorrow About 9-11

Dr Israel Newman, I Wish

Octain Refrain

Lawrencealot Octain Refrain (Abb aca bA)
Showers Wash the Stars (A bba cab A)
New Year’s Eve (High Octain) (Abb aca bA Abb aca bA)

Octain

Lawrencelot Octawhat?
PK Roy Feeling

David Schneider Adrift WC Poets Place

Herman Melville Art

Occhtfochlach

(Author Unknown) The Ochtfochlach
Fochlach It (Ochtfochlach)
© Lawrencealot – December 4, 2013
Pen Allen Of Allpoetry Sixteen Thirty-Four Door — Double Ochtfochlach

Alliteration Haiku

Be-Bopping Bluebirds In The Birdbath
A Banjo Busker’s Ballad Bobbing In The Breeze
Shooting Star
Rush Hour In The Rain –
Beachside Birds
Long Afternoon

Japan’s 2011 Shake-Up Octodil
Wake-Up Call Octodil

Epistle

Epistles Of St. Paul

Note To Neighbor:

Robert Burns Epistle To A Young Friend,

Horace

Ovid’s Heroides,

Alexander Pope’s Moral Essays

Alexander Pope’s Epistle To Dr. Arbuthnot,

Elizabeth Bishop’s “Letter To N.Y.,”

Langston Hughes’s “Letter,”

Mark Jarman’s Epistles .

Bernadette Mayer’s The Desires Of Mothers To Please Others In Letters

Laynie Browne’s The Desires Of Letters

Elana Bell’s Epistolary Poems, Letter To Palestine,”

Read More Epistolary Poems

Samuel Daniel Letter From Octavia To Marcus Antonius (1599) In

Certain Epistles (1601–1603).

Ben Jonson The Forest (1616),

John Dryden Epistles To Congreve (1694)

Epistles Duchess Of Ormond (1700).

Alexander Pope Eloisa To Abelard” (1717)

And Adapted The Horatian Epistle In His Moral Essays (1731–1735) And

An Epistle To Dr. Arbuhnot (1735).

W. H. Auden/Louis Macneice’s Letters From Iceland (1937).

Richard Hugo 31 Letters And 13 Dreams (1977).

Robert Lowell Elizabeth Hardwick

Ezra Pound’s Li Po, “The River–Merchant’s Wife: A Letter” (1915).

Auden’s “Letter To Lord Byron” (1937),

. Alexander Pope “Epistle To Dr. Arbuthnot,”

Stepanie A Cephas Angel Light (Rhyming) Mirror Sestat Shelley A. Cephas His Pristine Robes (Non-rhyming)

~ Emily Dickinson There is no Frigate like a Book
~ Emily Dickinson Because I could not stop for Death,
~ Emily Dickinson Fame is a bee.

Stepanie A Cephas Angel Light (Rhyming) Mirror Sestat Shelley A. Cephas His Pristine Robes (Non-rhyming)

Good twists are enormously hard to come by, and I think the best ones are earned ones. The idea that a story can take a left turn on you, it’s easy to do, but it has to be done very, very carefully, or else you risk losing the audience’s trust.
-Damon Lindelof

The more secrets and twists in a character, the better.
-Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

Before I start, I trick myself into thinking I know what’s going to happen in the story, but the characters have ideas of their own, and I always go with the character’s choices. Most of the time I discover plot twists and directions that are better than what I originally had planned.

-Neal Shusterman

Edgar Allen Poe The Raven

Samuel T Colleridge ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ by Samuel T. Coleridge
Louis Mac Niece ‘The Sunlight on the Garden’

Edgar Allen Poe ‘Lenore’

Thomas Hood ‘The Double Knock’

David Scheider Writer Stuff

David Scheider Footprints in Time

David Schenider “Snowflake” .

gogyohka

Gypsy Blue Rose Under the blooming Tree

Gypsy Blue Rose you come over me

2 D acrostic

Harambe GO

Harambe Cat

Haarambe DOG
Pookietoo Dog
Julie GI God

Harambe Test

Julie GI Aunt

Tempste Apes
Harambe diet by Tempeste hate
Harry T lead
Terry Riley love
Karen Cherry test
Cupa Tea time
Harambe PUTIN by Harambe:
Wils birth
Tid100 robin

Lana Marie sport
Julia Helms steam Terry Reily Trump

Harambe censor
gothic by Julie Helms **contest #2 winner**
Gloria Hamlet

Terry mother

Tresischel repose
Terry Riley scream
John Cranford spring
Nicki Nance tears
Wils Travel
Lisa May writer

Helvi 2 Flowers
Harambe gorilla
YM Roger magical
Hrambe weather
Karen Cherry winning

Harambe acrostic

Wils harmonic

Dragonskulls challenge
Harambe Democrats by Harambe

Harambe Republicans

Solage

Kathryn Abel It’s so cold
Kathryn Abel Don’t Understand Cricket
Kathryn Abel A Man Without Care
Kathryn Abel Wrote a Line
Kathryn Abel Soaring Too High
David Schenider October Charm

Silly Solage

September 5, 2015 18

I’m a little late with poetry Friday this week… but here ’tis. A quick-grab how-to on the fabulously fun solage. For those of you who like a joke – or know some kids who do.

Foodie one:

Soaring so high
my pie in the sky.
Plomp!

“October’s Charm”

Cherita [b. 22 June 1997]
Gembun [b. 12 June 1997]
Dua [b. 4 March 2022]

*

i get lost again
cherita 96
edited by ai li

*

blue sky
dua anthology 13
edited by ai li

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updates on all forthcoming dua and gembun anthologies
and our exciting the cherita award

For those of you who missed reading ai li’s essay i, storyteller on Cherita, Gembun and Dua on Rhyvers and viewing her You Tube Cherita video interview for The Wise Owl by Neena Singh, for their special issue on Cherita, here are both links again below.

Here are ai li’s You Tube interview link : www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnGmkKKQvqo
and the link for her essay i, storyteller on Cherita, Gembun and Dua
rhyvers.com/hk22/

The full transcripts for both can be found on www.thecherita.com/lectures/ as well on the Rhyvers and The Wise Owl’s websites.

There are now over 4300 views for my Rhyvers essay on Cherita, Gembun and Dua, which appeared on 16 September 2023, with 2600 views the last time I looked, for my You Tube video Cherita interview, which appeared on 30 September 2023, and which The Wise Owl’s Editor Rachna Singh called ‘insightful’.

It is almost a year since I visited Thimphu, Punakha, Gantey, Bumthang and Paro in the Kingdom of Bhutan. I still feel that I left a part of me behind as residual energy, dancing with genius loci under a tall Indian silk tree.

How can I forget struggling to get out of bed at the unearthly hour of 2 am to catch our only flight of the day from New Delhi to Paro. Paro airport is one of the most dangerous airports of the world akin to Hong Kong’s Kai Tak airport which closed in 1998. It is located between Himalayan peaks and deep valleys and rely on only a limited number of highly skilled pilots who are certified to land, particularly in atrocious weather, as they mainly rely on landmarks to land due to limited radar capabilities.

Our amazing Drukair pilots not only got us safely there and back, but gifted us with the jewel of a dawn, and our very first glimpse of Everest on our side of the aircraft. The early morning light was perfect and the flight turbulence free. Saying that it was a spiritual moment for me is an understatement.

my first view, from my window seat, of Sagarmartha [the peak of heaven], its Sanskrit name

Everest holds a special place in my consciousness. My younger nephew David led the very first Singapore expedition to Everest in 1998, and is the author of several motivational books. Shortly after his momentous expedition, he was in a coma for almost two years with Guillain-Barré syndrome. I remember him mentioning to me that he believed he had contracted GBS in Katmandu. His immune system attacked his peripheral nervous system which caused his paralysis and muscle weakness from this rare neurological disorder. If memory serves, he was only able to communicate with his parents with his eye movements.

After his long recovery, he returned to his love of mountaineering and led over 15 more expeditions though disabled in one lower leg from GBS. What he has been through, and the way he re-started both his personal and professional life still leaves me in awe of the indomitability of the human spirit.

One Bhutanese individual also came to mind as I’m writing this month’s newsletter.

In one of the major draughty Paro monasteries, a child monk was bent over his small desk repeating his sutras. I was fully cocooned in fleece from the cold when I saw him with just his prayer robe on. I felt his aloneness. I went over quietly and asked him what he missed most from, and, of home. He looked up at me, and in perfect English, replied that what he missed most was his grandmother cooking her homemade sausages for him every morning for breakfast. We then shared a moment of silent understanding before I apologised for disturbing him, thanked him for speaking with us, and left him to return to his prayers. On my way out of the monastery, I turned around briefly to mentally wish him a long life of learning, freedom from too much suffering, with a hope that his family, particularly his grandmother, would one day be even more proud of him when he emerges as a compassionate and adult Buddhist monk.

It was only when I returned to our lodge and sat by our clear pristine stream under an impossibly clear blue sky that I remembered I had forgotten to ask his name.

I have always believed that Hope finds us, when and if, we really need it most.

*

February 2025 sees the launch of i get lost again, cherita 96 and blue sky, dua Anthology 13.

There are now 96 anthologies of the cherita, and are available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, along with 17 Gembun Anthologies, and 13 Dua Anthologies, with more coming your way.

www.thecherita.com/bookshop/

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i get lost again is our 96th book in the cherita series of storytelling books, with 90 virgin cherita of more timeless stories to hopefully inspire our readers and poets to join our caravanserai of storytellers.

i get lost again showcases 90 fine cherita and cherita terbalik from writers and poets who hail from UK, USA, Singapore, India, Canada and Germany.

i get lost again, currently 96th on the list, belongs to the ongoing the cherita series, as do my personal ongoing writing in one breath series of virgin Cherita, Cherita and Tanka, Cherita and Haiku, and Cherita, Tanka and Haiku books, and lastly my poems for inner rooms series with its 18 Tanka and Haiku books. All these books are available in paperback and kindle on Amazon.

Two of my own books of virgin Gembun, the weight of rain and blank screen, and my two books of Dua, the journey east and dancing shoes, and now arriving nowhere, my first cherita, gembun and dua book, have all been added to my writing in one breath series.

I have edited this book as I have all the other anthologies of the cherita, to be experienced two ways. It can be read as one storybook but also as an anthology of individual poems. Two reading experiences within one book, filled with stories of Life, Love, Loss and Renewal.

cherita terbalik continues to capture the imagination of poets and there are again fine examples in this edition.

Featured Poets as they appear in this anthology :-

ai li/ Joanna Ashwell/ Barun Saha/ Ceri Marriott/ Jan Stretch/ Neena Singh/ Partha Sarkar/ Biswajit Mishra/ C.X. Turner/ Barun Saha/ Daniel W. Brown/ Teri Messmer/ Vidya Premkumar/ Nolcha Mir Fox/ Lisa Ann Sparaco/ Taura Scott/ Ram Chandran/ john zheng/ Isabella Kramer/ Larry Kimmel/ Laughing waters/ Sigrid Saradunn/ Lee Hudspeth/

Six sample virgin Cherita from this anthology :-

young windows
paint the wall
with summer

an old ceiling
hanging
beyond sight

Barun Saha

*

from my deck chair
the softening
colours of the sky

the stillness of the air

the peace
I wish for all

Jan Stretch

*

fallen blossoms

I pause
to listen
for the echo

of familiar
footsteps

Neena Singh

*

my collection
of designer sunglasses

now retirees

trying
to remember
the sun

ai li

*

floating
like mist across the bridge

from her world
to mine
we touch

but only briefly

C.X. Turner

*

this morning
rain

on the field

breathe in, breathe out
the duet
of existence

Daniel W. Brown

the cherita lighthouse has been awarded to the following writers and poets in this anthology for their timeless Cherita :

Jan Stretch/ Neena Singh/ C.X. Turner/ Daniel W. Brown/ Teri Messmer/ Partha Sarkar/ Isabella Kramer/

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blue sky is our dua anthology 13, and it appears alongside i get lost again this month.

https://www.thecherita.com/dua-bookshop/

blue sky, our 13th Dua Anthology with 90 virgin Dua poems, has attracted writers and poets from UK, USA, Singapore, Germany, India and Canada.

I would like to thank all the contributing poets and writers for their patience and hope they will find blue sky a worthy read.

Featured Poets as they appear in this edition:

Pitt Büerken/ Prashanth V/ Ceri Marriott/ ai li/ Richa Sharma/ Vidya Premkumar/ Bryan Rickert/ Jan Stretch/ Allison Douglas-Tourner/ Karina Klesko/ nivy/ Partha Sarkar/

A dua bella has been awarded to the following writers and poets in this edition :

Vidya Premkumar/ Pitt Büerken/ Partha Sarkar/ Allison Douglas-Tourner/ nivy/ Jan Stretch/

Six sample virgin dua from this anthology :-

dipped a toe in the river

now part of the sea

Jan Stretch

*

rainbow-coloured

the smallest umbrella

Richa Sharma

*

a lake

that autumn colours

ai li

*

a rendezvous

with his scent

Karina Klesko

nursery

a bud calls out

nivy

*

the writing on the wall,

was it always there?

Ceri Marriott

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This is the March update on the cherita award :

Someone asked me the other day what a cherita lighthouse was.

These are timeless pieces of cherita that resonate with me, and hopefully with our readers as well, was my answer, and which are worthy of a special award which the cherita lighthouse, as well as a gem and dua bella are, for gembun and dua respectively. These are pieces that can be read in your mind or aloud.

Here are six beautiful virgin Cherita which I awarded the Lighthouse awards to from home for the wind, dream journal and wondering where, three titles from our cherita anthologies collection, to hopefully inspire and guide you to the many possibilities possible with my storytelling genre in 6 lines.

If anyone is seriously considering writing Cherita well, my advice is for you to get hold of a copy of either one or both of our Cherita Award books or any of my own books which will help as reference guides for widening the storytelling scope for creating timeless Cherita.

I hope this cherita will further inspire you, should you decide to submit your virgin cherita for the cherita award? We also now have Joanna Ashwell and Ceri Marriott, our first two Cherita Award recipients, with River Lanterns and soiree, their respective books. Who will be our next Cherita Award poet?

dandelion
wish
hides

in a spider web
waiting

to be blown away

Pat Geyer
from home for the wind
the cherita

*

unfettered

I let
myself go

a red kite’s wings
measure the width
of this loneliness

Debbie Strange
from home for the wind
the cherita

*

a way out

perhaps
or is this

another sliding door
where time jars
between a dream

Joanna Ashwell
from dream journal
the cherita

*

the butterfly

in me
in you

let’s see
where . . .
the breeze takes us

Caroline Skanne
from dream journal
the cherita

*

this time again

I prepare my mind
to study harder

but then
my eyes fell on the world outside,
playing with the wind

Muskaan Ahuja
from wondering where
the cherita

*

searching
for an apple

to curl up in

and
give birth
to the rain

Réka Nyitrai
from wondering where
the cherita

For all new entrants, please be aware that fewer words in your cherita are always more, and to not repeat a subject matter often, unless of course you are able to come to it from a very different angle or perspective, rendering it anew. You want your portfolio to be one of timelessness and wonder, and to avoid a sameyness of subject matter which would inevitably make your portfolio bland and yawn inducing.

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Here’s March 2025’s update on the forthcoming Gembun Anthologies 18-20:

With a bit of luck, Anthology 18 should be the next anthology to appear soon.

Anthology 19 is very nearly there with just a few spots left to fill.

Meanwhile, Anthology 20 is filling up with your timeless gembun.

Do please keep sending in your wonderful gembun stories but be aware that I do not read simultaneous submissions. Please do not send in work you have submitted elsewhere.

The Gembun Anthologies 1 – 17 [snow clouds, evening, paper talisman, windswept rain, deepening night, the old, white flowers, coming home, bedtime story, rain song, ice storm, belonging, the water, dancing silhouette, empty bottles, i remember and just before dark] are now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, thanks to all your amazing enthusiasm and strong faith for, and in this genre.

Careful collating and editing are crucial for each anthology, for it to be a timeless work of short stories in the gembun format.

Meanwhile, if you have written gembun that you consider to be special, please do not hesitate to send them in.

Full details on the link below if you have not, as yet, sent in your Gembun/Gembun Terbalik for consideration.

www.thecherita.com/gembun-anthos/

Fine examples by Larry Kimmel, Joanna Ashwell and myself can be found, along with Gembun’s original guidelines on my personal website www.aili.co.uk/gembun/

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Here too, is March 2025’s update on the other forthcoming Dua Anthologies 14-16 :

Anthology 14 is now complete and wating for me to give it a final proof reading.

Anthology 15 is very nearly there.

Meanwhile Anthology 16 is steadily filling up with more and more of with your timeless dua.

Writing good Dua requires a different mental discipline to Gembun and Cherita but it can be just as good a workout for our brain cells. Your storytelling skills are kept honed when you write all these three unique short form poetry genres. Seriously though, can we resist a challenge to tell our stories in a timeless fashion? I know I can’t. All these three genres challenge me to become a better storyteller in 6, 4 and 2 lines.

All Dua Anthologies 1 – 13 [remembering, I know the way, the light dying, the rain, something rare, all is dark, listening to the ocean, no longer sky, home in rain wildflowers were here, in the room, hammock afternoon and blue sky] are now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle, thanks to all your faith in Dua and your creative flair for telling stories even more minimally than Cherita and Gembun.

Tough editing is essential for each anthology, for it to be a strong and timeless book of minimal stories in the dua format.

You will find full info for this dua and its guidelines on www.thecherita.com/dua
and on www.aili.co.uk/dua

If you have written dua that you consider to be special, please do not hesitate to send them in stories but be aware that I do not read simultaneous submissions. Please do not send in work you have submitted elsewhere.

Full details on the link below if you have not, as yet, sent in your Dua for consideration.

www.thecherita.com/dua

Fine examples by ai li can be found, along with Dua’s original guidelines on my personal website www.aili.co.uk

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NEW SUBMISSION GUIDELINES JANUARY 2025

Please can you now submit all of your submissions in Arial 11 font size, left justified with no italics, and also use our standard submission email for all our genres. This will be in effect as of now.

You will still be required to fill in your hometown/city and country with all submissions [this info is for our files] but only your country will be published in our books from this edition onwards. This will help speed up my proof reading.

There are also no longer any deadlines for submissions which are now on an ongoing basis.

Edition # 8.7 will be the last book numbered this way. From January 2025, all our books will be simply numbered, starting with Cherita 94, Cherita 95, Cherita 96 and so forth. This new numbering style will be incorporated in all the acceptance letters.

from sandalwood dreaming by ai li

rain
has come

to
my night
i step into

the mirror

ai li
from sandalwood dreaming by ai li

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ai li

CHERITA [1 — 2 — 3]
[pronounced CHAIR-rita]

temple bell

through fog
dawn

is still
a
haunting away

from paper flowers by ai li

General Information on the Gembun and Dua Anthologies

All our anthologies have 90 poems within.

In the next few months or so, I will endeavour to launch the finished anthologies which I hope to launch alternating with the dua anthologies, where possible, as you have all been saints with your inspirational patience.

I would also like to profusely thank all the poets whose gembun and dua have been selected for the forthcoming anthologies for being so patient.

My wish, as I have indicated before, is for the both Anthologies to become a fluid and ongoing series for showcasing the best of the Gembun and Dua genres with the gems from your writing. That has not changed.

Gembun and Cherita share the same year of birth and hopefully they will continue to celebrate storytelling with Life, Love, Loss and Renewal into and beyond their third decade.

Dua may not have been around as long as Gembun and Cherita, but it is part and parcel of a storytelling trio which perpetuates the stories of Life, Love, Loss and Renewal.

“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”

Mother Teresa

Stephen King “The secret about writing, is sit down and write.”

Other

Robert Lee Brewer “Comfort Killers,”

Robert Lee Brewer “summer song,

Gypsy Blue Rose Today

Solage

Kathryn Abel It’s so cold
Kathryn Abel Don’t Understand Cricket
Kathryn Abel A Man Without Care
Kathryn Abel Wrote a Line
Kathryn Abel Soaring Too High
David Schenider October Charm

Oddquain

Cynthia Kay ArmstrongAutumn Cynthia Kay Armstrong Hope Cynthia Kay Armstrong Cards Cynthia Kay ArmstrongGlenda L. Hand Change of Seasons (Mirror Oddquain)Glenda L. Hand Celebration (Butterfly Oddquain)Glenda L. Hand At Last I’ve Let Go (Crown Oddquain)

Claire Litchfield Glad
Linda Smith Tidbits Seen Through a Window

Linda Smith Nnibble Dove dark chocolate

JVG They Keep Coming

Gypsy Rose Blue A rose represents

Gypsy Rose Blue wilted rose bouquet

Gypsy Rose Blue roses stand erect

Gypsy Blue Rose under the blooming tree TWO GOGYOHKA EXAMPLE

Gypsy Blue Rose you come over me
Gypsy Blue Rose Roses stand erect

Lawrencealot A piaku
C.W. Bryan a piaku-

Gypsy Blue Rose Today

Stephanie Abney New Born La Pensee
Stephanie Abney Grandkids La pense

Stephanie Abney Freedom

Stephene Abney Ice Cream

Eric Golner Rick form creator’s example

Lawrencealot Captive Form Rick’s 32

John Barr the south China Sea

John Baar Gloria Visits the Fry House

John Baar Chant for a Hurricane

Lee-jae-Young From Blossoms

Rictameter

Jason Wilkins Beauty

Jason Wilkins Satin

Aubrey Steedman Childhood

Judi Van Gorder Listening

Judi Van Gorder Memo To Hotshot

Qoute “The secret about writing, is sit down and write.” – Stephen King

Memento

Emily Romano Gardening The Rose*

Jan Turner *Commemorating The Holiday Of Roses

Graduation By Judi Van Gorder
Holiday At Low Tide By Judi Van Gorder

Payar

Judi Van Gorder Temptation
Lawrencealot Non Pro Se (Form: Payar) –

7-7-7-7

Gypsy Blue Rose Love the Black Widow Spider

Gypsy Blue Rose Today I Wrote a Love Poem for You

Cinquin

Jeanne Cassir’s First Visit to the Ocean

Quotes

Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.~~Robert Frost

Poetry should surprise by a fine excess and not by singularity — it should strike the reader as a wording of his own highest thoughts, and appear almost a remembrance.~~John Keats

Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance.~~Carl Sandburg

Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting that speaks.~~Plutarch

With me poetry has not been a purpose, but a passion.~~Edgar Allan Poe

If you cannot be a poet, be the poem.~~David Carradine

To read a poem is to hear it with our eyes; to hear it is to see it with our ears.~~Octavio Paz

Stephen King “The secret about writing, is sit down and write.”

Nove Otto

Scott J. Alcorn Canebrake WhispersScott J. Alcorn Caribbean Nights

Tybun

Marion Gibson Sowing tyburn

Japanese haiku:

Bachao Old pond

Gypsy Blue Rose Sunday morning light
Lawrencealot We Missed the Dance

Rictameter

Jason Wilkins Beauty

Jason Wilkins Satin

Aubrey Steedman Childhood

Judi Van Gorder Listening

Judi Van Gorder Memo To Hotshot

Robert Brewer

Robert Brewer Better yet

Robert Brewer AI Did Not Write This Poem

1. Robert Lee Brewer The Last Thing

Anonymous She left the porch light on.
Maya Angelo Still I RiseRobert Frost ~ Fire and Ice Rudyard Kipling If

Lai

Mike Montreuil March 2026

Judi Van Gorder Aliens

The Perseids
Crowning a Fairy
Staying In

Trimeric Poem

Robert Lee Brewer About Superheroes,

Judi Van Gorder Customer Service

Alan J Wright Inkblock

Linda Versa Smith Crows and Ravens

1st Place ~ “Gone Things” by

2nd Place ~ “Lost in One’s Own Mind” by

3rd Place ~ “Crossing Sevens” by

HM ~ “Pad Thai ผัดไทย” by (941)

HM ~ “Taps For Claire” by (3,180)

HM ~ “Hello Memories — Goodbye, Immutable ” by

Acrostic monorhyme

Bianca More for the fun, than for the need

La Pensee

Stephanie Abney New Born
Stephanie Abbey Grandkids

Stephanie Abbie Freedom

Stephanie Abbey Ice Cream

Fan Story Review

Tikok Poem: The Moon Rises Slowly Above The Still Sea

Epic Epitat

Merv Griffin: “I Will Not Be Right Back After This Message.”
John Yeast: “Here Lies Johnny Yeast. Pardon Me For Not Rising.”
Jane Doe: “Just Close Your Eyes And You Will See

Sparrowlet

Judi Van Gorder Lets Talk

Ron Rowland Facing The Storm

Katheen Sparrow Deer In Winter

Estonian Haiku

Jürgen Rooste Nordic Walk

Author unknown, In complete darkness we are all the same.

JD Gorder Dance with Wind

Linda Versa Smith new techno gizmos

Cascade

Judi Van Gorder Vote
Udit Bhatia Cascade Poem

Cascade Anxious Inquiry

Quotes to Ponder

Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.~~Neale Donald Walsh

If we’re growing, we’re always going to be out of our comfort zone.~~John C. Maxwell

You will never improve in life if you’re always living on easy street. Strength and progress can be gained if only you just step outside of your comfort zone.~~Dee Waldeck

Sometimes we have to step out of our comfort zones. We have to break the rules. And we have to discover the sensuality of fear. We need to face it, challenge it, dance with it.~~Kyra Davis

As you move outside of your comfort zone, what was once the unknown and frightening becomes your new normal.~~Robin Sharma

If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done.~~Thomas Jefferson

Quotes to Ponder

Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.~~Neale Donald Walsh

If we’re growing, we’re always going to be out of our comfort zone.~~John C. Maxwell

You will never improve in life if you’re always living on easy street. Strength and progress can be gained if only you just step outside of your comfort zone.~~Dee Waldeck

Sometimes we have to step out of our comfort zones. We have to break the rules. And we have to discover the sensuality of fear. We need to face it, challenge it, dance with it.~~Kyra Davis

As you move outside of your comfort zone, what was once the unknown and frightening becomes your new normal.~~Robin Sharma

If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done.~~Thomas Jefferson

“A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”

At Christmas, all roads lead home.~~Marjorie Holmes“It’s not what’s under the Christmas tree that matters, it’s who’s around it.~~Charlie BrownChristmas will always be as long as we stand heart to heart and hand in hand.~~Dr. Seuss

Lotus Tasseri Scribblings

Lancelot Backyard

Fan Story review

Annoymous be here for a while
Annoymous beautiful butterflies
John Crawford My Wee Abode
Pearl Edwards Nature’s Recycler’s
Evelinne a Fan Story Halloween
Cecilia A Heiskary Ghoul’s Night Out
Rama Devi Meditation
Cecilia Hesikary
Private Face
Debbie D’Arcy Mary Shelley
Debbie D’Arcy Lord Bryon
Debbie D’Arcy Volodymyr Zelensky
Karen Cherry Common Sense for Seniors 337-348
Rick Gardner Innocent of Guilty
Harry Craft A Kangaroo from Baraboo
Nicki B Robin Williams
Harry Craft, the Cell Phone
Estory In this Autumn Time
Cecilia a Heiskary Watcher at the Window
Cecilia A Heiskary Panda
Janet Foor God’s Back Yard
Mrs Anna Howard: Difficult Decisions
Harambe iz ur Daddy rejected
Sally Law, Blood Moon and Blood Rain
Robert Lukeman Life – A Marriane Poem
Pam Lonsdale Descent
Kentucky Sweet Pea My Dogma
Debbie Pick Marquette Thelma and Louise
Debbie Pick Marquette Finding the Bright Side
Debbie Pick Marquette March
Debi Pick Marquette My Bedroom Window
Debi Pick Marquette, Happy St Patrick’s Day
Debbie Pick Marquette The Need to Share
Nancy Jam Love in the w
jacquelyn popp Mom’s Love
Jaquelyn Poop Living the Dream, No Thank You
Iraven Prayers for Eva
Pam Respa Humanity
Pam Respa, Renowned Violinist
Pamusart I am Helpless
Pamusart Colorful world
Pamusart the Kidnapping
Pamusart the Kidnapping Chapter Two
Pamusart Sturdy Roots
Pamusart Your Golden Aura
Pamusart The Sword
Pamusart The Planet Earth
Barry Penfold Slow Dance with You
Pam Respa Humanity
Sanku the Woods
Stacy MS Vanishing Points
YM Roger Always For Now
Fan Story Review
Debbie D’ Arcy Bee Gees
Debbie D’Arcy Shotgun Willie Nelson
Janet Floor Daybreak
Anna Howard How to Move On
Nicki Nance Emotional Support
Pamusart On Finding Peace
Pamusart Jean Marie Lane
Pamusart the Empty Notebook
Winter Bard Ode to Night
Rachael Allen Proud to Be His Daugther
Rick Gardner Wishes to Have
Cecilia A Heiskary Sumatran Orangutan
Cecilia A Heiskary Guiana Red-Face Monkey
Dolly’s Poems the Witching Hour
Kapot Swimming in Pain
Debbie Pick Marquette Men are From Mars, Women from Venus
Miss Merrie This Love
Nancyjam the meadow
Gypsy Blue Rose Billowing Clouds
Pamusart The Kidnapping Chapter 3
Tea for Two It was the Shoes
Tea for Two Wordsmiths with Big Faces
Anonymous Today
Anonymous Cougar on the Prowl
Anonymous Cougar on the Prowl
Debbie D’Arcy Mary Shelley
Cecilia, a Heiskary Watcher at the Window
Cecilia Heiskary Janguars
Cecilia A Heiskary Insane
Anonymous I am Fire
Anonymous Ode to My Scrunchies
Anonymous Wildfire Naani
Anonymous – A Tick A Tock
Anonymous – To Shelter Feathered Songs
Anonymous Even the Odds contest Carl Sanberg
Anonymous Nonesense
Anonymous Female Strength in Nature
Anonymous Loon
Anonymous – Owl on the Hunt
Anonymous the Wild Side
Patrick Bernady Her Rage
Jamison Brown Before the Wind Calls
lJbutterfly Prayer for Debbie Pick Marquette
Debbie D’Arcy Anne Frank
Debie D’arcy James Baldwin
Debbie D’Arcy – Jimmy Carter
Harry Craft I Was a Spy
Harry Craft What Happened to the Word Groovy
Harry Craft What Does Freedom Mean to You?
Harry Craft – Peace
John Crawford Rudyard Kipling
Donald Saacca Forever friends
Donaldandvicki – Tender Trap
Rick Gardner the Sun, the Desert, the One
Douglas Goff – Perspective
Dolly Poems Granite Island
Elias Noor The Whispher of Time
Finback Never
Finback When Shadows Creep
Gypsey Rose Blue Gardens of Delight
Cecilia a Heikary Bobcat
Cecila Heiskary – Brown Bear
Cecilia A Hiskary Horses
Ceclia A Heiskary The Magic
Cecilia A Heiskary – Night Life
Cecila Heiskary – Snow
Christy 710 – Happy New Year from Aus
Marylyn Hamilton Darkness Descends
Marylyn Hamilton He Waits
Marylyn Hamilton Winging It
Tom Hormoz A Griever’s Prayer
Tom Horonzy Rumpelstilskin Unleashed
Kaput howling at Moon Haiku
Kt Silent Dancers
KT Shades of Blue –
Mrs KTEnding Pain’s Servitude
5 fish JM Jenca
Debbie Pick Marquette Believe in Miracles
Debi Pick Marquette My Cornea Disease
Debbie Pick Marquette – Keeping Gypsy in Prayers
Debbie Pick Marquette – My Lifetime
Debbie Pick Marquette Romance on the Beach
Me and Erin G – Long Gone Away
Lana Marie Hairy Nipple
Paul McFarland January
JUMBO 1 Shame
Pam (respa) Black History Month
Tea for Two Eclectic Wordsmiths
Ean Black I Write
Richard Frohm Dreams
KiwiSteveh Sudden Tears
Lana Marie The Dash Between
Pamusart – The Kirby Part 1
Pamusart – The Kirby Part 2
Pamusart – The Kirby Part 3
Pamusart – The Kirby Part 4
Pamusart – The Kirby Case Part 5
Pamusart – The Kirby Case Part 6
Pamusart – The Kirby Case Part 7
Pamusart – The Kirby Case Part 8
Pamusart Rembering the Past
Pamusart Old Man at the River
Pamusart The Great Apes
Pamusart cooing doves
Pamusart Exploding Star
Pamusart Purple Flowers Wake
Pamusart the Search
Pamusart On Finding Peace
Pamusart Jean Marie Lane
Pamusart the cavesweet
Pamusart Independence
Pamusart the Broken Man
Lea Tonin – Famitree Flames
Lea Tonin1 – Humiston
Lea Toni1 – Mansion
Lea Toni1 – The Meet
Alexandra Trovato A Monster Schemes Under Your Bed
Alexandra Trovato A Timely Trump Limerick
Willie P Smith – Sleigh Ride
Willie P Smith – Walk with Me
Teafor2 – Last Night of the Year
Jessica Wheller – Waking Daisy
Jessica Wheller – January Wind
Nicki Nance Emotional Support
Cecilia A Heiskary Daffodils
Cecila A Heiskary Jaguaurs
Cecila A Heiskary Insane
Cecilia A Heiskary Insane
Cecilia Heiskary Daffodils
Debbie D’arcy Rest
Annonymous Golden Years
Anonymous AI Future
D’Arcy Rest
Cecilia A Heiskary Jagaurs
Cecilia A Heiskary Insane
Gyspy Rose blue Geologist Waka
Annoymous AI Future
Annoymous Tiny Puppy
Karen Cherry Common Sense for Seniors 337-348
Rick Gardner Innocent of Guilty

Harry Craft A Kangaroo from Baraboo
Nancyjam Love in the winter
Debbie Pick Marquette Finding the Bright Side
Debbie Pick Marquette March
Pamusart The Sword
Pamusart The Planet Earth
Barry Penfold Slow Dance with You
YM Roger Always For Now
Arabellesom Mom Truest Love Ever Known
Debbie D’Arcy Lord Bryon
Nicki B Robin Williams
Harry Craft the Cell Phone
Estory in this Autumn Time
Mrs Anna Howard Difficult Decisions
Debbie Pick Marquette Thelma and Louise
Pamusart Your Golden Aura
Rachell Allen Public Face/Private Face
Anonymous Today
Rachael Allen Exceptional Teacher
Debbie D’Arcy Voldymyr Zelensky
Kentucky Sweet Pea My Dogma
Pamusart The Kidnapping
Pamusart the Kidnapping Chapter Two
Pam Respa Rennoved Violinst
Rachael Allen Proud to Be His Daugther
Rick Gardner Wishes to Have
Cecilia A Heiskary Sumatran Orangutan
Cecilia A Heiskary Guiana Red-Face Monkey
Dolly’s Poems the Witching Hour
Kapot Swimming in Pain
Debbie Pick Marquette Men are from Mars, Women from Venus
Miss Merrie This Love
Nancyjam the Meadow
Gypsy Blue Rose Billowing Clouds
Pamusart the Kidnapping Chapter 3
Pamusart Colorful world
Pamusart the World Around Lavenders
Annoymous Maladorous
Tea for Two It Was the Shoes
Tea for Two Wordsmith with Big Faces
Iraven Prayers for Eva
Sally Law Blood Moon and Blood Rain
Jaquelyn Poop Living the Dream, No Thank You
Debi Pick Marquette My Bedroom Window
Debi Pick Marquette Happy St Patrick’s Birthday
Debi Pick Marquette My Bedroom Window
Debi Pick Marquette Happy St Patrick’s Birthday
Rven Prayers for Eva
Jennifer Secret Rendezvous
Sally Law’s Blood Moon and Blood Rain
Jaquelyn Poop Living the Dream, No Thank You
Sanku A New Day
Aiona I Am Photine
Annyomous Too Many Boyfriends For This Is Serious
Annyomous Cary Hope
Annyomous Cicada Watch
Annyomous Ned the Postman
Brad Bennett I Saw A Man Walking Crying
Carasdreams Betrayal
Cullen Bob I Just Want To Leave Things Be
Chris Davies Irish
Iza Dealeanu The Wandering Queen
Dolly’s Poems Graveyard Shift
Cecilia A Heiskary Fun Time
Rick Gardner April Is Today And The Next Day
Brenda Strauser Early Signs Of Spring
Alexandra Trovato Real Love
Rachell Allen’s Perception Of Time
Dolly’s Poems Speak Up: A Sonnet
Jim Vechio The House Of The Raison Bun
Stu Harrel Columbus Calls To Me
Pam Respa Delicate Blossoms
Gypsy Blue Rose The The Treasure Inside
Rsport Daunting Chasm
Debbie Pick Marquette Regina’s Birthday
Jessizero In Memoriam
Roy Owen Love’s Measure
JLR DO Over
Ricahrd E Parkison Life in an Hourglass
Jamison Brown The Declaration Then and Now
Rama Devi writing rhymes
Rama Devi Extinction
Stoncosos1 Sunset Sleeps
Richard E Parkison Life In an Hourglass
Lancellot An Old Man’s Folly
Clockwise Grief in Gray
Cecillia A Heiskary The Forest
Miss Merri Out of the Winter
Jim Wille Streaming Woe
Jim Wille Trolling the Bureaucrats
Anonymous My Guiding Light
Anonymous Shingles
Beth Shelby Spring Sonnet
Harry Croft A Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer
Dolly’s Poem Bee Business
Dolly’s Poem: Life is Short
Dolly’s Poems Contemp of Youth
Dolly’s Poem: The Arabian Sea
Dolly’s Poem: Shadows Lurk Sonnet
Dolly’s Poems: He Changed
Pearl Edwards Lavender Mist
Pearl Edwards I Remember When
Evilynne, Do You Remember Me
Gypsy Rose Blue When I Look At You
Marylyn Hamilton Monday Mona Lisa
Harmony 13 Before You Speak
Kahpot Misplace Bravery
Kahpot Rain
Cecilia A Heiskary
Shelly Kaye The Forest is Watching
Pookietoo, I Felt Lost
Penofire Dreams
Poem Lover Story Time
Mrs Kt, When Faith is Tested
Samandlancelot Unexpected Outcome
Jessica Wheller Called
Lo Anne Beery, Finally I See Her
Dazed and Confused The Witch’s Jar
Phil Doran Andalusia A Lachesis Poem
Debbie Pick Marquette A Butterfly’s Birthday
Richard Frohm’s Out Last Flight
Jessizero My Lost Love
Beth Shelby Desire for Life’s Best
Zanya Searching
Anonymous Grandkid’s Treasure Chest
Anonymous Aging
Carol Clark First Look
Harambe iz ur Daddy Go Pro
Marlyn Hamilton Dreaming
Ceilia Heiskarry Sneer
Ceilia Heiskarry Harpy Eagle
Debi Pick Marquette
Mintybee Our Silence is Full
Rami Devi Forest Songs and Dances
Brenda Strauser Scavenger Hunt
Alexandra Trovato: Emotions and Writing
Jessica Wheller Witness
Yardier No Reason Why
Anonymous the Serpent’s Kiss
Lo Ann Berry About Me
Blossom Chime Mondays Should be Illegal
Cecilia A Heiskary My Angel Dog
Cecilia A Heiskary Fall’s Coming
Cecilia A Heiskary Venus Fly Trap
Mrs Anna Howard Longing
Dazed and Confused Blooming in the Night
Hitcher Whisphered Words
Rama Devi Book Mirrors
Brenda Straser Tricky Squirell
Jim Wile Goat Yoga
Lo Ann Berry Answers
Jumbo Internal Examination
Mrs KT along the lakeshore
Debbie Pick Marquette Auto-immune Family reunion
Dragon poet feeding faith

349. Alexandra Trovato, Answers

Jamison Brown changes
Anonymous A Season In Love
Anonymous If You Cut Us, Do We Not Bleed?
Amy Lynn Child, Mom, and Young Grandmother
Amy Lynn Her Wish
Karenina Emilyn’s Dream
Debbie Pick Marquette Patch and Ruby Become Famous
Debbie Pick Marquette, I see a Dove
Pam Respa Nature’s harmony
Hitcher Queen of the Damn
Debbie Pick Marquette Assassinate
Reso22 Paint Pour
Resso Writer’s Right
Teafor2 Unforgettable and Unforgivable
Annyomous the dead
Christmas candy. (found on Google – author unknown)

366. Philip Doran Sepia

Gypsy Blue Rose the Monster Among US
Pearl Edwards Peace in the Mase minute poem
Evilyne, that Magic Moment
Ready to Fly, Hilda the Name
Marlyn Hamilton Fan Story
Cecilia A. Hesikary Halloween Crew
Cecilia A. Hesikary, the Maze
Kahlani Where Serenity Lives
Kahlani, a Harvest Moon
Khapot Acrostic
Debbie Pick Marquette Happy Birthday, Bill
Tea for the Last two
Alexandra Trovato, the Porch Swing
Alexandra Trovato Peace On Earth
Debbie Pick Marquette A Birthday for Debora Dey
Lancelot Inside Her Room
Harmony 13 Getting Through This Life
Iyenocka True Loyalty
Tea for Two Individually and Collectively
Cedar A birthday Tribute to Cedar
Janet Floor Melancholy Day
Mrs Kt To Dance Among the Maple Tees
Sally Law Just the Way You Are
Debbie Pick Marquette My Life in Rhyme
Sammielwf Life on a Potao Farm In Main
Anonymous Never Again
Mrs KT On a Winter’s Morning
Nommi 1331 Ebenezer’s Awakening
Sammielwf the Forgotten
Anonymous Asleep
Anonymous Supergirl
Walt Brown Water, Friend Or Foe
Debbie Pick Marquette Sally And Jack’s 50th
Mrs Anna Howar American Moon
Sammielwf My Aunt Angelina
Alexandra Trovato Animal Court
Themarfbard_Michael Hospice Heroine
L Raven Merry Christmas All
Cogiator Touched By Angel
Cecilia A Heiskrary Angel Dog
Cecilia A Heiskrary Happy Birthday Eean
Debbie Pick Marquette Happy Birthday Kylie

David Scheider

David Schnider Footprints in Time

Did Schinder Soldiers

David Schinder Together Forever

David Schinder The all Mighty Threasher Pantoum

Sonnet

Starkafi Romantic Interlude
Shakespear Sonnet for a Poet Grieving

Torque Poems

,Lawrencealot Anxious (Torque)
Michael Romani September 11, 2018 Big and Vicious

Tea Cup Poems

Sheley Keyes ILLUMINATION (5 syllables)
Sheley Keyes Chatoyant (3
Sheley Keyes Poetry (3
Sheley Keyes Fuddy-duddy (4)
Christmas Angel

The White Book Poems by Han Kang

Spring

Door

Swadlling Bands

Newborn Gown

Moon Shape Rice Cake

Fog

White City

Certain Objects

The Direction of the Light

Breast Milk

She

Candle

She

Rime

Frost

Wings

Fist

Snow

Snow Flakes

Perpetual Snow

Wave

Sleet

White Dog

Blizzard

Ashes

Salt

Moon

Lace Curtain

Breath Cloud

White Bird

Hankerchief

Milky Wave

Laughing Whitely

Yulan

Small White Pills

Sugar Cubes

Lights

A Thousand Points of Silver

Glittering

White Pebble

White Bone

Sand

White Hair

Clouds

Incandescent Bulb

White Nights

Island of Light

Black Writing Through White paper

Scattering

TO the Stillness

Bondary

Reedbed

White Butterfly

Spirit

Rice Raw and Cook

All Whiteness

Your Eyes

Shroud

Onni

Like a Clutch of Words Strewn Over White Petals

Morning robes

Smoke

Silence

Lower Teeth

Parting

All Whiteness

Korean Literature of Washington

End Poetry

Begin Harvard Classics

Harvard Classics

The volumes are:

Bolded read

(1) Franklin, Woolman, Penn

(2) Plato, Epictetus,

Marcus, Aurelius Meditations

(3) Bacon,

Milton’s Prose,

Thomas Browne

(4) Complete Poems in English: Milton

(5) Essays and English Traits: Emerson (

6) Poems and Songs: Burns (7)

Confessions of St. Augustine. Imitation of Christ

(8) Nine Greek Dramas (9)

Letters and Treatises of Cicero

Pliny

(10) Wealth of Nations: Adam Smith

(11) Origin of Species: Darwin

(12) Plutarch’s Lives (13)

Aeneid Virgil (14)

Don Quixote Part 1: Cervantes

(15) Pilgrim’s Progress. Donne

Herbert. Bunyan, Walton

(16) The Thousand and One Night

(17) Folk-Lore and Fable. Aesop, Grimm,

Andersen

Hans Christian Anderson’s Fairy Tales

(18) Modern English Drama

(19) Faust,

Egmont Etc.

Doctor Faustus,

Goethe,

Marlowe

(20) The Divine Comedy: Dante

(21) I Promessi

Sposi,

Manzoni

(22) The Odyssey: Homer

(23) Two Years Before Mast. Dana

(24) On the Sublime French Revolution Etc. Burke

(25) Autobiography Etc. Essays and Addresses: J.S. Mill,

Carlyle

(26) Continental Drama

(27) English Essays: Sidney to Macaulay

(28) Essays. English and American

(29) Voyage of the Beagle: Darwin (

30) Faraday,

Helmholtz,

Kelvin,

Newcomb,

Geikie

(31) Autobiography: Benvenuto, Cellini

(32) Literary and Philosophical Essays:

Montaigne,

Sainte Beuve,

Renan,

Lessing,

Schiller,

Kant,

Mazzini

(33) Voyages and Travels

(34) Descartes,

Voltaire,

Rousseau,

Hobbes

(35) Chronicle and Romance:

Froissart,

Malory,

Holinshed (36)

Machiavelli, the Prince

More,

Luther

(37) Locke,

Berkeley,

Hume

(38) Harvey,

Jenner,

Lister,

Pasteur

(39) Famous Prefaces

(40) English Poetry 1: Chaucer to Gray

(41) English Poetry 2: Collins to Fitzgerald

(42) English Poetry 3: Tennyson to Whitman

(43) American Historical Documents

Federalist Papers

Constitution

Bill of Rights

Declaration of Indepedence

(44) Sacred Writings 1

(45) Sacred Writings 2

The Bible

The Quaran

The Analect of Confucius

Mencius

Buddist Writing

Bhaga Vita

Lao Tzo The Tao

(46) Elizabethan Drama 1

(47) Elizabethan Drama 2

(48) Thoughts and Minor Works: Pascal

(49) Epic and Saga (

50) Introduction, Readers Guide,

50 Books to Read Before You Die

Vol 1 starts with Volume One

Alcott, Louisa May: Little Women
Austen, Jane: Pride and Prejudice
Austen, Jane: Emma
Balzac, Honoré de: Father Goriot
Barbusse, Henri: The Inferno
Brontë, Anne: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Brontë, Charlotte: Jane Eyre
Brontë, Emily: Wuthering Heights
Burroughs, Edgar Rice: Tarzan of the Apes
Butler, Samuel: The Way of All Flesh
Carroll, Lewis: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Cather, Willa: My Ántonia
Cervantes, Miguel de: Don Quixote
Chopin, Kate: The Awakening
Cleland, John: Fanny Hill
Collins, Wilkie: The Moonstone
Conrad, Joseph: Heart of Darkness
Conrad, Joseph: Nostromo
Cooper, James Fenimore: The Last of the Mohicans
Crane, Stephen: The Red Badge of Courage
Cummings, E. E.: The Enormous Room
Defoe, Daniel: Robinson Crusoe
Defoe, Daniel: Moll Flanders
Dickens, Charles: Bleak House
Dickens, Charles: Great Expectations
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor: Crime and Punishment
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor: The Idiot
Doyle, Arthur Conan: The Hound of the Baskervilles
Dreiser, Theodore: Sister Carrie
Dumas, Alexandre: The Three Musketeers
Dumas, Alexandre: The Count of Monte Cristo
Eliot, George: Middlemarch
Fielding, Henry: Tom Jones
Flaubert, Gustave: Madame Bovary
Flaubert, Gustave: Sentimental Education
Ford, Ford Madox: The Good Soldier
Forster, E. M.: A Room With a View
Forster, E. M.: Howard End
Gaskell, Elizabeth: North and South
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von: The Sorrows of Young Werther
Gogol, Nikolai: Dead Souls
Gorky, Maxim: The Mother
Haggard, H. Rider: King Solomon’s Mines
Hardy, Thomas: Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Hawthorne, Nathaniel: The Scarlet Letter
Homer: The Odyssey
Hugo, Victor: The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Hugo, Victor: Les Misérables
Huxley, Aldous: Crome Yellow
James, Henry: The Portrait of a Lady

Volume 2

– Little Women [Louisa May Alcott]
– Sense and Sensibility [Jane Austen]
– Peter Pan (Peter and Wendy) [J.M. Barrie]
– Cabin Fever [ B. M. Bower]
– The Secret Garden [Frances Hodgson Burnett]
– A Little Princess [Frances Hodgson Burnett]
– Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland [Lewis Carroll]
– The King in Yellow [Robert William Chambers]
– The Man Who Knew Too Much [Gilbert Keith Chesterton]
– The Woman in White [Wilkie Collins]
– The Most Dangerous Game [Richard Connell]
– Robinson Crusoe [Daniel Defoe]
– On the Origin of Species, 6th Edition [Charles Darwin]
– The Iron Woman [Margaret Deland]
– David Copperfield [Charles Dickens]
– Oliver Twist [Charles Dickens]
– A Tale of Two Cities [Charles Dickens]
– The Double [Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky]
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes [Arthur Conan Doyle]
– The Curious Case of Benjamin Button [Francis Scott Fitzgerald]
– A Room with a View [E. M. Forster]
– Dream Psychology [Sigmund Freud]
– Tess of the d’Urbervilles [Thomas Hardy]
– Siddhartha [Hermann Hesse]
– Dubliners [James Joyce]
– The Fall of the House of Usher [Edgar Allan Poe]
– The Arabian Nights [Andrew Lang]
– The Sea Wolf [Jack London]
– The Call of Cthulhu [Howard Phillips Lovecraft]
– Anne of Green Gables [Lucy Maud Montgomery]
– Beyond Good and Evil [Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche]
– The Murders in the Rue Morgue [Edgar Allan Poe]
– The Black Cat [Edgar Allan Poe]
– The Raven [Edgar Allan Poe]
– Swann’s Way [Marcel Proust]
– Romeo and Juliet [William Shakespeare]
– Treasure Island [Robert Louis Stevenson]
– The Elements of Style [William Strunk Jr.

Vol 3 finished keeping for the historical record

This book contains the following works arranged alphabetically by authors’ last names.

Starting with volume 3 then will go back and do volumes one, two, and the Harvard classics. The goal is to finish all of these by the end of next year. I almost finished Volume One. Will do some of the WC reading books as well.

– What’s Bred in the Bone [Grant Allen]
– The Golden Ass [Lucius Apuleius]
– Meditations [Marcus Aurelius]
– Northanger Abbey [Jane Austen]
– Lady Susan [Jane Austen]
– The Wonderful Wizard of Oz [Lyman Frank Baum]
– The Art of Public Speaking [Dale Breckenridge Carnegie]
– The Blazing World [Margaret Cavendish]
– The Wisdom of Father Brown [Gilbert Keith Chesterton]
– Heretics [Gilbert Keith Chesterton]
– The Donnington Affair [Gilbert Keith Chesterton]
– The Innocence of Father Brown [Gilbert Keith Chesterton]
– Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [John Cleland]
– The Moonstone [Wilkie Collins]
– Lord Jim [Joseph Conrad]
– The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe [Daniel Defoe]
– The Pickwick Papers [Charles Dickens]
– A Christmas Carol [Charles Dickens]
– Notes From The Underground [Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky]
– The Gambler par Fyodor [Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky]
– The Lost World [Arthur Conan Doyle]
– The Hound of the Baskervilles [Arthur Conan Doyle]
– The Sign of the Four [Arthur Conan Doyle]
– The Man in the Iron Mask [Alexandre Dumas]
– The Three Musketeers [Alexandre Dumas]
– This Side of Paradise [Francis Scott Fitzgerald]
– Curious, If True: Strange Tales [Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell]
– King Solomon’s Mines [Henry Rider Haggard]
– The Hunchback of Notre Dame [Victor Hugo]
– Kim [Rudyard Kipling]
– Captain Courageous [Rudyard Kipling]
– The Jungle Book [Rudyard Kipling]
– Lady Chatterley’s Lover [David Herbert Lawrence]
– The Son of the Wolf [Jack London]
– The Einstein Theory of Relativity [Hendrik Antoon Lorentz]
– The Dunwich Horror [Howard Phillips Lovecraft]
– At the Mountains of Madness [Howard Phillips Lovecraft]
– The Prince [Niccolò Machiavelli]
– The Story Girl [Lucy Maud Montgomery]
– The Antichrist [Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche]
– The Republic [Plato]
– The Last Man [Mary Shelley]
– Life On The Mississippi [Mark Twain]
– The Kama Sutra [Vatsyayana]
– In the Year 2889 [Jules Verne]
– Around the World in Eighty Days [Jules Verne]
– Four Just Men [Edgar Wallace]
– Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ [Lewis Wallace]
– Jacob’s Room [Virginia Woolf]

Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2025

Caroline M Yanchen We Would Teach You How To Read.

Rachale Swirsky The Cat

Olivia Blake, The Audit.

Keji Johnson. Country Birds.

Tatiya Oberb Flock Them Kids.

SI Huaag, The River Judge

.Charlie. Saint George. The Weight Of Your Own Ashes.

Xavier Garcia An Ode To The.Minor Arcana in a Tripple Flow

Kathryin Ross. The Forgotten Room.

Dominique Dickey, Look At The Moon.

Isabel Kim, Why Don’t We Just Kill The Kid?

Jennifer Hudock, The Witch Trap.

Susan Palwick Yarns.

Pemmie Aguda The Wonders Of The World

TJ Klune Reduce, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Tannarive Due A Stranger Knocks?

Thomas Hardy, The Sort.

Russell Nichols What Happened To The Crooners? Adam Troy Castro, The 3420 Third Laws Of Robotics.

Joe Hill Ushers.

Sci-Fi short stories

The Big Book of Science Fiction is a massive anthology of science fiction stories edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer. It covers the history and evolution of the genre from the early 20th century to the end of the millennium, featuring works from over 30 countries and many languages. The book contains 105 stories, ranging from classics by H.G. Wells, Arthur C. Clarke, and Ursula K. Le Guin, to lesser-known gems by W.E.B. Du Bois, David R. Bunch, and Liu Cixin. The book also includes comments from the editors and the authors, offering insights into their creative process and vision. The book is divided into 11 sections, each with a thematic focus and chronological order.

Here is the table of contents for the book1:

Goal read one to five per week alternating with Kindle classics and reading poetry collections finish by end of the year

Introduction: Ann and Jeff VanderMeer

The Lens of Time: Science Fiction as a Way of Seeing

H.G. Wells: “The Star” (1897)

Lu Xun: “The New Overworld” (1902)

Sultana’s Dream: Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1905)

Albert Robida: “The Triumph of Mechanics” (1908)

Miguel de Unamuno: “Mechanopolis” (1913)

W.E.B. Du Bois: “The Comet” (1920)

Claude Farrère: “The Fate of the Poseidonia” (1923)

Edmond Hamilton: “The Star Stealers” (1929)

David H. Keller: “The Lost Language” (1934)

Stanislaw Lem: “Solaris” (1961) excerpt

Jorge Luis Borges: “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” (1940)

Cixin Liu: “The Poetry Cloud” (1997)

Invasions

Edgar Rice Burroughs: “A Princess of Mars” (1912) excerpt

Leslie F. Stone: “The Conquest of Gola” (1931)

Stanley G. Weinbaum: “A Martian Odyssey” (1934)

John W. Campbell Jr.: “Who Goes There?” (1938)

Ray Bradbury: “Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed” (1949)

Katherine MacLean: “Pictures Don’t Lie” (1951)

William Tenn: “The Liberation of Earth” (1953)

J.G. Ballard: “The Voices of Time” (1960)

Dino Buzzati: “Catastrophe” (1966)

James Tiptree Jr.: “And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill’s Side” (1972)

Joanna Russ: “When It Changed” (1972)

Arkady & Boris Strugatsky: “The Spontaneous Reflex” (1973) excerpt

Octavia Butler: “Bloodchild” (1984)

James Patrick Kelly: “Think Like a Dinosaur” (1995)

Monsters

H.P. Lovecraft: “The Dunwich Horror” (1929)

Ray Bradbury: “The Foghorn” (1951)

Jerome Bixby: “It’s a Good Life” (1953)

Julio Cortázar: “Axolotl” (1956)

J.G. Ballard: “The Drowned Giant” (1964)

R.A. Lafferty: “Nine Hundred Grandmothers” (1966)

Terry Carr: “The Dance of the Changer and the Three” (1968)

Harlan Ellison®: “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” (1967)

Lisa Tuttle & George R.R. Martin: “The Storms of Windhaven” (1975)

John Varley: “Air Raid” (1977)

William Gibson: “New Rose Hotel” (1984)

Ted Chiang: “Story of Your Life” (1998)

Experiments

Alfred Jarry: “Elements of Pataphysics” (1911)

Karel Čapek: “R.U.R.” (1920) excerpt

Stanisław Lem: “How Erg the Self-Inducting Slew a Paleface” (1955)

William S. Burroughs: “Excerpt from Naked Lunch” (1959)

J.G. Ballard: “Chronopolis” (1960)

Philip K. Dick: “Beyond Lies the Wub” (1952)

Boris Vian: “Froth on the Daydream” (1947) excerpt

Joanna Russ: “Useful Phrases for the Tourist” (1970)

George Alec Effinger: “Two Sadnesses” (1973)

John Sladek: “Solar Shoe Salesman” (1974)

Dafydd ab Hugh: “The Coon Rolled Down and Ruptured His Larinks, A Squeezed Novel by Mr. Skunk” (1986)

Generation Ships

Don Wilcox: “The Voyage That Lasted 600 Years” (1940)

Judith Merril: “Daughters of Earth” (1952)

Brian W. Aldiss: “Non-Stop” (1958) excerpt

Robert Silverberg: “Sundance” (1969)

Pamela Zoline: “The Heat Death of the Universe” (1967)

Gene Wolfe: “A Cabin on the Coast” (1984)

Bruce Sterling: “Swarm” (1982)

Geoff Ryman: “The Unconquered Country” (1984)

New Worlds

Cordwainer Smith: “Alpha Ralpha Boulevard” (1961)

Samuel R. Delany: “Aye, and Gomorrah …” (1967)

Ursula K. Le Guin: “Vaster Than Empires and Slower” (1971)

James Tiptree Jr.: “Houston, Houston, Do You Read?” (1976)

Frederik Pohl: “The Gold at the Starbow’s End” (1972)

Angélica Gorodischer: “Of Navigators and Traitors” (1973) excerpt

John Crowley: “Snow” (1985)

Iain M. Banks: “A Gift from the Culture” (1987)

Greg Egan: “Learning to Be Me” (1990)

Future War

Jack London: “The Unparalleled Invasion” (1910)

Edward Bulwer-Lytton: “The Coming Race” (1871) excerpt

George Griffith: “The War of the Viruses” (1895)

Philip Francis Nowlan: “Armageddon 2419 A.D.” (1928)

E.E. “Doc” Smith: “The Skylark of Space” (1928) excerpt

Olaf Stapledon: “Star Maker” (1937) excerpt

Robert A. Heinlein: “Solution Unsatisfactory” (1941)

C.M. Kornbluth: “Two Dooms” (1958)

Joe Haldeman: “Hero” (1972)

Harry Harrison: “The Streets of Ashkelon” (1962)

David R. Bunch: “Moderan” (1967)

Harlan Ellison®: “A Boy and His Dog” (1969)

James S.A. Corey: “Rates of Change” (2011)

Virtual Reality

Stanisław Lem: “The Seventh Sally or How Trurl’s Own Perfection Led to No Good” (1965)

Philip K. Dick: “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” (1966)

John Brunner: “The Vitanuls” (1967)

Roger Zelazny: “For a Breath I Tarry” (1966)

Robert Silverberg: “Passengers” (1968)

Rudy Rucker: “Software” (1982) excerpt

William Gibson: “Burning Chrome” (1982)

Pat Cadigan: “Pretty Boy Crossover” (1986)

Neal Stephenson: “Snow Crash” (1992) excerpt

Humanity 2.0

Olaf Stapledon: “Odd John” (1935) excerpt

C.L. Moore: “No Woman Born” (1944)

Cordwainer Smith: “Scanners Live in Vain” (1950)

Algis Budrys: “Who?” (1955)

James Blish: “Surface Tension” (1952)

Gregory Benford: “Blood Music” (1983)

Bruce Sterling: “Mozart in Mirrorshades” (1985)

Vernor Vinge: “True Names” (1981)

Ted Chiang: “Understand” (1991)

Alien Minds

Arthur C. Clarke: “The Sentinel” (1951)

Isaac Asimov: “The Last Question” (1956)

Clifford D. Simak: “Desertion” (1944)

James H. Schmitz: “Grandpa” (1955)

Frank Herbert: “Try to Remember!” (1961)

Philip José Farmer: “Sail On! Sail On!” (1952)

Stanisław Lem: “Solaris” (1961) excerpt

Arkady & Boris Strugatsky: “Roadside Picnic” (1972) excerpt

Karen Joy Fowler & Pat Murphy: “Rachel in Love” (1987)

Ian McDonald: “The Tear” (2008)

Walter M Miller, Jr After the End

Penguin Anthology of Twentieth Century Poetry

BOLD read

Edward Lee Masters.

The Hil

Fiddler. Jones,

Petite the Poet

Edwin Arlington Robinson

Miniver Cheevy

Mr. Flood’s Party.

James Weldon Johnson

The Creation

Paul Laurence Dunbar.

The Poet

Life

Life’s Trajedy

Robert Frost.

The Death Of The Hired Man.

Mending Wall.

Birches

Stopping By The Woods On A Snowy Evening.

Tree In My Window.

Directive.

Amy Lowell

Patterns.

Getrude Stein

Susie Asado.

From Tender Buttons A Box.

From Tender Buttons, A Plate.

Alice Moore Dunbar Nelson

I sit and sew .

Carl Sandburg.

Grass.

Cahoots.

Wallace Stevens.

Peter Quince at the Clavier.

Disillusionment of 10:00.

13 Ways Of Looking At A Blackbird.

Emperor Of Ice Cream.

A Mere Being.

Angelina Weld Grimke

Fragment.

William Carlos Williams.

Tact.

Dance Ruse

The Yachts.

From Apostlethat Greeny Flower Book 1, Lines 1 To 92.

Sarah Teasdale.

Moonlight.

There Will Come Soft Rains.

Erza Pound

The Jewel Stairs Grievance.

The River Merchants Wife Letter.

In A Station At The Metro.

Hugh Selwyn Mulberry.

From Conto. 56 Libretto Yet Ere This Season Died A Cold

Hilda Doolittle, HD.

Sea Rose.

The Helen.

From The Walls Do Not Fall An Incident Here And There.

From Hermeneutic Definition Red Rose And A Beggar. Why Did You Come?

Take Me Anywhere.

Venicc. Venus.

Robinson, Jeffers.

Gala in April.

Shine, Perishing Republic.

Cloudss at Evening.

Credo

Mararane Moore

Fish.

Poetry.

TS, Elliott.

Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock

The Wasteland.

Claude McKay.

If We Must Die.

Harlem Dancer.

Archibald MacLeash,

Arts Poetica

Edna, Saint Vincent Millay.

First Fig

Recuerdo

E E Cummings.

In Just.

Buffalo Bill

The Cambridge Ladies Have Lived In Furnished Souls.

Next To, Of Course, God, America.

Somewhere I’ve Never Travelled Gladly Beyond.

Rpophessagr

Gene Toomor.

Reapers.

November Cotton Flowers.

Portrait in Georgia.

Louise Bogan

Medusa.

New moon.

Melvin B Tolson

Dark Symphony.

From Harlem Gallery PSI Black Boys, Let Me Get Up From The White Man’s Table.

Hart Crane

From the Bridge

Poem to Brooklyn Bridge

From 11 Powhatan’s Daughter the River.

Robert Francis.

Silent Poem

Langston Hughes

Nego speaks of rivers.

I, Too.

Dreams Boogie.

Harlem

Countee Cullan

Incident

To John Keats Poet at Springtime

Yes I Do Marvel

From the Dark Tower

Stanley Kutitz

Father and Son

The Protrait

Touch Me

WH Auden

Mussee Des Beaux Arts

Epitah on a Tryant

Theordore Roethke

My Papa’s Waltz

The Waking

In a Dark Time

Charles Olson.

From The Maximum Poems One Maximum Of Gloucester To You.

The Distances.

Elizabeth Bishop.

The Fish

Sestina

First Death In Nova Scotia.

Visit To Saint Elizabeths.

One Art.

Robert Hayden.

Morning Poem For The Queen Of Sunday.

Those Winter Sundays.

Frederick Douglass.

Middle Passage.

Muriel Rukeyser?

Effort At Speech Between Two People. ‘

Then I Saw What The Calling Was.

The Poem as Mask

Delmore Swartz.

The Heavy Bear Who Goes With Me.

John Barryman.

From Dream Songs.

Feeling Your Compact And Delicious Body. ‘

Life, Friends, Is Boring. We Must Not Say So.

There Shut Down Once. ‘

This World Is Gradually Becoming A Place.

Henry’sUnderstanding

Randall, Jarell.

90 North.

The Death Of The Bell Turret Gunner.

The Woman At The Washington Zoo.

Next Day.

Weldon Kees.

To My Daughter?

Dudley Randall

A Different Image

William Stafford.

Traveling Through The Dark.

At The Bomb Testing Site.

Ruth Stone.

Scars.

Margaret Walker.

For My People

Gwendolyn Brooks.

The Mother.

A Song In The Front Yard. ‘

The Bean Eaters

The Lovers Of The Poor.

We Real Cool. ‘

The Blackstone Rangers.

Robert Lowell.

To Speak Of Woe That Is In Marriage.

Skunk Hour .

For The Union Dead.

Robert Duncan.

Often I’m Permitted To Return To A Medow.

My Mother Would Be A Falconress

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Populist Manifesto.

William Meredith.

Parents. Howard Nemeroff.

Because You Asked About The Line Between Prose And Poetry.

Hayden Caruth.

The Hyacinth Gardens In Brooklyn.

August 1945.

Richard Wilber

Love Calls Us to the Things of This World

Cottage Street

The Writer

James Dickey

The Sheep Child

Alan Duncan.

Love song I And Thou

Anthony Act.

More light, More light.

Richard Hugo.

The Degrees of Gray in Phillipsburg.

The Freaks at Spring General Rd. Field.

Dennis Levertov.

The Unwritten Poem

Cademon.

Swan in Falling snow.

Who is Simpson?

American Poetry.

Carolyn Kaiser.

A Muse of water.

Kenneth Koch.

Fresh air.

Permanently.

Maxine Coleman.

Morning Swim.

How Is It?

Gerald Stern.

Behaving Like A Jew.

The Dancing.

Another Insane Devotion.

AR Ammons.

The City Limits.

Corson Inlet.

Robert Blye.

Snowfall In The Afternoon.

Driving Into Town Late To Mail A Letter.

Walking From Sleep.

Robert Creeley.

The Flower.

I Know A Man.

The Language.

The Rain.

Bresson’s Movies.

James Merrill.

Victor Dog.

Frank O’Hara New York School.

Steps.

Poem Lana Turner Has Collapsed.

The Day Lady Died.

John Ashberry. New York School

Some Trees.

Self-Portrait In A Convex Mirror.

What Is Poetry?

Galway, Kennel.

The Bear.`

After Making Love, We Hear Footsteps.

Saint Francis And The Soul.

Ws Merwin.

Air.

For The Anniversary Of My Death.

Yesterday.

Chord .

James Wright.

A Blessing.

Autumn Begins In Martins Ferry, Oh.

Lying In A Hammock At William Duffy’s Farm In Pine Island, Mn.

In Response To The Rumor That Otis Warehouse In Wheeling, Wv Has Been Condemned.

Donald Hall.

My Son, My Executioner.

Digging.

Philip Levine.

Animals Are Passing From Our Lives.

They Feed They Lion.

You Can Have It.

The Simple Truth.

Anne Sexton.

Her Kind

Adoption.

Waiting To Die.

In Celebration Of My Uterus.

Rowing

Adrienne Rich.

Orion

Planetarium.

A Valedictorian Forbidding Mourning.

From 21 Love Poems 13 The Rules Of Break Like A Thermometer.

Gregory Corso.

Marriage

Gary Snyder.

Hay, For The Horses.

Riprap.

Mid August As Sourdough Mountain Lookout.

Dereck Walcott.

A Far Cry From Africa.

Sea Grapes.

Find The Schooner Flight Part 11 After The Storm. There’s A Fresh Light That Follows.

The Light Of The World.

From Omeros Book. 7. 44 I Sing Of Quiet,Achiles, Afrolabe’s Son.

Miller Williams.

Let Me tell you.

Etheridge Knight

Idea Of Ancestry.

Amira Baraka, Leroy Jones.

Preface To A 20 Volume Suicide Note.

Agony As Now.

SOS.

Black Art.

Ted Berrigon .

Wrong Rain.

A Final Sonnet

Andre Lorde.

Power.

Sonia Sanchez.

Poetry at 30.

Mark Strand.

The Prediction.

The Night, The Porch.

Russell Edson.

A Stone Is Nobody’s.

Mary Oliver.

Singapore.

The Summer’s Day.

Charles Wright.

Reunion.

Dead Color.

California Dreaming.

Lucile Clifton.

Homage To My Hips.

At Least At Last We Killed The Roaches.

The Death Of Fry, Alfred Clifton.

To My Last.

June, Jordan.

Home About My Rights.

Frederick Seidel.

1968.

CK Williams.

Find My Window.

Blades

Tynan Wilkowski.’

The Mechanic.

Michael S Harper.

Dear John. Dear Coltrane.

Last Affair. Bessies Blues Song.

Grandfather.

Nightmare Begins Responsibility.

Charles Simik .

Stone.

Fork.

Classic Ballroom Dances.

Paula Gunn Allen.

Grandmother.

Frank Bidart.

Ellen West.

Carl Dennis.

Spring Letter.

Two Or Three Wishes.

Stephen Dunn.

Allegory Of The Cave.

Tucson.

Robert Pensky.

History Of My Heart.

The Questions.

Samurai Song.

James Welch.

Christmas Comes To Moccasin Flat.

Billy Collins.

Introduction To Poetry.

The Dead.

Toi Derricote .

Allen Ginsberg.

The Weakness.

Stephen Dobyns.

How To Like It?

Lullaby.

Robert Hass.

Song.

That Photographer?

Return Of Robinson Jeffers.

Lyn Hejinian

From My Life trim With Colored Ribbons.

BH Fairchild.

The Machinist Teaching His Daughter To Play The Piano.

Haik R Madhubuti Don L Lee.

But He Was Cool Or Even Stopped For Green Lights.

Upon To Compliment Other Poems.

William Matthews.

In Memory Of The Utah Stars.

The Accompanist

. Sharon Olds

The Language Of The Brag.

The Lifting.

Henry Taylor.

Barbed Wire.

Tess Gallagher.

Black, Silver.

Under Stars.

Michael Palmer.

I Do Not.

James Tate.

The Lost Pilot.

Norman Dubie.

Elizabeth War With The Christmas Bear.

The Funeral.

Carol Muske Dukes,.

August, Los Angeles Lullaby.

Kay Ryan.

Turtle

Bestiary

Larry Levis.

Childhood Ideogram

Winter Stars

Adrian C Lousis

Looking For Judas

How much lux?

The People of the Other Village.

Marilyn Nelson.

The Ballad of Aunt Geneva.

Star Fix.

Run Stilleman

Albany

AI

Cuba 1963

The Kid

Finished

Yusef Komunyakaa

Thanks

To Do Street

Facing It

Nude Interogation

Nathaniel Mc Kay

Song of the Aduumboulou

Gregory Orr

Gathering the Bones Together

Two Lines From the Brother Grimm

Origin of the Marble Forrest

Robert Hill Whiteman

Reaching Yellow River

Albert Goldbarth

Away

Heather Mc Hugh

Language Lesson 1976

What He Thought

Leslie Marmon Silko

In Cold Storm Light

Olga Boumas

Calypso

Victor Hernadez Soul

Latin and Soul

Jane Miller

Miami Heart

David St. James

Iris

CD Wright

Why Ralph Refuses to Dance

Girl Friend Poe # 3

Crescent

Carolyn Forche

Taking Off My Clothes

Jorie Graham

San Sepolcro

Marie Howe

What the Living Do

Joy Harjo

She Had Some Horses

My House is Red Earth

Garret Honjo

The Legend

Andrew Hugins

Beggoten

We Were Simply Talking

Brigit Peggen Kelly

Imaging Their Own Hyms

Song

Paul Muldoon

Meeting the British

Errata

The Throwback

Judith Orez Coffer

Quinceanera

Rita Dove

Parsley

Day Star

After Reading Mikey in the Night Kitchen for the Third Time Before Bed

Alice Fulton

Our Calling

Barbara Hamby

Thinking of Galileo

Hatred

Mark Jarman

Unholy Sonnet

Naomi Shihab Nye

The Traveling Onion

Arabic

Wedding Cake

Alberto Rios

Nani

England Finally like My Mother Always Said We Would

Laurie Sheck

Nocturne Blue Waves

The Unfinished

Gary Sotto

Field Poem

Oranges

Black Hair

Susan Stewart

Yellow Star and Ice

The Forrest

Mark Dotty

Brillance

Esta Noche

Bill’s Story

Harryette Mullen

Black Nikes

Franz Wright

Alcohol

Lorna Dee Cervantes

To My Brother

Love of My Flesh, Living Death

Sandra Cisneros.

My Wicked, Wicked Ways.

Little Clowns, My Heart.

Cornelius, Eady.

Jack Johnson Does The Eagle Rock.

Crows In A Strong Wind.

I’m A Fool To Love You.

Louise Eldritch

. Indian Boarding School. The Runaways.

David Mason.

Spooning.

Marilyn Chin.

How I Got That Name?

Compose Near The Bay Bridge

The Survivor

Cathy Song .

The Youngest Daughter.

Ann Finch.

Another Reluctance.

Insert

Lee Young Lee.

The Gift

Eating Together.

Carl Phillips

Our Lady

As From a Quiver of Arrows

Nick Flynn

Bag of Mice

Cartoon Physics

Elizabeth Alexander

The Viena Hott not

Reetika Vazirani

From White Elephants

A million Balconies

Train Windows

Sherman Alexie

What the Orphan Inherits

The Pow Wow at the End of the World

Natasha Trethewey

Hot Combs

Amateur Fighter

Flounder

A E Stallings

The Tantrum

Joana Klink

Spare

Brenda Shaughnessy

Post feminism

Your One Good Dress

Kevin Young

Quivira City Limits

Everywhere is Out of Town

Whatever You Want

Terrance Hayes

At Pegasus

Lady Sings the Blues

Sci-Fi short stories

The Big Book of Science Fiction is a massive anthology of science fiction stories edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer. It covers the history and evolution of the genre from the early 20th century to the end of the millennium, featuring works from over 30 countries and many languages. The book contains 105 stories, ranging from classics by H.G. Wells, Arthur C. Clarke, and Ursula K. Le Guin, to lesser-known gems by W.E.B. Du Bois, David R. Bunch, and Liu Cixin. The book also includes comments from the editors and the authors, offering insights into their creative process and vision. The book is divided into 11 sections, each with a thematic focus and a chronological order.

Here is the table of contents for the book1:

Introduction: Ann and Jeff VanderMeer

The Lens of Time: Science Fiction as a Way of Seeing

H.G. Wells: “The Star” (1897)

Lu Xun: “The New Overworld” (1902)

Sultana’s Dream: Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1905)

Albert Robida: “The Triumph of Mechanics” (1908)

Miguel de Unamuno: “Mechanopolis” (1913)

W.E.B. Du Bois: “The Comet” (1920)

Claude Farrère: “The Fate of the Poseidonia” (1923)

Edmond Hamilton: “The Star Stealers” (1929)

David H. Keller: “The Lost Language” (1934)

Stanislaw Lem: “Solaris” (1961) excerpt

Jorge Luis Borges: “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” (1940)

Cixin Liu: “The Poetry Cloud” (1997)

Invasions

Edgar Rice Burroughs: “A Princess of Mars” (1912) excerpt

Leslie F. Stone: “The Conquest of Gola” (1931)

Stanley G. Weinbaum: “A Martian Odyssey” (1934)

John W. Campbell Jr.: “Who Goes There?” (1938)

Ray Bradbury: “Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed” (1949)

Katherine MacLean: “Pictures Don’t Lie” (1951)

William Tenn: “The Liberation of Earth” (1953)

J.G. Ballard: “The Voices of Time” (1960)

Dino Buzzati: “Catastrophe” (1966)

James Tiptree Jr.: “And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill’s Side” (1972)

Joanna Russ: “When It Changed” (1972)

Arkady & Boris Strugatsky: “The Spontaneous Reflex” (1973) excerpt

Octavia Butler: “Bloodchild” (1984)

James Patrick Kelly: “Think Like a Dinosaur” (1995)

Monsters

H.P. Lovecraft: “The Dunwich Horror” (1929)

Ray Bradbury: “The Foghorn” (1951)

Jerome Bixby: “It’s a Good Life” (1953)

Julio Cortázar: “Axolotl” (1956)

J.G. Ballard: “The Drowned Giant” (1964)

R.A. Lafferty: “Nine Hundred Grandmothers” (1966)

Terry Carr: “The Dance of the Changer and the Three” (1968)

Harlan Ellison®: “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” (1967)

Lisa Tuttle & George R.R. Martin: “The Storms of Windhaven” (1975)

John Varley: “Air Raid” (1977)

William Gibson: “New Rose Hotel” (1984)

Ted Chiang: “Story of Your Life” (1998)

Experiments

Alfred Jarry: “Elements of Pataphysics” (1911)

Karel Čapek: “R.U.R.” (1920) excerpt

Stanisław Lem: “How Erg the Self-Inducting Slew a Paleface” (1955)

William S. Burroughs: “Excerpt from Naked Lunch” (1959)

J.G. Ballard: “Chronopolis” (1960)

Philip K. Dick: “Beyond Lies the Wub” (1952)

Boris Vian: “Froth on the Daydream” (1947) excerpt

Joanna Russ: “Useful Phrases for the Tourist” (1970)

George Alec Effinger: “Two Sadnesses” (1973)

John Sladek: “Solar Shoe Salesman” (1974)

Dafydd ab Hugh: “The Coon Rolled Down and Ruptured His Larinks, A Squeezed Novel by Mr. Skunk” (1986)

Generation Ships

Don Wilcox: “The Voyage That Lasted 600 Years” (1940)

Judith Merril: “Daughters of Earth” (1952)

Brian W. Aldiss: “Non-Stop” (1958) excerpt

Robert Silverberg: “Sundance” (1969)

Pamela Zoline: “The Heat Death of the Universe” (1967)

Gene Wolfe: “A Cabin on the Coast” (1984)

Bruce Sterling: “Swarm” (1982)

Geoff Ryman: “The Unconquered Country” (1984)

New Worlds

Cordwainer Smith: “Alpha Ralpha Boulevard” (1961)

Samuel R. Delany: “Aye, and Gomorrah …” (1967)

Ursula K. Le Guin: “Vaster Than Empires and Slower” (1971)

James Tiptree Jr.: “Houston, Houston, Do You Read?” (1976)

Frederik Pohl: “The Gold at the Starbow’s End” (1972)

Angélica Gorodischer: “Of Navigators and Traitors” (1973) excerpt

John Crowley: “Snow” (1985)

Iain M. Banks: “A Gift from the Culture” (1987)

Greg Egan: “Learning to Be Me” (1990)

Future War

Jack London: “The Unparalleled Invasion” (1910)

Edward Bulwer-Lytton: “The Coming Race” (1871) excerpt

George Griffith: “The War of the Viruses” (1895)

Philip Francis Nowlan: “Armageddon 2419 A.D.” (1928)

E.E. “Doc” Smith: “The Skylark of Space” (1928) excerpt

Olaf Stapledon: “Star Maker” (1937) excerpt

Robert A. Heinlein: “Solution Unsatisfactory” (1941)

C.M. Kornbluth: “Two Dooms” (1958)

Joe Haldeman: “Hero” (1972)

Harry Harrison: “The Streets of Ashkelon” (1962)

David R. Bunch: “Moderan” (1967)

Harlan Ellison®: “A Boy and His Dog” (1969)

James S.A. Corey: “Rates of Change” (2011)

Virtual Reality

Stanisław Lem: “The Seventh Sally or How Trurl’s Own Perfection Led to No Good” (1965)

Philip K. Dick: “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” (1966)

John Brunner: “The Vitanuls” (1967)

Roger Zelazny: “For a Breath I Tarry” (1966)

Robert Silverberg: “Passengers” (1968)

Rudy Rucker: “Software” (1982) excerpt

William Gibson: “Burning Chrome” (1982)

Pat Cadigan: “Pretty Boy Crossover” (1986)

Neal Stephenson: “Snow Crash” (1992) excerpt

Humanity 2.0

Olaf Stapledon: “Odd John” (1935) excerpt

C.L. Moore: “No Woman Born” (1944)

Cordwainer Smith: “Scanners Live in Vain” (1950)

Algis Budrys: “Who?” (1955)

James Blish: “Surface Tension” (1952)

Gregory Benford: “Blood Music” (1983)

Bruce Sterling: “Mozart in Mirrorshades” (1985)

Vernor Vinge: “True Names” (1981)

Ted Chiang: “Understand” (1991)

Alien Minds

Arthur C. Clarke: “The Sentinel” (1951)

Isaac Asimov: “The Last Question” (1956)

Clifford D. Simak: “Desertion” (1944)

James H. Schmitz: “Grandpa” (1955)

Frank Herbert: “Try to Remember!” (1961)

Philip José Farmer: “Sail On! Sail On!” (1952)

Stanisław Lem: “Solaris” (1961) excerpt

Arkady & Boris Strugatsky: “Roadside Picnic” (1972) excerpt

Karen Joy Fowler & Pat Murphy: “Rachel in Love” (1987)

Ian McDonald: “The Tear” (2008)

After the End

Walter M. Miller Jr.: “The Darfsteller” (1955) J.G. Ballard: “The Terminal Beach” (1964) John Wyndham: ”

Sci-Fi short stories

The Big Book of Science Fiction is a massive anthology of science fiction stories edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer. It covers the history and evolution of the genre from the early 20th century to the end of the millennium, featuring works from over 30 countries and many languages. The book contains 105 stories, ranging from classics by H.G. Wells, Arthur C. Clarke, and Ursula K. Le Guin, to lesser-known gems by W.E.B. Du Bois, David R. Bunch, and Liu Cixin. The book also includes comments from the editors and the authors, offering insights into their creative process and vision. The book is divided into 11 sections, each with a thematic focus and a chronological order.

Here is the table of contents for the book1:

Introduction: Ann and Jeff VanderMeer

The Lens of Time: Science Fiction as a Way of Seeing

H.G. Wells: “The Star” (1897)

Lu Xun: “The New Overworld” (1902)

Sultana’s Dream: Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1905)

Albert Robida: “The Triumph of Mechanics” (1908)

Miguel de Unamuno: “Mechanopolis” (1913)

W.E.B. Du Bois: “The Comet” (1920)

Claude Farrère: “The Fate of the Poseidonia” (1923)

Edmond Hamilton: “The Star Stealers” (1929)

David H. Keller: “The Lost Language” (1934)

Stanislaw Lem: “Solaris” (1961) excerpt

Jorge Luis Borges: “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” (1940)

Cixin Liu: “The Poetry Cloud” (1997)

Invasions

Edgar Rice Burroughs: “A Princess of Mars” (1912) excerpt

Leslie F. Stone: “The Conquest of Gola” (1931)

Stanley G. Weinbaum: “A Martian Odyssey” (1934)

John W. Campbell Jr.: “Who Goes There?” (1938)

Ray Bradbury: “Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed” (1949)

Katherine MacLean: “Pictures Don’t Lie” (1951)

William Tenn: “The Liberation of Earth” (1953)

J.G. Ballard: “The Voices of Time” (1960)

Dino Buzzati: “Catastrophe” (1966)

James Tiptree Jr.: “And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill’s Side” (1972)

Joanna Russ: “When It Changed” (1972)

Arkady & Boris Strugatsky: “The Spontaneous Reflex” (1973) excerpt

Octavia Butler: “Bloodchild” (1984)

James Patrick Kelly: “Think Like a Dinosaur” (1995)

Monsters

H.P. Lovecraft: “The Dunwich Horror” (1929)

Ray Bradbury: “The Foghorn” (1951)

Jerome Bixby: “It’s a Good Life” (1953)

Julio Cortázar: “Axolotl” (1956)

J.G. Ballard: “The Drowned Giant” (1964)

R.A. Lafferty: “Nine Hundred Grandmothers” (1966)

Terry Carr: “The Dance of the Changer and the Three” (1968)

Harlan Ellison®: “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” (1967)

Lisa Tuttle & George R.R. Martin: “The Storms of Windhaven” (1975)

John Varley: “Air Raid” (1977)

William Gibson: “New Rose Hotel” (1984)

Ted Chiang: “Story of Your Life” (1998)

Experiments

Alfred Jarry: “Elements of Pataphysics” (1911)

Karel Čapek: “R.U.R.” (1920) excerpt

Stanisław Lem: “How Erg the Self-Inducting Slew a Paleface” (1955)

William S. Burroughs: “Excerpt from Naked Lunch” (1959)

J.G. Ballard: “Chronopolis” (1960)

Philip K. Dick: “Beyond Lies the Wub” (1952)

Boris Vian: “Froth on the Daydream” (1947) excerpt

Joanna Russ: “Useful Phrases for the Tourist” (1970)

George Alec Effinger: “Two Sadnesses” (1973)

John Sladek: “Solar Shoe Salesman” (1974)

Dafydd ab Hugh: “The Coon Rolled Down and Ruptured His Larinks, A Squeezed Novel by Mr. Skunk” (1986)

Generation Ships

Don Wilcox: “The Voyage That Lasted 600 Years” (1940)

Judith Merril: “Daughters of Earth” (1952)

Brian W. Aldiss: “Non-Stop” (1958) excerpt

Robert Silverberg: “Sundance” (1969)

Pamela Zoline: “The Heat Death of the Universe” (1967)

Gene Wolfe: “A Cabin on the Coast” (1984)

Bruce Sterling: “Swarm” (1982)

Geoff Ryman: “The Unconquered Country” (1984)

New Worlds

Cordwainer Smith: “Alpha Ralpha Boulevard” (1961)

Samuel R. Delany: “Aye, and Gomorrah …” (1967)

Ursula K. Le Guin: “Vaster Than Empires and Slower” (1971)

James Tiptree Jr.: “Houston, Houston, Do You Read?” (1976)

Frederik Pohl: “The Gold at the Starbow’s End” (1972)

Angélica Gorodischer: “Of Navigators and Traitors” (1973) excerpt

John Crowley: “Snow” (1985)

Iain M. Banks: “A Gift from the Culture” (1987)

Greg Egan: “Learning to Be Me” (1990)

Future War

Jack London: “The Unparalleled Invasion” (1910)

Edward Bulwer-Lytton: “The Coming Race” (1871) excerpt

George Griffith: “The War of the Viruses” (1895)

Philip Francis Nowlan: “Armageddon 2419 A.D.” (1928)

E.E. “Doc” Smith: “The Skylark of Space” (1928) excerpt

Olaf Stapledon: “Star Maker” (1937) excerpt

Robert A. Heinlein: “Solution Unsatisfactory” (1941)

C.M. Kornbluth: “Two Dooms” (1958)

Joe Haldeman: “Hero” (1972)

Harry Harrison: “The Streets of Ashkelon” (1962)

David R. Bunch: “Moderan” (1967)

Harlan Ellison®: “A Boy and His Dog” (1969)

James S.A. Corey: “Rates of Change” (2011)

Virtual Reality

Stanisław Lem: “The Seventh Sally or How Trurl’s Own Perfection Led to No Good” (1965)

Philip K. Dick: “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” (1966)

John Brunner: “The Vitanuls” (1967)

Roger Zelazny: “For a Breath I Tarry” (1966)

Robert Silverberg: “Passengers” (1968)

Rudy Rucker: “Software” (1982) excerpt

William Gibson: “Burning Chrome” (1982)

Pat Cadigan: “Pretty Boy Crossover” (1986)

Neal Stephenson: “Snow Crash” (1992) excerpt

Humanity 2.0

Olaf Stapledon: “Odd John” (1935) excerpt

C.L. Moore: “No Woman Born” (1944)

Cordwainer Smith: “Scanners Live in Vain” (1950)

Algis Budrys: “Who?” (1955)

James Blish: “Surface Tension” (1952)

Gregory Benford: “Blood Music” (1983)

Bruce Sterling: “Mozart in Mirrorshades” (1985)

Vernor Vinge: “True Names” (1981)

Ted Chiang: “Understand” (1991)

Alien Minds

Arthur C. Clarke: “The Sentinel” (1951)

Isaac Asimov: “The Last Question” (1956)

Clifford D. Simak: “Desertion” (1944)

James H. Schmitz: “Grandpa” (1955)

Frank Herbert: “Try to Remember!” (1961)

Philip José Farmer: “Sail On! Sail On!” (1952)

Stanisław Lem: “Solaris” (1961) excerpt

Arkady & Boris Strugatsky: “Roadside Picnic” (1972) excerpt

Karen Joy Fowler & Pat Murphy: “Rachel in Love” (1987)

Ian McDonald: “The Tear” (2008)

After the End

Walter M. Miller Jr.: “The Darfsteller” (1955) J.G. Ballard: “The Terminal Beach” (1964) John Wyndham: ”

Penguin Anthology of Twentieth Century Poetry

BOLD read

Edward Lee Masters.

The Hil

Fiddler. Jones,

Petite the Poet

Edwin Arlington Robinson

Miniver Cheevy

Mr. Flood’s Party.

James Weldon Johnson

The Creation

Paul Laurence Dunbar.

The Poet

Life

Life’s Trajedy

Robert Frost.

The Death Of The Hired Man.

Mending Wall.

Birches

Stopping By The Woods On A Snowy Evening.

Tree In My Window.

Directive.

Amy Lowell

Patterns.

Getrude Stein

Susie Asado.

From Tender Buttons A Box.

From Tender Buttons, A Plate.

Alice Moore Dunbar Nelson

I sit and sew .

Carl Sandburg.

Grass.

Cahoots.

Wallace Stevens.

Peter Quince at the Clavier.

Disillusionment of 10:00.

13 Ways Of Looking At A Blackbird.

Emperor Of Ice Cream.

A Mere Being.

Angelina Weld Grimke

Fragment.

William Carlos Williams.

Tact.

Dance Ruse

The Yachts.

From Apostlethat Greeny Flower Book 1, Lines 1 To 92.

Sarah Teasdale.

Moonlight.

There Will Come Soft Rains.

Erza Pound

The Jewel Stairs Grievance.

The River Merchants Wife Letter.

In A Station At The Metro.

Hugh Selwyn Mulberry.

From Conto. 56 Libretto Yet Ere This Season Died A Cold

Hilda Doolittle, HD.

Sea Rose.

The Helen.

From The Walls Do Not Fall An Incident Here And There.

From Hermeneutic Definition Red Rose And A Beggar. Why Did You Come?

Take Me Anywhere.

Venicc. Venus.

Robinson, Jeffers.

Gala in April.

Shine, Perishing Republic.

Cloudss at Evening.

Credo

Mararane Moore

Fish.

Poetry.

TS, Elliott.

Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock

The Wasteland.

Claude McKay.

If We Must Die.

Harlem Dancer.

Archibald MacLeash,

Arts Poetica

Edna, Saint Vincent Millay.

First Fig

Recuerdo

E E Cummings.

In Just.

Buffalo Bill

The Cambridge Ladies Have Lived In Furnished Souls.

Next To, Of Course, God, America.

Somewhere I’ve Never Travelled Gladly Beyond.

Rpophessagr

Gene Toomor.

Reapers.

November Cotton Flowers.

Portrait in Georgia.

Louise Bogan

Medusa.

New moon.

Melvin B Tolson

Dark Symphony.

From Harlem Gallery PSI Black Boys, Let Me Get Up From The White Man’s Table.

Hart Crane

From the Bridge

Poem to Brooklyn Bridge

From 11 Powhatan’s Daughter the River.

Robert Francis.

Silent Poem

Langston Hughes

Nego speaks of rivers.

I, Too.

Dreams Boogie.

Harlem

Countee Cullan

Incident

To John Keats Poet at Spring Time

Yes I Do Marvel

From the Dark Tower

Stanley Kutitz

Father and Son

The Protrait

Touch Me

WH Auden

Mussee Des Beaux Arts

Epitah on a Tryant

Theordore Roethke

My Papa’s Waltz

The Waking

In a Dark Time

Charles Olson.

From The Maximum Poems One Maximum Of Gloucester To You.

The Distances.

Elizabeth Bishop.

The Fish

Sestina

First Death In Nova Scotia.

Visit To Saint Elizabeths.

One Art.

Robert Hayden.

Morning Poem For The Queen Of Sunday.

Those Winter Sundays.

Frederick Douglass.

Middle Passage.

Muriel Rukeyser?

Effort At Speech Between Two People. ‘

Then I Saw What The Calling Was.

The Poem as Mask

Delmore Swartz.

The Heavy Bear Who Goes With Me.

John Barryman.

From The Dream Songs.

Feeling Your Compact And Delicious Body. ‘

Life, Friends, Is Boring. We Must Not Say So.

There Shut Down Once. ‘

This World Is Gradually Becoming A Place.

Henry’sUnderstanding

Randall, Jarell.

90 North.

The Death Of The Bell Turret Gunner.

The Woman At The Washington Zoo.

Next Day.

Weldon Kees.

To My Daughter?

Dudley Randall

A Different Image

William Stafford.

Traveling Through The Dark.

At The Bomb Testing Site.

Ruth Stone.

Scars.

Margaret Walker.

For My People

Gwendolyn Brooks.

The Mother.

A Song In The Front Yard. ‘

The Bean Eaters

The Lovers Of The Poor.

We Real Cool. ‘

The Blackstone Rangers.

Robert Lowell.

To Speak Of Woe That Is In Marriage.

Skunk Hour .

For The Union Dead.

Robert Duncan.

Often I’m Permitted To Return To A Medow.

My Mother Would Be A Falconress

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Populist Manifesto.

William Meredith.

Parents. Howard Nemeroff.

Because You Asked About The Line Between Prose And Poetry.

Hayden Caruth.

The Hyacinth Gardens In Brooklyn.

August 1945.

Richard Wilber

Love Calls Us to the Things of This World

Cottage Street

The Writer

James Dickey

The Sheep Child

Alan Duncan.

Love song I And Thou

Anthony Act.

More light, More light.

Richard Hugo.

The Degrees of Gray in Phillipsburg.

The Freaks at Spring General Rd. Field.

Dennis Levertov.

The Poem Unwritten

Cademon.

Swan in Falling snow.

Who is Simpson?

American Poetry.

Carolyn Kaiser.

A Muse of water.

Kenneth Koch.

Fresh air.

Permanently.

Maxine Coleman.

Morning Swim.

How It Is?

Gerald Stern.

Behaving Like A Jew.

The Dancing.

Another Insane Devotion.

AR Ammons.

The City Limits.

Corson Inlet.

Robert Blye.

Snowfall In The Afternoon.

Driving Into Town Late To Mail A Letter.

Walking From Sleep.

Robert Creeley.

The Flower.

I Know A Man.

The Language.

The Rain.

Bresson’s Movies.

James Merrill.

Victor Dog.

Frank O’Hara New York School.

Steps.

Poem Lana Turner Has Collapsed.

The Day Lady Died.

John Ashberry. New York School

Some Trees.

Self-Portrait In A Convex Mirror.

What Is Poetry?

Galway, Kennel.

The Bear.`

After Making Love, We Hear Footsteps.

Saint Francis And The Soul.

Ws Merwin.

Air.

For The Anniversary Of My Death.

Yesterday.

Chord .

James Wright.

A Blessing.

Autumn Begins In Martins Ferry, Oh.

Lying In A Hammock At William Duffy’s Farm In Pine Island, Mn.

In Response To The Rumor That Otis Warehouse In Wheeling, Wv Has Been Condemned.

Donald Hall.

My Son, My Executioner.

Digging.

Philip Levine.

Animals Are Passing From Our Lives.

They Feed They Lion.

You Can Have It.

The Simple Truth.

Anne Sexton.

Her Kind

Adoption.

Waiting To Die.

In Celebration Of My Uterus.

Rowing

Adrienne Rich.

Orion

Planetarium.

A Valedictorian Forbidding Mourning.

From 21 Love Poems 13 The Rules Of Break Like A Thermometer.

Gregory Corso.

Marriage

Gary Snyder.

Hay, For The Horses.

Riprap.

Mid August As Sourdough Mountain Lookout.

Dereck Walcott.

A Far Cry From Africa.

Sea Grapes.

Find The Schooner Flight Part 11 After The Storm. There’s A Fresh Light That Follows.

The Light Of The World.

From Omeros Book. 7. 44 I Sing Of Quiet,Achiles, Afrolabe’s Son.

Miller Williams.

Let Me tell you.

Etheridge Knight

Idea Of Ancestry.

Amira Baraka, Leroy Jones.

Preface To A 20 Volume Suicide Note.

Agony As Now.

SOS.

Black Art.

Ted Berrigon .

Wrong Rain.

A Final Sonnet

Andre Lorde.

Power.

Sonia Sanchez.

Poetry at 30.

Mark Strand.

The Prediction.

The Night, The Porch.

Russell Edson.

A Stone Is Nobody’s.

Mary Oliver.

Singapore.

The Summer’s Day.

Charles Wright.

Reunion.

Dead Color.

California Dreaming.

Lucile Clifton.

Homage To My Hips.

At Least At Last We Killed The Roaches.

The Death Of Fry, Alfred Clifton.

To My Last.

June, Jordan.

Home About My Rights.

Frederick Seidel.

1968.

CK Williams.

Find My Window.

Blades

Tynan Wilkowski.’

The Mechanic.

Michael S Harper.

Dear John. Dear Coltrane.

Last Affair. Bessies Blues Song.

Grandfather.

Nightmare Begins Responsibility.

Charles Simik .

Stone.

Fork.

Classic Ballroom Dances.

Paula Gunn Allen.

Grandmother.

Frank Bidart.

Ellen West.

Carl Dennis.

Spring Letter.

Two Or Three Wishes.

Stephen Dunn.

Allegory Of The Cave.

Tucson.

Robert Pensky.

History Of My Heart.

The Questions.

Samurai Song.

James Welch.

Christmas Comes To Moccasin Flat.

Billy Collins.

Introduction To Poetry.

The Dead.

Toi Derricote .

Allen Ginsberg.

The Weakness.

Stephen Dobyns.

How To Like It?

Lullaby.

Robert Hass.

Song.

That Photographer?

Return Of Robinson Jeffers.

Lyn Hejinian

From My Life trim With Colored Ribbons.

BH Fairchild.

The Machinist Teaching His Daughter To Play The Piano.

Haki R Madhubuti Don L Lee.

But He Was Cool Or Even Stopped For Green Lights.

Upon To Compliment Other Poems.

William Matthews.

In Memory Of The Utah Stars.

The Accompanist

. Sharon Olds

The Language Of The Brag.

The Lifting.

Henry Taylor.

Barbed Wire.

Tess Gallagher.

Black, Silver.

Under Stars.

Michael Palmer.

I Do Not.

James Tate.

The Lost Pilot.

Norman Dubie.

Elizabeth War With The Christmas Bear.

The Funeral.

Carol Muske Dukes,.

August, Los Angeles Lullaby.

Kay Ryan.

Turtle

Bestiary

Larry Levis.

Childhood Ideogram

Winter Stars

Adrian C Lousis

Looking For Judas

How much lux?

The People of the Other Village.

Marilyn Nelson.

The Ballad of Aunt Geneva.

Star Fix.

Run Stilleman

Albany

AI

Cuba 1963

The Kid

Finished

Yusef Komunyakaa

Thanks

To Do Street

Facing It

Nude Interogation

Nathaniel Mc Kay

Song of the Aduumboulou

Gregory Orr

Gathering the Bones Together

Two Lines From the Brother Grimm

Origin of the Marble Forrest

Robert Hill Whiteman

Reaching Yellow River

Albert Goldbarth

Away

Heather Mc Hugh

Language Lesson 1976

What He Thought

Leslie Marmon Silko

In Cold Storm Light

Olga Boumas

Calypso

Victor Hernadez Soul

Latin and Soul

Jane Miller

Miami Heart

David St. James

Iris

CD Wright

Why Ralph Refuses to Dance

Girl Friend Poe # 3

Crescent

Carolyn Forche

Taking Off My Clothes

Jorie Graham

San Sepolcro

Marie Howe

What the Living Do

Joy Harjo

She Had Some Horses

My House is the Red Earth

Garret Honjo

The Legend

Andrew Hugins

Beggoten

We Were Simply Talking

Brigit Peggen Kelly

Imaging Their Own Hyms

Song

Paul Muldoon

Meeting the British

Errata

The Throwback

Judith Orez Coffer

Quinceanera

Rita Dove

Parsely

Day Star

After Reading Mikey in the Night Kitchen for the Third Time Before Bed

Alice Fulton

Our Calling

Brbar Hamby

Thinking of Galieo

Hatred

Mark Jarman

Unholly Sonnet

Naomi Shibab Nye

The Traveling Onion

Arabic

Wedding Cake

Alberto Rios

Nani

Enland Finally like My Mother Always Said We Would

Laurie Sheck

Nocturne Blue Waves

The Unfinished

Gary Sotto

Field Poem

Oranges

Black Hair

Susan Stewart

Yellow Star and Ice

The Forrest

Mark Dotty

Brillance

Esta Noche

Bill’s Story

Harryette Mullen

Black Nikes

Franz Wright

Alcohol

Lorna Dee Cervantes

To My Brother

Love of My Flesh, Living Death

Sandra Cisneros.

My Wicked, Wicked Ways.

Little Clowns, My Heart.

Cornelius, Eady.

Jack Johnson Does The Eagle Rock.

Crows In A Strong Wind.

I’m A Fool To Love You.

Louise Eldritch

. Indian Boarding School. The Runaways.

David Mason.

Spooning.

Marilyn Chin.

How I Got That Name?

Compose Near The Bay Bridge

The Survivor

Cathysong .

The Youngest Daughter.

Ann Finch.

Another Reluctance.

Insert

Lee Young Lee.

The Gift

Eating Together.

Carl Philiphs

Our Lady

As From a Quiver of Arrows

Nick Flynn

Bag of Mice

Cartoon Physics

Elizabeth Alexander

The Viena Hottenot

Reetivka Vazisrani

From White Elephants

A million Balconies

Train Windows

Sherman Alexie

What the Orphan Inherits

The Pow Wow at the End of the World

Natasha Trethevey

Hot Combs

Amateur Fighter

Flounder

A E Stallings

The Tantrum

Joana Klink

Spare

Brenda Shaughnessy

Postfeminism

Your One Good Dress

Kevin Young

Quivra City Limits

Everywhere is Out of Town

Whaatever You Want

Terrance Hayes

At Pegasus

Lady Sings the Blues

Monthly Themes enter one review per month

January

Cather, Willa: My Ántonia
Chopin, Kate: The Awakening

Part two reading recommendations until July 15, 2025

Part three Reading recommendations July to August

July 1, 2025

5 Timeless Classics That Every Thinking Person Should Read

15 Masterpieces of American Literature to Read at Least Once in Your Life

July 5

15 Songs That Were Inspired by American Literature

The 17 Most Thought-Provoking Books of the Last 100 Years

Goodreads lists top 100 books released every year in the last century

Good reads top book of last hundred years

1957 – On the Road by Jack Kerouac.

1958 – Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.

1959 – The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson.

1960 – To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

1961 – Catch 22 by Joseph Heller.

1962 – A Wrinkle In Time by Madeline L’Engle.

1963 – The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.

1964 – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl.

1965 – Dune by Frank Herbert.

1966 – Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys.

1967 – One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

1968 – A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin.

1969 – I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.

1970 – The Bluest Eye by Tony Morrison.

1971 – The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty.

1972 – The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin.

1973 – The Princess Bride by William Goldman.

1974 – If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin.

1975 – Shogun by James Clavell.

1976 – Roots by Alex Haley.

Rest of the List

1925 – Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf.

1926 – The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie.

1927 – Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather.

1928 – All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque.

1929 – Passing by Nella Larsen.

1930 – As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner.

1931 – The Waves by Virginia Woolf.

1932 – Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

1933 – Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain.

1934 – Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

1935 – Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers.

1936 – Murder in the Cathedral by T. S. Eliot.

1937 – Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.

1938 – Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier.

1939 – The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.

1940 – Native Son by Richard Wright.

1941 – The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges.

1942 – The Stranger by Albert Camus.

1943 – The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupéry.

1944 – No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre.

1945 – The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams.

1946 – The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers.

1947 – The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.

1948 – I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith.

1949 – 1984 by George Orwell.

1950 – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.

1951 – The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger.

1952 – Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison.

1953 – Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.

1954 – The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien.

1955 – Lolita by Vladimr Nabokov.

1956 – Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin.

1977 – The Shining by Stephen King.

1978 – The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin.

1979 – The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

1980 – The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco.

1981 – Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

1982 – The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende.

1983 – The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett.

1984 – The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros.

1985 – The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.

1986 – Maus by Art Spiegelman.

1987 – Beloved by Tony Morrison.

1988 – The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushtie.

1989 – The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan.

1990 – V for Vendetta by Alan Moore.

1991 – Possession by A. S. Byatt.

1992 – The Secret History by Donna Tartt.

1993 – Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler.

1994 – The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa.

1995 – Wicked by Gregory Maguire.

1996 – A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin.

1997 – Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer.

1998 – A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.

1999 – all about love by bell hooks.

2000 – The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon.

2001 – Atonement by Ian McEwan.

2002 – Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides.

2003 – The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.

2004 – Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell.

2005 – Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.

2006 – The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

2007 – In The Woods by Tana French.

2008 – The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

2009 – Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese.

2010 – The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.

2011 – The Martian by Andy Weir.

2012 – Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.

2013 – Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan.

2014 – Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel.

2015 – The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin.

2016 – The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead.

2017 – Pachinko by Min Jin Lee.

2018 – Circe by Madeline Miller.

2019 – On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong.

2020 – The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett.

2021 – Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner.

2022 – Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsoliver.

2023 – Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros.

2024 – James by Percival Everett.

July 6, 2025

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The 10 Best Standalone Sci-Fi Books

July 8, 2025

The 22 best motivational books to become your best self in 2025

25 Thought-Provoking Books You Should Read From The Last Decade

Literary Masterpieces: The 25 Best Books That Defined the 20th Century

7 Philosophical Science Fiction Novels You Need to Read | Watch

July 9, 2025

30 Best-Selling Books Everyone’s Reading in 2025

The 15 Best Books of the Past 15 Years, According to PureWow’s Books Editor

The 10 Best Fantasy Books of the Last Decade

10 best sci-fi fantasy books, ranked

15 Books That Predicted the Future with Eerie Accuracy

July 11, 2025

The 10 Best Classic Sci-Fi Books (That Still Hold Up)

Seven Great Reads

Stephen King’s 10 favorite books of all time – from epic fantasy to brutal western

These 15 Novels Sparked National Controversies

55 Science Fiction Books Everyone Needs to Read

Why “Siddhartha” by Hermann Hesse Still Changes Lives 100 Years Later

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The 13 Best College-Set Novels of All Time

15 Classic Books That Are More Relevant Today Than When They Were First Written

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📺 Series Overview: Gone for Good (2021)

Premise:
Guillaume Lucchesi thought he had moved past the tragedy that claimed his brother Fred and first love Sonia. But ten years later, his girlfriend Judith vanishes during his mother’s funeral, triggering a desperate search that unearths buried secrets and forces him to confront the past he tried to forget.

Format:

5 episodes
Released on Netflix
French title: Disparu à jamais
Created by David Elkaïm and Vincent Poymori
Executive Producer: Harlan Coben

📽️ Episode Synopses

Episode	Title	Summary
1️⃣	Guillaume	Guillaume’s life is upended when Judith disappears. Flashbacks reveal the trauma of losing Fred and Sonia.
2️⃣	Inès	Guillaume investigates his mother’s finances and uncovers clues about Judith’s past. Inès hides a key piece of evidence.
3️⃣	Daco	Daco’s neo-Nazi past resurfaces as he helps Guillaume track Judith’s daughter Alice. A funeral reveals a shocking twist.
4️⃣	Nora	Judith’s real identity as Nora is revealed. Flashbacks to Italy show her escape from an abusive husband and Fred’s involvement.
5️⃣	Fred	Fred returns, seeking revenge and redemption. Guillaume learns the truth about Sonia’s death and confronts his brother in a deadly showdown.

🎭 Cast List

Actor	Character
Finnegan Oldfield	Guillaume Lucchesi
Nicolas Duvauchelle	Fred Lucchesi
Nailia Harzoune	Judith Conti / Nora
Garance Marillier	Sonia & Inès Kasmi
Guillaume Gouix	Daco
Tómas Lemarquis	Ostertag
Grégoire Colin	Kesler
Jacques Bonnaffé	Mr. Lucchesi
Mila Ayache	Alice
Sonia Bonny	Awa

🗣️ Notable Quotes from the Book

“You want the good guys on one side, the bad on the other. It doesn’t work that way, does it? It is never that simple.”
— Gone for Good, Harlan Coben

“The mind does that. It tries to find a way out. It makes deals with God. It makes promises.”
— Gone for Good

These quotes reflect the novel’s central theme: the murky moral terrain of love, loss, and redemption.

📚 Literary Reputation

Harlan Coben is widely regarded as one of the most successful thriller writers of his generation. His novels are known for:

Twist-heavy plots
Ordinary people in extraordinary danger
Themes of buried secrets and family trauma

Gone for Good was praised for its emotional depth and suspense, and its adaptation continues Coben’s streak of successful international Netflix series.

👤 Author Bio: Harlan Coben

Born: January 4, 1962, Newark, NJ
Education: Amherst College (Political Science)
Awards: Edgar, Shamus, and Anthony — the only author to win all three
Books in print: Over 90 million
Known for: Myron Bolitar series, standalone thrillers, and Netflix adaptations
Lives in: Ridgewood, NJ with his wife and four children

📖 Book List (Selected)

🔹 Myron Bolitar Series

Deal Breaker (1995)
Fade Away (1996)
Darkest Fear (2000)
Home (2016)
Think Twice (2024)

🔹 Mickey Bolitar Series (YA)

Shelter (2011)
Seconds Away (2012)
Found (2014)

🔹 Standalone Novels

Tell No One (2001)
Gone for Good (2002)
The Innocent (2005)
The Stranger (2015)
I Will Find You (2023)

🎬 Movie & TV Adaptations

Title	Country	Year	Notes
Tell No One	France	2006	Acclaimed film adaptation
Safe	UK	2018	Netflix original
The Stranger	UK	2020	Netflix original
The Innocent	Spain	2021

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20 Books That Predicted the Future – And Got It Scarily Right

“1984” by George Orwell (1949)
“Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley (1932)
“Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury (1953)
“Neuromancer” by William Gibson (1984)
“Stand on Zanzibar” by John Brunner (1968)
“The Machine Stops” by E.M. Forster (1909)
“Looking Backward” by Edward Bellamy (1888)
“The Shockwave Rider” by John Brunner (1975)
“Earth” by David Brin (1990)
“The Space Merchants” by Pohl & Kornbluth (1953)
“Future Shock” by Alvin Toffler (1970)
“Player Piano” by Kurt Vonnegut (1952)
“Snow Crash” by Neal Stephenson (1992)
“The World Set Free” by H.G. Wells (1914)15. “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood (1985)
“Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson (1962).
“Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand (1957)
“Cryptonomicon” by Neal Stephenson (1999)©wikimed
“The Diamond Age” by Neal Stephenson (1995)©wiki
“Red Mars” by Kim Stanley Robinson (1992)

30 Books Every 40+ Person Should Read

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July 21, 2025

Small Books, Big Impact: 10 Short Reads That Leave a Lasting Impression

July 27, 2025

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September 17, 2025

10 Sci-Fi Books That Are Actually Scientifically Plausible

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October 2, 2025

The Bible

The Bible is widely considered the most read and distributed book in human history. It has been translated into over 3,500 languages, and billions of copies have been printed and shared. With its combination of spiritual guidance, historical narrative, and moral instruction, it’s central to Christianity and has influenced countless aspects of literature and law worldwide.

2. The Quran

The Quran, the holy book of Islam, is another one of the most widely read texts in the world. It has been memorized, studied, and recited by millions of Muslims daily for centuries. Its poetic style, teachings, and laws form the foundation of Islamic belief and practice.

3. Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung (The Little Red Book)

This collection of quotes by the former Chinese leader Mao Zedong was published in the 1960s during the Cultural Revolution. It was required reading in China and distributed to over a billion people. The book was considered a symbol of loyalty to Mao’s communist ideals.

4. The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling

This seven-book fantasy series has captivated audiences across generations and countries. With over 500 million copies sold globally, Harry Potter’s influence extends beyond literature into film, merchandise, and theme parks. Its universal themes of friendship, courage, and good vs. evil have made it a modern classic.

5. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Published in the 1950s, this epic high-fantasy trilogy revolutionized the genre. Tolkien’s richly detailed world of Middle-earth, filled with hobbits, wizards, and dark lords, continues to inspire generations of readers and writers. The books have sold over 150 million copies and remain popular worldwide.

6. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

This philosophical novel about a shepherd’s journey to find treasure has touched readers with its messages about destiny, faith, and purpose. Originally published in Portuguese in 1988, it has been translated into over 80 languages and sold more than 65 million copies.

7. The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank

This poignant account of a young Jewish girl hiding from the Nazis during World War II is one of the most powerful memoirs ever written. It has been translated into dozens of languages and remains required reading in many schools, emphasizing the importance of tolerance and remembrance.

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes

First published in the early 1600s, Don Quixote is one of the earliest and most influential novels ever written. The story of an aging man’s quest to become a knight is both humorous and tragic, and its themes continue to resonate. It has sold hundreds of millions of copies worldwide.

9. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Before The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien introduced readers to Middle-earth with The Hobbit. This tale of Bilbo Baggins’ adventure with dwarves and dragons is beloved for its humor, heart, and moral lessons. It has sold over 100 million copies and remains a staple in children’s and fantasy literature.

Only one I have not read is

10. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

Published in 1937, this self-help classic on success and wealth-building has sold over 100 million copies. It’s credited with inspiring generations of entrepreneurs and motivational speakers. Its influence remains strong in business and personal development communities.

100 of the Best Books of All Time

Book cover depicts hands holding purple flowers; text reads “Anna Karenina,” “Leo Tolstoy,” “Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition.” Black-and-white background with text in white.© Provided by Reader’s Digest

**1. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (1878)**

Ah, Anna Karenina. Lusty love affair or best romance of all time? Most critics pin it as one of most iconic literary love stories, and for good reason. Leo Tolstoy’s sweeping Russian tale of star-crossed lovers is littered with swoon-worthy love quotes like, “He stepped down, trying not to look long at her, as if she were the sun, yet he saw her, like the sun, even without looking.” Described by Fyodor Dostoevsky as “flawless,” this one belongs on any book collector’s shelf.

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Book cover features tree silhouette, green leaves above red background, text reads “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Harper Lee,” “Winner of the Pulitzer Prize.”© Provided by Reader’s Digest

**2. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960)**

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird upends the quiet solitude of a segregated Southern town with a story of innocence and virtue, bigotry and hate, love and forgiveness. Eight-year-old Scout Finch and her father, Atticus, find themselves enmeshed in the trial of a Black man accused of raping a White woman. In one of the most deeply sad books, Lee tells the events, revelations, and lessons through the eyes of a young child. Widely read and widely taught, To Kill a Mockingbird continues to spark discussions of race in classrooms and libraries across the country.

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Looking for your next great book? Read four of today’s bestselling novels in the ime it takes to read one with Reader’s Digest Select Editions. And be sure to follow the Select Editions page on Facebook!

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Children and dog lean over a sidewalkâ€™s edge with a “Keep Off” sign; text says “Where the Sidewalk Ends” by Shel Silverstein.© Provided by Reader’s Digest

3. Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein (1974)

The imagination and artistry of Shel Silverstein are on full display in this classic collection of short stories and poems. Where the Sidewalk Ends is truly one of the best poetry books of all time because of its staying power for children and adults alike. Whimsical and masterful, the stories of this American poet, author, singer, and folk artist have something for everyone.

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Book cover showcases bold “Valley of the Dolls” text with pill-shaped cutouts revealing partial faces, set against a pink background.© Provided by Reader’s Digest

4. Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann (1966)

Sex and drugs have a common allure, but they also have a common endgame: a downward spiral. In Valley of the Dolls, Jacqueline Susann offers in lurid detail the stories of three young women who want nothing more than to reach the pinnacle of life. But just as they see it in their grasp, they lose it all in a coil of sex, lust, romance, and abandonment. This page-turner is one of those classic beach reads you won’t be able to put down, and it paved the way for similar scintillating vacation books.

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Book cover displays “The Shining” by Stephen King. A dimly lit wooden doorway marked “REDRUM” creates a suspenseful atmosphere.© Provided by Reader’s Digest

**5. The Shining by Stephen King (1977)**

The master of suspense must be included in any list of books you should read in a lifetime. That’s why you’ll find Stephen King’s The Shining here. Brought to life in cinematic perfection by Jack Nicholson, Jack Torrance is a middle-aged man looking for a fresh start. He thinks he’s found it when he lands a job as the off-season caretaker at an idyllic old hotel, the Overlook. But as snow piles higher outside, the secluded location begins to feel more confining and sinister, less freeing and more provoking. Horror fans, take note: This is one of the scariest and best Stephen King books of all time.

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76 The Little Prince By Antoine De Saint Exupéry Via Amazon© via amazon.com

6. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1943)

The Little Prince is a timeless tale of a prince’s journey from planet to planet in search of adventure. What he finds, however, are interactions with adults who leave him frustrated or dismayed. In the Sahara Desert, he runs into the book’s narrator, and the two start an eight-day journey filled with lessons. Don’t let this book’s size fool you—it’s one of the most compelling short books we’ve ever read. It’s also one of the most widely read classics all over the world. Whether you prefer reading in English, French, or another language, you’re bound to find a copy.

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The book cover features a gold ring with an eye, intricate designs on black. Text: “The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien.”© Provided by Reader’s Digest

**7. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien (1954)**

In The Fellowship of the Ring, the first book in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, journey to Middle-earth and into the world of Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, Gandalf the Grey, the dark lord Sauron, and the entire assemblage of Tolkien’s most famous characters and story lines. Frodo is tasked with destroying the One Ring, the most powerful Ring in Mordor, but along the way, his quest is filled with many of Tolkien’s unique and captivating characters, as well as an adventure of epic proportions. Though the world of Middle-earth is entirely made up, the trilogy teases out universal themes of good versus evil that have resonated with readers of all ages and backgrounds. It’s widely regarded as one of the best fantasy books of all time and a must-read for lovers of the genre.

**8. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985)**

Offred, a handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, has been removed from the home, family, and life that she knew only to be forced into service as a housemaid—and a working pair of ovaries. As the population of Gilead falls, a woman’s value becomes contingent upon her fertility and ability to reproduce, and those who can procreate are stripped of their independence. Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is one part cautionary tale and one part enthralling narrative. Though written decades ago, it remains chillingly compelling for our time as was proven by audience reactions to it’s on-screen adaptation. While Season 6 of The Handmaid’s tale is yet to be released, you can binge the rest of the show on Hulu if you like both watching and reading. There’s a reason Reader’s Digest counts it among the best feminist books.

Available for $14.59

Book cover features people flying above a landscape, set against a cosmic background. Text reads© Provided by Reader’s Digest

**9. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (1962)**

While this book may have seen an uptick in interest thanks to the 2018 film starring Oprah Winfrey, Mindy Kaling, and Reese Witherspoon, Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time has long been held as a must-read for its fantastical telling of splitting the fabric of time and space. A Newbery Medal winner, this science-fantasy novel follows troublesome and stubborn Meg Murry as she confronts her father’s mysterious disappearance with a collection of peculiar neighbors: Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which. Elements of love, trust, and overcoming fear are woven into this enchanting coming-of-age story. We always recommend reading the book before pressing “play,” so once you’ve thoroughly devoured this story, check out the other stellar books made into movies.

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Book cover features a womanâ€™s portrait gazing sideways. Text reads:© Provided by Reader’s Digest

**10. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813)**

Jane Austen’s classic Pride and Prejudice adorned shelves of many a learned reader in the 1800s and 1900s, but its timeless story and lessons earn it a spot in many home libraries (and on many school reading lists) even today. When eligible young men arrive in their neighborhood, Mr. and Mrs. Bennett must prepare their five eager daughters for the role of a lifetime: wife. While the Bennett sisters’ wit and humor keep the pages flipping, the classic story, which is widely considered one of the best romance novels, also serves as a harbinger for hasty mistakes and erred judgments.

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Book cover displays the title “All the Presidentâ€™s Men,” with authors Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward; labeled “40th Anniversary Edition” above the subtitle.© Provided by Reader’s Digest

**11. All the President’s Men by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein (1974)**

Political junkies of all stripes will relish the words of Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein as they recount the experiences and events of Watergate. Published just months before President Richard Nixon’s 1974 resignation, the book outlines all the evidence against Nixon and his cohort of political operatives that the two accomplished reporters unearthed during their investigations. It also marks the genesis of Deep Throat (later revealed to be Mark Felt, the associate director of the FBI), the secretive government informant who helped take down Nixon in the end.

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The book cover features textured patterns with title© Provided by Reader’s Digest

12. Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl (1946)

Between 1942 and 1945, Viktor Frankl labored in four Nazi death camps. His parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished. Later in life, Frankl became a psychiatrist and practiced what he coined logotherapy, a theory that our lives are primarily driven by the discovery and pursuit of what we find meaningful. In Man’s Search for Meaning, Frankl shares the horrors he faced in those concentration camps. But in this extraordinary Holocaust book, he also shares the lessons he learned—and later taught his patients—about spiritual revival in the face of such great suffering. Here are some more drama book recommendations to add to your reading list.

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Book cover displays decorative golden text “Beloved” on a red background, author “Toni Morrison,” indicating a novel with new foreword.© Provided by Reader’s Digest

13. Beloved by Toni Morrison (1987)

Toni Morrison’s Beloved stares down the horrors of slavery and transforms a narrative you think you’ve read a hundred times into a towering tale of pain, agony, triumph, and freedom. The story of Sethe, the novel’s protagonist, is gut-wrenchingly honest and simultaneously beautiful and hideous. She wears the worries of past decisions and strives longingly toward freedom, the arc for which her entire life story bends. The suspense wears heavy on the reader, and the choices you must weigh alongside Sethe are haunting. The book is a cultural landmark for breaking through the monotony of textbook descriptions and offering a human glimpse at a shameful season in history.

18.6953% OFFAvailable for $8.77

Clouds loom over bare trees in a field, with text “Truman Capote” and “In Cold Blood” overlaid in the sky.© Provided by Reader’s Digest

**14. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (1965)**

On Nov. 15, 1959, the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, was turned on end by the savage murder of four members of the Clutter family. The police had no suspects and almost no evidence. Truman Capote’s book In Cold Blood recounts in chilling detail the deaths of the family and the investigation that ultimately led to the arrest of two recently paroled ex-convicts. Capote’s work may be a story stuck in time, but its nonfiction narrative reveals a lot about violence and evil that resonates even today. This is often considered a model for the best true crime books, regardless of the time period.

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Book cover shows boy carrying a rifle on a dirt path. Title: “A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier” by Ishmael Beah.© Provided by Reader’s Digest

15. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah (2007)

It’s a story so painful, you’d prefer to think it is fiction. But Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone is an entirely true recounting of his years as a child soldier in Sierra Leone, West Africa. With this book, you’ll get a firsthand look at what life is like for the world’s 300,000 child soldiers, many of whom are stolen from their homes and forced into a world of drugs, guns, and murder. In a world made small by 24-hour news and lightning-speed technology, this is a must-read for understanding the plight of fellow humans.

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**16. Dune by Frank Herbert (1965)**

A science fiction novel for the ages, Frank Herbert’s Dune tells the adventures of Paul Atreides—who will become known as Muad’Dib—as he and his family strive to bring humankind’s greatest dream to life while living on a desert planet. Though written in 1965, much of Dune‘s story may be more relevant to 21st-century readers than it was to bookworms who picked it up in the ’60s. It has sparked countless other works in the collection of stellar science fiction books.

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**17. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (1861)**

When Charles Dickens wrote Great Expectations, he gave life to some of literature’s most colorful and enduring characters: Pip, Miss Havisham, and Uncle Pumblechook, to name a few. His penultimate novel, Great Expectations details the life and stories of an orphan named Pip, growing up in Kent and London in the early to mid-1800s. It’s a classic and a must-read quite simply because it’s been described as one of Dickens’ best works, an appraisal to which Dickens himself agreed.

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18. Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown (2012)

Brené Brown, a research professor at the University of Houston, throws everything we know about vulnerability and emotional exposure to the wind in Daring Greatly, one of the most groundbreaking self-help books of our time. After more than a decade of research, Brown wrote this book to dispel the myth that vulnerability is a weakness. Instead, she argues, it’s one of the most accurate measures of courage and the only path to true experiences.

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**19. 1984 by George Orwell (1949)**

George Orwell certainly couldn’t have known how prophetic his words might have been when he wrote the dystopian novel 1984 in the mid-20th century. Great Britain has fallen and given way to Airstrip One, a province of the fictional superstate Oceania. Airstrip One is ruled by perpetual war and Big Brother, a mysterious leader who uses omnipresent government surveillance and a cult of personality to enforce law and order. Winston Smith, the book’s leading character, must navigate the Party, Big Brother, and his thoughts, which grow more criminal by the day.

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20. Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir by Frank McCourt (1996)

In his Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, Angela’s Ashes, author Frank McCourt recounts his childhood spent in the slums of Limerick, Ireland: “When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.” McCourt battled poverty, near-starvation, neglect, and cruelty but manages to tell his story with humor, compassion, and self-perpetuating power. His award-winning book is widely considered one of the best memoirs of all time.

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**21. A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking (1988)**

Most science books, even well-written ones, read a bit too much like textbooks. But renowned English physicist, cosmologist, and author Stephen Hawking manages to turn some of the world’s most profound questions—How did the universe begin? What happens in the end?—into captivating reading. A modern physics guide, this book was perhaps the first to make the most mysterious elements of the universe (black holes and quarks) entirely accessible for the general public.

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**22. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (1953)**

Guy Montag’s existence in Fahrenheit 451 might hit a little close to home: He’s a fireman in a futuristic dystopian world whose job is to find and destroy the illegal commodities of a world whose sole focus is television: books. Indeed, Montag believes the printed word is dangerous—until a mysterious neighbor, Clarisse, shows up and opens his eyes to the wonder of the written word. This spellbinding story explores questions about the importance of literature and free speech. If you oppose banning books, this is the novel for you.

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23. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers (2000)

First released in 2000, Dave Eggers’ A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius became a national best seller, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and a heartwarming classic. This masterpiece is the memoir of a college senior whose life is turned upside down when he loses both of his parents within the span of five weeks and finds himself the guardian of his eight-year-old brother. Despite that ominous start, the book manages to be wildly funny with an irreverently honest take on learning to live with death.

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**24. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling (1997)**

Welcome to the wizarding world, muggles. In J.K. Rowling’s first installment of the beloved series, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, you will be introduced to many of the story’s most important—and entrancing—characters: Harry, Hermione, Ron, Dumbledore, Hagrid, and more. But before you get settled into the fun of spells and potions, the action starts right away as Harry finds himself troubled by the feeling his destiny is intertwined with his past. This book landed on our list for its explosive popularity and deep impression on the fantasy genre, as well as its many memorable quotes that will stay with you.

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25. Selected Stories, 1968–1994 by Alice Munro (1996)

Alice Munro, one of the most prolific writers of the modern era, captures life’s most honest feelings and moments in these 28 magnificent short stories. Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, this short story collection will never cease to surprise you with its eloquent story lines, captivating characters, and endlessly wonderful realism. It’s a book that belongs on any bibliophile’s home bookshelf.

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26. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (2012)

She thought a cancer diagnosis had sealed her fate and written her life story, but a chance meeting with Augustus Waters turns Hazel Lancaster’s life upside down. Irreverent and bold, The Fault in Our Stars is a funny, captivating, and gut-wrenching story. It’s about learning to feel love, enjoy being alive, and live a bold life despite circumstances beyond your control. No wonder it’s ranked among the best sad books (have the tissue box handy) and best books for teens.

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**27. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll (1865)**

If all you know of Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland is the zany but sanitized version of the 1951 Walt Disney animation, it’s time to flip your perspective on its head—much like the Cheshire Cat might flip himself. Scholars have tried to apply political, historical, and ideological theories to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, but it’s quite simply the dreamlike story of learning to grow (or shrink) and explore, told through the eyes of a curious child. Still, its cultural effects have rippled so far that it’s a must-read for anyone with even a hint of literary interest.

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**28. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (1952)**

A winner of the National Book Award for fiction, Ralph Ellison’s first novel, Invisible Man, spent an admirable 16 weeks atop the New York Times best-seller list. Its early success is due in large part to the relatable nature of its narrator, a young, nameless Black man who has to navigate levels of 1950s American culture that are fraught with hate and bias. Eager for a place in time to call his own, the narrator finds that what he hopes for himself will ultimately remain elusive, just as the truth behind the events that surround him remains ambiguous. The 581-page tome is a bit much for younger readers, but you can still introduce them to issues of race and equality with these children’s books about diversity.

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29. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume (1970)

If you read this as an adolescent—and considering it’s often taught in schools, there’s a good chance you did—it’s time to reread Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret. Awkward and inelegant as they may be, sixth-grader Margaret’s questions and quests (to grow bigger breasts, for example, while also seeking out her preferred religion) lead her to greater understanding and self-appreciation. The book will make you cringe as you recall your own experiences and desires to throw off the chains of childhood while budding into young adulthood. It’s a coming-of-age story that sparked dozens after it, but isn’t the original always the best?

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**30. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez (1967)**

According to the New York Times Book Review, this masterpiece by Gabriel García Márquez is “the first piece of literature since the Book of Genesis that should be required reading for the entire human race.” One Hundred Years of Solitude recounts the evolution of an entire fictitious town, Macondo. Through tales of men and women, boys and girls, the author—father of the magical realism literary style—offers a striking picture of the heartbreaking beauty and pain of the human race. Though it also landed on our list of the best books by Latinx authors, its true place is here, among the best books of all time.

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**31. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (1961)**

If all you know of this American literature classic is the colloquial expression about decision-making, pick up Catch-22 for a dark and comedic good read. Yossarian, a member of an Italian bomber crew during World War II, is desperate to excuse himself from the increasingly high number of suicidal missions his commanders force him and his servicemen to fly. The catch comes when he realizes the sinister bureaucratic rule, Catch-22, classifies him as sane—and thus ineligible for relief—if he requests to be removed from duty. The book made waves as an anti-war anthem and representation of the individual versus society.

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32. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi (2000)

Through this powerful graphic novel, Satrapi tells the story of her childhood in Tehran during the overthrow of the Shah, the rise of the Islamic Revolution, and the destruction of the Iran-Iraq war. As the daughter of two Marxists and the great-granddaughter of one of Iran’s last emperors, Satrapi holds a unique perspective and position in recounting stories of daily life in Iran. Learn, alongside Satrapi, about the history and heroes that define this fascinating country. The book captured readers’ attention for both its modern form—a graphic novel—and important, close-up peek at a country most Americans only know about from the news.

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33. Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White (1952)

You’re never too old to visit with Charlotte, Wilbur, and Templeton. This heartwarming tale of friendship and dedication follows young Wilbur, a runt of a pig, as he’s spared from one death but subsequently sent to another almost-certain death. Desperate to help the petite porker, Charlotte, a barn spider, hatches a plan that proves genius and life-altering for young Wilbur. Charlotte’s Web remains a touching, great read for families.

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**34. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (1969)**

Slaughterhouse-Five is a science-fiction-infused, anti-war novel that follows American soldier Billy Pilgrim. A central event in the story—as well as Vonnegut’s own life—is the firebombing of Dresden. Pilgrim begins to see many of the events in his life as repercussions of that deathly event. Much of Slaughterhouse-Five is autobiographical, but that hasn’t stopped pushes for censorship because of the book’s irreverent tone and unfiltered depictions of sex and profanity. One part futuristic storytelling, one part reflective memoir, Slaughterhouse-Five is often held as Vonnegut’s most important piece of writing.

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35. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (2009)

Abraham Verghese weaves multiple lush story lines into an opus of secrets, betrayal, love, and redemption in Cutting for Stone. Marion and Shiva Stone, twin brothers born of a secret union between an Indian nun and a British surgeon, are orphaned at a young age by their mother’s death and father’s disappearance. The two, bound together by blood and bond, leave war-seized Ethiopia for New York City only to return later to discover their fates and futures are intertwined with their pasts. The novel was groundbreaking for its depiction of medicine as primarily focused on people rather than procedures.

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**36. The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley by Malcolm X and Alex Haley (1965)**

The Autobiography of Malcolm X stands as the definitive work of an era in American history when cultural, racial, and religious ideologies met at a pinnacle. Malcolm X, a firebrand, Muslim, and anti-integrationist leader, reveals the limits he sees in the American Dream and the changes that can be made through a force of will and effort. Fun fact: Coauthor Alex Haley was once an editor at Reader’s Digest.

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**37. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream by Hunter S. Thompson (1971)**

Even if you’ve never consumed a hallucinogenic drug in your life, you’ll likely feel a deep relationship to the wild ride many drug users describe after you read Hunter S. Thompson’s rollicking Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The book is the recounting of a wild, long weekend in Las Vegas, where he and his Samoan attorney, Dr. Gonzo, are sent to cover a biker’s race in the deserts of Nevada. The drug-addled duo never gets the story—not much of a spoiler—but what did come of the journey is a tour de force of a bygone era.

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38. Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri (1999)

In this collection of short stories, Jhumpa Lahiri outlines the complex dynamics that exist when Indian traditionalism meets an American culture that often offers little respect for complex cultural dynamics it doesn’t understand. Each character’s story traces recognizable themes—longing, lust, betrayal—but they’re told in a complex story line that’s rich with detail. It’s an important read in our modern, multicultural world.

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**39. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (1947)**

Reading The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank is a rite of passage for many adolescents and young adults, but older adults will find a lot to appreciate in this young woman’s wise words. Written during World War II as Nazis carried out their campaign of death and destruction, this journal is a day-by-day accounting of what life was like when a family was forced into hiding. Frank’s humanity and grace in light of her circumstances are inspiring and heartbreaking at once. It’s a deeply moving nonfiction book for kids and adults alike.

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40. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (1955)

Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita may have first gained fame and notoriety for its infamous accounting of the protagonist’s unnatural (and, many argue, predatory) erotic predilections, but its staying power rests squarely on the breathtaking story that belies the most controversial elements. It’s a requiem about love (and, yes, lust), in all its maddening forms.

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41. Love Medicine by Louise Eldrich (1984)

Shakespeare’s Montagues and Capulets can barely hold a handle to Louise Eldrich’s Kashpaws and Lamartines. Love Medicine, a dazzling work of storytelling that takes place on and around a North Dakota Ojibwe reservation, shares the intertwined fates of two multigenerational families. Themes of injustice, betrayal, magic, and mystique surround a beautiful story that, in the end, is all about the power of love. For more entertainment from this era, turn on one of these fantastic ’80s movies.

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42. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris (2000)

This laugh-out-loud collection of short stories makes for great leisurely reading. In Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris shares the absurd and hysterical twists he was able to tease out of life’s more mundane and boring events growing up in Raleigh, North Carolina. The book continues as Sedaris moves to France, where he also shares the awkwardly charming stories of learning to live in a city and country that’s not at all familiar.

19.9955% OFF$8.99 at Amazon

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43. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (2002)

Calliope Helen Stephanides was born in Detroit in 1960, the heyday of Motor City, to a Greek American family who lived a quintessentially suburban American life. Moving out of the city, Calliope is faced with the realization that she’s not like other girls. It takes uncovering a family secret (and an astonishing genetic history) to understand why. Middlesex made waves as an audacious story of sexuality that transcends stereotypes of gender, sex, and identity.

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**44. Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie (1981)**

Saleem Sinai was born at midnight on August 15, 1947. That is precisely the moment India became an independent state. Greeted with fireworks and fanfare, Sinai and 1,000 other “midnight’s children” across India soon find their health, well-being, thoughts, and capabilities are preternaturally linked to one another—and to their country’s national affairs, health, and power. In this magical realism novel, Salman Rushdie offers a timeless, enchanting story of family, heritage, and duty.

19.0042% OFF$10.99 at Amazon

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**45. East of Eden by John Steinbeck (1952)**

We’d be remiss to leave out one of the most beloved American authors of the 20th century: John Steinbeck. In East of Eden, he presents a masterpiece that highlights the tension between good and evil through three generations of the Trasks and Hamiltons. You’ll be swept away by the complex characters and their similarities to Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel. Though Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath is assigned more often in high school classrooms, East of Eden takes the cake for its sweeping timeline and broader themes. It’s one of the best historical fiction books in existence.

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46. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis (2003)

The Oakland Athletics were written off, discarded, and ignored. Yet somehow they became one of the most successful franchises in Major League Baseball. Was it their throwing talent or their ERA? No, not at all. Instead, as Michael Lewis reveals, the real secret to winning baseball has little to do with skills and more to do with statistics. In what’s been described as “the single most influential baseball book ever,” Lewis reveals the secrets of the A’s and an unusual brotherhood of amateur baseball enthusiasts who’ve identified the real secret to being a winning ball team. This book, which features a decidedly American story about an American tradition, belongs on the bookshelf of any American reader.

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**47. Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham (1915)**

You might not walk away with a big life lesson after reading W. Somerset Maugham’s Of Human Bondage, and perhaps that’s what makes this novel so irresistible. The orphaned protagonist, Philip Carey, is raring for adventure and love outside his brief stays in Heidelberg and Paris. Soon, he lands in London, eager to explore, and stumbles upon his greatest adventure yet: Mildred. The irresistible waitress and roaming orphan embark on a wildly fanciful but tortured and tormented affair. This book is widely considered a 20th-century English classic.

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**48. On the Road by Jack Kerouac (1957)**

On the Road recounts a hedonistic cross-country road trip between friends in the aftermath of World War II, a story line inspired by Jack Kerouac’s adventures with friend Neal Cassady. Eager to find meaning and true experiences along the way, the duo seeks pleasures in drug-fueled escapades and counterculture experiences. The book is a must-read for its ubiquitous place among American countercultural classics (much like Catcher in the Rye).

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**49. Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen (1937)**

Isak Dinesen—a pen name for Danish author Karen Blixen—recounts life in British East Africa, just after World War II. While the collection of stories is not free of the racial bias and colonial attitudes of the time, Out of Africa gives a glimpse into an area of the world that’s largely overlooked when telling the coming-of-age narrative of modern countries. Fanciful and fascinating, Dinesen’s book portrays stories of lion hunts and life with native populations and European colonizers alongside a beautiful story of raising and freeing an orphaned antelope fawn. It offers readers a glimpse of a very specific place and time in history.

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**50. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (1939)**

In a world rife with paperback mysteries and e-books, Agatha Christie remains one of the most popular, well-known mystery writers of all time. In her vast collection, And Then There Were None frequently rises to the top. It’s a classic whodunit. Ten strangers are invited to a remote mansion on a desolate island. Once they’ve arrived, each guest is accused of murder. So what really happened? And who is responsible? Pick up a copy to find out; it makes a great summer read, after all.

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**51. Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth (1969)**

Deemed highly controversial and too explicit when it was first published, Philip Roth’s Portnoy’s Complaint is a vividly brash look at sexuality, obscenities, masturbation, and identity. The novel is a monologue of “a lust-ridden, mother-addicted young Jewish bachelor” that details many awkward and cringeworthy moments alongside quests for identity. It remains a landmark published piece in American literature, and after you read it, you’ll most certainly never look at a piece of liver the same way.

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**52. Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (1962)**

Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was first published as three installments in the New Yorker in the summer of 1962. The stories—and the book that followed in September of that year—launched the American environmental revolution, as the horrors of DDT, a pesticide commonly used at the time, made their way into the American mainstream. While Carson’s work was successful at eliminating the toxin, her story serves as a lasting reminder—and a good read—about the need for protecting our land, water, and air.

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53. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin (2005)

Abraham Lincoln upended the political landscape of the 1850s when he won the Republican presidential nomination over a field of well-known, privileged men. Facing a divided nation and a crumbling war effort, Lincoln soon turned to those exact politicians to help build a team of rivals, a group of people he could turn to for honest accountability, effort, and eventually support and friendship. Team of Rivals is a deeply personal biography of one of America’s most respected leaders, told to show how he humbled himself in order to lead and govern.

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54. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (2016)

Don’t miss this historical fiction masterpiece that also landed on our list of the best books by Black authors. Readers will fall in love with the riveting story of two sisters with very different fates. One was kidnapped and enslaved. The other married an Englishman and built a life of wealth and prestige. The award-winning book (it won the Hemingway Foundation PEN Award and the American Book Award, among others) delves deep into generational trauma and colonization. It is a must-read for modern bibliophiles.

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55. The Age of Innocence by Edith Warton (1920)

This is a tale of love in the time of rigid societal requirements of New York City’s upper class. Newland Archer, an attorney from a respected family, is engaged to May Welland. Despite his betrothal, Archer finds himself taken by Countess Ellen Olenska, Welland’s unconventional cousin. Despite his own personal desires, Archer marries Welland as he has promised but continues to see Olenska. This best-of-both-worlds approach seems to please Newland, but his dreams ultimately come to an end as he’s forced to face the life he wants versus the life society expects him to lead. The book has sparked discussions in book clubs and classrooms for a century.

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56. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon (2000)

You don’t need pirates and boats to have a swashbuckling thriller of a book. In The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, the lives and adventures of a curious and meddlesome pair of cousins are explored in exuberant detail. Cousins Joe Kavalier and Sammy Clay swing through the glittering streets of pre–World War II Brooklyn, spinning up comic books to feed America’s growing craze. Their hero, Escapist, fights fascists and falls hard for Luna Moth, an ethereal, mysterious, and desirous paramour. Their lives—and their careers—are equally bright and fanciful. The book received an incredible amount of praise from readers and critics. It also became a New York Times best seller.

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Book cover features a hand about to tip dominoes, with bold title text “The Book Thief” above, and author “Markus Zusak” at the top.© Provided by Reader’s Digest

**57. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (2005)**

If you’re reading this list, you likely understand the power that a book has to feed and nurture a soul. In that case, Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief will be right at home in your hands. In 1939 Nazi Germany, Liesel Meminger seeks meaning and life amid the bombings and death. Her “weapon” of choice? Books and the written word. This is a beautiful, riveting tale that helped make the horrors of World War II fresh again for readers who learned about it from history books. Our editors agree that it’s one of the 100 best books of all time. Want great fiction like this mailed to you every month? Sign up for one of these book subscription boxes.

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Book cover displays “Rubyfruit Jungle” title in bold, with green leafy background. Text by Rita Mae Brown; quote by Gloria Steinem at the bottom.© Provided by Reader’s Digest

**58. Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown (1973)**

Every reader should take the time to read a few of the best LGBTQ books ever published. Rubyfruit Jungle is the perfect place to start. This is Rita Mae Brown’s semi-autobiographical novel about fumbling through her first relationship in sixth grade, landing in New York City’s queer society, and more. It’s a personal, poignant look at what it meant to belong to the LGBTQ+ community in the mid- to late 20th century. The award-winning book is widely recognized as an important contribution to LGBTQ+ and lesbian literature.

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58 The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao By Junot Díaz Via Amazon© via amazon.com

59. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz (2007)

Oscar Wao is a pleasant nerd living in New Jersey, far removed from the comforts and traditions of the Dominican Republic his mother knows and loves. Wao wants nothing more than to find love—and to be the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien. His quest for both plunges readers into mythologies of family curses, immigrant journeys, and the American experience. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is a page-turner that’ll find a home with anyone who lusts for love and the human experience.

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Book cover features an illustrated carousel horse, energetic lines, bright text, and urban skyline. Title: “The Catcher in the Rye.” Author: J.D. Salinger.© Provided by Reader’s Digest

**60. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (1951)**

Originally meant for an adult audience, The Catcher in the Rye has become a favorite among adolescent readers and high school literature teachers. The theme of teenage angst and alienation imbue a story of rebellion as the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, looks for acceptance, recognition, and appreciation. Like so many teenagers, Caulfield finds himself facing the decision to leave everything behind, only to face the realization that perhaps his life isn’t as dreadful as it seems. For something totally different, take a bite out of one of these vampire books.

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61. The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride (1995)

“God is the color of water,” Ruth McBride taught her children, expressing her belief that God’s blessings, values, and grace rise above skin color and race. McBride, a “light-skinned” mother to 12 Black children, brought up her kids in the all-Black projects of Red Hook, Brooklyn, sending them to Jewish schools, shuttling them to free cultural events, and eventually shepherding all of them through college and beyond. But McBride’s son, James, discovers that she’s actually a White woman who was born in Poland, and he unearths the many painful reasons she has for hiding from that truth in this powerful, National Book Award–winning memoir.

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**62. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (1989)**

Any fan of women’s fiction has likely read Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club. This debut novel tells the story of four Chinese women who move to the United States in search of a better life. As their American-born daughters grow up, the women struggle to reconcile their identities, cultures, and more. It’s a beautiful, important book about mothers and daughters, motherlands and adopted lands. As the world gets smaller and smaller, as more families pack up their belongings to move to a new place, books like these are critical to fostering empathy.

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63. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen (2001)

After 50 years of marriage, Enid Lambert is looking for a little excitement, but it seems the universe is working against her goals. Her husband is frail from disease, and her children’s lives are falling apart or swirling down the drain. In The Corrections, Enid wants nothing more than to bring her whole family together for one last Christmas so she has something to look forward to. What unfolds, however, is nothing short of an emotional roller coaster. The book is brimming with characters who will stick with you, which is what makes it one of the best books to read when you want to deeply feel something.

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64. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson (2003)

The 1893 World’s Fair brought the globe to Chicago—but it also brought a cunning serial killer, H.H. Holmes. In The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson combines meticulous historical research with a bit of period storytelling to generate a truly captivating nonfiction murder mystery that also shares a lot of history about one of the world’s greatest marvels.

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65. The Giver by Lois Lowry (1993)

Jonas lives in a Utopian world. Everyone’s role is clear, and everyone fulfills those roles blissfully. Life is a set path that’s followed precisely. When he turns 12, however, Jonas begins to learn the reason his world is very fragile. The Giver is a dystopian story about what you’re willing to give up—and what you’re not—to live a life that’s free of emotions, pain, and suffering.

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Book cover displays colorful stripes with bold text, “The Night Watchman” by Louise Erdrich. Features “Winner of the Pulitzer Prize” badge.© Provided by Reader’s Digest

66. The Night Watchmen by Louise Erdrich (2020)

The Night Watchmen snagged the top spot on our list of the best Native American books for a reason. Based on Louise Erdrich’s grandfather’s life, the story is about one Native American night watchman who fights for his right to land and identity in the United States. The book brims with beautiful sentences and a riveting story, but it also received critical acclaim for its important themes and depiction of cultural identity.

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**67. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (1995)**

Lyra, a bold and brave young woman, takes off into uncharted territories to rescue her friend and other young children from kidnapping by the Gobblers. She also has to help her uncle build a bridge to a parallel world. What she doesn’t realize, however, is that she will face choices that challenge her and require grit she doesn’t know she has. The first in the His Dark Materials series, The Golden Compass is captivating from word one.

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**68. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)**

The roaring twenties still captivate the imagination of many, so dive into The Great Gatsby for a fantastic story and a historical trip that will leave you reeling. Rich characters and detailed imagery ensconce you in the era and whisk you into a beautiful story of the Jazz Age’s glitzy parties and lusty affections. The book is arguably the most well-known work depicting this time. That’s what places it among the books everyone should read. Not sure what to pick up after you close the book on Gatsby and friends? Choose the best book for you based on your zodiac sign.

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69. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (2010)

Henrietta Lacks, a poor Black tobacco farmer, died of cervical cancer shortly after giving birth to her fifth child in 1951. During her treatment, Lacks’ cells were taken without her knowledge, and they became the first immortalized cell line. That cell line has been used by doctors, researchers, and medical companies to develop everything from the polio vaccine to clones. Her cells are one of the most vital health tools of the 20th and 21st centuries and have made companies millions. Lacks’ family, however, knew nothing about this. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a riveting story about race, medicine, ethics, and the search for life.

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70. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (2005)

Kazuo Ishiguro is on our list of contemporary writers you should have read by now. He won the 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature, and his 2005 publication of Never Let Me Go is at least one reason why. The science fiction story centers on cloned humans living in a boarding school who await their future as forced organ donors. But, of course, clones are humans, too, and the students’ lives intertwine with friendship, love, and lust even as they grow more entrapped by their inevitable role in society. This is a must-read for its portrayal of enduring friendship, its questions about medical science, and its masterful writing.

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71. The Liars’ Club: A Memoir by Mary Karr (1995)

Mary Karr’s The Liars’ Club is a darkly humorous story of life in east Texas in the 1960s with a family that could give anyone’s family a run for its money. A daddy who drinks too much, a mother who marries too much, and a sister whose mouth could make a grown man blush—these characters are brilliant depictions of hilarious, horrific human foibles.

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**72. The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler (1953)**

The Long Goodbye is a murder mystery wrapped up in thrill and suspense. Philip Marlowe befriends a down-on-his-luck veteran, but several clever plot twists later, Marlowe’s friendship with the vet leaves him in the eye of investigators and a gangster. Deeply dark and fascinating, The Long Goodbye belongs to a series of novels about investigator Marlowe, and critics quibble about which are the best. You can’t go wrong with any—they’re all must-read books. Next, check out these book recommendations based on TV shows you might’ve watched.

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Book cover displays title “The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11” by Lawrence Wright against a background of monochrome portraits. Pulitzer Prize badge visible.© Provided by Reader’s Digest

73. The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright (2006)

You think you know the events that led to September 11, 2001, but The Looming Tower is a history lesson that is as profound as it is infuriating and painful. In the five decades leading up to one of America’s darkest hours, you will trace the beginning elements of fundamental Islam, the rise of Osama bin Laden, and the terrorist groups that sought to bring down a country.

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Book cover depicts title “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat” by Oliver Sacks; blue and orange text on cream background, review quote below.© Provided by Reader’s Digest

74. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: And Other Clinical Tales by Olive Sacks (1985)

Physicians and health care providers could likely fill volumes with the strange, heartbreaking, and obscene things they experience in their practices. In The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, one doctor finally did commit those episodes to paper. Oliver Sacks recounts stories of patients with a variety of neurological disorders—including, as the name suggests, a man who mistook his wife for a hat—that leave them physically here but mentally miles away. It’s captivating and heartbreaking, and it helps you understand how doctors connect with the humans behind the diagnoses. For more medical dramas, check out our list of the best doctor shows on TV.

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75. The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan (2006)

Michael Pollan may ultimately be one of the biggest forces for changes in food systems, sustainability, and healthful living. In The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Pollan shows how the meals we choose to eat impact everything from our health to the world’s ultimate outlook. Nearly a decade after he first published this book, Pollan’s call to deeper thought and conversation about our food systems continues to shift the way we eat, grow, and share our food.

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76. The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert A. Caro (1974)

New York City has been home to big personalities, but perhaps none have been quite as powerful as Robert Moses. He established much of what the city is today, from its bureaucratic utility companies to its physical layout and infrastructure. He was a force to be reckoned with, taking into his control much of the city’s development and prosperity—that is, until he finally met his match in Nelson Rockefeller. We’ve deemed this essential reading for understanding the history and politics of the Big Apple.

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**77. The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe (1979)**

Many words have been committed to paper to commemorate and honor the United States’ race to the moon and the men and women behind those missions. But perhaps no other book can take you deep into the mindset and the tenacity, grit, and courage it took to complete the Apollo missions the way Tom Wolfe did in The Right Stuff.

$21.98 at Amazon

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78. Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin (1953)

As a gay Black man in the 20th century, James Baldwin inspired generations of readers who relate to any one of his identities. Despite—and sometimes spurred by—the discrimination he faced, he wrote prolifically. While there are many, many Baldwin texts to recommend, Go Tell It on the Mountain landed on this list because of its semi-autobiographical nature. This American classic tells the story of one Harlem man’s spiritual and sexual reckoning.

$57.86 at Amazon

Book cover displays bold title â€œThe Road,â€ author’s name Cormac McCarthy, and a badge for winning the Pulitzer Prize, set against a dark background.© Provided by Reader’s Digest

**79. The Road by Cormac McCarthy (2006)**

The Road is a deeply poetic and haunting tale of a father and son, “each the other’s world entire,” and the journey they take across a burned and destroyed America. They have little to their names, save each other, some scavenged food, and a pistol, yet they must fend off the worst of post-apocalyptic America—roaming gangs of thieves, isolation, desolation, and devastation—as they make their way to the coast, where they hope to figure out what’s next.

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Book cover features radial black lines, titling “The Stranger” by Albert Camus centered, set against a white background. “Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature.”© Provided by Reader’s Digest

80. The Stranger by Albert Camus (1942)

Albert Camus’ The Stranger has long lived a dual life of meaning: In one way, it’s a story of mystery, murder, death, and destruction. In another, it’s a sermon on the absurd and the power of human thought. Camus, for his part, wrote, “I summarized The Stranger a long time ago with a remark I admit was highly paradoxical: ‘In our society, any man who does not weep at his mother’s funeral runs the risk of being sentenced to death.’ I only meant that the hero of my book is condemned because he does not play the game.”

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**81. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway (1926)**

Ernest Hemingway wrote stories filled with powerful emotions and unforgettable characters in a strikingly simple manner. The Sun Also Rises, which examines the disillusionment, angst, and apprehension of the post–World War I generation, is one of his finest works. In this novel, readers follow the tales and adventures of Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley as they swing through Europe with bewildered expats, seeking out the next great thrill.

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The book cover displays large text, featuring the title “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates, with a National Book Award sticker.© Provided by Reader’s Digest

82. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (2015)

Our list of the best books of all time filled up quickly with fiction. But there are a few nonfiction tomes, including Ta-Nehisi Coates’ bible for the Black Lives Matter movement, that cannot be left out. This important book about racism offers a clear understanding of how Black men and women have been ostracized and exploited by formal systems throughout history. What makes the book even more compelling is how it mashes together history and modern memoir. The result is a bold, clear call to upend current racist systems and strive for a truly fair society.

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83. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien (1990)

Perhaps the greatest book of fiction on Vietnam, The Things They Carried is a powerful story about war, memory, death, imagination, the importance of storytelling, and the human spirit. Tim O’Brien moves beyond the pain of war to examine the sensitivity and nature that each soldier brought with him on that long journey to Vietnam and the scars that returned with them. It’s a raw, honest look at a war that changed the country.

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84. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami (1994)

A search for a lost cat turns into a search for a lost wife in this prescient, engrossing, and humorous novel. At the intersection of a failing marriage, a dark past, and a secretive underground, Toru Okada encounters an untold number of bizarre people and experiences as he longs for answers that may never come for him—or even for you, the reader. Reviewers have said that though this magical realism book takes time and attention to read, the magnificent tome is absolutely worth it.

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**85. The World According to Garp by John Irving (1978)**

Leave any puritan tendencies at the door when you pick up a copy of John Irving’s The World According to Garp. This story highlights the life of T.S. Garp, the bastard son of a feminist and activist. Garp’s world is a roller coaster of extremes—emotional, physical, and sexual. He faces scenarios so outlandishly awful and painful, you can’t help but laugh, cringe, cry, and cheer. Enjoy the journey!

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**86. Hamlet by William Shakespeare (1603) plus rest of the plays**

If you only ever read one of Shakespeare’s plays, let it be this, the tragic tale of a son on a quest to avenge his murdered father. Part of what makes Hamlet so iconic is how it has been retold and referenced in the centuries since it was first written. This work has spawned an entire collection of other pop culture, from Disney’s The Lion King to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard. If you haven’t read it already, grab a copy of this slim little work and prepare to be swept away by madness, intrigue, and bitter fate.

$7.95 at Amazon

Book cover displaying the title “The Year of Magical Thinking” by Joan Didion, featuring minimalistic design and a gold National Book Award winner seal.© Provided by Reader’s Digest

87. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (2005)

One of life’s truest axioms is that there will be good times and there will be bad times. If you can relate to both, or even if you can’t, Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking is a heart-wrenching story of a marriage, a family, a relationship, and a life that’s good, great, bad, awful, and everything in between. And in the end, isn’t that just a story about life?

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88. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (1958)

More than a century ago, worlds collided on the African continent when European colonizers arrived to establish outposts for their respective queens, kings, and presidents. What happened to the countries, the natives, and the settlers was nothing short of cataclysmic and tragic. Things Fall Apart tells the story of pre-colonial Africa and the great loss the world suffered when these civilizations and traditions were wiped away.

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89. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand (2010)

The story behind Unbroken is so unbelievable and so improbable, it’s difficult to accept that it’s the real story of Louis Zamperini. Rebellious teenage years gave way to an Olympic career and eventually a stint as a U.S. airman. Zamperini soon found himself stranded in the Pacific Ocean and adrift thousands of miles from help. Where other men may have accepted their fate, he fought with hope, toughness, and humor to triumph. It’s an inspiring read for all.

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**90. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (1868)**

Is there any other mother-daughter book as iconic as Little Women? Louisa May Alcott’s story of the March sisters—Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy—traverses their lives from childhood to adulthood. It’s a coming-of-age story that remains relevant for women everywhere because of its themes of love, career, and budding identity. No list of the best books of all time would be complete without this truly classic novel.

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91. White Teeth by Zadie Smith (2000)

Zadie Smith’s debut novel tells the tale of two women whose lives are forever changed by what they experienced together during World War II. This fast-paced historical fiction story covers a lot of ground: race, ethnicity, religion, class struggles, and more. The powerhouse novel landed on our list for its overwhelming praise from readers and critics alike.

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**92. The Color Purple by Alice Walker (1982)**

When Alice Walker’s award-winning novel was first published in the 1980s, it was quickly censored. The author has said that most of the criticisms come from those who never even cracked open the book. So, what’s all the hubbub about? The Color Purple tells the story of a Black teen in 1930s rural Georgia. It centers around Celie, who writes about her day-to-day life in letters addressed to God. Yes, the book contains sexual themes, profanity, and violence. But its powerful prose has won awards, resulted in film and musical adaptations, and earned a spot on “best of” lists everywhere.

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93. Atonement by Ian McEwan (2001)

Set in World War II–era England, Ian McEwan’s award-winning Atonement also landed on our list of the best historical fiction of all time. The novel tells the story of Briony Tallis and how her childhood accusation against a family friend changes three lives forever. It’s a romance. It’s a war novel. It’s historical fiction that will grab hold of your 21st-century heart and squeeze it till you cry. Though it’s not a light read, you’ll find yourself flying through the pages until you reach the gut-wrenching finale.

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**94. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (1847)**

Could a book you read in high school really be considered one of the best books of all time? In the case of Wuthering Heights, yes. Emily Brontë’s classic novel takes a simple love story and smashes it to pieces with deft psychology and a dark Gothic atmosphere. Handsome Heathcliff falls head over heels for his foster sister, Catherine. But when another man enters the scene, their love story takes a manipulative, violent turn. The ripple effects of his jealousy even carry over into the next generation. Whether you end up loving or detesting this classic, dark romance, it’s worth a read.

$8 at Amazon

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**95. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis (1950) plus rest of the Narnia stories**

C.S. Lewis wrote and published numerous nonfiction and fiction books throughout his lifetime, but none have seeped so soundly into pop culture as those in the Chronicles of Narnia series. In this, the first installment, Lewis whisks readers through the wardrobe and into a vivid allegory that children and adults have fallen in love with again and again. You’ll see good and evil clash in the fight between Aslan and the White Witch. You’ll see compassion and forgiveness bloom between the Pevensie siblings. And you’ll certainly whet your appetite for more fantastical adventures as you reach the final page. This book is a children’s classic for a reason.

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96. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2013)

If you haven’t yet read something by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, it’s time to start. Americanah won the 2013 U.S. National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction (joining the likes of Ian McEwan’s Atonement) and captured the imagination of readers all over the world. It’s the story of love, regret, and identity, as experienced by a Nigerian immigrant to the United States. The book simultaneously weaves a beautiful tale while revealing truths about the African diaspora that many American readers might not already know. It’s a new classic and truly one of the best fiction books you’ll read all year.

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97. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (1937)

This groundbreaking novel by Zora Neale Hurston took years to get the praise it deserved. Now it’s widely regarded as a landmark book in African American literature. It reveals themes of fate versus free will, gender, and race in the story of Janie Crawford, a young Black girl who must make her own way in 1930s Florida.

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**98. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1932)**

Walk either through the best bookstores in each state or your local bookstore and it won’t take long to find a shelf full of dystopian fiction. From The Hunger Games and Divergent to The Handmaid’s Tale and The Giver, twisted tales of societies gone wrong have practically become de rigueur. But once upon a time, that wasn’t the case. When Aldous Huxley penned the story of the World State, in which humans were conditioned out of their emotions and ability to bond with others, his ideas were new and somewhat shocking. The parallels to today—medicating oneself to stop feeling, genetic engineering, and instant gratification—make it all the more compelling for modern readers.

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**99. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (2003)**

Khaled Hosseini’s debut novel has been read by millions of people all over the world, clearly marking it as one of the best books of all time. It tells the touching story of two boys in modern-day Afghanistan: one wealthy, the other poor. The timing of the book (published at the height of the country’s presence in American news) buoyed its popularity, but the story is powerful enough to stand on its own. Themes of friendship, redemption, and familial love make it a universal chronicle that will keep readers of all ages riveted until the end. For more deeply moving fiction, join an online book club and discuss your reads with like-minded book lovers.

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Book cover shows overlapping colorful dancers; text reads: “national bestseller, jennifer egan, a visit from the goon squad, a novel, Winner of the Pulitzer Prize.” Black spine text.© Provided by Reader’s Digest

100. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (2010)

This 2011 Pulitzer Prize–winning book is a series of 13 stories. All are connected by a record company exec named Bennie Salazar (and his assistant, Sasha). The stories intersect through time, revealing each character’s past—and the way time changes us all. It stands apart for its form, quietly shocking characters, and acknowledgment of how the world keeps spinning madly, whether we keep up with the pace or not. It’s a must-read for its insight and trajectory toward modern-day classic status. Need something else to keep you entertained when you finish this book? Press Play on one of the best movies from the past 100 years.

$12.99 at Amazon

Eight Romance Novels for Romance Skeptics

5 books featuring dark woods where dark things happen

–

Ocotber 31

10 Vampire Books That Could Be Considered Masterpieces (#1 Is A Classic)

November 2, 2025

The 20 best sci-fi books of all time – ranked

best science fiction books

Fiction is there to drive us out of our heads, and science fiction even more so: it makes the wildest notions seem pressingly relevant to us, extends our imaginations and our sympathies.

I’ve not only written many science-fiction (SF) novels myself, but for years I’ve written about SF, championed it, criticised it, taught it (whatever that means) and – God help me – edited it.

Feminist SF never quite shook off Russ’s influence – ponderous imitations abound – and it’s easy to forget how much sheer fun Russ had with her foundational novel. Long ignored by the anti-feminist crowd, its anti-trans passages are now winning it new opprobrium. Well, to hell with people who won’t let their bubbles be pricked.

Buy the book

17. Cat’s Cradle (1963)

by Kurt Vonnegut

To write a good spoof, you need a truly hare-brained imagination; SF arises where invention takes on a peculiar life of its own. In Kurt Vonnegut’s fourth novel, a Cold War skit, a writer investigating the development of the atomic bomb uncovers “ice-nine”, a catastrophic polymer capable of solidifying all water. This uncomfortably believable idea – look it up: H2O is odd – pushes Vonnegut beyond satire and into a doomed and hilarious world all of his own.

16. Camp Concentration (1968)

by Thomas M Disch

America has declared war on the rest of the world, and sinister army doctors have infected Sacchetti, an incarcerated poet, with a strain of syphilis, seeking to boost his intelligence. On these satirical foundations, Thomas Disch, one of the genre’s great jokers, built a terrifying enquiry into the relationship between language and perception, genius and pain. Anyone tempted to plug a chip into their brain, or microdose their way up to a pressing deadline (ahem), is well advised to nail this book to their desk.

Buy the book

15–11

15. Neuromancer (1984)

by William Gibson

It’s hard to say whether William Gibson wanted to satirise his times, or had got drunk on the Kool-Aid. Either way, Neuromancer defined the 1980s. Case, a hacker, is washed-up and neurologically crippled from accessing cyberspace. With nothing to lose, he signs up for one last job: breaking into the heavily guarded computer systems of a powerful corporate dynasty.

Little does he know, he has become the tool of Wintermute, a rogue artificial intelligence striving to merge with its more powerful sibling and achieve true sentience. Any attempt to précis Neuromancer makes it sound like a bad copy of itself, so let’s try this: before Tenet and The Matrix, before Ready Player One and The Windup Girl, there was this odd, twisted, noirish beast, its skin the colour of television tuned to a dead channel.

Buy the book

14. The Dispossessed (1974)

by Ursula K Le Guin

By the time you’re taking pot-shots at the human condition itself, you’re less a commentator than a species of philosopher. We follow Shevek, a brilliant physicist (based on Robert Oppenheimer, a family friend of Le Guin), who travels to the capitalist hell-hole planet Urras, while pining for Anarres, his socialist homeworld.

Yet we don’t: the more Shevak remembers, the more stultifying Anarres seems. Urras is no picnic either: adrift in its shallowness and brutality, Shevak’s loneliness is visceral. How, then, should we live? No point asking Le Guin, who drove critics mad with a novel that insists readers think for themselves.

Buy the book

13. Last and First Men (1930)

by Olaf Stapledon

Let’s start at the end. Barely warmed by the light of an ageing Sun, the last man reflects on his species’ history: how it evolved, blossomed, speciated and died. Last and First Men isn’t merely a novel; it’s an imaginative history of the solar system across two billion years, detailing the dreams and aspirations, achievements and failings of 17 different kinds of future Homo. At last, extinction beckons: “It is very good to have been man… And so we may go forward together with laughter in our hearts, and peace, thankful for the past, and for our own courage.”

Buy the book

12. Station Eleven (2014)

by Emily St John Mandel

Bring that thousand-yard stare back down to earth, and turn it upon our 21st-century lives, and you wind up with books like this one – not that there’s anything quite like Station Eleven. A few days before a flu pandemic ravages humanity, celebrated actor Arthur Leander dies on stage. His friends and family remember and misremember him, living as much in their versions of the past and conceptions of the present as they do the future – and it begins to dawn on us that Leander, by his passing, may just have saved humanity.

Buy the book

11. Engine Summer (1979)

by John Crowley

In this melancholy and uplifting vision, Rush That Speaks, a young man dedicated to “Truthful Speaking” (harder than it sounds), goes in pursuit of his lost love Once A Day. His quest takes him across strange lands, and among peoples transfigured by disaster and alien visitation into attitudes of rare gentleness. Humanity has adapted in fascinating ways to what, at first, seems a quite hostile environment. Crowley makes a poignant and often heartbreaking drama out of our happy future.

Buy the book

10–6

10. The Time Machine (1895)

by HG Wells

On the other hand, you could just frighten the life out of people: The Time Machine is one of the genre’s great, foundational shockers. HG Wells’s nameless narrator builds a machine to take him to the year 802701 AD, where he finds humanity split into gentle, stupid Eloi and cruel, clever Morlocks.

The Eloi are beautiful, gentle, charming – and tasty, which is why the Morlocks are farming them. Despite what you might have been told, The Time Machine isn’t a political fable. Wells trained under the biologist Thomas Henry Huxley, and this is a powerful, well-informed novel about evolution, as Huxley’s generation understood it. Time annihilates any attribute that proves useless to survival – even beauty and intelligence.

Buy the book

9. Plague of Pythons (1965)

by Frederik Pohl

As society succumbs to a plague of madness, an engineer called Chandler, who committed rape and murder while out of his mind, must fight to clear his name. The plague, in reality, is the doing of mysterious “possessors” who inhabit and manipulate other people as though they were living costumes to be shed at will.

Chandler falls in with a cult that uses pain to ward off possession, and learns that the possessors are hackers who’ve developed technology that can penetrate the human psyche. But, having fallen under their control once again, how can he stop them? Social media has given this agelessly nasty idea new life: Plague of Pythons is an inadvertent parable for our age.

Buy the book

8. The Islanders (2011)

by Christopher Priest

So much for moral angst. Sometimes you just want your imagination to let rip. In prose that could be pernickety to the point of bizarrerie, Christopher Priest monomaniacally rearranged two or three foundational ideas into brilliant, haunting sui generis novels such as this. The Islanders is his mischievous and magical gazetteer of the Channel Islands, recast as the Dream Archipelago, in which we drift through a chain of fragmentary consciousnesses, and both time and space prove unreliable. It must be the strangest shaggy-dog story ever written.

Buy the book

7. The Stars My Destination (1956)

by Alfred Bester

Gully Foyle is uneducated, unskilled, unambitious, cowardly, venal and weak. He’s trapped aboard a derelict spaceship, and the company that should rescue him is leaving him to die. But, after surviving his ordeal, Gully plots a revenge as transformative as it is terrible, as he leaps from world to world, acquiring strength after strength and skill after skill. No one, before or since, matched Alfred Bester for energy or economy; no one, with the possible exception of Quentin Tarantino, has ever shown such love for or commitment to pulp fiction.

Buy the book

6. Rogue Moon (1960)

by Algis Budrys

Give the imagination enough rope, and you soon end up in a place about which you can’t even ask sensible questions, never mind receive comfortable answers. Thrill-seeker Al Barker is repeatedly copied and his copies teleported into an alien artefact on the Moon, which kills him again and again and again.

Maybe it’s trying to communicate, but who knows? “Perhaps it’s the alien equivalent of a discarded tomato can. Does a beetle know why it can enter the can only from one end as it lies across the trail to the beetle’s burrow? […] Would the beetle be a fool to assume the human race put the can there to torment it – or an egomaniac to believe the can was manufactured only to mystify it?”

Buy the book

5–1

5. Roadside Picnic (1972)

by Arkady & Boris Strugatsky

In 1957, a massive explosion at a nuclear waste dump in the eastern Urals contaminated several hundred square kilometres of land. To prevent people wandering into the forbidden zone, the Soviet government turned it into a nature reserve. Fifteen years later, two Russian brothers wrote Roadside Picnic.

Aliens have visited Earth and left their rubbish behind. Redrick “Red” Schuhart, is a stalker, one of many who illegally brave these abandoned and overgrown “picnic spots” in search of powerful, transformative, toxic and often deadly litter. In some cases, the weirder SF gets, the more it comes to resemble reality.

Buy the book

4. Dune (1965)

by Frank Herbert

Cast into the wilderness of planet Arrakis by invading House Harkonnen, young Paul Atreides learns the ways of the desert and becomes in one swoop a focus for royalist hopes and religious fanaticism – all while riding on the back of an enormous sand-worm. Dune’s several film and TV adaptations all do a splendid job of conveying the novel’s epic scale. What they can’t do so easily is convey its oddness: like much of Herbert’s best work, Dune is set in a world that has overthrown its own thinking machines, and must now, and for its own survival, breed, drug and otherwise warp individual humans into becoming something very like gods.

Buy the book

3. Fiasco (1986)

by Stanisław Lem

The trouble with becoming divine is that there’s no finishing line: no point beyond which you magically acquire the wisdom and patience you need to govern your new power. In Lem’s great novel, first published in German translation before it appeared in the original Polish in 1987, idealistic human explorers approach the planet Quinta, which seems to harbour intelligent life. They try to establish contact, but the Quintans are engaged in a war, and refuse to pay any attention to the humans’ arrival. The explorers’ efforts to force the aliens to engage grow increasingly violent, in this bleak, brilliant account of good intentions gone horribly awry.

Buy the book

2. Ubik (1969)

by Philip K Dick

In the end, wherever we go, we’re stuck with ourselves. Technician Joe Chip is caught in a corporate ambush, and his boss, Glen Runciter, is killed. Reality quickly unravels: objects regress in time, deteriorating into earlier forms, and Joe and his friends find themselves moving backward through the decades. Maybe they’re dead, and Runciter is alive. Runciter certainly seems to think so: he’s constantly turning up in advertisements, pushing “Ubik”, a substance that can temporarily reverse the universal decay. In Dick’s world, we only have each other. The very fabric of reality depends on other people.

Buy the book

1. The Day of Creation (1987)

by JG Ballard

Mallory is a WHO doctor in war-torn central Africa, where he dreams of bringing water to the parched land. Funnily enough, while digging, he unleashes a powerful, ever-growing river. Becoming obsessed, he names the river after himself and embarks on a journey upstream, through Edenic lands that grow steadily more poisonous and feverish, while the river turns into a force only Mallory can stop.

The Day of Creation caps a formidable series of explorations of psychological “inner space”, that began with 1962’s The Wind from Nowhere. Ballard’s central insight was that no one experiences reality, only those bits of it that seem relevant. That’s where science fiction starts.

Buy the book

Simon Ings’s novels include Wolves and The Smoke

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Bold I read

On my list
1. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
2. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
4. Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges
5. *The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry on my list to read
6. . East of Eden by John Steinbeck.
7. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
8. 1984 by George Orwell
9. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
10. Watership Down by Richard Adams
11. A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
12. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
13. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
14. *The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
15. *The Stranger by Albert Camus
16. 16. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
17. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
18. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

19. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

20. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

21. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

22. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

23. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

24. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

25. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

26. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes

27.* Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert on my list to read

28.* Ulysses by James Joyce On my list to read not on the basic list though

29. Dracula by Bram Stoker

30. A Tale of Two Cities Novel by Charles Dicken

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A self-help book from 1884 gets me through the year, one day at a time

Qoutes

Douglas Adams In the Salmon of Doubt Hitchiking the Galaxy One Last Time

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.” ~ Douglas Adams in “The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time”

Neil Armstrong quote

In 1969, Neil Armstrong described the earth as a “tiny pea, pretty and blue,” which could be obscured by his thumb as he looked down upon us during his mission to the moon. Today, I can see Mars as a bright speck in the night sky and then go inside, turn on my computer and view images sent down from the Mars rover Curiosity, which show vivid scenes of the sprawling landscape up close and personal, bringing to mind the alien terrain I saw during my first voyage on the way to Auburn. http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/24/tech/mars-curiosity-anniversary/

Anne Kagan in the After life of Billy Finger

“A shift in perspective makes the particles in your universe dance to new possibilities.” ~ Annie Kagan in “The Afterlife of Billy Finger”

Waiting for Us by Lawrencealot (December 18, 2014)
Joyce Kilmer Trees

“What makes you a poet is a gift for language, an ability to see into the heart of things, and an ability to deal with important unconscious material. When all these things come together, you’re a poet. But there isn’t one little gimmick that makes you a poet. There isn’t any formula for it.”
~ Erica Jong“One of my secret instructions to myself as a poet is: “Whatever you do, don’t be boring.”
~ Anne Sexton“If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.”
~ Emily Dickinson“Poetry, I feel, is a tyrannical discipline. You’ve got to go so far so fast in such a small space; you’ve got to burn away all the peripherals.”
~ Sylvia Plath

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you,”
-Maya Angelou

“Find the key emotion; this may be all you need to know to find your short story.”
– F. Scott Fitzgerald

“I would also suggest that any aspiring writer begin with short stories. These days, I meet far too many young writers who try to start with a novel right off, or a trilogy, or even a nine-book series. That’s like starting in rock climbing by tackling Mt. Everest. Short stories help you learn your craft.”
– George R.R. Martin

Qoutes

Find yourself someone who talks about you the way he talks about Marcia. Expect your friends to be jealous. Or perhaps a bit concerned.

An emptiness so vast, the night screams in envy—
It devours the stars yet still hungers for my sorrow.

Man does not weave this web of life. He is merely a strand of it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.~~ Chief SeattleA house with any kind of age will have dozens of stories to tell. I suppose if a novelist could live long enough, one could base an entire oeuvre on the lives that weave in and out of an antique house. ~~Anita Shreve

(What a fantastic idea for a book! Hmmmm)

You may delay, but time will not. ~~Benjamin Franklin

Yesterday’s the past, tomorrow’s the future, but today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present. ~~Bil Keane

Time and tide wait for no man. ~~Geoffrey Chaucer

Lost – yesterday, somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered, for they are gone forever. ~~Horace Mann

The past is but a thread in the tapestry of our future. ~~Nora Roberts, Three Fates

Man does not weave this web of life. He is merely a strand of it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.~~ Chief Seattle

A house with any kind of age will have dozens of stories to tell. I suppose if a novelist could live long enough, one could base an entire oeuvre on the lives that weave in and out of an antique house. ~~Anita Shreve

(What a fantastic idea for a book! Hamm)

You may delay, but time will not. ~~Benjamin Franklin

Yesterday’s the past, tomorrow’s the future, but today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present. ~~Bil Keane

Time and tide wait for no man. ~~Geoffrey Chaucer

Lost – yesterday, somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered, for they are gone forever. ~~Horace Mann

The past is but a thread in the tapestry of our future. ~~Nora Roberts, Three Fates

Substack

Medium

Wattpad

Spotify

January 12, 2026

Review of Sister Carrie

Audio clip:

https://wp.me/p7NAzO-3yD

📚 Sister Carrie: Fame, Desire, and the Cost of Ambition

A Review by Jake Cosmos Aller

✨ Teaser

What happens when a young woman defies the moral expectations of her time and rises to fame without punishment? Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie shocked early 20th-century readers with its unapologetic portrayal of ambition, desire, and urban survival. If you’ve ever wondered how realism, naturalism, and fame collide—this novel is your gateway.

🔍 Overview

Published in 1900, Sister Carrie is a landmark of American literary realism. Carrie Meeber moves from rural Wisconsin to Chicago and later New York, becoming a Broadway star. She follows her own path, challenges conventional morality, and never marries—remaining independent and emotionally complex. A very modern woman in that sense.

📖 Literary Reputation

Initially suppressed for its controversial themes, Sister Carrie is now considered one of the greatest American urban novels. Dreiser’s naturalistic style—where characters are shaped by forces beyond their control—helped define a new literary era.

⚙️ Comparison to Other Working-Class Novels

Unlike British factory novels like Mary Barton or Michael Armstrong, Dreiser’s story focuses on urban ambition and consumer culture. It’s less moralistic than Dickens’ Hard Times, offering a detached, observational lens on fate and circumstance.

📚 Other Works by Dreiser

Jennie Gerhardt (1911)
The Financier (1912)
The Titan (1914)
An American Tragedy (1925)
The Stoic (1947, posthumous)

🎬 Sister Carrie vs. A Star Is Born

Both stories follow a rising female star and a declining male counterpart. Carrie ascends while George Hurstwood falls. Similarly, Ally rises in A Star Is Born while Jackson Maine spirals into self-destruction.

💔 Fame and Its Consequences

Carrie gains wealth but remains emotionally unfulfilled. Hurstwood, like Jackson Maine, struggles with fading relevance and ends in tragedy, as he falls into poverty and dies alone in a ghetto tenement.

⚖️ Gender & Power Dynamics

The men start with authority—Hurstwood as a manager, Jackson as a musician—but lose power as their partners rise. The shift is subtle, tragic, and telling.

🎭 Naturalism vs. Melodrama

Sister Carrie is grounded in naturalism, where fate is indifferent. A Star Is Born leans into melodrama, driven by emotion. Yet both explore the unpredictable cost of ambition.

📘 Synopsis

Carrie Meeber, 18, leaves Wisconsin for Chicago. She becomes involved with Charles Drouet and George Hurstwood, gaining comfort and eventually fame as an actress in New York. Hurstwood’s life collapses. The novel explores ambition, desire, and urban survival.

👤 About Theodore Dreiser

Born in 1871 in Indiana, Dreiser faced poverty and worked as a journalist before turning to fiction. His naturalistic worldview emphasized how environment and circumstance shape human behavior. Despite censorship, he became a major figure in American literature.

💬 Memorable Quotes

“How true it is that words are but the vague shadows of the volumes we mean.”
“When a girl leaves her home at eighteen, she does one of two things…”
“People in general attach too much importance to words.”

🔗 Want More?

Check out these reviews:

Goodreads: Sister Carrie Reviews
Engelsberg Ideas: Great Books Series
Compulsive Reader: Tom Frenkel’s Review

Note: Background information provided by Co-Pilot.

50 Books to Read Before You Die

I have been reading for the last few years classic literature. This novel is part of a collection of classic works – 50 books to read before you die available on Kindle. I have read most of these already. The following is the list with the titles I have read in bold.

Vol 1 starts with Volume One

Alcott, Louisa May: Little Women
Austen, Jane: Pride and Prejudice
Austen, Jane: Emma
Balzac, Honoré de: Father Goriot
Barbusse, Henri: The Inferno
Brontë, Anne: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Brontë, Charlotte: Jane Eyre
Brontë, Emily: Wuthering Heights
Burroughs, Edgar Rice: Tarzan of the Apes
Butler, Samuel: The Way of All Flesh
Carroll, Lewis: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Cather, Willa: My Ántonia
Cervantes, Miguel de: Don Quixote
Chopin, Kate: The Awakening
Cleland, John: Fanny Hill
Collins, Wilkie: The Moonstone
Conrad, Joseph: Heart of Darkness
Conrad, Joseph: Nostromo
Cooper, James Fenimore: The Last of the Mohicans
Crane, Stephen: The Red Badge of Courage
Cummings, E. E.: The Enormous Room
Defoe, Daniel: Robinson Crusoe
Defoe, Daniel: Moll Flanders
Dickens, Charles: Bleak House
Dickens, Charles: Great Expectations
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor: Crime and Punishment
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor: The Idiot
Doyle, Arthur Conan: The Hound of the Baskervilles
Dreiser, Theodore: Sister Carrie
Dumas, Alexandre: The Three Musketeers
Dumas, Alexandre: The Count of Monte Cristo
Eliot, George: Middlemarch
Fielding, Henry: Tom Jones
Flaubert, Gustave: Madame Bovary
Flaubert, Gustave: Sentimental Education
Ford, Ford Madox: The Good Soldier
Forster, E. M.: A Room With a View
Forster, E. M.: Howard End
Gaskell, Elizabeth: North and South
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von: The Sorrows of Young Werther
Gogol, Nikolai: Dead Souls
Gorky, Maxim: The Mother
Haggard, H. Rider: King Solomon’s Mines
Hardy, Thomas: Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Hawthorne, Nathaniel: The Scarlet Letter
Homer: The Odyssey
Hugo, Victor: The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Hugo, Victor: Les Misérables
Huxley, Aldous: Crome Yellow
James, Henry: The Portrait of a Lady

Volume 2

– Little Women [Louisa May Alcott]
– Sense and Sensibility [Jane Austen]
– Peter Pan (Peter and Wendy) [J.M. Barrie]
– Cabin Fever [ B. M. Bower]
– The Secret Garden [Frances Hodgson Burnett]
– A Little Princess [Frances Hodgson Burnett]
– Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland [Lewis Carroll]
– The King in Yellow [Robert William Chambers]
– The Man Who Knew Too Much [Gilbert Keith Chesterton]
– The Woman in White [Wilkie Collins]
– The Most Dangerous Game [Richard Connell]
– Robinson Crusoe [Daniel Defoe]
– On the Origin of Species, 6th Edition [Charles Darwin]
– The Iron Woman [Margaret Deland]
– David Copperfield [Charles Dickens]
– Oliver Twist [Charles Dickens]
– A Tale of Two Cities [Charles Dickens]
– The Double [Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky]
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes [Arthur Conan Doyle]
– The Curious Case of Benjamin Button [Francis Scott Fitzgerald]
– A Room with a View [E. M. Forster]
– Dream Psychology [Sigmund Freud]
– Tess of the d’Urbervilles [Thomas Hardy]
– Siddhartha [Hermann Hesse]
– Dubliners [James Joyce]
– The Fall of the House of Usher [Edgar Allan Poe]
– The Arabian Nights [Andrew Lang]
– The Sea Wolf [Jack London]
– The Call of Cthulhu [Howard Phillips Lovecraft]
– Anne of Green Gables [Lucy Maud Montgomery]
– Beyond Good and Evil [Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche]
– The Murders in the Rue Morgue [Edgar Allan Poe]
– The Black Cat [Edgar Allan Poe]
– The Raven [Edgar Allan Poe]
– Swann’s Way [Marcel Proust]
– Romeo and Juliet [William Shakespeare]
– Treasure Island [Robert Louis Stevenson]
– The Elements of Style [William Strunk Jr.

Vol 3 finished keeping for the historical record

This book contains the following works arranged alphabetically by authors’ last names.

Starting with volume 3 then will go back and do volumes one, two, and the Harvard classics. The goal is to finish all of these by the end of next year. I almost finished Volume One. Will do some of the WC reading books as well.

– What’s Bred in the Bone [Grant Allen]
– The Golden Ass [Lucius Apuleius]
– Meditations [Marcus Aurelius]
– Northanger Abbey [Jane Austen]
– Lady Susan [Jane Austen]
– The Wonderful Wizard of Oz [Lyman Frank Baum]
– The Art of Public Speaking [Dale Breckenridge Carnegie]
– The Blazing World [Margaret Cavendish]
– The Wisdom of Father Brown [Gilbert Keith Chesterton]
– Heretics [Gilbert Keith Chesterton]
– The Donnington Affair [Gilbert Keith Chesterton]
– The Innocence of Father Brown [Gilbert Keith Chesterton]
– Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [John Cleland]
– The Moonstone [Wilkie Collins]
– Lord Jim [Joseph Conrad]
– The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe [Daniel Defoe]
– The Pickwick Papers [Charles Dickens]
– A Christmas Carol [Charles Dickens]
– Notes From The Underground [Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky]
– The Gambler par Fyodor [Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky]
– The Lost World [Arthur Conan Doyle]
– The Hound of the Baskervilles [Arthur Conan Doyle]
– The Sign of the Four [Arthur Conan Doyle]
– The Man in the Iron Mask [Alexandre Dumas]
– The Three Musketeers [Alexandre Dumas]
– This Side of Paradise [Francis Scott Fitzgerald]
– Curious, If True: Strange Tales [Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell]
– King Solomon’s Mines [Henry Rider Haggard]
– The Hunchback of Notre Dame [Victor Hugo]
– Kim [Rudyard Kipling]
– Captain Courageous [Rudyard Kipling]
– The Jungle Book [Rudyard Kipling]
– Lady Chatterley’s Lover [David Herbert Lawrence]
– The Son of the Wolf [Jack London]
– The Einstein Theory of Relativity [Hendrik Antoon Lorentz]
– The Dunwich Horror [Howard Phillips Lovecraft]
– At the Mountains of Madness [Howard Phillips Lovecraft]
– The Prince [Niccolò Machiavelli]
– The Story Girl [Lucy Maud Montgomery]
– The Antichrist [Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche]
– The Republic [Plato]
– The Last Man [Mary Shelley]
– Life On The Mississippi [Mark Twain]
– The Kama Sutra [Vatsyayana]
– In the Year 2889 [Jules Verne]
– Around the World in Eighty Days [Jules Verne]
– Four Just Men [Edgar Wallace]
– Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ [Lewis Wallace]
– Jacob’s Room [Virginia Woolf]

Reading the Classics

Reading the Classics Updated Lists

Reading the Classics

Cosmos Reading List 2025 Updates

Medium

Substack

Substack

Substack Podcast

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Spotify Podcast

Wattpad

The End

July 21, 2025

The Blues & Billie Armstrong By Roy Dufrain

The Blues & Billie Armstrong

A Novel by Roy Dufrain, Jr

Oscar list

https://wp.me/p7NAzO-3wP

(40) ROY DUFRAIN JR | Substack

More Roy Dufrain Writing

Roy Dufrain Updates

guest post by Roy Dufraine

My college housemate has published his first novel, The Blues and Billie Armstrong, on his Substack. Check it out below – it is damn good, man.

The Blues & Billie Armstrong

THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT

Roy Dufrain Jr

Jun 25, 2025

Fifty years ago I was a small town golden boy with a scholarship to a private university and the dream of becoming a novelist.

Forty years ago I was an unemployed college dropout, a speed freak, dive-bar pool shark, drug dealer and philanderer. Thirty years ago I was a newly married, newly clean newspaperman and stepfather. Twenty years ago I was owner, editor and publisher of four regional magazines. Ten years ago I was a recent college graduate enrolled in Stanford University’s online novel writing program.

Ten days ago I finished my novel…

The Blues & Billie Armstrong tells the story of Archer King, as a motherless boy puzzling out what it means to be a man, and as a man in his fifties with perhaps one last chance to live up to his own code.

Young Archer is thirteen years old in the midst of the historic upheavals of 1970 America. After his mother’s apparent suicide, his father remarries and he gains a stepsister, the barefoot, braless and hand-on-hip seventeen-year-old, Billie Armstrong, whose big personality and radical politics open Archer’s eyes to new ideas (and feelings) but don’t go over too well in the small town of Lupo Yoma, especially with Archer’s hero, local baseball legend Hank Timmons, home on leave before shipping out to Vietnam.

When they discover a cache of old blues records and love letters, Archer and Billie team up in a quest to learn the truth about his mother’s secret affair and its connection to her death. But their investigation is sidetracked when the friction between Billie and Hank explodes into flames.

Older Archer is a prize-winning, hard-drinking San Francisco newspaper columnist renowned as a fearless truth-teller. At the height of his success, Billie is captured after decades on the run from a murder charge. Archer can clear her name only by revealing the secrets he’s kept hidden for forty years. Secrets that will risk his career, his financial wellbeing, his personal brand, his very identity…and ultimately his freedom.

The book is generously salted with references to music, pop culture, baseball and American history. Howlin’ Wolf, Dave Brubeck, Country Joe and the Fish. Cronkite, body bags and Tricky Dick Nixon. I Dream of Jeanie, quadraphonic sound and halter-tops. Women’s lib, Kent State, the occupation of Alcatraz. And eighth-grade dances, the Batmobile and Little League rivalries.

It’s a coming-of-age / redemption story with a little mystery and suspense, a dash of unconventional romance, and some unexpected turns. Archer King is naive, witty, self-deprecating and philosophical, but also willful, jaded and self-destructive. He’s haunted by the huge impacts of two women in his youth—his mother and her mysterious death and love affair, and the one-and-only Billie Armstrong, who crashes in and out of his young life like a psychedelic wrecking ball, then turns up years later to do it all over again.

First Chapter: INTRO: THE PERSISTENCE >

Title Illustration Design by Roy Dufrain Jr
Background Fractal Art by Blair Gibb at blair-gibb.pixels.com
Window Frame Rendering: extremal at iStock.com

The Year of Twelve Songs, Pt 12

Fire and Dreams

Roy Dufrain Jr

Jan 29, 2025

This Month’s Song: Fire and Dreams

If I were making an album out of The Year of Twelve Songs, Fire and Dreams would be the title cut. It’s also my latest song, and only a few people have heard it at all before this posting. And they heard an earlier, definitely unfinished version. That was a couple years ago, and the song has evolved quite a bit since then. It’s weird how that happens, but it does.

My messy cockpit. The Alabama sunrise out my window. Tools.

Performance & Production

Over the course of the project, I’ve tried a number of different approaches, and I think this one feels the best for me. I recorded the main guitar part solo (no vocal) to keep my mechanics clean as possible. Once I got a decent take down, I did three takes of the vocals, three takes of the lead guitar and three takes on harmonica. Then I edited out the bad, kept the good, swapped in pieces, mix and match. Like, if I like the vocals on take 1 except for the third chorus, I’ll use the third chorus from take 2 or something. Etcetera. Seems like I get the best results from this workflow. Your mileage may vary.

Lyrics

FIRE AND DREAMS

I wrote these songs in smalltown barrooms

Cheap motels and broke down cars

On paper napkins and envelopes

Dear John letters and sticky notes

With open chords and easy changes

On old guitars in standard tune

That’s all I know, and all I need

To tell these tales of fire and dreams

Fire and dreams, wind and wonder

Fire and dreams, smoke and fear

Hope and ashes, love like thunder

Fire and dreams, rain and tears

I specialize in sad and lonesome

Minor keys, major confessions

I know the words and the melody

To ease the pain of heartache past

So listen close, these are the hits

You’ve never heard but know so well

Raise a glass and raise your voice

Sing with me of fire and dreams

Sing your sins and ragged scars

Sing your peace and sing your screams

Sing the lies that tell your truth

Sing your heart through fire and dreams, fire and dreams

Fire and dreams, wind and wonder

Fire and dreams, smoke and fear

Hope and ashes, love like thunder

Fire and dreams, rain and tears

INSTRUMENTAL BRIDGE

Fire and dreams, wind and wonder

Fire and dreams, smoke and fear

Hope and ashes, love like thunder

Fire and dreams, rain and tears

… ……………… rain and tears

Gear & Software

Guitar: Taylor American Dream AD11e Grand Theater

Harmonica: East Top Lucky 13, key of C

Plug-ins: Waves CLA Vocals; Waves Abbey Road Studio 3

Hardware: MacBook Air 2020, with AOC 27-inch auxiliary monitor.

Focus rite Scarlett 2i2 Audio Interface

Beyerdynamic DT900 Proxy Open-back Headphones

PreSonus E5 Studio Monitors

PreSonus M7 Cardioid Condenser Microphone

Thanks for listening!

This is the last month of The Year of Twelve Songs. I posted the first song on January 31, 2024, so I’m happily amazed to say I finished the project within the time I gave myself. I learned an awful lot and had a lot of fun along the way. And now, on to the next thing, whatever that is! Thanks again and again and again to those of you who bothered to listen, like, comment or especially subscribe!

The Red Shoebox Guitar

Sting-Rays, Stratocasters, Beatle Boots and Destiny

The Last Great Acid Trip

Or how I won a footrace against a dog named Pig Pen

Remember the Red River Valley

A story, a drink and a song

The Year of Twelve Songs, Pt 11

When We Get Old

The Year of Twelve Songs, Pt 10

The Great Wall

The Year of Twelve Songs, Pt 9

Funny God

The Year of Twelve Songs, Pt 8

Monsters

The Year of Twelve Songs, Pt 7

I’ll Save You

The Year of Twelve Songs, Pt 6

Red Dirt and Black Shoes

The Year of Twelve Songs, Pt 5

House of Cards

The Year of Twelve Songs, Pt 4

Tomorrow (the sad version)

The Year of Twelve Songs, Pt 3

Shame

The Year of Twelve Songs, Pt 2

The Perfect Stranger

The Year of Twelve Songs

A Musical Learning Journey

Roy’s Best Books 2023

Some words I liked a lot this year.

Does MLB even like baseball?

One fan’s thoughts on the current state of the game

Remember the Red River Valley

A story, a drink and a song

The Last Great Acid Trip

Or how I won a footrace against a dog named Pig Pen

Jun 17, 2023 •

Roy Dufrain Jr

The Oscars at Our House

We saw 9.5 of the 10 Best Pic Nominees

Is Hitting a Baseball Really the Hardest Thing to do in Sports?

Two guys in recliners share their wisdom

Remembering Muhammad Ali

Why he was a hero whether we agreed with him or not

December 2021

The Boy on the Corded Rug

How John Lennon validated my self-belief

The Blue Flowered Sundress

A Live Reading of an Excerpt from my Novel

If Not Words

A Young Man’s Journey Toward Meaning

The Red Shoebox Guitar

Sting-Rays, Stratocasters, Beatle Boots and Destiny

Words Fail Me

A live reading in San Francisco

A tip of the hat to Stan and Willie

Stan Musial was before my time. But in a way he is the reason I fell in love with the game of baseball.

Me & the Godfather down in Fuzzy town

During my weeklong recovery from oral surgery — an altered state I have affectionately referred to as “Fuzzy town” — Mrs D and I watched the entire…

The Late Great John Prine

A personal tribute marking the 2020 death of a unique voice in American music

A Walk Through Hell With A Friend

A special bond forged in the worst of times

The Blues & Billie Armstrong 2

UNEASY LISTENING

Roy Dufrain Jr

Jul 02, 2025

The Blues & Billie Armstrong 1

INTRO: THE PERSISTENCE OF TRUTH

Roy Dufrain Jr

Jun 30, 2025

Photo by Pavel Mikhailov at iStock.com

Perhaps you’ve seen the video of my arrest.

I was told it went semi-viral, another disease upon the disease that already is the internet. Friday night I was celebrated for receiving the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. A lavish banquet was held in my honor in the Gold Room at San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel. Saturday night—or rather, early Sunday morning—I was handcuffed by a police officer and digitally immortalized by some pixel headed tourist kid with a smartphone and a sideways Dodgers cap.

The video appears above the clever title: Prize-winning Writer Dovi’d and Toke’d. The footage opens with a wide shot of my 2010 Cadillac CTS, run aground, cockeyed and high-centered on the concrete island in the middle of Lincoln Way—mere blocks from my home. I stumble out of the car, leaving the door flapped open. On the Bose stereo, Howlin’ Wolf is growling out Moaning’ at Midnight.

A dashboard warning bell dings out of time. Red and blue lights spin and strobe in the night. You hear a quick woo-hoo from a siren. The picture jiggles as the camera zooms in, the officer walks into the frame, asks if I’m alright, sweeps the beam of his flashlight across the interior of the Cadillac. The camera can’t see into the car, but I can tell the cop is curious about the mess on the passenger seat vintage ladies hatbox, the lid tossed aside, old letters and yellowed newspaper clippings spilled onto the seat and floorboard. No hat in sight.

It’s long after midnight, but I say, “Good evening, officer.” I lean on the Caddy, the picture of casual debauchery.

“License and registration,” he says. I pull my wallet out of my back pocket and fumble it to the ground, then manage to pick it up and hand it to the officer with a hapless shrug. Asserting my rights, I slur out a refusal to take the field sobriety test. The cop nods, unperturbed. My chest expands as if I’ve scored a minor victory. He’s not impressed. “Mr King, I’m placing you under arrest for driving under the influence. Please turn around and place your hands behind your back.”

I begin to sputter bitterly. “God damn her,” I say. “They said she was dead. Now she shows up out of nowhere after all these years… like a fucking ghost? God damn Billie Armstrong.” My arms stretch out as if I’m being unjustly martyred. The cop calmly spins me around and tries to gather my hands but I yank loose and start firing punches at the hood of my own car. A solid combination, a right and left jab followed by a hard overhand right that shoots pain throughout my body like I’ve been tased.

The cop tries again to corral my hands, but I whip around and take a wild swing in his direction. Fortunately, I miss by a mile, lose my balance, and down I go, ass-first, tailbone smack against the curb. I’m lying on the pavement for a ten-count, and he just shakes his head, helps me to my feet and snaps the cuffs on. He shoves me to the patrol car, stuffs me into the back and slams the door.

You see my face through the window, the whirling lights bouncing off the glass, my mouth in a holler. My voice now distant and faint and the tone shifted to righteous self recrimination. You only hear snatches of my crazed lament—some garbled nonsense about “the persistence of truth.”

Meanwhile, Howlin’ Wolf is still moaning the blues in my Cadillac.

On to Chapter Two >

Photo by Roy Dufrain Jr

Previously in The Blues & Billie Armstrong…

You see my face through the window, the whirling lights bouncing off the glass, my mouth in a holler. My voice now distant and faint and the tone shifted to righteous self recrimination. You only hear snatches of my lament—some garbled nonsense about “the persistence of truth.” Meanwhile, Howlin’ Wolf is still moaning the blues in my Cadillac.

< Back to Chapter One

The first time I heard the blues was a gray rainy Wednesday in September of 1969.

I was sitting with my mother in our house on Fourth Street. I was twelve years old, almost thirteen; she was thirty-two and quite dead.

This was up in Lupo Yoma City, a small-minded town next to a big muddy lake in the hills of Northern California. Earlier that day I’d walked out the front door under a clear sky. I was halfway across the lawn when my mother hollered, “Your lunch!” I ran back and she handed me the brown paper bag, the top folded over twice with a sharp straight crease and my name printed neatly with black felt pen on both sides. She wore a sundress with blue flowers on a white background, and I didn’t think to tell her how pretty she looked.

That afternoon the sky crowded up with gray-bellied clouds and it began to rain. At school we were kept inside watching a movie about Dr. Leakey digging skeletons out of the ground in Africa. After the final bell I took the bus to Fourth and Main and ran the last block home through the downpour. I stopped on the covered porch and wiped my sneakers on the welcome mat so I wouldn’t get yelled at for leaving wet footprints on the floor.

Inside, the house was full of the empty hush that brings background noises into the foreground—the loud tick of the second hand on the grandfather clock, the refrigerator hum leaking in from the kitchen, the rain stammering against the roof. And something unfamiliar, a rhythmic scratching I couldn’t identify but followed back toward my mother’s room—not the room where my parents slept, but the one she called the “dayroom,” where she kept the art deco vanity with the big round mirror, the typewriter on the yard sale desk, the Singer sewing machine, and the twin rollaway bed where she suffered through her migraines.

The door was open.

The scratching sound came from the Grundig Majestic hi-fi, which I’d almost forgotten was in there. As far as I knew it hadn’t been used in a couple years, since the day I helped my father move it out of the living room to make way for his brand new Magnavox Astro-Sonic Stereo Console, which he enjoyed showing off to guests, always finding an opening for the same hokey line—that he was serving “Sinatra and Seagram’s.”

The old Grundig’s auto-changer didn’t always work properly, and now the phonograph needle was stuck in that blank moat at the end of a record, scratching back and forth.

My mother lay on the rollaway bed, on her back in the sundress, on top of a pale green chenille bedspread. I thought she’d fallen asleep listening to the hi-fi, but on the nightstand the lamp was left on and a half-gone fifth of vodka stood uncapped in a small circle of dusty light next to an empty highball glass and a huddle of drugstore pill bottles.

My mother had a warm brown complexion that showed her Mexican-Irish blood, but now her face was drained and bluish gray. Mascara ran in river stains down her cheeks. There was no sound of her breath. Her chest and stomach did not rise and fall. Her head drooped to one side and a trail of vomit ran from the corner of her mouth onto her neck, the smell of it tainting the air.

I didn’t want to scream or cry. I wanted to show grace under pressure, courage under fire. I tried to think of a movie, a book or a TV show with a reassuring synopsis—faint-hearted kid finds dead mother’s body, reacts with perfect composure, proves manhood.

I found my way to the kitchen, thinking I should call someone. The year before, my mother had redecorated. She’d painted the walls sunflower yellow, ordered a new fridge and range in harvest gold, and new vinyl flooring in a striking orange-yellow-brown pattern. I remember how proud she was when the project was finished, and how my father mocked her by wearing sunglasses to the dinner table.

A yellow plastic phone was mounted on the yellow painted wall. I stood with the receiver held away from my ear, the dial tone buzzing, and I considered the handwritten list of phone numbers tacked to the wall: the local newspaper where both my father and grandmother worked, my aunt’s beauty parlor, our family doctor’s office, the police and fire departments. I tried to rehearse what I would say, but I couldn’t arrange a clear sentence in my mind. I couldn’t imagine the words “my mother is dead” staggering out of my mouth.

The square, electric Timex on the wall above the table said 4:15. Phone call or not, my father would probably be home within an hour, bustling through the door ready for a stiff drink and Walter Cronkite. Did I even want to be here then? I felt oddly embarrassed—ashamed even—to be the one who found her like this, to be in the position of informing adults of something so completely out of a child’s domain. I didn’t want to be the bearer of this news, but I also didn’t want to be the boy who couldn’t bear it.

I hung up the phone without dialing and drifted back to the dayroom like a sleepwalker. I slumped onto the low stool at the art deco vanity and listened to the scratching and crackling still coming from the hi-fi, and in the big round mirror I saw my boyish face alongside the reflection of my mother on the bed. We were near lookalikes. She was five feet tall, I was an inch shorter. Both slender and tanned, with brown hair so dark it looked black in low light. She styled her hair like Jackie Kennedy (not Jackie Onassis), with a curved swoop of bangs above one eye; my father sent me to the Main Street Barbershop for a “regular boy’s haircut” which always left me with a similar swoop.

I wasn’t sure what it meant that I hadn’t noticed all this before—not only the ways we looked alike, but any hint of this end. I was so clearly her son, but did I even know her? What twelve-year-old boy truly knows his mother—her dreams, her regrets, her pride and shame?

The blue-flowered sundress had two pockets thigh-high on its front. Still gazing at the vanity mirror, I caught the white flash of something peeking out the top of one pocket. Turning around for a direct view, it looked like the corner of a folded piece of paper.

I couldn’t remember the last time I had willingly touched my mother. She had touched me—pushed the hair out of my eyes, turned my collar down, tried to hug or kiss me—but your average American boy knows when it’s time to start keeping motherly love at a distance, especially in public.

Touching my mother’s body at that moment might drive me screaming out of the room, out of the house and into the Lupo Yoma streets, but I wanted to retrieve that piece of paper. I had the shy, needy hope that it might hold a clue that would help me understand. I walked around to the other side of the room, put one knee up on the bed and leaned over precariously. I grasped the corner of the paper with fingertips and carefully slid it out of the pocket without touching anything else.

It was a stationery envelope, addressed in my mother’s handwriting to someone I didn’t know, a PFC J.R. Cole. The name meant nothing to me, but the envelope suggested she was planning to go out that day—to mail the letter if nothing else. She didn’t need a stamp, because you could send letters to soldiers for free, but there was no mail delivery within the city limits of Lupo Yoma, so she would have to go to the post office or the nearest public mailbox to send a letter. Then I turned the envelope over and saw the pink imprint of a lipstick kiss.

It didn’t make sense. She knew I would be the first one home. I’d seen her purse and car keys waiting on the yard sale desk. Now I’d found outgoing mail in her pocket. She was clearly planning to go out. Maybe the rain clouds changed her mind. Or a headache came on and she laid down for a nap. But the vodka, the pills and the kiss on the envelope spun my thoughts off in other directions where I didn’t dare follow.

The scratch-scratch from the hi-fi now seemed amplified to oppressive intensity as if someone had cranked the volume knob. I couldn’t think straight. I crossed the room and lifted the needle off the record. The scratching stopped, but the silence was unnerving.

On the turntable a short stack of 45s had been set up and played one after the other. I held the turntable arm suspended in the air and read the label on the top record. “Sad Hours,” it said, in silver-gray type on a red spinning background, and I wondered if she’d known this would be the last song she ever heard, if she’d planned it that way and set up the whole stack like some grim Top 10 countdown. I watched my hand drop the needle at the beginning of the track, and I sat down on the bed next to my mother, envelope still in hand.

What came out of the speakers was not my father’s Sinatra, nor one of my mother’s favorites like Trini Lopez or Peter, Paul and Mary. It wasn’t folk or rock-n-roll or jazz or swing or country and western. And it definitely wasn’t easy listening. It was like meeting someone who speaks English but with a seductive accent you’ve never heard before.

The bass line ambled into the room and paced the floor in a circular path with sad sack persistence. An electric guitar chimed in with jangly complaints of its own. Brushes gossiped to a snare drum and the chick-chick of the hi-hat punctuated the beat. An instrument I couldn’t name took the lead—a horn of some kind that announced itself with a long, distant moan, then whined and wailed and honked bitterly. It shook its head in regret and wagged a finger in warning. There were no words, yet the unidentified horn spoke of dark days and busted hearts, of sorrow and resignation. It seemed to accuse, confess, beg forgiveness and promise a fight all at once.

Jerky film clips of shuffled memory flickered across my inner sight—the lilt of my mother’s inflections as she read me to sleep when I was little, red pedal pushers and white sunglasses in the Little League bleachers, a swipe of kitchen yellow on her forehead, the scent of Aqua net hairspray hovering by the vanity in this very room.

When the song was over I wiped my eyes with a shirt sleeve and got up and turned off the hi-fi. The Grundig Majestic was a mid-fifties model in a honey-colored wood cabinet with double sliding doors that covered all the knobs and buttons when closed. The turntable was further hidden in its own drawer that had to be pulled open for access. I closed up the whole thing with the 45s still stacked on the turntable. I grabbed the Vodka bottle off the nightstand and swigged a mouthful that burned like cold gasoline, set the bottle back in its place beside the empty glass and the pills.

I took the pink lipstick envelope to my room and hid it under the bed in the Kids shoebox with my baseball cards.

I pulled on a jacket and my Giants cap and slipped out the back door into the whispering rain.

On to Chapter 3 >

The Blues & Billie Armstrong 3

PINCH HITTER

Roy Dufrain Jr

Photo by cottonpox studios at pexels.com

Previously in The Blues & Billie Armstrong…

I took the pink lipstick envelope to my room and hid it under the bed in the Kids shoebox with my baseball cards. I pulled on a jacket and my Giants cap and slipped out the back door into the whispering rain.

< Back to Chapter 2

Our house stood at the bottom end of Fourth Street, half a block from where the pavement sloped right into Lupo Yoma Lake.

On the other side of our backyard fence was the dirt parking lot of the Lupo Yoma Yacht Club, which wasn’t quite as grand as it sounds and actually just a kitschy clubhouse for old Rotarians with old boats. But, beyond the Yacht Club, across Third Street, was the boundary of Library Park, a typical small town park with a couple square blocks of lawn populated by looming trees and wooden picnic tables. There was a dock with a diving board, a green cement tennis court, and the ivy-covered Lupo Yoma County Carnegie Library.

A few summers before, I’d loosened one of the wide planks on our fence so it appeared to be solidly in place but could easily be set aside to open a shortcut to the park. Now I stepped through the gap, checking the Yacht Club parking lot for possible witnesses, my mind a tangle of shame and confusion and urgency, my breath quickened. I didn’t want anyone, especially my father, to know the truth—that I’d been in the house, seen her, and left. My father was the editor of the Lupo Yoma Call & Record. He was an old-school, self-made newspaperman who curated facts for a living and had no patience for sugar on top. A man has to look life in the eyes, he liked to say. Death as well, I supposed.

And it started to dawn on me that I had possibly tampered with evidence by taking the envelope. I recognized this as the physical embodiment of what my father would call a lie by omission, but I had no intention of sharing the envelope with him or anyone else. Maybe I was protecting him, or my mother, or the rest of the family, or myself. Maybe I just wanted some piece of her all my own. Cowardly. Protective. Selfish. Bereft. All of that and more in an emotional blur, the colors run together like oil riding water.

I needed to slow down the drumming in my chest and stop the technicolor movie of the dayroom that was replaying in my head. And all the questions. The storm had emptied the park of citizens except the ducks who waddled around bickering over puddles that would soon disappear. I walked along the concrete promenade that ran the length of the park and listened to the hushing sound of the rain falling on the lake.

South of the park was the Weeping Willow Resort & Trailer Court, and I resolved to wait there to be found and notified of my mother’s death. The game room at the Weeping Willow was a regular hangout for me and my buddies. I figured that was where the adults would think to look for me if I was late coming home on a rainy day. My maternal grandparents owned the place, but they were always so busy running the restaurant and the rest of the resort that we kids were usually unsupervised in the game room. We’d play pinball, feed the jukebox, drink sodas and share cigarettes stolen from our parents. If there weren’t any older kids around to hog the pool table, we might shoot a game of eight-ball or cut-throat.

Timmy Bilderback and Joey Quarterman were already there, Timmy at the Pinch Hitter pinball game, Joey standing at the jukebox looking over the song selection.

“Hey Archer, got a quarter?”

I flipped him a coin. He dropped it in the machine and punched buttons. Three songs for two bits. Joey picked Daydream Believer by The Monkees, his favorite band. He had an autographed photo of Davey Jones on his bedroom wall, which he got by writing to the Official Monkees Fan Club. He moved aside and nodded for me to take my turn. Most of my favorites back then were Beatles songs, but all the tiny labels on the jukebox blurred together like when I was a little kid wearing my father’s bifocals. And I could still hear Sad Hours in my head—the echo of that strange lonely horn.

“You okay, man?” Joey must’ve caught the faraway look in my eyes.

I finally focused on the label for Penny Lane and punched in the number with Timmy now looking over my shoulder, encouraging me to “Pick a song already, dipshit.” Then he ragged on Joey that Davey Jones was a homo and the Monkees weren’t even a real band, and he punched in some Steppenwolf. I’d known Timmy since the second grade, but I didn’t know what he had on his walls—his parents were loud, unhappy drunks, and he never invited anyone inside.

I bought a can of Squirt from the coke machine, bummed a cigarette from Timmy and tried to act like I hadn’t gone home after school and found my mother dead in the dayroom. The cue ball was loose on the green felt of the pool table, and I slung it around with my hand trying to make bank shots while waiting for my turn at pinball. Steppenwolf roared on. Outside my head, the whole scene unfolded like a hundred other forgettable days at the Weeping Willow game room.

I was racking up points on the Pinch Hitter pinball machine, lost for the moment in the blinking lights and the bells and the bumps, when my Aunt Laurette appeared at the sliding glass door, peering in with her hands held up to form a tunnel around her eyes. Rainwater dripped down the door and blurred her face.

“It’s your aunt with the tits,” Timmy said. Even among twelve-year-old boys, Timmy Bilderback’s level of sexual energy was considered somewhat obsessive. Laurette King was actually my cousin once removed; I knew her mostly from holiday gatherings or as my occasional babysitter. According to Timmy, she was a “screaming’ hot piece,” and I admit I agreed, but I did so in secret, her being family and all. Mid to late twenties, trim but curvy, long dark hair ratted up on top, flame-blue eyeshadow. It’s fair to say she was the black sheep of the family thanks to a teenage marriage and divorce and some other hinted failings which I’d repeatedly been assured were none of my young business. As she entered the game room I looked up, and my last ball fell uncontested past my flippers. The game-over light flashed red.

She didn’t look like a hot piece right then, her eyes puffy, her face pale and slack. “Archer, there’s been an accident,” she said. I stared like an amateur actor who’s forgotten a line. The jukebox sang Penny Lane in the background. “You need to come with me,” Laurette said, and she took me by the hand and pulled me outside. The rain was falling hard again. “Come on!” she shouted, dragging me splashing across the wet black parking lot to the shelter of her Volkswagen Beetle.

We sat in the front seats with our dripping hair stuck to our heads. She put the key in the ignition but didn’t start the engine. Rain covered the windows, swirling the outside world. She gripped the steering wheel so hard her fists trembled. She released her fingers carefully, as if they fought her, and she slammed the heels of both hands against the wheel. Mascara flooded down her face. She delivered the news, crying and nearly shouting over the din of rain against cheap metal. She said my mother had mixed up the nerve pills and the headache pills and the sleeping pills. Or somehow lost track and tripled her dosage. Or maybe she’d forgotten Doc Meaney’s advice not to mix her vodka with the pills. No one was sure. “A terrible accident.”

I didn’t know how I should pretend to react; I had no clear sense of what the expectations were. Doc Meaney, who was also the county coroner, had been to the house and ruled my mother’s death an accidental overdose.

I had to resist the urge to pour out the truth.

Earlier that summer Laurette had caught me stealing a couple Marlboros out of her purse. She’d made me light up in front of her, teased me about my cough and my inexperienced, effeminate hold on the cigarette. She gave me a mild lecture but never mentioned it to the other adults in the family. Still, I kept quiet about what I’d seen and heard in the dayroom. And what I’d taken.

My face must’ve looked blank, no tears came.

On to Chapter 4 >

Illustration by Roy Dufrain Jr / Background photo by misscherrygolightly at iStock.com

The Blues & Billie Armstrong 4

THE CLOTHES MAKE THE BOY

Roy Dufrain Jr

Jul 07, 2025

Photo by Ernesto Suarez at iStock.com

Previously in The Blues & Billie Armstrong…

She gave me a mild lecture but never mentioned it to the other adults in the family. Still, I kept quiet about what I’d seen and heard in the dayroom. And what I’d taken. My face must’ve looked blank, no tears came.

< Back to Chapter 3

I wanted a gray suit like I’d seen my father wear.

Grandma Junia drove me to JC Penney’s in Santa Rosa—two hours of twisted road, dusty oak trees and September hills. It was the first time I was allowed to ride in the front seat of her 1959 Buick Electra, a decade old already but still the closest thing to the Batmobile on the streets of Lupo Yoma City. Angular and sleek, acres of windshield, space-age curves, great winglike fins over the taillights. Totally cherry and always waxed and polished glossy black, with white leather seats and chrome eyebrows over the headlights at the same sharp angle as the ones Grandma Junia drew on her face.

I studied her movements closely—the rise and fall and crinkle of her full skirt as her foot switched between gas and brake, her hands moving lightly but knowingly on the steering wheel, the silver painted fingernails that matched her frosted hair. I daydreamed myself in that driver’s seat, in full command of that shining blade of a car, climbing toward some heroic adulthood that would include facial hair and certainty.

She had an 8-track tape player and six or seven tapes in the glove compartment. You wouldn’t expect to find anything like Sad Hours in there. She wouldn’t even let me play the one old Beatles tape she had. She said it was “childish and common,” and she claimed the Columbia House Record Club had sent it by mistake. She liked the schmaltzy Big Band dance music of her youth—Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey.

But she also dabbled in West Coast Jazz, which she assured me was “highly sophisticated.” Grandma Junia had often complained that my cultural education was being neglected, and when we fell uncomfortably quiet she turned up Take Five by Dave Brubeck and counted the beats out loud to illustrate five-four time. “One-two-three-four-five, one-two-three-four-five.” Because every twelve-year-old needs a lesson in odd time signatures on the way to buy a suit for his mother’s funeral.

The boys department at Penney’s had exactly one suit that almost fit me, and it was not gray. My hands disappeared into the sleeves when I held my arms straight down, and the pantlegs piled up on the tops of my shoes like rubble. Muttering into the dressing room mirror, I complained too loudly that the color was Dodger blue—clearly unacceptable for a born and raised Giants fan. Grandma Junia barged in with her arms crossed. “Archer Edward King! You will not attend this function in your worn-out school clothes. A boy your age without a decent suit—your mother should’ve known better! Now, this will do fine… and that’s that.”

Whenever Grandma Junia said that’s that, she would quickly brush her hands past each other and then open them as if she had magically eliminated the grime of complexity. And when Junia King said that’s that, well… that was that.

I stood beside my father, Grandma Junia and Aunt Laurette on the wraparound porch of Jones & Jones Funeral Home, a pompous Victorian on Main Street that had once been the Jones family home.

The white painted floorboards glared in the morning sun. I shifted foot to foot in my Dodger blue suit and watched my father shake the hands of the men who filed by in gray and black. I surmised that my function at this function was to establish my ability to shake hands appropriately—in other words, like a man. I kept my right arm cocked in the handshake position so my hand wouldn’t disappear into my sleeve, and I concentrated on shaking hands with each man—firmly, with level eyes and a straightened mouth. No crying.

My mother’s parents, Pop and Molly, arrived in their old Chevy pickup. Their real names were Edward and Mary Medina but most folks in Lupo Yoma knew them simply as Pop and Molly, because they’d been around so long and had owned the Weeping Willow since I was “knee high to a crawdad,” as Molly would say.

Aunt Laurette hurried down the steps to greet Pop and Molly in the parking lot. Laurette had been a waitress at the Weeping Willow in her high school years, and she was the one who’d introduced my mother to her cousin Mike King. In that way, Laurette was the original bridge between the King and Medina families.

Pop always said Molly was “ninety-five pounds of gristle and backtalk,” but that day she looked shrunken and caved in, her tiny hands colorless against the black of her dress. Laurette guided her up the porch steps with a hand on her elbow. She rushed straight to me like I was a kindergartener with a scraped knee, and she pulled me close by the lapels of my suit and stood tiptoe to kiss me twice on the forehead. She was the only adult I knew who was shorter than me. She looked at my father and sighed and shook her head like she was disappointed. She started to speak, but her chin quivered, her eyes puddled, she bit her lip and looked away.

Pop came up the steps and walked right by my father as if he wasn’t there. He walked toward me, I put out my hand, and he shook it strongly and gripped my shoulder with his other hand. Pop seemed twice Molly’s size and his big calloused hand swallowed mine whole. He didn’t speak, but he locked eyes with me and I believed this was his way of lending me strength. Molly crossed herself and went crying into the depths of the funeral home, but Pop didn’t follow.

Grandma Junia was the only person who called Pop by his real name. “Edward,” she said, “you’re not going in to see your daughter?”

Pop shook his head. “No, not like that.” He looked Grandma Junia’s way, then swiveled to draw in my father’s attention as well. “But you two make sure and take a good long look.” He turned around, stepped down from the porch and headed back up the concrete path toward the parking lot.

“What’s wrong with Pop?” I said.

“He’s just upset, son,” my father said.

“With good reason,” Laurette said, and I thought yes, she was his daughter, his Chiqui Tita, his little one.

But Grandma Junia said, “Oh hush, Laurette! As usual, you don’t know what you think you know.”

“Well, I only know what I read in the newspaper,” Laurette said. And maybe I should’ve wondered what she meant by that.

When we entered the viewing chamber I followed my father’s gaze across the room, where the casket was raised up on a collapsible gurney that reminded me of a sprung jack-in-the-box toy. He paused and wavered unsteadily in the doorway, lowered his head, ran one hand through his thick black hair. “Son, you don’t have to look if you don’t want to,” he said. I was surprised. It was unlike him to offer me such a hall pass, and I hesitated at the back of the room.

But Grandma Junia said, “No, it’s about time he got a grownup look at the way of things.” And she steered me by my shoulders, pushing me toward the open coffin.

My mother was dressed in moonlight blue, a double-breasted woolen jacket buttoned over a silky white blouse, a string of pearls at her neck. She looked ready for church or work or a trip on a train. I took a good long look, wondering what Pop wanted my father and Grandma Junia to see. She was so still. So empty. I thought of the statues I’d pretended to shake hands with at the Wax Museum on our class field trip to San Francisco. I thought of her in the blue flowered sundress on the rollaway bed in the dayroom. I wanted to rub her forehead like she always asked me to when she had her headaches. I wanted to listen to stories of her childhood and tell her how lovely the yellow kitchen looked in the morning. I wanted to ask why.

Grandma Junia leaned in over my shoulder, so close that a stiff strand of her fresh-frosted hair prickled my ear. “Presumably, she’s in a better place,” she said, and the words smelled of beauty shop ammonia.

The recorded sound of a church organ poured out of speakers mounted in each corner of the room. I was drowning in it. My knees began to give in to the undertow. Grandma Junia finally turned me away from the coffin with a hand around the back of my neck and guided me to one of the folding chairs. The metallic cold seeped through my slacks. The organ music stopped. Reverend Jameson started a prayer and we all bowed our heads and closed our eyes.

Wet sobs broke out around me but I couldn’t cry. I couldn’t keep my eyes shut. I couldn’t stay in that chair, that room. I heard the hi-fi scratch-scratch in my head and I wanted to holler out the truth. I rose to my feet but Grandma Junia tilted her head up and raised one penciled eyebrow. “Where do you think you’re going, young man?”

I turned and fast-walked up the aisle, between the folding chairs and bowed heads, and clattered out of the room as the reverend began to read from scripture. “Brothers and sisters: behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed.”

I ran through the lobby and flung open the door. I ran across the parking lot, where Pop was sitting in the old pickup. He called out, but I didn’t answer and kept running and turned down a gravelly alley of dumpsters and back doors. I had no destination in mind other than escape. I ran two blocks north in the alley, then a half block west up to Main Street and another block north. I ran past Rexall Drugs, two dive bars and the old courthouse with the World War I cannons on the lawn.

I made a right turn down Third Street, deciding I would slip through our back fence again and hide out at home. But down the sidewalk I saw the sandwich board advertising the local music store, The Music Box.

I stopped, bent over at the waist, hands on knees, caught my breath.

The Blues & Billie Armstrong 5

LITTLE WALTER JACOBS

Roy Dufrain Jr

Jul 09, 2025

Previously in The Blues & Billie Armstrong…

I made a right turn down Third Street, deciding I would slip through our back fence again and hide out at home. But down the sidewalk I saw the sandwich board advertising the local music store, The Music Box. I stopped, bent over at the waist, hands on knees, caught my breath.

< Back to Chapter 4

Nate Henderson was a nineteen year old kid whose parents owned The Music Box.

He’d been considered a bit of a geek in high school, even though he played in a local rock band—the kind of guy who couldn’t look cool even with a guitar in his hands. After Lupo Yoma High, he’d gone to Santa Rosa Junior College to study business (and evade the draft), but he still helped out at the store whenever he was in town. I’d never actually met him before, but back then Lupo Yoma was a snow globe of a town, where everything seemed to be within five blocks of everything else and everyone knew the TV Guide version of your life story even if you’d never spoken directly to one another.

I walked in the store, approached the counter and asked Nate if he’d ever heard of a song called Sad Hours. Nate was a tall, skinny guy, with brown wavy hair almost to his shoulders and parted sharply on the side so it cut diagonally across his face and sometimes obscured one eye. He asked who the recording artist was, and I had to say I didn’t know—looking at the record on the turntable I hadn’t focused in on anything but the title. Nate plopped a big thick catalog on the glass countertop and thumbed through its pages, stopped and shot me a look of mild surprise.

“So, how’d you hear of this song anyway?”

“I found it on my mother’s record player.”

He brushed his hair aside. “No way. Trini Lopez, Sinatra or Streisand for your dad’s birthday, but she never bought anything like this that I know of.”

“So, what is it?”

It turned out the horn I’d heard was actually a blues harmonica player known as Little Walter Jacobs. Nate showed me a picture beside the listing in the catalog. Little Walter Jacobs was a black man with a hardscrabble face and big haunted eyes. I’d associated the harmonica with campfire songs and Bob Dylan. I had no idea it could be made to moan and shout and protest all the disappointment of the world.

Until that moment I didn’t even know enough to label what I’d heard in the dayroom as “blues.” Even with my mother’s Mexican blood, I was basically a green white kid from the hills of Northern California. I was so white I didn’t know the blues was black. I only knew it stabbed me in the heart in some way no other music ever had and it mystified and worried me that it was apparently so meaningful to my mother.

Nate said Sad Hours was originally released in the early fifties and was already something of a rarity. He said that kind of blues was way out of style these days. Little Walter had died a year or so before and all his singles were out of print. There was just one album listed in the catalog, which Nate could order, but I didn’t have the four bucks for that, not to mention I didn’t even have a record player of my own.

I thought of my mother singing Lemon Tree along with her Trini Lopez album while ironing my father’s shirts, and I couldn’t help but wonder how she would come into possession—or even awareness—of such an oddity as Sad Hours, which seemed so out of place in her world and in our home, a musical interloper. And could Little Walter’s harmonica be related to the pink lipstick on the back of that envelope?

I thanked Nate for the info. He said “By the way, sorry about your mom, kid.” And I left the store and headed down Third Street toward the lake. I took the shortcut across the Yacht Club parking lot and back through our fence with the odd feeling that I was sneaking into my own house.

I had the idea to get back into the dayroom—now, while the adults were gone. The past few days had felt like our home was quarantined with disease. I was ordered not to leave the property and not to have friends over. No one outside the family came to visit. Grandma Junia manned the kitchen sink, dusted the living room furniture, created small corners of routine and conducted muffled conversations on the yellow phone.

My father left early for work, came home late and sat in the nervous television light with the sound down low. He rarely spoke and was rarely spoken to. He drank and watched TV with a stare like he was looking right through the picture. Molly dutifully appeared at the front door one evening to deliver a glass casserole dish of Pop’s famous enchiladas while Pop waited in the Chevy pickup parked at the curb, with the motor running and Hank Williams honky-Tonkin on the radio. At other times, Aunt Laurette had flitted in and out of the house on missions for Grandma Junia—to the market with a list, to the dry cleaners with funeral clothes.

And, all along, the door to the dayroom stayed closed in a forbidding way, with the adults guarding it peripherally as they went about their quiet preparations. There seemed to be an unspoken understanding that the room should remain undisturbed.

But now I stood at the closed door of the dayroom, doorknob in hand, my heart running wild and snapshots of memory flashing behind my eyes like tiny fireworks. I couldn’t seem to turn the knob. In the center of my skull I heard the staticky scratch-scratch as if the needle was still stuck at the end of that record and my mother still lay on the bed. I could not will my wrist to perform the motion to turn the knob and open the door. My body simply wasn’t ready to be alone in that space again, to re-live those first minutes of knowing—and the swarm of questions, the not knowing, that followed.

I had figured someone would come looking for me after I ran out of the funeral, and I knew sooner or later they’d look for me at home. I thought Grandma Junia would probably delegate the errand to Laurette as she had before. But I heard the low grind of Pop downshifting the old Chevy truck and the squeal of the brakes as he brought it to a halt at the curb outside. The motor grumbled to a stop and the truck door closed with a thunk.

I only had a few moments before he would make it up the walkway and through the front door.

On to Chapter 6 >

ROY DUFRAIN JR

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The Blues & Billie Armstrong 6

WAVES UNDER STARLIGHT

Roy Dufrain Jr

Jul 11, 2025

Photo by kmdgrfx at iStock.com

Previously in The Blues & Billie Armstrong…

The motor grumbled to a stop and the truck door closed with a thunk. I only had a few moments before he would make it up the walkway and through the front door.

< Back to Chapter 5

Pop found me in my room, sitting cross-legged on the bed.

He didn’t say a word, just stood towering over me and waved his head toward the door. I walked ahead of him and he herded me out to the front yard. I climbed up into the cab of the pickup and sat on the passenger side. A busted six pack of Oly sat between us on the bench seat. Pop started the engine, opened a beer, turned the truck around and drove up the little rise to the stop sign at Main Street just in time for me to see the yellow headlights of the black hearse as it passed by toward the cemetery.

Molly was riding in front, chin up, eyes ahead. I watched the polished coffin through the long side-window, framed by black curtains. The hearse was followed by the shiny Buick Electra, with my father’s stern profile in the window, Grandma Junia’s frosted beehive rising up on the driver’s side. I counted seventeen cars, headlights glowing like day stars. Pop turned on his own lights and pulled in behind, and we followed in silence to Lupo Yoma Cemetery, a few miles north of town. He parked at the end of the long line of cars and turned off the motor, and the cab filled up with quiet hesitation.

I said, “Pop, why did it happen?”

He looked at me hard while considering the question. Then he looked away. “You never really know another person’s why, boy. Sometimes it’s hard enough to know your own.”

“But it was an accident, right? And an accident isn’t anyone’s fault.”

“I don’t know about that.” He stared through the windshield at the acres of gravestones. He grabbed a fresh beer, got out of the truck, stood with the door still open.

“I’ll stay here,” I said, eyes averted, tears beginning to spill onto my cheeks.

I heard him open the beer, then watched him hunt his way between the grassy graves, toward the circle of mourners, where he took his place beside Molly. I turned on the radio and listened to George Jones sing an old song about roses while my mother’s coffin was lowered into the red clay Lupo Yoma ground.

On the way back, I rode in the middle between Pop and Molly. Pop turned the radio off and none of us spoke, and I expected that would remain the tone of the day—quiet and somber with hushed voices and downward eyes. This being my first experience with a death in the family, you’d think someone would’ve told me about the after-funeral party, although I don’t think the adults even told each other—no announcement, no invitations, they just knew. They didn’t even call it a party; they spoke of it later as a gathering or get-together or, more formally, as a reception. I thought those were for weddings.

Pop turned the pickup down Fourth Street, and there were already six or seven cars parked on our block. Multiple women paraded from car to house, carrying great tinfoil-covered platters held out in front of their breasts.

One woman balanced her offering and tried but failed to close her car door with a well-placed shove of her high-heeled foot. My father came to her rescue and relieved her of a large tray. Pop watched through the windshield as he parked the truck a little ways up the street. He took a breath, and it looked to me like he set his jaw for trouble. He jerked the door handle and swung the door open, but Molly reached across me and touched him on the arm, and he slowly closed the door. “I think we’ll be going home now,” she said and got out of the truck, stood on the curb and made room for me to get by.

Pop stared straight ahead.

Molly said, “You go on inside, Archer. And tell Laurette we’re not feeling up to it, okay?”

I jumped down from the truck and ran ahead, up the stairs and into the house, through the living room full of men drinking and into the yellow kitchen full of women talking of children and recipes.

The table was covered buffet-style with the oddest assortment of food: Molly’s enchiladas, Grandma Junia’s apple pie, Laurette’s fondue and breadsticks, one neighbor’s lasagna, another’s fried chicken legs, and various intimidating, inscrutable casseroles.

I grabbed a can of cream soda out of the fridge and went back to the living room, where men shook hands and poured liquor from an array of bottles lined up on top of the long Magnavox stereo cabinet. They smoked and sat and stood confidently in their suits and asked each other how business was. They spoke of Mays and McCovey and joked that the Giants were leading the division but would surely find a way to end up in fourth place where they belonged.

No one mentioned Pop and Molly. No one spoke of death. Or my mother.

Retreating to my bedroom, I laid down on top of the bedspread with the abstract pattern of overlapping circles in different shades of blue—it always reminded me of waves under starlight. I closed my eyes and surrendered to the sensation that I was back floating in Lupo Yoma Lake, staring up at the starry sky instead of the blank ceiling.

I fantasized that I would contract some strange and rare genetic condition that would accelerate the aging process of my body and mind. I would suddenly grow a wild forest of pubic hair and a bushy mustache. My voice would deepen to a baritone and I would wake up inches taller each day. Doc Meaney would have to be called in to treat my overwhelming growing pains, and I would be told there was no cure, that I would for all intents and purposes be a grown man in a matter of months.

And then I would begin to see through new eyes all the things I’d been told for so long I was too young to understand.

Photo by Eduard Harkonen at iStock.com

And some more of his stories ——-

ROY DUFRAIN JR

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The Red Shoebox Guitar

Sting-Rays, Stratocasters, Beatle Boots and Destiny

Roy Dufrain Jr

The Last Great Acid Trip

Or how I won a footrace against a dog named Pig Pen

Remember the Red River Valley

A story, a drink and a song

The Oscars at Our House 2025

Has Hollywood lost its way?

Roy Dufrain Jr

Once again, Mrs D and I have endeavored to see as many Best Picture nominees as possible, given availability and other constraints. We’ve been doing this now for over 20 years. When we started there were still only five nominees. Since 2009, it’s been ten, and this year we saw eight, and I’ll say again, the Academy never should’ve increased the limit. Not just because it’s hard for fans to see them all, but because some of these movies are simply not worthy of the honor. Especially this year!

Still, it’s Oscar time and it’s a tradition here! Pick your favorites, put on your tuxedoes and sparkly gowns (or in our case, your comfiest PJs), kick back with some soda and butter-soaked popcorn, wow or hiss the latest red carpet fashions, jeer or cheer the awkward, fawning interviews, predict the winners, pat yourself on the back when you’re right and blame woke Hollywood when you’re wrong!

Anyway, for what it’s worth, here’s what I thought…

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Anora – A tale of stupid people doing terrible things stupidly. A whole lot of yelling and screwing failed to make this movie interesting. The nearly feral, selfish youth, the servile, bickering and bumbling Armenians, the contemptible ultra-rich Russians, the ‘dancer’ who accepts payment for sex but insists she’s not a hooker. The constant f-bombs. It all seemed over the top—grasping for gritty realism but approaching absurdity. So what.

The Brutalist – A worthy subject, an intriguing and complicated lead character masterfully brought to life by a supremely talented star, an epic arc of struggle and redemption, a span of decades and locations wonderfully rendered visually and in historical references. And yet, I fell asleep. Had to finish the movie the next day. It’s brutally long and slow. Three and a half hours! Couldn’t trim even a half hour out of that? Come on.

A Complete Unknown – Mrs D and I agreed this was easily and by far the best picture of the nominees we saw. I’m not sure it will stand the test of time as a ‘great’ movie, but it was full of great acting. Timothée Chalamet should win best actor for his amazing and mesmerizing recreation of Dylan’s musical performance and presence. Co-stars Monica Barbaro and Edward Norton should win their categories for the same reasons. The evocation of the time period through set design and other techniques was immersive and entertaining. Of the best-pic norms we’ve seen, this is the only one I’m sure I will watch again.

Conclave – I really liked this movie at first. It seemed like a taut, understated political intrigue, with a behind-the-scenes glimpse of a hidden world—the election of a new pope. But I felt let down by the wild twist at the end. Not being a fan of the Catholic Church, I kind of enjoyed the irony of it, but I found the details strained credibility as presented. By chance I had just read an article about the many possible combinations of chromosomes that occur naturally in humans. So I didn’t doubt that, but it seemed so unlikely the person in question would have ever risen to a high position in the Catholic Church, or that any real circumstance could have resulted in the ending of this film. I just didn’t buy it.

Dune Part Two – I read the book so many years ago that I remembered nothing of it. We saw Part One last year and were a bit lost throughout. So, we watched a couple YouTube summary videos, but then we still watched Part One before pushing play on Part Two. We both thought the investment of time paid off. It helped us sink into the films, with their long list of characters and multiple story threads. I’d rank this as the second best of the nominees. Stunning visuals and the kind of classic, epic storytelling that reminds me of Tolkien or Star Wars.

Emilia Pérez – Lots of negative talk about the star of this one—whatever. I’d like to see it, but I don’t have Netflix right now and my wallet is already suffering from subscription fatigue.

I’m Still Here – The trailer for this one looks really interesting, but the film has not been released for streaming as of this date.

Nickel Boys – I’m not sure if the sheer volume of artsy techniques and effects (or affects?) were always in service of the storytelling in this film. It felt overwrought. All the weird shot angles, the square formatting, the ringing headache soundtrack, the time jumping and the gimmicky point of view thing, especially those back of head shots—I found it interesting but distracting, and wondered if anyone in Hollywood can just tell a story anymore.

The Substance – I’m honestly not sure if it’s a comedy gone wrong or a drama gone wrong, but boy did it suck! If it had a point it was made in the first ten minutes and then beat to death for two more hours, and in the most gruesome fashion imaginable. Jesus, how is this nominated for anything?! How did it even get made?! It’s a perfect example of why many people say Hollywood has lost the ability to make great movies.

Wicked – Loved the book! Never saw the play. The movie did not capture the wonder and delight I remember feeling at the ingenuity and thoughtfulness of the book. The set design and effects were impressive, the vocal talent at times astounding. But I couldn’t help feeling like I was watching a bad episode of Glee with all the cliché mean girl vs. Cinderella stuff. Also, a musical ought to leave you humming or singing a chorus or two on your way out the door. Think: If I Were a Rich Man, Papa Can You Hear Me, I Feel Pretty, Don’t Rain on My Parade, on and on. Wicked is more like sung dialogue but not one catchy, hummable tune. Meh.

Honorable Shoutout

A Real Pain – Should have been nominated. Thoughtful and thought provoking, just funny enough to lighten the weight of the relationships on view, among the characters themselves but also between the characters and the history they are interfacing with. And extremely well played by both Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin, making these characters feel real and their oddball behavior believable.

Something to Think About

After the news of the great Gene Hackman’s death, Roy Sr, Mrs D and I all watched Unforgiven the other night, and enjoyed it immensely even though we’ve all seen it more than twice. Everything a Best Picture winner ought to be and then some. Not one of the 2024 movies even comes close.

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July 12, 2025

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April 2025 Poetry Madness Part Five April 26 to April 30

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this is a consolidated listing of recent blog postings. I will update it occasionally.,

April Poetry Part Five April 26 to April 30 https://wp.me/p7NAzO-3uu

April Poetry Part Four April 19 to April 25 https://wp.me/p7NAzO-3tN

April Poetry Part Three April 13 to April 18 https://wp.me/p7NAzO-3tl

April Poetry Part Two April 6 to April 12 https://wp.me/p7NAzO-3rJ

April Poetry Part One April 1 to April 5 https://wp.me/p7NAzO-3r3

Music Journal Update https://wp.me/p7NAzO-3pp

More Movie Madness Update https://wp.me/p7NAzO-3pe

2025 Reading List Update https://wp.me/p7NAzO-3qZ

K Drama Update https://wp.me/p7NAzO-3lm

Rom Com Update https://wp.me/p7NAzO-3o6

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May 4, 2025

Cosmos Reading List 2025 Updates

`Goals: 100 Books, 2,000 poems etc total 3,000 to 4,000 books/poems/stories listed numerically and chronologically by month

Read Classics finish reading books. You Must read series

One Thriller Per Month

One history/politics book per month

Read A Lot More Poetry

Read At Least One Book A Year in Spanish.

Read At Least One Book A Year in Korean

One classic book

One poetry book

One Sci-fi book

One history/politics book

One current event book

One thriller

Buy the 2024 best SciFi read in the fall

Buy the 2024 Best Poetry read in the fall

Re-do Mod Po following Mod Po plus poems

Start a different poetry course on Coursea

Start and complete All poetry poetry courses

Alternate between reading Kindle classics, poetry and other books

I will try to finish reading classic books. I have a collection from Kindle of 50 books to read before you die, in three volumes – 15O books in total. See the list below. I have read many of them already which I have noted by bolding. As I read them, I will add them to the chronological listing below, and also have the Harvard classic. I had a hard copy set, but donated it, I have to read it on Kindle. I will also continue to read lots of poetry from the Mod Po class, will do the slo-mo courses then re-do it in September, focusing on reading the additional poems I did not last time in Mod Po Plus.

I will alternate between reading Kindle and other books poetry and thrillers etc while in US will read a lot of books from the library but still read things on my Kindle classic list goal is to finish the classic list by next year !

Numerical Listing

Note: after reading each book, write a review for Bach’s Reading List and for Goodreads copy to my blog entry and cc Suback, Medium, Wattpad, Fan Story, and Writing.com.

Then save under Review when posting on the blog post, Zamzar audio clip into the blog piece, and do Spotify and Substack podcasts, later Threads and YouTube vblog starting in the fall

Before reading ask Co-pilot the following questions

Please provide a synopsis, list of characters, author bio, quotes, and list of books by the author, plus literary reputation. please do not format to make it easier to cut and paste

Fiction

Cather, Willa: My Ántonia From 50 Books Volume One
Chopin, Kate: The Awakening From 50 Books Volume One
Cummings, E. E.: The Enormous Room. From 50 Books Volume One
Dreiser, Theodore: Sister Carrie in progress From 50 Books Volume One
Janet Evanovich Plum Lucky Camp H library In Progress
Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg, the Job – Camp H Library
Sharon Bolton, the Pact, Canal street library TBC
Lisa Gardner One Step Too Far Canal Street Library TBC
Stephannie Merritt, the Storm TBC
Bobby Palmer Isaac and the Egg in progress
Fielding, Henry: Tom Jones TBC
Flaubert, Gustave: Madame Bovary TBC From 50 Books Volume One
Flaubert, Gustave: Sentimental Education TBC From 50 Books Volume One
Ford, Ford Madox: The Good Soldier TBC From 50 Books Volume One
Gogol, Nikolai: Dead Souls TBC From 50 Books Volume One
Gorky, Maxim: The Mother TBC From 50 Books Volume One
Huxley, Aldous: Crome Yellow TBC From 50 Books Volume One
James, Henry: The Portrait of a Lady TBC From 50 Books Volume One
JM Baarre Peter Pan (Peter and Wendy) TBC From 50 Books Volume Two
BM Bower – Cabin Fever TBC TBC From 50 Books Volume Two
Frances Hodgson Burnett The Secret Garden TBC TBC From 50 Books Volume Two
– Hodgson Burnett A Little Princess TBC TBC From 50 Books Volume Two
-Robert William Chambers The King in Yellow TBC TBC From 50 Books Volume Two
Wilkie Collins The Woman in White TBC TBC From 50 Books Volume Two
Richard Connell The Most Dangerous Game TBC TBC From 50 Books Volume Two
Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species, 6th Edition. TBC TBC From 50 Books Volume Two
Margaret Deland The Iron Woman TBC TBC From 50 Books Volume Two
Andrew Lang The Arabian Nights TBC TBC From 50 Books Volume Two
Michael Proust- Swann’s Way TBC TBC From 50 Books Volume Two
Emerson American Civilization (1862)

Once I finish the above, I will finish the Harvard Classic list.

Next Up Bacon TBC

Thomas Browne TBC

Poetry

Bianca Boonstra

Writer’s Cramp

Anne Frank

Anne Frank’s Tree
Anne Frank’s Tree

Entou

Thunder and Lightning
Almost Dead

Lawrencealot

Throw Away Jay’s Way

Linda Varsell Smith

Pathway

Robert Brewer Writers Digest

Robert Lee Brewer – Give Me a Reason Zejel
An Old Hymn Still Singing Zejel

Elegy

David Romano’s “When Tomorrow Starts With Me”
H. Auden’s “Funeral Blues”
John Milton’s “Lycidas”
Mary Oliver’s “In Blackwater Woods”
Ocean Vuong’s “Someday I’ll Love Ocean Vuong”
Walt Whitman’s “O Captain! My Captain”

Haiku

Gypsy Blue Rose – Cows Wander at Night
Zebras Zeal Gallop

Penguin Anthology of Twentieth Century Poetry

Edward Lee Masters – The Hill
Fiddler Jones
Petite The Poet

Edwin Arlington Robinson

Edwin Arlington Robinson
Miniver Cheevy
Flood’s Party

James Weldon Johnson

James Weldon Johnson
The Creation

Paul Laurence Dunbar

The Poet
Life
Life’s Tragedy

Robert Frost – Mod Po Selection

The Death of the Hired Man
Mending Wall
Birches
Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening
Tree in My Window
Directive

Amy Lowell

Patterns

Gertrude Stein – Mod Po Selections

Susie Asado
From Tender Buttons – A Box
From Tender Buttons – A Plate

Alice Moore Dunbar Nelson

I Sit and Sew

Carl Sandburg

Grass
Cahoots

Wallace Stevens – Mod Po Selections

Peter Quince at the Clavier
Disillusionment of 10:00
Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird
The Emperor of Ice Cream
A Mere Being

Angelina Weld Grimke

Angelina Weld Grimke
Fragment

William Carlos Williams – Mod Po Selections

Tact
Dance Ruse
The Yachts
From Apostle that Greeny Flower Book 1, Lines 1 to 92

Sara Teasdale

Moonlight
There Will Come Soft Rains

Ezra Pound

The Jewel Stairs’ Grievance
The River Merchant’s Wife: A Letter
In a Station of the Metro
Hugh Selwyn Mauberley
From Cantos: 56 Libretto – Yet Ere This Season Died A Cold

Hilda Doolittle (H.D.) – Mod Po Selections

Sea Rose
Helen
From The Walls Do Not Fall – An Incident Here and There
From Hermeneutic Definition Red Rose and A Beggar – Why Did You Come?
Take Me Anywhere
Venus

Robinson Jeffers

Gala in April
Shine, Perishing Republic
Clouds at Evening
Credo

Marianne Moore

Fish
Poetry

T.S. Eliot

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
The Wasteland

Claude McKay

If We Must Die
The Harlem Dancer

Archibald MacLeish

Ars Poetica

Edna St. Vincent Millay

First Fig
Recuerdo
E. Cummings
In Just-
Buffalo Bill
The Cambridge Ladies Who Lived in Furnished Souls
Next to, Of Course, God, America
Somewhere I’ve Never Travelled, Gladly Beyond
Rpophessagr

Jean Toomer

Reapers
November Cotton Flower
Portrait in Georgia

Louise Bogan

Medusa
New Moon

Melvin B. Tolson

Dark Symphony
From Harlem Gallery: Psi – Black Boys, Let Me Get Up From The White Man’s Table

Hart Crane

From The Bridge
Poem: To Brooklyn Bridge
From The Bridge – Section XI: Powhatan’s Daughter – The River

Robert Francis

Silent Poem

Langston Hughes

The Negro Speaks of Rivers
I, Too, Sing America
Dream Boogie
Harlem

Countee Cullen

Incident
To John Keats, Poet, At Spring Time
Yet Do I Marvel
From The Dark Tower

Stanley Kunitz

Father and Son
The Portrait
Touch Me
H. Auden
Musée des Beaux Arts
Epitaph on a Tyrant

Theodore Roethke

My Papa’s Waltz
The Waking
In a Dark Time

Charles Olson

From The Maximus Poems: One – Maximus of Gloucester, To You
The Distances

Elizabeth Bishop

The Fish
Sestina
First Death in Nova Scotia
Visit to St. Elizabeths
One Art

Robert Hayden

Middle Passage
Those Winter Sundays
Frederick Douglass

Muriel Rukeyser

Effort at Speech Between Two People
Then I Saw What the Calling Was
The Poem as Mask

Delmore Schwartz

The Heavy Bear Who Goes With Me

John Berryman

From The Dream Songs
Feeling Your Compact and Delicious Body
Life, Friends, Is Boring. We Must Not Say So
There Shut Down Once
This World is Gradually Becoming a Place
Henry’s Understanding

Randall Jarrell

90 North
The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner
The Woman at the Washington Zoo
Next Day

Weldon Kees

To My Daughter

Dudley Randall

A Different Image

William Stafford

Traveling through the Dark
At the Bomb Testing Site

Ruth Stone

Scars

Margaret Walker

For My People

Gwendolyn Brooks – Mod Po Selection

The Mother
A Song in the Front Yard
The Bean Eaters
The Lovers of the Poor
We Real Cool
The Blackstone Rangers

Robert Lowell

To Speak of Woe That Is in Marriage
Skunk Hour
For the Union Dead

Robert Duncan

Often I Am Permitted to Return to a Meadow
My Mother Would Be a Falconress

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Populist Manifesto

William Meredith

Parents

Howard Nemerov

Because You Asked About the Line Between Prose and Poetry

Hayden Carruth

The Hyacinth Gardens in Brooklyn
August 1945

Richard Wilbur

Love Calls Us to the Things of This World
Cottage Street
The Writer

James Dickey

The Sheep Child

Allen Ginsberg

Howl

Richard Hugo

Degrees of Gray in Phillipsburg
The Freaks at Spurgin Road Field
The Poem Unwritten
Cademon
Swan in Falling Snow
Who Is Simpson?
American Poetry

Carolyn Kizer

A Muse of Water

Kenneth Koch

Fresh Air

Maxine Kumin

Morning Swim

Gerald Stern

Behaving Like a Jew
The Dancing
Another Insane Devotion
R. Ammons
The City Limits
Corsons Inlet

Robert Bly

Snowfall in the Afternoon
Driving into Town to Mail a Letter
Walking from Sleep

Robert Creeley

The Flower
I Know a Man
The Language
The Rain
Bresson’s Movies

John Merrill

Victor Dog
Steps

Frank O’Hara – New York School

Lana Turner Has Collapsed
The Day Lady Died

John Ashbery – New York School

Some Trees
Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror
What Is Poetry?

Galway Kinnell

The Bear
After Making Love We Hear Footsteps
Saint Francis and the Sow
S. Merwin
Air
For the Anniversary of My Death
Yesterday
Chord

James Wright

A Blessing
Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio
Lying in a Hammock at

Wes Merwin

Air
For the Anniversary of My Death

Yesterday
Chord
A Blessing

Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, OH
Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island, MN
In Response to the Rumor That Otis Warehouse in Wheeling, WV Has Been Condemned
My Son, My Executioner
Digging
Rowing

Orion Planetarium
A Valedictorian Forbidding Mourning
From 21 Love Poems 13 The Rules of Break Like a Thermometer

Gregory Corsa

Gregory Corso
Marriage

Gary Snyder

Gary Snyder
Hay for the Horses
Riprap
Mid-August at Sourdough Mountain Lookout

Derek Walcott

A Far Cry from Africa
Sea Grapes
Find the Schooner Flight Part 11 After the Storm. There’s a Fresh Light That Follows
The Light of the World
From Omeros Book. 7. 44 I Sing of Quiet, Achilles, Afrolabe’s Son

Miller Williams

Let Me Tell You

Etheridge Knight

Idea of Ancestry

Amira Baraka, Leroy Jones

Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note
Agony As Now
SOS
Black Art

Ted Berrigan

Wrong Rain
A Final Sonnet

Audre Lorde

Power

Sonia Sanchez

Poetry at 30

Mark Strand

The Prediction
The Night, The Porch

Russell Edson

A Stone Is Nobody’s

Mary Oliver

Singapore
The Summer Day

Charles Wright

Reunion
Dead Color
California Dreaming

Lucille Clifton

Homage to My Hips
At Least at Last We Killed the Roaches
The Death of Fry, Alfred Clifton

June Jordan

Home About My Rights

Frederick Seidel

1968
K. Williams
Find My Window
Blades

Tony Hoagland

The Mechanic

Michael S. Harper

Dear John, Dear Coltrane
Last Affair. Bessie’s Blues Song
Grandfather
Nightmare Begins Responsibility

Charles Simic

Stone
Fork
Classic Ballroom Dances

Paula Gunn Allen

Grandmother

Frank Bidart

Ellen West

Carl Dennis

Spring Letter
Two or Three Wishes

Stephen Dunn

Allegory of the Cave
Tucson

Robert Pinsky

History of My Heart
The Questions
Samurai Song

James Welch

Christmas Comes to Moccasin Flat

Billy Collins

Introduction to Poetry
The Dead

Toi Derricotte

The Weakness

Stephen Dobyns

How to Like It?
Lullaby

Robert Hass

Song
That Photographer?
Return of Robinson Jeffers

Lyn Hejinian

From My Life: Trim with Colored Ribbons
H. Fairchild
The Machinist Teaching His Daughter to Play the Piano

Haki R. Madhubuti (Don L. Lee)

But He Was Cool or Even Stopped for Green Lights
Upon To Compliment Other Poems

William Matthews

In Memory of the Utah Stars
The Accompanist

Sharon Olds

The Language of the Brag
The Lifting

Henry Taylor

Barbed Wire

Tess Gallagher

Black, Silver
Under Stars

Michael Palmer

I Do Not

James Tate

The Lost Pilot

Norman Dubie

Elizabeth’s War with the Christmas Bear
The Funeral

Carol Muske Dukes

August, Los Angeles Lullaby

Kay Ryan

Turtle
Bestiary

Larry Levis

Childhood Ideogram
Winter Stars

Adrian C. Louis

Looking for Judas
How Much Lux?
The People of the Other Village

Marilyn Nelson

The Ballad of Aunt Geneva
Star Fix

Ai

Cuba 1963
The Kid
Finished

Yusef Komunyakaa

Thanks
To Do Street
Facing It
Nude Interrogation

Nathaniel Mackey

Song of the Andoumboulou

Gregory Orr

Gathering the Bones Together
Two Lines from the Brother Grimm
Origin of the Marble Forest

Robert Hill Long

Reaching Yellow River

Albert Goldbarth

Away

Heather McHugh

Language Lesson 1976
What He Thought

Leslie Marmon Silko

In Cold Storm Light

Olga Broumas

Calypso

Victor Hernández Cruz

Latin & Soul

Jane Miller

Miami Heart

David St. John

Iris
D. Wright
Why Ralph Refuses to Dance
Girlfriend Poem #3
Crescent

Carolyn Forché

Taking Off My Clothes

Jorie Graham

San Sepolcro

Marie Howe

What the Living Do

Joy Harjo

She Had Some Horses
My House Is the Red Earth

Garrett Hongo

The Legend

Andrew Hudgins

Begotten
We Were Simply Talking

Brigit Pegeen Kelly

Imaging Their Own Hymns
Song

Paul Muldoon

Meeting the British
Errata
The Throwback

Judith Ortiz Cofer

Quinceanera

Rita Dove

Parsley
Daystar
After Reading Mickey in the Night Kitchen for the Third Time Before Bed

Alice Fulton

Our Calling

Barbara Hamby

Thinking of Galileo
Hatred

Mark Jarman

Unholy Sonnet

Naomi Shihab Nye

The Traveling Onion
Arabic
Wedding Cake

Alberto Ríos

Nani
England Finally Like My Mother Always Said We Would

Laurie Sheck

Nocturne Blue Waves
The Unfinished

Gary Soto

Field Poem
Oranges
Black Hair

Susan Stewart

Yellow Star and Ice
The Forest

Mark Doty

Brilliance
Esta Noche
Bill’s Story

Harryette Mullen

Black Nikes

Franz Wright

Alcohol

Lorna Dee Cervantes

To My Brother
Love of My Flesh, Living Death

Sandra Cisneros

My Wicked, Wicked Ways
Little Clowns, My Heart

Cornelius Eady

Jack Johnson Does the Eagle Rock
Crows in a Strong Wind
I’m a Fool to Love You

Louise Erdrich

Indian Boarding School: The Runaways

David Mason

Spooning

Marilyn Chin

How I Got That Name
Compose Near the Bay Bridge
The Survivor

Cathy Song

The Youngest Daughter

Annie Finch

Another Reluctance
Insert

Li-Young Lee

The Gift
Eating Together

Carl Phillips

Our Lady
As from a Quiver of Arrows

Nick Flynn

Bag of Mice
Cartoon Physics

Elizabeth Alexander

The Venus Hottentot

Reetika Vazirani

From White Elephants
A Million Balconies
Train Windows

Sherman Alexie

What the Orphan Inherits
The Powwow at the End of the World

Natasha Trethewey

Hot Combs
Amateur Fighter
Flounder
E. Stallings
The Tantrum

Joana Klink

Spare

Brenda Shaughnessy

Postfeminism
Your One Good Dress

Kevin Young

Quivira City Limits
Everywhere is Out of Town
Whatever You Want

Terrance Hayes

At Pegasus
Lady Sings the Blues

Terrance Hayes

At Pegasus
Lady Sings the Blues

Pablo Neruda

Viente Poemas De Amor Poems of Love 1924
Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening
Cuerpo De Mujer (Body of a Woman)
Ah Vastness of Pines
Leaning Into the Afternoon
Every Day You Play
Thinking, Tingling Shadows
Tonight I Write
Pablo Neruda, “Tonight I Can Write the Saddest Lines”

Gypsy Blue Rose

Gypsy Blue Rose Light of the Bright Moon
Gypsy Blue Rose Love Birds
Gypsy Blue Rose I see you dance across life’s stage
Gypsy Blue Rose Adrift Cherita

Jejeu

Gypsey Blue Rose Over Green Hills a limpid brook flows
Pillow Woman
Steady Breathing warms my Neck
Brian Compton Might I Interject AHD

Judi Van Godner

Sioux

Mask

429. Angel’s Dilemma

430. Where Frogs Are

431. Garland Seox

Quin Jejeu Chinese Form

432. Ishikawa Jozan Mount Fuji

433. Cheng Hao Autumn Moon

434. Gyspy Rose BLue

Waka

Gyspy Rose blue Geologist

435.

Free Verse

436. Sierra Scribbler BLISS

437. Crookston 2 Daffodil

438. Noland Reflections

Bragi

439. Judi Van Gorder Persimmon

440. Linda Versa Smith The snowplow heaves snow banks so high

Lune

441. Robert Brewster Trees Never Wander Lune

Rondel

442. Lady And Louis Two Silver Rings Rondel

443. Mountainwriter49 Forever In My Heart Rondel

Abhanga

444. Judi Can Gorder Incomplete Abhanga

445. Judi Can Gorder Magic Moment abhanga

446. Rachael the Library is Wwhere Abhanga

447. Astrologically Speaking Aghanga

448. Tukaram, Words Are The Only Jewels I possess Ahanga

Writing Com reviews

449. Dean Koontz Dragon Tears

450. Harlan Ellison“A Boy And His Dog.”

451. Fritz Leiber“Spacetime For Springers,”

452. Matt Griffin “Schrodinger’s Cat”

453. Larry Niven, Rescue Party,

454. Azimuth R. Daneel Olivaw

455. Roger Zelazny For A Breath I Tarry

456. Genesis

457. Goethe’s Faust

458. E. Housman A Shropshire Lad

459. Keith Laumer“Combat Unit”

460. Eregon Proofreading Hell

461. Christine B Demonstration of Proof

462. Allen Charles A Love Beyond Pain

463. Professor Moriatty’s True Confession

464. Bobby Lou Steveson Vanwolf

465. Beholden Seven

466. WD Wilcox Valkyrie

467. Kare Enga Pasta Alfredo Please

468. Gervic A Hawk’s Gift

469. Sumojo Vexatious Valentine

470. Cubby on the Road Again, Clinging Hearts

471. Peris Throckmortorf Hearts and Darts

472. Fye a Simple Blue Note Book

Manardina

473. Lawrencealot – Do All Deceive (Form: Manardina)

Free Verse

474. Kafka The Metamorpousis

475. John Gardner Grendel Old English Beowulf

476. John Gardner, The Art Of Fiction

477. Walt Whitman“Song of Myself.”

478. William Carlos Williams’ “The Red Wheelbarrow”

479. William Carlos Williams’“This Is Just to Say”

480. Gwendoly Brooks’ “We Real Cool.”

481. TS Elliot the Waste Land

482. Sylvia Plath Daddy

483. Wallace Stevens Disissluionment of Ten O Clock

484. Allen Ginsberg America

485. David Ryan Do Not Resuscitate

Etheree

486. Judi Van Gorder Etheree

487. Andrea Dietrich Your Wild Awakening

488. Andrea Dietrich Anonymous Solitude

489. Andrea Dietrich The Lair

490. Marie Summer Red Poppy

491. Marie Summer Blurred Vision (Double Reversed Etheree)

492. Marie Summer Ashen Despair (Double Reversed Etheree)

Zen Haiku

493. ]

494. Gypsy Blue Rose at night zen haiku

495. Gypsy Blue Rose at the Bay zen Haiku

Japanese Love Poems

496. Gypsy Blue Rose When I am Gone Japanese Love Poem

knitelvers

497. Judi Van Gorder How Many Times Knitelvers

498. Larencealot Riskless Investment (Knittelvers)

499. EE Cummings 24 Xaipe One Day a Nigger Caught in his Hand

500. EE Cummings 48 Xiaipe A kite is the Most Dangerous Machine

TH Palmer

501. TH Palmer Try Again

Clerihew

502. E Clerihew Bentley Sir Humphrey Davy

503. Dan, I Am Taylor Swift

504. Alan Mc Alpine Douglas The Road Runner

505. James Dean Chase Diana Dalton

506. James Dean Chase Corporal Klinger

507. Judi Van Gorder The King Of Pop

508. Judi Van Gorder Ms. Amber Heard

509. Frank Gibbard Royal

510. Jay O Toole Clerihew Bob Denver

511. James And Marie Summers Garfield The Cat

512. Linda Varsell Smith Supreme Wordster

513. Linda Varsell Smith Electrifying Inventor

Tanka

514. Princess Nukada I wait for you

515. Takuboku I Shut My Eyes

516. Judi Van Gordner Chill of Soundless Night

517. Dendrobia A cool wind blows in

518. Can Sonmez Subtle hints of spring

519. Cheri L. Ahner Peaceful solitude

520. Ono no Komachi (825-900) Tanka –

521. Ono No Komachi See how the blossoms

522. Tada Chimako

523. A Spray of Water: Tanka

524. June Jordan On Time Tanka

525. Ono No Komachi The Ink Dark Moon Tanaka

526. Mrs. KT Early Spring Rains Thrum

Other famous poems

527. John Donne, “The Sun Rising”

528. Emily Dickinson, “I Felt a Funeral in My Brain

529. Richard Brautigan Gee You’r So Beautiful That is starting to rain

530. Chief Seattle Man Does not weave this web of life he is merely a strand of it What he does to the web, he does to himself

531. Anita Shreve A house with any kind of age will have dozens of stories to tell. I suppose if a novelist could live long enough, one could base an entire oeuvre on the lives that weave in and out of an antique house.

532. Anita Shreve A house with any kind of age will have dozens of stories to tell. I suppose if a novelist could live long enough, one could base an entire oeuvre on the lives that weave in and out of an antique house.

533. Benjamin Franklin You may delay, but time will not

534. Bill Keane Yesterday’s the past, tomorrow’s the future, but today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present

535. Geoffrey Chaucer Time and tide wait for no man.

536. Horrace Mann Lost – yesterday, somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered, for they are gone forever.

537. Nora Robert’s Three Fates The past is but a thread in the tapestry of our future

Mad Cow Pastoral Poem

538. Lawrencealot (December 18, 2014) Waiting for Us

539. John Keats’s Odes to a Nightingale

540. Joyce Kilmer Trees

541. Anonymous They Learn What We Live

542. Edward Lear’s the Owl and the Pussy Cat

TS Elliot

543. T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock “

Allen Ginsberg

544. Allen Ginsberg Howl

Lune

545. Robert Brewster Trees Never Wander Kelly Lune

546. Robert Brewster An Envelope Labeled Collum Lune

Pantoum

547. John Ashberry Hotel Lautréamont

548. Natalie Diaz My Brother At 3 A.M

549. Denrobia Osprey

550. Natalie E Illum Curious George Can’t Swim: A Pantoum

551. Blass Falconer A Ride in the Rain

552. Judi Van Gorder the Wanderer’s Return

553. Judi Van Gorder Seamrog

554. Judi Van Gorder Hello Goodbye

555. Maria Hummel Station

556. Kiandra Jimenez Halcyon Kitchen

557. Donald Justice Pantoum of the Great Depression

558. Chip Liningston Punta Del Este Pantoum

559. Hailey Leithauser O, She Says

560. Randal Mann Politics

561. Randal Mann Pantoum

562. Sally Ann Roberts It All Started with a Packet of Seeds

563. Clinton Scollard In The Sultan’s Garden

564. David Scheider Pins and Needles

565. Evie Shockley Pantoum Landing, 1975

566. Linda Vsrsell Smith Our Changing Cosmic Fabric

567. Linda Varsell Smith Grandchildren are Rainbow-light

568. Linda Varsell Smith an Eccentric Grandma

569. Linda Varsell Smith Mole Hole Mode

570. Linda Varsell Smith When Saturn Returned

571. Linda Varsell Smith In Gardens of Earthly Delights

572. Linda Varsell Smith Pantoum: Western version of a Malaysian

573. E Stallings Another Lullaby For Insomniacs

574. Marie Summers Celestial Dreams

575. Marie Summers Seasonal Whispers

576. Sasha Steensen Pantoum

577. Chellie Wood Dance In The Rain

578. Robert Lukeman Life – A Marriane Poem

579. Gypsy Rose Blue Billowing Clouds Chain Haiku’

580. Yamanoue no Okura When I eat Mellons Choka

581. anonymous They Learn What We Live

Acrostic

582. Gabriella 2 Masqueraders

583. .Dportwood Rejoice in Life

584. .Dportwood Boots and Spur

Funny Poems

585. Anne Scott Missing

586. Shel Silverstein Messy Room

587. My One-Eyed Love” by Andrew Jefferson

588. Larry Huggins Doggy Heaven

589. Cynthia C. Naspinksi Our Imperfect Dog”

590. Shelby Greer “The Life of a Cupcake”

591. Joanna Fuchs Yes! No!”

592. Cecilia L. Goodbody “Tinkle, Tinkle, Little Car”

593. Robert Lewis Stevenson My Shadow”

594. “I Atte a Chili Pepper” by Barbara Vance

595. Snap, Crackle, Pop” by Catherine Pulsifer

596. Ogden Nash “The People Upstairs”

597. Spike Milligan “Granny”

598. Julie Hebert ” Dessert Last”

599. Richard Leavesley “Belly Button Magic”

600. Anonymous “Have You Ever Seen”

601. Laura Elizabeth Richards “Ele telephony”

602. Anonymous “Do You Carrot All For Me?”

603. Darren Sardelli “My Doggy Ate My Essay”

604. Jack Prelutsky “Be Glad Your Nose is On Your Face”

605. Gelett Burgess “My Feet”

606. Inna Renko “Home Alone”

607. Nandita Shailesh Shanbhag Not Smart Enough For a Smart Phone”

LImericks

608. Edwar Lear Sit variorum megrim evacuation

609. Unknown There was a young lady of Niger

610. Judi Van Gorder The parrot was messy and loud.

611. Judi Van Gorder An Irishman came to my city

612. Judi Van Gorder In the flick of an eye she went down.

613. Judi Van Gorder There once was a poet called Tinker

614. Limericks I cannot compose,

615. There was a young woman named Bright,

616. There was an odd fellow named Gus,

617. There once was a fly on the wall

618. There once was a man from Tibet,

619. There was a young woman named Bright,

620. I need a front door for my hall,

621. There once was a boy named Dan,

622. A newspaperman named Fling,

623. I know an old owl named Boo,

624. I once fell in love with a blonde,

625. I’d rather have Fingers than Toes,

626. There was a Young Lady whose chin

627. Hickory Dickory Dock,

628. There was a faith healer of Deal

629. My dog is really quite hip,

630. A painter, who lived in Great Britain,

631. There is a young schoolboy named Mason,

632. There was a young schoolboy of Rye,

633. An elderly man called Keith

634. There was an old man of Peru,

635. The Incredible Wizard of Oz,

636. Once I visited France,

637. It goes quickly, you know,

638. Is it me or the nature of money,

639. There once was a farmer from Leeds

640. A fellow jumped off a high wall,

641. A man and his lady-love, Min,

642. There was a young lady of Cork,

643. There once was a Martian called Zed

644. There once was a girl named Sam

645. Said the man with a wink of his eye

646. A wonderful bird is the Pelican.

647. There was once a great man in Japan

648. There was a young man so benighted

649. There was an old man from Sudan,

650. A maiden at college, Miss Breeze,

651. A canner, exceedingly canny,

652. A mouse in her room woke Miss Dowd

653. There was a young woman named Kite,

654. A flea and a fly in a flue,

655. A major, with wonderful force,

656. A nifty young flapper named Jane

657. “There’s a train at 4:04,” said Miss Jenny.

658. A canny young fisher named Fisher

659. Here’s to the chigger,

660. A cheerful old bear at the Zoo

661. The bottle of perfume that Willie sent

662. I bought a new Hoover today,

663. A crossword compiler named Moss

664. I’m papering walls in the loo

665. There once was an old man of Esser,

666. To compose a sonata today,

667. There was a young lady named Perkins,

668. There was an old man of Nantucket

669. There was a young lady of Kent,

670. There was a young lady named Hannah

671. There was a dear lady of Eden,

672. A certain young fellow named Bee-Bee

673. Remember when nearly sixteen

674. There was an old person of Fratto

675. There was a young man from Dealing

676. As 007 walked by

677. A tutor who tooted the flute

678. No woodsman would cut a wood, would he

679. There once was a man from the sticks

680. A poet whose friends called him Steve

681. If you catch a chinchilla in Chile

682. There once was a man named Mauvette

683. There once was a beautiful nurse

684. There was a young girl from Flynn

685. There once was a man from Gorem

686. Dylan Thomas

687. The Hand that Signed the Paper

688.

689. W. H. Auden

690.

691. 2

866666

692. 8Political Poetry

Dylan Thomas, ‘The Hand That Signed the Paper’

W. H. Auden, ‘Epitaph on a Tyrant’

Audre Lorde, ‘Power’

Maxine Kumin, ‘Woodchucks’

“Bloody Halos and Porcelain Chains” from “The Lie Within The Line” [18+] by Jeremy (704)
“Hidden Bruises” [E] by Sumojo (759)”Run From the Devil” [18+] by Jayne (1,493)”Death’s Spell” [E] by DMCarroll (66)”Light’s Labor Lost” [E] by ChristineB (99)

“Motherhood, Lost ” [13+] by Robin:TheRhymeMaven (211)

Monotetra

Linda Newman Paper Dreams

Michael Walker An Angel Spoke To Me Today

Allan J Wight A Poet On The Launching Pad

Robert Brewster No Chance

Other

Robert Lee Brewer “Waiting for April Showers,”

Jan Turner Spring Eternal

The Senses of Spring Jan Turner

SP Quill Magazine Spring 2006, Vol. #10

Andrea Ditrich A Summer Alouette

Judi Can Gorder Month of August

Linda Varsell Smith Future Possibilities

Linda Varsell Smith Fourth Dimensional Blueprint

Lune

Robert Brewster Trees Never Wander Kelly Lune

Robert Brewster An Envelope Labeled Collum Lune

David Schneider Adrift WC Poets Place

Herman Melville Art

693. Occhtfochlach

(author unknown) The Ochtfochlach
Fochlach It (Ochtfochlach)
© Lawrencealot – December 4, 2013
Pen Allen of allpoetry Sixteen Thirty-four Door — Double Ochtfochlach

Note due to copy and paste errors the formating and numbering is SNAFU screwed up beyond repair will try to repair it latter will start numbering from this section onward

Political Poetry

1. Dylan Thomas, ‘The Hand That Signed the Paper

2. W. H. Auden, ‘Epitaph on a Tyrant’

3. Audre Lorde, ‘Power

4. Maxine Kumin, ‘Woodchucks’

5.
“Bloody Halos and Porcelain Chains”  from “The Lie Within The Line”   [18+] by Jeremy (704)6.
“Hidden Bruises”   [E] by Sumojo (759)7.
“Run From the Devil”   [18+] by Jayne (1,493)8.
“Death’s Spell”   [E] by DMCarroll (66)

9.
“Light’s Labor Lost” [E] by ChristineB (99)

10.
“Motherhood, Lost ” [13+] by Robin:TheRhymeMaven (211)

Monotetra

11. Linda Newman Paper Dreams

12. Michael Walker An Angel Spoke To Me Today

13. Allan J Wight A Poet On The Launching Pad

Aloulette

14. Jan Turner Spring Eternal

15. The Senses of Spring Jan Turner

16. SP Quill Magazine Spring 2006, Vol. #10

17. Andrea Ditrich A Summer Alouette

18. Judi Can Gorder Month of August

19. Linda Varsell Smith Future Possibilities

20. Linda Varsell Smith Fourth Dimensional Blueprint

-Anne Sexton Love Song

Robert Brewer

Robert Brewer Miss Shadorma

Robert Brewer Terminal Triolet

Robert Brewser “Terminal Triolet,”

Robert Brewer “Forget sleeping”

Robert Brewer “Semantically Speaking,”

Robert Brewer Full Throated
Robert Brewster No Chance

Robert Lee Brewer “Waiting for April Showers,”

Robert Brewer Give Me a Reason

Bianca Boonstra Thunder and Lightening Entou

Bianca Boonstra Almost Dead Entou

Zejel Spanish Verse

Linda Varsell Smith Pathway

Judi Van Gardner

An Old Hymn Still Singing Zejel

Lune

1. Robert Brewster Trees Never Wander Kelly Lune

2. Robert Brewster An Envelope Labeled Collum Lune

Jay’s Way

Lawrencealot Throw-a-way (Form: Jay’s Way)

Sonnet

William Shakesphere Sonnet 18

Bianca Boonstra Writer’s Com

Binaca Boonstra Writer’s Cramp Anne Frank’s Tree

Lawrencealot

Throw a Way Jay’s Way

Shakesphere

William Shakesphere Sonnet 18

Robert Brewer

Robert Lee Brewer Exchanging Words

PSH

Sheilye Anne Debo Whispering Junkyard Mountain

Quotes to Ponder

If we go down the rabbit hole of our unconsciousness and try to unravel the knotty points of our life story we may encounter a bunch of hidden niceties or emotional stowaways. Forgotten details in the windmill of our mind may daintily reveal, where things might have gone wrong. (I wonder what went wrong.)~~Erik PevernagieI love the rabbit hole. I spend a lot of time looking at images, Google mapping, etc. I also love to read court transcripts, FBI files, stuff like that. You go through vast, boring stretches, but the voices are always so fascinating and slowly a story begins to emerge. It’s very much like playing detective.~~Zachary Lazar

Cassandra always hid when she read, though she never quite knew why. It was as if she couldn’t shake the guilty suspicion that she was being lazy, that surrendering herself so completely to something so enjoyable must surely be wrong. But surrender she did. Let herself drop through the rabbit hole and into a tale of magic and mystery.~~Kate Morton

Dr. Seuss provided “ingenious and uniquely witty solutions to the standing problem of the juvenile fantasy writer: how to find, not another Alice, but another rabbit hole.~~Clifton Fadiman

Rabbit holes are my specialty. I live and breathe in them.~~Kara McDowell, One Way or Another

Charles Baudelaire I must be dead.”

Annymous Worms Crawl In

Edgar Allen Poe Annabel Lee

Kai Carlson Wei Nomad Palindrome

Writer’s Digest

Lee Ellis Big Old Clap Clap,

Nicki Fitz-Gerald Long Walk Home,

Darin Rogers Abstract with Twirling Sparklers,

Martin Klein Unwavering,

Yinka Shonibare Resolution Kid,

Writng com

Capuchine Safety Dance

Solang Bring Be Careful Out There

Solang Bring Bermudagrass

Donald Justice“There is a gold light in certain old paintings,”

Shelly Kaye singular oddquains Fall

Shelly Kaye singular oddquains Hope

Shelly Kaye singular oddquains Cards

Shelly Kaye Mirror OddquainMirror Oddquain Breeze

Shelly Kaye Butterfly Oddquain
Shelly Kaye Crown Oddquain

Other

Famous Prose Poetry Examples (I Told You I Wasn’t Making This Up!)
There are plenty of prose poetry examples out there, but here’s a few to get you started:

“Be Drunk” by Charles Baudelaire—The ultimate call to live passionately Read it here.

“The Colonel” by Carolyn Forché—A searing piece of political witness that reads like a nightmare you can’t shake. Read it here (18+)

“A Story About the Body” by Robert Hass—Rejection and desire with stark, unexpected imagery. Read it here.

“The Prose Poem” by Campbell McGrath—A winding journey with perfectly poetic language (I admit the title is a little less than poetic). Read it here.

The Ziggurat

Judi Van Gorder Appetite A Ziggurat

Jonathan Caswell Inspired

Paul Szlose Anti-Abstraction

Paul Szlose Depressive

Paul Szlose Funereal

Paul Szlose Recital

Paul Szlose Thaumaturgy

Robert Lee Brewer “Supernatural,”

Wallace Stevens “Peter Quince at the Clavier.”

Solang Bing Writing com

Rain and Drought”
“Never Explained”
“Not Funny”
“Wins-Day!”
“Over and Down”
“Death Cafe ”
“Serious, Lengthy, Russian”
“TGIF”
“The Big Game”

Capuchine Swizzle Stick

Elegy

David Romano’s “When Tomorrow Starts With Me”

W. H. Auden’s “Funeral Blues,”
John Milton’s “Lycidas”

Mary Oliver’s “In Blackwater Woods”
Ocean Vuong’s “Someday I’ll Love Ocean Vuong”

Walt Whitman’s “O Captain! My Captain”

Triquint

Bianca Simple Chinquapin

Fan Story Haiku

Gypsy Blue Rose Cows Wander At Night

Gypsy Blue Rose zebra’s zeal gallops

Writer’s Digest

Robert Lee Brewer “If I had Not,”

Binaca Boonstra Writer’s Cramp Anne Frank’s Tree

Lawrencealot

Throw a Way Jay’s Way

Shakesphere

William Shakesphere Sonnet 18

Robert Brewer

Robert Lee Brewer Exchanging Words

Fan Story Review

Judi Van Gorder

Morning Newscast
Maskr

Linda Varsell Smith

Angel’s Dilemma

JHE All Poetry

Where Frogs Are

Selma Martin

Garland Seox

Fan Story review

Other

Dean Koontz Dragon Tears

Harlan Ellison“A Boy And His Dog.”

Fritz Leiber“Spacetime For Springers,”

Matt Griffin “Schrodinger’s Cat” .
Larry Niven, Rescue Party,”

Azimoth R. Daneel Olivaw

Roger Zelazny For A Breath I Tarry

Genesis

Goethe’s Faust

Housman A Shropshire Lad.
Keith Laumer“Combat Unit”

Kafka “The Metamorphosis”

John Gardner’grendel I

Old English Beowulf

— John Gardner, The Art Of Fiction

Fan Story Review

Anonymous Wildfire Naani

Anonymous – A Tick A Tock

Anonymous – To Shelter Feathered Songs

Anonymous Even the Odds contest Carl Sanberg

Anonymous Nonesense

Anonymous Female Strength in Nature

Anonymous Loon

Anonymous – Owl on the Hunt

Anonymous the Wild Side

Patrick Bernady Her Rage

Jamison Brown Before the Wind Calls

lJbutterfly Prayer for Debbie Pick Marquette

Debbie D’Arcy Anne Frank

Debie D’arcy James Baldwin

Debbie D’Arcy – Jimmy Carter

Harry Craft I Was a Spy

Harry Craft What Happened to the Word Groovy

Harry Craft What Does Freedom Mean to You?

Harry Craft – Peace

John Crawford Rudyard Kipling

Donald Saacca Forever friends

Donaldandvicki – Tender Trap

Rick Gardner the Sun, the Desert, the One

Douglas Goff – Perspective

Dolly Poems Granite Island

Elias Noor The Whispher of Time

Finback Never

Finback When Shadows Creep

Gypsey Rose Blue Gardens of Delight

Cecilia a Heikary Bobcat

Cecila Heiskary – Brown Bear

Cecilia A Hiskary Horses

Ceclia A Heiskary The Magic

Cecilia A Heiskary – Night Life

Cecila Heiskary – Snow

Christy 710 – Happy New Year from Aus

Marylyn Hamilton Darkness Descends

Marylyn Hamilton He Waits

Marylyn Hamilton Winging It

Tom Hormoz A Griever’s Prayer

Tom Horonzy Rumpelstilskin Unleashed

Kaput howling at Moon Haiku

Mrs. Kt Silent Dancers

KT Shades of Blue –

Mrs KTEnding Pain’s Servitude

5 fish JM Jenca

Debbie Pick Marquette Believe in Miracles

Debi Pick Marquette My Cornea Disease

Debbie Pick Marquette – Keeping Gypsy in Prayers

Debbie Pick Marquette – My Lifetime

Debbie Pick Marquette Romance on the Beach

Me and Erin G – Long Gone Away

Lana Marie Hairy Nipple

Paul McFarland January

JUMBO 1 Shame

Pam (respa) Black History Month

Tea for Two Eclectic Wordsmiths

Ean Black I Write

Richard Frohm Dreams

KiwiSteveh Sudden Tears

Lana Marie The Dash Between

Pamusart – The Kirby Part 1

Pamusart – The Kirby Part 2

Pamusart – The Kirby Part 3

Pamusart – The Kirby Part 4

Pamusart – The Kirby Case Part 5

Pamusart – The Kirby Case Part 6

Pamusart – The Kirby Case Part 7

Pamusart – The Kirby Case Part 8

Pamusart Rembering the Past

Pamusart Old Man at the River

Pamusart The Great Apes

Pamusart cooing doves

Pamusart Exploding Star

Pamusart Purple Flowers Wake

Pamusart the Search

Pamusart On Finding Peace

Pamusart Jean Marie Lane

Pamusart the cavesweet

Pamusart Independence

Pamusart the Broken Man

Lea Tonin – Famitree Flames

Lea Tonin1 – Humiston

Lea Toni1 – Mansion

Lea Toni1 – The Meet

Alexandra Trovato A Monster Schemes Under Your Bed

Alexandra Trovato A Timely Trump Limerick

Willie P Smith – Sleigh Ride

Willie P Smith – Walk with Me

Teafor2 – Last Night of the Year

Jessica Wheller – Waking Daisy

Jessica Wheller – January Wind

Nicki Nance Emotional Support

Cecilia A Heiskary Daffodils

Cecila A Heiskary Jaguaurs

Cecila A Heiskary Insane

Cecilia A Heiskary Insane

Anonymous Ode to My Scrunchies

Annoymous Golden Years

Annoymous AI Future

Annoymous Tiny Puppy

D’Arcy Rest

Cecilia Heikkary Daffodils

Cecilia A Heiskary Jagaurs

Cecilia A Heiskary Insane

Gyspy Rose blue Geologist Waka

Annoymous Golden Years

Annoymous AI Future

Annoymous Tiny Puppy

D’Arcy Rest

Cecilia Heikkary Daffodils

Cecilia A Heiskary Jagaurs

Cecilia A Heiskary Insane

Gyspy Rose blue Geologist Waka

Rick Gardner Innocent of Guilty

Harry Craft A Kangaroo from Baraboo

Nancyjam Love in the winter

Debbie Pick Marquette Finding the Bright Side

Debbie Pick Marquette March

Pamusart The Sword

Pamusart The Planet Earth

Barry Penfold Slow Dance with You

YM Roger Always For Now

Arabellesom Mom Truest Love Ever Known

Debbie D’Arcy Lord Bryon

Nicki B Robin Williams

Harry Craft the Cell Phone

Estory in this Autumn Time

Mrs Anna Howard Difficult Decisions

Debbie Pick Marquette Thelma and Louise

Pamusart Your Golden Aura

Rachell Allen Public Face/Private Face

Anonymous Today

Rachael Allen Exceptional Teacher

Debbie D’Arcy Voldymyr Zelensky

Kentucky Sweet Pea My Dogma

Pamusart The Kidnapping

Pamusart the Kidnapping Chapter Two

Pam Respa Rennoved Violinst

Rachael Allen Proud to Be His Daugther

Rick Gardner Wishes to Have

Cecilia A Heiskary Sumatran Orangutan

Cecilia A Heiskary Guiana Red-Face Monkey

Dolly’s Poems the Witching Hour

Kapot Swimming in Pain

Debbie Pick Marquette Men are from Mars, Women from Venus

Miss Merrie This Love

Nancyjam the Meadow

Gypsy Blue Rose Billowing Clouds

Pamusart the Kidnapping Chapter 3

Pamusart Colorful world

Pamusart the World Around Lavenders

Annoymous Maladorous

Tea for Two It Was the Shoes

Tea for Two Wordsmith with Big Faces

Iraven Prayers for Eva

Sally Law Blood Moon and Blood Rain

Jaquelyn Poop Living the Dream, No Thank You

Debi Pick Marquette My Bedroom Window

Debi Pick Marquette Happy St Patrick’s Birthday

Debi Pick Marquette My Bedroom Window

Debi Pick Marquette Happy St Patrick’s Birthday

Rven Prayers for Eva

Jennifer Secret Rendezvous

Sally Law’s Blood Moon and Blood Rain

Jaquelyn Poop Living the Dream, No Thank You

Sanku A New Day

Aiona I Am Photine

Annyomous Too Many Boyfriends For This Is Serious

Annyomous Cary Hope

Annyomous Cicada Watch

Annyomous Ned the Postman

Brad Bennett I Saw A Man Walking Crying

Carasdreams Betrayal

Cullen Bob I Just Want To Leave Things Be

Chris Davies Irish

Iza Dealeanu The Wandering Queen

Dolly’s Poems Graveyard Shift

Cecilia A Heiskary Fun Time

Rick Gardner April Is Today And The Next Day

Brenda Strauser Early Signs Of Spring

Alexandra Trovato Real Love

Fan Story Review

Annoymous Golden Years

Annoymous AI Future

Annoymous Tiny Puppy

Annyomous A Tick a Tock

Annyomous TO Shelter feathered Songs

Debbie D’Arcy Jimmy Carter

Harry Craft Peace

KT Shades of Blue

Cecilia A Heiskary Beat of My Drum

Debbie Pick Marquette Instead of 2025 Resolutions

Debbie Pick Marquette Patch and Ruby, Catching Things

Lea Tonin1 Infanterei

Lea Tonin1 Miristone

Pam Respa Stylish Statues

D’Arcy Rest

Cecilia Heiskary Daffodils

Cecilia A Heiskary Jaguars

Cecilia A Heiskary Insane

Gypsey Rose blue Geologist Waka

Jamison Brown Before the Wind Calls

J Butterfly Prayer for Debbie Pick Marquette

Debbie D’Arcy Anne Frank

Rick Gardner, the Sun, the Desert, the One

Cecilia, a Heikary Bobcat

JUMBO 1 Shame

Debi Pick, Marquette, My Cornea Disease

Pam (respa) Black History Month

Nancyjam Love in the w

Pamusart The Sword

Barry Penfold Slow Dance with You

Tea for Two Eclectic Wordsmiths

Mark Bibbins “At the End of the Endless Decade,

Annoymous dogsessive

Crystie Cookie 999

Trust Jessie James Doty

Debbie Pick Marque

Tim Margetts Four Paws, No Pause

Bianca Boonstra 2002 Septet

Anonymous Owl On the Hunt

Christy 710 Happy New Years from Aus

DonaldandVicki Tender Trap

Douglas Goff Perspective

Me and Erin G Long Gone Away

Cecilia A Heiskary Night Life

Lea Tonin1 Humiston

Lea Toni1 Mansione

Lea Toni1 The Meet

Willie P Smith Sleight Ride

Willie P Smith Walk With Me

Teafor2 Last Night of the Year

Jessica Wheller Waking Daisy

Binaca Boonstra Writer’s Cramp Anne Frank’s Tree
Annyomous TO Shelter feathered Songs

Debbie D’Arcy Jimmy Carter

Cecila Heiskary Brown Bear

Cecila Heiskary Snow

Harry Craft Peace

KT Shades of Blue

Debbie Pick Marquette Keeping Gypsy in Prayers

Debbie Pick Marquette My Lifetime

Lea Tonin Famitree Flames

Jessica Wheller Janaury Wind

Anonymous They Learn What We Live

Pamusart Rembering the Past

Pamusart Old Man at the River

Lana Marie Hairy Nipple

Paul McFarland January

End Poetry

Begin Harvard Classics

Harvard Classics

The volumes are:

Bolded read

(1) Franklin, Woolman, Penn

(2) Plato, Epictetus,

Marcus, Aurelius Meditations

(3) Bacon,

Milton’s Prose,

Thomas Browne

(4) Complete Poems in English: Milton

(5) Essays and English Traits: Emerson (

6) Poems and Songs: Burns (7)

Confessions of St. Augustine. Imitation of Christ

(8) Nine Greek Dramas (9)

Letters and Treatises of Cicero

Pliny

(10) Wealth of Nations: Adam Smith

(11) Origin of Species: Darwin

(12) Plutarch’s Lives (13)

Aeneid Virgil (14)

Don Quixote Part 1: Cervantes

(15) Pilgrim’s Progress. Donne

Herbert. Bunyan, Walton

(16) The Thousand and One Night

(17) Folk-Lore and Fable. Aesop, Grimm,

Andersen

Hans Christian Anderson’s Fairy Tales

(18) Modern English Drama

(19) Faust,

Egmont Etc.

Doctor Faustus,

Goethe,

Marlowe

(20) The Divine Comedy: Dante

(21) I Promessi

Sposi,

Manzoni

(22) The Odyssey: Homer

(23) Two Years Before Mast. Dana

(24) On the Sublime French Revolution Etc. Burke

(25) Autobiography Etc. Essays and Addresses: J.S. Mill,

Carlyle

(26) Continental Drama

(27) English Essays: Sidney to Macaulay

(28) Essays. English and American

(29) Voyage of the Beagle: Darwin (

30) Faraday,

Helmholtz,

Kelvin,

Newcomb,

Geikie

(31) Autobiography: Benvenuto, Cellini

(32) Literary and Philosophical Essays:

Montaigne,

Sainte Beuve,

Renan,

Lessing,

Schiller,

Kant,

Mazzini

(33) Voyages and Travels

(34) Descartes,

Voltaire,

Rousseau,

Hobbes

(35) Chronicle and Romance:

Froissart,

Malory,

Holinshed (36)

Machiavelli, the Prince

More,

Luther

(37) Locke,

Berkeley,

Hume

(38) Harvey,

Jenner,

Lister,

Pasteur

(39) Famous Prefaces

(40) English Poetry 1: Chaucer to Gray

(41) English Poetry 2: Collins to Fitzgerald

(42) English Poetry 3: Tennyson to Whitman

(43) American Historical Documents

Federalist Papers

Constitution

Bill of Rights

Declaration of Indepedence

(44) Sacred Writings 1

(45) Sacred Writings 2

The Bible

The Quaran

The Analect of Confucius

Mencius

Buddist Writing

Bhaga Vita

Lao Tzo The Tao

(46) Elizabethan Drama 1

(47) Elizabethan Drama 2

(48) Thoughts and Minor Works: Pascal

(49) Epic and Saga (

50) Introduction, Readers Guide,

50 Books to Read Before You Die

Vol 1 starts with Volume One

Alcott, Louisa May: Little Women
Austen, Jane: Pride and Prejudice
Austen, Jane: Emma
Balzac, Honoré de: Father Goriot
Barbusse, Henri: The Inferno
Brontë, Anne: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Brontë, Charlotte: Jane Eyre
Brontë, Emily: Wuthering Heights
Burroughs, Edgar Rice: Tarzan of the Apes
Butler, Samuel: The Way of All Flesh
Carroll, Lewis: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Cather, Willa: My Ántonia
Cervantes, Miguel de: Don Quixote
Chopin, Kate: The Awakening
Cleland, John: Fanny Hill
Collins, Wilkie: The Moonstone
Conrad, Joseph: Heart of Darkness
Conrad, Joseph: Nostromo
Cooper, James Fenimore: The Last of the Mohicans
Crane, Stephen: The Red Badge of Courage
Cummings, E. E.: The Enormous Room
Defoe, Daniel: Robinson Crusoe
Defoe, Daniel: Moll Flanders
Dickens, Charles: Bleak House
Dickens, Charles: Great Expectations
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor: Crime and Punishment
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor: The Idiot
Doyle, Arthur Conan: The Hound of the Baskervilles
Dreiser, Theodore: Sister Carrie
Dumas, Alexandre: The Three Musketeers
Dumas, Alexandre: The Count of Monte Cristo
Eliot, George: Middlemarch
Fielding, Henry: Tom Jones
Flaubert, Gustave: Madame Bovary
Flaubert, Gustave: Sentimental Education
Ford, Ford Madox: The Good Soldier
Forster, E. M.: A Room With a View
Forster, E. M.: Howard End
Gaskell, Elizabeth: North and South
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von: The Sorrows of Young Werther
Gogol, Nikolai: Dead Souls
Gorky, Maxim: The Mother
Haggard, H. Rider: King Solomon’s Mines
Hardy, Thomas: Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Hawthorne, Nathaniel: The Scarlet Letter
Homer: The Odyssey
Hugo, Victor: The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Hugo, Victor: Les Misérables
Huxley, Aldous: Crome Yellow
James, Henry: The Portrait of a Lady

Volume 2

– Little Women [Louisa May Alcott]
– Sense and Sensibility [Jane Austen]
– Peter Pan (Peter and Wendy) [J.M. Barrie]
– Cabin Fever [ B. M. Bower]
– The Secret Garden [Frances Hodgson Burnett]
– A Little Princess [Frances Hodgson Burnett]
– Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland [Lewis Carroll]
– The King in Yellow [Robert William Chambers]
– The Man Who Knew Too Much [Gilbert Keith Chesterton]
– The Woman in White [Wilkie Collins]
– The Most Dangerous Game [Richard Connell]
– Robinson Crusoe [Daniel Defoe]
– On the Origin of Species, 6th Edition [Charles Darwin]
– The Iron Woman [Margaret Deland]
– David Copperfield [Charles Dickens]
– Oliver Twist [Charles Dickens]
– A Tale of Two Cities [Charles Dickens]
– The Double [Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky]
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes [Arthur Conan Doyle]
– The Curious Case of Benjamin Button [Francis Scott Fitzgerald]
– A Room with a View [E. M. Forster]
– Dream Psychology [Sigmund Freud]
– Tess of the d’Urbervilles [Thomas Hardy]
– Siddhartha [Hermann Hesse]
– Dubliners [James Joyce]
– The Fall of the House of Usher [Edgar Allan Poe]
– The Arabian Nights [Andrew Lang]
– The Sea Wolf [Jack London]
– The Call of Cthulhu [Howard Phillips Lovecraft]
– Anne of Green Gables [Lucy Maud Montgomery]
– Beyond Good and Evil [Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche]
– The Murders in the Rue Morgue [Edgar Allan Poe]
– The Black Cat [Edgar Allan Poe]
– The Raven [Edgar Allan Poe]
– Swann’s Way [Marcel Proust]
– Romeo and Juliet [William Shakespeare]
– Treasure Island [Robert Louis Stevenson]
– The Elements of Style [William Strunk Jr.

Vol 3 finished keeping for the historical record

This book contains the following works arranged alphabetically by authors’ last names.

Starting with volume 3 then will go back and do volumes one, two, and the Harvard classics. The goal is to finish all of these by the end of next year. I almost finished Volume One. Will do some of the WC reading books as well.

– What’s Bred in the Bone [Grant Allen]
– The Golden Ass [Lucius Apuleius]
– Meditations [Marcus Aurelius]
– Northanger Abbey [Jane Austen]
– Lady Susan [Jane Austen]
– The Wonderful Wizard of Oz [Lyman Frank Baum]
– The Art of Public Speaking [Dale Breckenridge Carnegie]
– The Blazing World [Margaret Cavendish]
– The Wisdom of Father Brown [Gilbert Keith Chesterton]
– Heretics [Gilbert Keith Chesterton]
– The Donnington Affair [Gilbert Keith Chesterton]
– The Innocence of Father Brown [Gilbert Keith Chesterton]
– Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [John Cleland]
– The Moonstone [Wilkie Collins]
– Lord Jim [Joseph Conrad]
– The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe [Daniel Defoe]
– The Pickwick Papers [Charles Dickens]
– A Christmas Carol [Charles Dickens]
– Notes From The Underground [Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky]
– The Gambler par Fyodor [Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky]
– The Lost World [Arthur Conan Doyle]
– The Hound of the Baskervilles [Arthur Conan Doyle]
– The Sign of the Four [Arthur Conan Doyle]
– The Man in the Iron Mask [Alexandre Dumas]
– The Three Musketeers [Alexandre Dumas]
– This Side of Paradise [Francis Scott Fitzgerald]
– Curious, If True: Strange Tales [Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell]
– King Solomon’s Mines [Henry Rider Haggard]
– The Hunchback of Notre Dame [Victor Hugo]
– Kim [Rudyard Kipling]
– Captain Courageous [Rudyard Kipling]
– The Jungle Book [Rudyard Kipling]
– Lady Chatterley’s Lover [David Herbert Lawrence]
– The Son of the Wolf [Jack London]
– The Einstein Theory of Relativity [Hendrik Antoon Lorentz]
– The Dunwich Horror [Howard Phillips Lovecraft]
– At the Mountains of Madness [Howard Phillips Lovecraft]
– The Prince [Niccolò Machiavelli]
– The Story Girl [Lucy Maud Montgomery]
– The Antichrist [Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche]
– The Republic [Plato]
– The Last Man [Mary Shelley]
– Life On The Mississippi [Mark Twain]
– The Kama Sutra [Vatsyayana]
– In the Year 2889 [Jules Verne]
– Around the World in Eighty Days [Jules Verne]
– Four Just Men [Edgar Wallace]
– Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ [Lewis Wallace]
– Jacob’s Room [Virginia Woolf]

Sci-Fi short stories

The Big Book of Science Fiction is a massive anthology of science fiction stories edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer. It covers the history and evolution of the genre from the early 20th century to the end of the millennium, featuring works from over 30 countries and many languages. The book contains 105 stories, ranging from classics by H.G. Wells, Arthur C. Clarke, and Ursula K. Le Guin, to lesser-known gems by W.E.B. Du Bois, David R. Bunch, and Liu Cixin. The book also includes comments from the editors and the authors, offering insights into their creative process and vision. The book is divided into 11 sections, each with a thematic focus and chronological order.

Here is the table of contents for the book1:

Goal read one to five per week alternating with Kindle classics and reading poetry collections finish by end of the year

Introduction: Ann and Jeff VanderMeer

The Lens of Time: Science Fiction as a Way of Seeing

H.G. Wells: “The Star” (1897)

Lu Xun: “The New Overworld” (1902)

Sultana’s Dream: Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1905)

Albert Robida: “The Triumph of Mechanics” (1908)

Miguel de Unamuno: “Mechanopolis” (1913)

W.E.B. Du Bois: “The Comet” (1920)

Claude Farrère: “The Fate of the Poseidonia” (1923)

Edmond Hamilton: “The Star Stealers” (1929)

David H. Keller: “The Lost Language” (1934)

Stanislaw Lem: “Solaris” (1961) excerpt

Jorge Luis Borges: “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” (1940)

Cixin Liu: “The Poetry Cloud” (1997)

Invasions

Edgar Rice Burroughs: “A Princess of Mars” (1912) excerpt

Leslie F. Stone: “The Conquest of Gola” (1931)

Stanley G. Weinbaum: “A Martian Odyssey” (1934)

John W. Campbell Jr.: “Who Goes There?” (1938)

Ray Bradbury: “Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed” (1949)

Katherine MacLean: “Pictures Don’t Lie” (1951)

William Tenn: “The Liberation of Earth” (1953)

J.G. Ballard: “The Voices of Time” (1960)

Dino Buzzati: “Catastrophe” (1966)

James Tiptree Jr.: “And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill’s Side” (1972)

Joanna Russ: “When It Changed” (1972)

Arkady & Boris Strugatsky: “The Spontaneous Reflex” (1973) excerpt

Octavia Butler: “Bloodchild” (1984)

James Patrick Kelly: “Think Like a Dinosaur” (1995)

Monsters

H.P. Lovecraft: “The Dunwich Horror” (1929)

Ray Bradbury: “The Foghorn” (1951)

Jerome Bixby: “It’s a Good Life” (1953)

Julio Cortázar: “Axolotl” (1956)

J.G. Ballard: “The Drowned Giant” (1964)

R.A. Lafferty: “Nine Hundred Grandmothers” (1966)

Terry Carr: “The Dance of the Changer and the Three” (1968)

Harlan Ellison®: “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” (1967)

Lisa Tuttle & George R.R. Martin: “The Storms of Windhaven” (1975)

John Varley: “Air Raid” (1977)

William Gibson: “New Rose Hotel” (1984)

Ted Chiang: “Story of Your Life” (1998)

Experiments

Alfred Jarry: “Elements of Pataphysics” (1911)

Karel Čapek: “R.U.R.” (1920) excerpt

Stanisław Lem: “How Erg the Self-Inducting Slew a Paleface” (1955)

William S. Burroughs: “Excerpt from Naked Lunch” (1959)

J.G. Ballard: “Chronopolis” (1960)

Philip K. Dick: “Beyond Lies the Wub” (1952)

Boris Vian: “Froth on the Daydream” (1947) excerpt

Joanna Russ: “Useful Phrases for the Tourist” (1970)

George Alec Effinger: “Two Sadnesses” (1973)

John Sladek: “Solar Shoe Salesman” (1974)

Dafydd ab Hugh: “The Coon Rolled Down and Ruptured His Larinks, A Squeezed Novel by Mr. Skunk” (1986)

Generation Ships

Don Wilcox: “The Voyage That Lasted 600 Years” (1940)

Judith Merril: “Daughters of Earth” (1952)

Brian W. Aldiss: “Non-Stop” (1958) excerpt

Robert Silverberg: “Sundance” (1969)

Pamela Zoline: “The Heat Death of the Universe” (1967)

Gene Wolfe: “A Cabin on the Coast” (1984)

Bruce Sterling: “Swarm” (1982)

Geoff Ryman: “The Unconquered Country” (1984)

New Worlds

Cordwainer Smith: “Alpha Ralpha Boulevard” (1961)

Samuel R. Delany: “Aye, and Gomorrah …” (1967)

Ursula K. Le Guin: “Vaster Than Empires and Slower” (1971)

James Tiptree Jr.: “Houston, Houston, Do You Read?” (1976)

Frederik Pohl: “The Gold at the Starbow’s End” (1972)

Angélica Gorodischer: “Of Navigators and Traitors” (1973) excerpt

John Crowley: “Snow” (1985)

Iain M. Banks: “A Gift from the Culture” (1987)

Greg Egan: “Learning to Be Me” (1990)

Future War

Jack London: “The Unparalleled Invasion” (1910)

Edward Bulwer-Lytton: “The Coming Race” (1871) excerpt

George Griffith: “The War of the Viruses” (1895)

Philip Francis Nowlan: “Armageddon 2419 A.D.” (1928)

E.E. “Doc” Smith: “The Skylark of Space” (1928) excerpt

Olaf Stapledon: “Star Maker” (1937) excerpt

Robert A. Heinlein: “Solution Unsatisfactory” (1941)

C.M. Kornbluth: “Two Dooms” (1958)

Joe Haldeman: “Hero” (1972)

Harry Harrison: “The Streets of Ashkelon” (1962)

David R. Bunch: “Moderan” (1967)

Harlan Ellison®: “A Boy and His Dog” (1969)

James S.A. Corey: “Rates of Change” (2011)

Virtual Reality

Stanisław Lem: “The Seventh Sally or How Trurl’s Own Perfection Led to No Good” (1965)

Philip K. Dick: “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” (1966)

John Brunner: “The Vitanuls” (1967)

Roger Zelazny: “For a Breath I Tarry” (1966)

Robert Silverberg: “Passengers” (1968)

Rudy Rucker: “Software” (1982) excerpt

William Gibson: “Burning Chrome” (1982)

Pat Cadigan: “Pretty Boy Crossover” (1986)

Neal Stephenson: “Snow Crash” (1992) excerpt

Humanity 2.0

Olaf Stapledon: “Odd John” (1935) excerpt

C.L. Moore: “No Woman Born” (1944)

Cordwainer Smith: “Scanners Live in Vain” (1950)

Algis Budrys: “Who?” (1955)

James Blish: “Surface Tension” (1952)

Gregory Benford: “Blood Music” (1983)

Bruce Sterling: “Mozart in Mirrorshades” (1985)

Vernor Vinge: “True Names” (1981)

Ted Chiang: “Understand” (1991)

Alien Minds

Arthur C. Clarke: “The Sentinel” (1951)

Isaac Asimov: “The Last Question” (1956)

Clifford D. Simak: “Desertion” (1944)

James H. Schmitz: “Grandpa” (1955)

Frank Herbert: “Try to Remember!” (1961)

Philip José Farmer: “Sail On! Sail On!” (1952)

Stanisław Lem: “Solaris” (1961) excerpt

Arkady & Boris Strugatsky: “Roadside Picnic” (1972) excerpt

Karen Joy Fowler & Pat Murphy: “Rachel in Love” (1987)

Ian McDonald: “The Tear” (2008)

After the End

Walter M. Miller Jr.

Penguin Anthology of Twentieth Century Poetry

BOLD read

Edward Lee Masters.

The Hil

Fiddler. Jones,

Petite the Poet

Edwin Arlington Robinson

Miniver Cheevy

Mr. Flood’s Party.

James Weldon Johnson

The Creation

Paul Laurence Dunbar.

The Poet

Life

Life’s Trajedy

Robert Frost.

The Death Of The Hired Man.

Mending Wall.

Birches

Stopping By The Woods On A Snowy Evening.

Tree In My Window.

Directive.

Amy Lowell

Patterns.

Getrude Stein

Susie Asado.

From Tender Buttons A Box.

From Tender Buttons, A Plate.

Alice Moore Dunbar Nelson

I sit and sew .

Carl Sandburg.

Grass.

Cahoots.

Wallace Stevens.

Peter Quince at the Clavier.

Disillusionment of 10:00.

13 Ways Of Looking At A Blackbird.

Emperor Of Ice Cream.

A Mere Being.

Angelina Weld Grimke

Fragment.

William Carlos Williams.

Tact.

Dance Ruse

The Yachts.

From Apostlethat Greeny Flower Book 1, Lines 1 To 92.

Sarah Teasdale.

Moonlight.

There Will Come Soft Rains.

Erza Pound

The Jewel Stairs Grievance.

The River Merchants Wife Letter.

In A Station At The Metro.

Hugh Selwyn Mulberry.

From Conto. 56 Libretto Yet Ere This Season Died A Cold

Hilda Doolittle, HD.

Sea Rose.

The Helen.

From The Walls Do Not Fall An Incident Here And There.

From Hermeneutic Definition Red Rose And A Beggar. Why Did You Come?

Take Me Anywhere.

Venicc. Venus.

Robinson, Jeffers.

Gala in April.

Shine, Perishing Republic.

Cloudss at Evening.

Credo

Mararane Moore

Fish.

Poetry.

TS, Elliott.

Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock

The Wasteland.

Claude McKay.

If We Must Die.

Harlem Dancer.

Archibald MacLeash,

Arts Poetica

Edna, Saint Vincent Millay.

First Fig

Recuerdo

E E Cummings.

In Just.

Buffalo Bill

The Cambridge Ladies Have Lived In Furnished Souls.

Next To, Of Course, God, America.

Somewhere I’ve Never Travelled Gladly Beyond.

Rpophessagr

Gene Toomor.

Reapers.

November Cotton Flowers.

Portrait in Georgia.

Louise Bogan

Medusa.

New moon.

Melvin B Tolson

Dark Symphony.

From Harlem Gallery PSI Black Boys, Let Me Get Up From The White Man’s Table.

Hart Crane

From the Bridge

Poem to Brooklyn Bridge

From 11 Powhatan’s Daughter the River.

Robert Francis.

Silent Poem

Langston Hughes

Nego speaks of rivers.

I, Too.

Dreams Boogie.

Harlem

Countee Cullan

Incident

To John Keats Poet at Springtime

Yes I Do Marvel

From the Dark Tower

Stanley Kutitz

Father and Son

The Protrait

Touch Me

WH Auden

Mussee Des Beaux Arts

Epitah on a Tryant

Theordore Roethke

My Papa’s Waltz

The Waking

In a Dark Time

Charles Olson.

From The Maximum Poems One Maximum Of Gloucester To You.

The Distances.

Elizabeth Bishop.

The Fish

Sestina

First Death In Nova Scotia.

Visit To Saint Elizabeths.

One Art.

Robert Hayden.

Morning Poem For The Queen Of Sunday.

Those Winter Sundays.

Frederick Douglass.

Middle Passage.

Muriel Rukeyser?

Effort At Speech Between Two People. ‘

Then I Saw What The Calling Was.

The Poem as Mask

Delmore Swartz.

The Heavy Bear Who Goes With Me.

John Barryman.

From Dream Songs.

Feeling Your Compact And Delicious Body. ‘

Life, Friends, Is Boring. We Must Not Say So.

There Shut Down Once. ‘

This World Is Gradually Becoming A Place.

Henry’sUnderstanding

Randall, Jarell.

90 North.

The Death Of The Bell Turret Gunner.

The Woman At The Washington Zoo.

Next Day.

Weldon Kees.

To My Daughter?

Dudley Randall

A Different Image

William Stafford.

Traveling Through The Dark.

At The Bomb Testing Site.

Ruth Stone.

Scars.

Margaret Walker.

For My People

Gwendolyn Brooks.

The Mother.

A Song In The Front Yard. ‘

The Bean Eaters

The Lovers Of The Poor.

We Real Cool. ‘

The Blackstone Rangers.

Robert Lowell.

To Speak Of Woe That Is In Marriage.

Skunk Hour .

For The Union Dead.

Robert Duncan.

Often I’m Permitted To Return To A Medow.

My Mother Would Be A Falconress

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Populist Manifesto.

William Meredith.

Parents. Howard Nemeroff.

Because You Asked About The Line Between Prose And Poetry.

Hayden Caruth.

The Hyacinth Gardens In Brooklyn.

August 1945.

Richard Wilber

Love Calls Us to the Things of This World

Cottage Street

The Writer

James Dickey

The Sheep Child

Alan Duncan.

Love song I And Thou

Anthony Act.

More light, More light.

Richard Hugo.

The Degrees of Gray in Phillipsburg.

The Freaks at Spring General Rd. Field.

Dennis Levertov.

The Unwritten Poem

Cademon.

Swan in Falling snow.

Who is Simpson?

American Poetry.

Carolyn Kaiser.

A Muse of water.

Kenneth Koch.

Fresh air.

Permanently.

Maxine Coleman.

Morning Swim.

How Is It?

Gerald Stern.

Behaving Like A Jew.

The Dancing.

Another Insane Devotion.

AR Ammons.

The City Limits.

Corson Inlet.

Robert Blye.

Snowfall In The Afternoon.

Driving Into Town Late To Mail A Letter.

Walking From Sleep.

Robert Creeley.

The Flower.

I Know A Man.

The Language.

The Rain.

Bresson’s Movies.

James Merrill.

Victor Dog.

Frank O’Hara New York School.

Steps.

Poem Lana Turner Has Collapsed.

The Day Lady Died.

John Ashberry. New York School

Some Trees.

Self-Portrait In A Convex Mirror.

What Is Poetry?

Galway, Kennel.

The Bear.`

After Making Love, We Hear Footsteps.

Saint Francis And The Soul.

Ws Merwin.

Air.

For The Anniversary Of My Death.

Yesterday.

Chord .

James Wright.

A Blessing.

Autumn Begins In Martins Ferry, Oh.

Lying In A Hammock At William Duffy’s Farm In Pine Island, Mn.

In Response To The Rumor That Otis Warehouse In Wheeling, Wv Has Been Condemned.

Donald Hall.

My Son, My Executioner.

Digging.

Philip Levine.

Animals Are Passing From Our Lives.

They Feed They Lion.

You Can Have It.

The Simple Truth.

Anne Sexton.

Her Kind

Adoption.

Waiting To Die.

In Celebration Of My Uterus.

Rowing

Adrienne Rich.

Orion

Planetarium.

A Valedictorian Forbidding Mourning.

From 21 Love Poems 13 The Rules Of Break Like A Thermometer.

Gregory Corso.

Marriage

Gary Snyder.

Hay, For The Horses.

Riprap.

Mid August As Sourdough Mountain Lookout.

Dereck Walcott.

A Far Cry From Africa.

Sea Grapes.

Find The Schooner Flight Part 11 After The Storm. There’s A Fresh Light That Follows.

The Light Of The World.

From Omeros Book. 7. 44 I Sing Of Quiet,Achiles, Afrolabe’s Son.

Miller Williams.

Let Me tell you.

Etheridge Knight

Idea Of Ancestry.

Amira Baraka, Leroy Jones.

Preface To A 20 Volume Suicide Note.

Agony As Now.

SOS.

Black Art.

Ted Berrigon .

Wrong Rain.

A Final Sonnet

Andre Lorde.

Power.

Sonia Sanchez.

Poetry at 30.

Mark Strand.

The Prediction.

The Night, The Porch.

Russell Edson.

A Stone Is Nobody’s.

Mary Oliver.

Singapore.

The Summer’s Day.

Charles Wright.

Reunion.

Dead Color.

California Dreaming.

Lucile Clifton.

Homage To My Hips.

At Least At Last We Killed The Roaches.

The Death Of Fry, Alfred Clifton.

To My Last.

June, Jordan.

Home About My Rights.

Frederick Seidel.

1968.

CK Williams.

Find My Window.

Blades

Tynan Wilkowski.’

The Mechanic.

Michael S Harper.

Dear John. Dear Coltrane.

Last Affair. Bessies Blues Song.

Grandfather.

Nightmare Begins Responsibility.

Charles Simik .

Stone.

Fork.

Classic Ballroom Dances.

Paula Gunn Allen.

Grandmother.

Frank Bidart.

Ellen West.

Carl Dennis.

Spring Letter.

Two Or Three Wishes.

Stephen Dunn.

Allegory Of The Cave.

Tucson.

Robert Pensky.

History Of My Heart.

The Questions.

Samurai Song.

James Welch.

Christmas Comes To Moccasin Flat.

Billy Collins.

Introduction To Poetry.

The Dead.

Toi Derricote .

Allen Ginsberg.

The Weakness.

Stephen Dobyns.

How To Like It?

Lullaby.

Robert Hass.

Song.

That Photographer?

Return Of Robinson Jeffers.

Lyn Hejinian

From My Life trim With Colored Ribbons.

BH Fairchild.

The Machinist Teaching His Daughter To Play The Piano.

Haik R Madhubuti Don L Lee.

But He Was Cool Or Even Stopped For Green Lights.

Upon To Compliment Other Poems.

William Matthews.

In Memory Of The Utah Stars.

The Accompanist

. Sharon Olds

The Language Of The Brag.

The Lifting.

Henry Taylor.

Barbed Wire.

Tess Gallagher.

Black, Silver.

Under Stars.

Michael Palmer.

I Do Not.

James Tate.

The Lost Pilot.

Norman Dubie.

Elizabeth War With The Christmas Bear.

The Funeral.

Carol Muske Dukes,.

August, Los Angeles Lullaby.

Kay Ryan.

Turtle

Bestiary

Larry Levis.

Childhood Ideogram

Winter Stars

Adrian C Lousis

Looking For Judas

How much lux?

The People of the Other Village.

Marilyn Nelson.

The Ballad of Aunt Geneva.

Star Fix.

Run Stilleman

Albany

AI

Cuba 1963

The Kid

Finished

Yusef Komunyakaa

Thanks

To Do Street

Facing It

Nude Interogation

Nathaniel Mc Kay

Song of the Aduumboulou

Gregory Orr

Gathering the Bones Together

Two Lines From the Brother Grimm

Origin of the Marble Forrest

Robert Hill Whiteman

Reaching Yellow River

Albert Goldbarth

Away

Heather Mc Hugh

Language Lesson 1976

What He Thought

Leslie Marmon Silko

In Cold Storm Light

Olga Boumas

Calypso

Victor Hernadez Soul

Latin and Soul

Jane Miller

Miami Heart

David St. James

Iris

CD Wright

Why Ralph Refuses to Dance

Girl Friend Poe # 3

Crescent

Carolyn Forche

Taking Off My Clothes

Jorie Graham

San Sepolcro

Marie Howe

What the Living Do

Joy Harjo

She Had Some Horses

My House is Red Earth

Garret Honjo

The Legend

Andrew Hugins

Beggoten

We Were Simply Talking

Brigit Peggen Kelly

Imaging Their Own Hyms

Song

Paul Muldoon

Meeting the British

Errata

The Throwback

Judith Orez Coffer

Quinceanera

Rita Dove

Parsley

Day Star

After Reading Mikey in the Night Kitchen for the Third Time Before Bed

Alice Fulton

Our Calling

Barbara Hamby

Thinking of Galileo

Hatred

Mark Jarman

Unholy Sonnet

Naomi Shihab Nye

The Traveling Onion

Arabic

Wedding Cake

Alberto Rios

Nani

England Finally like My Mother Always Said We Would

Laurie Sheck

Nocturne Blue Waves

The Unfinished

Gary Sotto

Field Poem

Oranges

Black Hair

Susan Stewart

Yellow Star and Ice

The Forrest

Mark Dotty

Brillance

Esta Noche

Bill’s Story

Harryette Mullen

Black Nikes

Franz Wright

Alcohol

Lorna Dee Cervantes

To My Brother

Love of My Flesh, Living Death

Sandra Cisneros.

My Wicked, Wicked Ways.

Little Clowns, My Heart.

Cornelius, Eady.

Jack Johnson Does The Eagle Rock.

Crows In A Strong Wind.

I’m A Fool To Love You.

Louise Eldritch

. Indian Boarding School. The Runaways.

David Mason.

Spooning.

Marilyn Chin.

How I Got That Name?

Compose Near The Bay Bridge

The Survivor

Cathy Song .

The Youngest Daughter.

Ann Finch.

Another Reluctance.

Insert

Lee Young Lee.

The Gift

Eating Together.

Carl Phillips

Our Lady

As From a Quiver of Arrows

Nick Flynn

Bag of Mice

Cartoon Physics

Elizabeth Alexander

The Viena Hott not

Reetika Vazirani

From White Elephants

A million Balconies

Train Windows

Sherman Alexie

What the Orphan Inherits

The Pow Wow at the End of the World

Natasha Trethewey

Hot Combs

Amateur Fighter

Flounder

A E Stallings

The Tantrum

Joana Klink

Spare

Brenda Shaughnessy

Post feminism

Your One Good Dress

Kevin Young

Quivira City Limits

Everywhere is Out of Town

Whatever You Want

Terrance Hayes

At Pegasus

Lady Sings the Blues

Sci-Fi short stories

The Big Book of Science Fiction is a massive anthology of science fiction stories edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer. It covers the history and evolution of the genre from the early 20th century to the end of the millennium, featuring works from over 30 countries and many languages. The book contains 105 stories, ranging from classics by H.G. Wells, Arthur C. Clarke, and Ursula K. Le Guin, to lesser-known gems by W.E.B. Du Bois, David R. Bunch, and Liu Cixin. The book also includes comments from the editors and the authors, offering insights into their creative process and vision. The book is divided into 11 sections, each with a thematic focus and a chronological order.

Here is the table of contents for the book1:

Introduction: Ann and Jeff VanderMeer

The Lens of Time: Science Fiction as a Way of Seeing

H.G. Wells: “The Star” (1897)

Lu Xun: “The New Overworld” (1902)

Sultana’s Dream: Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1905)

Albert Robida: “The Triumph of Mechanics” (1908)

Miguel de Unamuno: “Mechanopolis” (1913)

W.E.B. Du Bois: “The Comet” (1920)

Claude Farrère: “The Fate of the Poseidonia” (1923)

Edmond Hamilton: “The Star Stealers” (1929)

David H. Keller: “The Lost Language” (1934)

Stanislaw Lem: “Solaris” (1961) excerpt

Jorge Luis Borges: “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” (1940)

Cixin Liu: “The Poetry Cloud” (1997)

Invasions

Edgar Rice Burroughs: “A Princess of Mars” (1912) excerpt

Leslie F. Stone: “The Conquest of Gola” (1931)

Stanley G. Weinbaum: “A Martian Odyssey” (1934)

John W. Campbell Jr.: “Who Goes There?” (1938)

Ray Bradbury: “Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed” (1949)

Katherine MacLean: “Pictures Don’t Lie” (1951)

William Tenn: “The Liberation of Earth” (1953)

J.G. Ballard: “The Voices of Time” (1960)

Dino Buzzati: “Catastrophe” (1966)

James Tiptree Jr.: “And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill’s Side” (1972)

Joanna Russ: “When It Changed” (1972)

Arkady & Boris Strugatsky: “The Spontaneous Reflex” (1973) excerpt

Octavia Butler: “Bloodchild” (1984)

James Patrick Kelly: “Think Like a Dinosaur” (1995)

Monsters

H.P. Lovecraft: “The Dunwich Horror” (1929)

Ray Bradbury: “The Foghorn” (1951)

Jerome Bixby: “It’s a Good Life” (1953)

Julio Cortázar: “Axolotl” (1956)

J.G. Ballard: “The Drowned Giant” (1964)

R.A. Lafferty: “Nine Hundred Grandmothers” (1966)

Terry Carr: “The Dance of the Changer and the Three” (1968)

Harlan Ellison®: “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” (1967)

Lisa Tuttle & George R.R. Martin: “The Storms of Windhaven” (1975)

John Varley: “Air Raid” (1977)

William Gibson: “New Rose Hotel” (1984)

Ted Chiang: “Story of Your Life” (1998)

Experiments

Alfred Jarry: “Elements of Pataphysics” (1911)

Karel Čapek: “R.U.R.” (1920) excerpt

Stanisław Lem: “How Erg the Self-Inducting Slew a Paleface” (1955)

William S. Burroughs: “Excerpt from Naked Lunch” (1959)

J.G. Ballard: “Chronopolis” (1960)

Philip K. Dick: “Beyond Lies the Wub” (1952)

Boris Vian: “Froth on the Daydream” (1947) excerpt

Joanna Russ: “Useful Phrases for the Tourist” (1970)

George Alec Effinger: “Two Sadnesses” (1973)

John Sladek: “Solar Shoe Salesman” (1974)

Dafydd ab Hugh: “The Coon Rolled Down and Ruptured His Larinks, A Squeezed Novel by Mr. Skunk” (1986)

Generation Ships

Don Wilcox: “The Voyage That Lasted 600 Years” (1940)

Judith Merril: “Daughters of Earth” (1952)

Brian W. Aldiss: “Non-Stop” (1958) excerpt

Robert Silverberg: “Sundance” (1969)

Pamela Zoline: “The Heat Death of the Universe” (1967)

Gene Wolfe: “A Cabin on the Coast” (1984)

Bruce Sterling: “Swarm” (1982)

Geoff Ryman: “The Unconquered Country” (1984)

New Worlds

Cordwainer Smith: “Alpha Ralpha Boulevard” (1961)

Samuel R. Delany: “Aye, and Gomorrah …” (1967)

Ursula K. Le Guin: “Vaster Than Empires and Slower” (1971)

James Tiptree Jr.: “Houston, Houston, Do You Read?” (1976)

Frederik Pohl: “The Gold at the Starbow’s End” (1972)

Angélica Gorodischer: “Of Navigators and Traitors” (1973) excerpt

John Crowley: “Snow” (1985)

Iain M. Banks: “A Gift from the Culture” (1987)

Greg Egan: “Learning to Be Me” (1990)

Future War

Jack London: “The Unparalleled Invasion” (1910)

Edward Bulwer-Lytton: “The Coming Race” (1871) excerpt

George Griffith: “The War of the Viruses” (1895)

Philip Francis Nowlan: “Armageddon 2419 A.D.” (1928)

E.E. “Doc” Smith: “The Skylark of Space” (1928) excerpt

Olaf Stapledon: “Star Maker” (1937) excerpt

Robert A. Heinlein: “Solution Unsatisfactory” (1941)

C.M. Kornbluth: “Two Dooms” (1958)

Joe Haldeman: “Hero” (1972)

Harry Harrison: “The Streets of Ashkelon” (1962)

David R. Bunch: “Moderan” (1967)

Harlan Ellison®: “A Boy and His Dog” (1969)

James S.A. Corey: “Rates of Change” (2011)

Virtual Reality

Stanisław Lem: “The Seventh Sally or How Trurl’s Own Perfection Led to No Good” (1965)

Philip K. Dick: “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” (1966)

John Brunner: “The Vitanuls” (1967)

Roger Zelazny: “For a Breath I Tarry” (1966)

Robert Silverberg: “Passengers” (1968)

Rudy Rucker: “Software” (1982) excerpt

William Gibson: “Burning Chrome” (1982)

Pat Cadigan: “Pretty Boy Crossover” (1986)

Neal Stephenson: “Snow Crash” (1992) excerpt

Humanity 2.0

Olaf Stapledon: “Odd John” (1935) excerpt

C.L. Moore: “No Woman Born” (1944)

Cordwainer Smith: “Scanners Live in Vain” (1950)

Algis Budrys: “Who?” (1955)

James Blish: “Surface Tension” (1952)

Gregory Benford: “Blood Music” (1983)

Bruce Sterling: “Mozart in Mirrorshades” (1985)

Vernor Vinge: “True Names” (1981)

Ted Chiang: “Understand” (1991)

Alien Minds

Arthur C. Clarke: “The Sentinel” (1951)

Isaac Asimov: “The Last Question” (1956)

Clifford D. Simak: “Desertion” (1944)

James H. Schmitz: “Grandpa” (1955)

Frank Herbert: “Try to Remember!” (1961)

Philip José Farmer: “Sail On! Sail On!” (1952)

Stanisław Lem: “Solaris” (1961) excerpt

Arkady & Boris Strugatsky: “Roadside Picnic” (1972) excerpt

Karen Joy Fowler & Pat Murphy: “Rachel in Love” (1987)

Ian McDonald: “The Tear” (2008)

After the End

Walter M. Miller Jr.: “The Darfsteller” (1955) J.G. Ballard: “The Terminal Beach” (1964) John Wyndham: ”

Penguin Anthology of Twentieth Century Poetry

BOLD read

Edward Lee Masters.

The Hil

Fiddler. Jones,

Petite the Poet

Edwin Arlington Robinson

Miniver Cheevy

Mr. Flood’s Party.

James Weldon Johnson

The Creation

Paul Laurence Dunbar.

The Poet

Life

Life’s Trajedy

Robert Frost.

The Death Of The Hired Man.

Mending Wall.

Birches

Stopping By The Woods On A Snowy Evening.

Tree In My Window.

Directive.

Amy Lowell

Patterns.

Getrude Stein

Susie Asado.

From Tender Buttons A Box.

From Tender Buttons, A Plate.

Alice Moore Dunbar Nelson

I sit and sew .

Carl Sandburg.

Grass.

Cahoots.

Wallace Stevens.

Peter Quince at the Clavier.

Disillusionment of 10:00.

13 Ways Of Looking At A Blackbird.

Emperor Of Ice Cream.

A Mere Being.

Angelina Weld Grimke

Fragment.

William Carlos Williams.

Tact.

Dance Ruse

The Yachts.

From Apostlethat Greeny Flower Book 1, Lines 1 To 92.

Sarah Teasdale.

Moonlight.

There Will Come Soft Rains.

Erza Pound

The Jewel Stairs Grievance.

The River Merchants Wife Letter.

In A Station At The Metro.

Hugh Selwyn Mulberry.

From Conto. 56 Libretto Yet Ere This Season Died A Cold

Hilda Doolittle, HD.

Sea Rose.

The Helen.

From The Walls Do Not Fall An Incident Here And There.

From Hermeneutic Definition Red Rose And A Beggar. Why Did You Come?

Take Me Anywhere.

Venicc. Venus.

Robinson, Jeffers.

Gala in April.

Shine, Perishing Republic.

Cloudss at Evening.

Credo

Mararane Moore

Fish.

Poetry.

TS, Elliott.

Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock

The Wasteland.

Claude McKay.

If We Must Die.

Harlem Dancer.

Archibald MacLeash,

Arts Poetica

Edna, Saint Vincent Millay.

First Fig

Recuerdo

E E Cummings.

In Just.

Buffalo Bill

The Cambridge Ladies Have Lived In Furnished Souls.

Next To, Of Course, God, America.

Somewhere I’ve Never Travelled Gladly Beyond.

Rpophessagr

Gene Toomor.

Reapers.

November Cotton Flowers.

Portrait in Georgia.

Louise Bogan

Medusa.

New moon.

Melvin B Tolson

Dark Symphony.

From Harlem Gallery PSI Black Boys, Let Me Get Up From The White Man’s Table.

Hart Crane

From the Bridge

Poem to Brooklyn Bridge

From 11 Powhatan’s Daughter the River.

Robert Francis.

Silent Poem

Langston Hughes

Nego speaks of rivers.

I, Too.

Dreams Boogie.

Harlem

Countee Cullan

Incident

To John Keats Poet at Spring Time

Yes I Do Marvel

From the Dark Tower

Stanley Kutitz

Father and Son

The Protrait

Touch Me

WH Auden

Mussee Des Beaux Arts

Epitah on a Tryant

Theordore Roethke

My Papa’s Waltz

The Waking

In a Dark Time

Charles Olson.

From The Maximum Poems One Maximum Of Gloucester To You.

The Distances.

Elizabeth Bishop.

The Fish

Sestina

First Death In Nova Scotia.

Visit To Saint Elizabeths.

One Art.

Robert Hayden.

Morning Poem For The Queen Of Sunday.

Those Winter Sundays.

Frederick Douglass.

Middle Passage.

Muriel Rukeyser?

Effort At Speech Between Two People. ‘

Then I Saw What The Calling Was.

The Poem as Mask

Delmore Swartz.

The Heavy Bear Who Goes With Me.

John Barryman.

From The Dream Songs.

Feeling Your Compact And Delicious Body. ‘

Life, Friends, Is Boring. We Must Not Say So.

There Shut Down Once. ‘

This World Is Gradually Becoming A Place.

Henry’sUnderstanding

Randall, Jarell.

90 North.

The Death Of The Bell Turret Gunner.

The Woman At The Washington Zoo.

Next Day.

Weldon Kees.

To My Daughter?

Dudley Randall

A Different Image

William Stafford.

Traveling Through The Dark.

At The Bomb Testing Site.

Ruth Stone.

Scars.

Margaret Walker.

For My People

Gwendolyn Brooks.

The Mother.

A Song In The Front Yard. ‘

The Bean Eaters

The Lovers Of The Poor.

We Real Cool. ‘

The Blackstone Rangers.

Robert Lowell.

To Speak Of Woe That Is In Marriage.

Skunk Hour .

For The Union Dead.

Robert Duncan.

Often I’m Permitted To Return To A Medow.

My Mother Would Be A Falconress

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Populist Manifesto.

William Meredith.

Parents. Howard Nemeroff.

Because You Asked About The Line Between Prose And Poetry.

Hayden Caruth.

The Hyacinth Gardens In Brooklyn.

August 1945.

Richard Wilber

Love Calls Us to the Things of This World

Cottage Street

The Writer

James Dickey

The Sheep Child

Alan Duncan.

Love song I And Thou

Anthony Act.

More light, More light.

Richard Hugo.

The Degrees of Gray in Phillipsburg.

The Freaks at Spring General Rd. Field.

Dennis Levertov.

The Poem Unwritten

Cademon.

Swan in Falling snow.

Who is Simpson?

American Poetry.

Carolyn Kaiser.

A Muse of water.

Kenneth Koch.

Fresh air.

Permanently.

Maxine Coleman.

Morning Swim.

How It Is?

Gerald Stern.

Behaving Like A Jew.

The Dancing.

Another Insane Devotion.

AR Ammons.

The City Limits.

Corson Inlet.

Robert Blye.

Snowfall In The Afternoon.

Driving Into Town Late To Mail A Letter.

Walking From Sleep.

Robert Creeley.

The Flower.

I Know A Man.

The Language.

The Rain.

Bresson’s Movies.

James Merrill.

Victor Dog.

Frank O’Hara New York School.

Steps.

Poem Lana Turner Has Collapsed.

The Day Lady Died.

John Ashberry. New York School

Some Trees.

Self-Portrait In A Convex Mirror.

What Is Poetry?

Galway, Kennel.

The Bear.`

After Making Love, We Hear Footsteps.

Saint Francis And The Soul.

Ws Merwin.

Air.

For The Anniversary Of My Death.

Yesterday.

Chord .

James Wright.

A Blessing.

Autumn Begins In Martins Ferry, Oh.

Lying In A Hammock At William Duffy’s Farm In Pine Island, Mn.

In Response To The Rumor That Otis Warehouse In Wheeling, Wv Has Been Condemned.

Donald Hall.

My Son, My Executioner.

Digging.

Philip Levine.

Animals Are Passing From Our Lives.

They Feed They Lion.

You Can Have It.

The Simple Truth.

Anne Sexton.

Her Kind

Adoption.

Waiting To Die.

In Celebration Of My Uterus.

Rowing

Adrienne Rich.

Orion

Planetarium.

A Valedictorian Forbidding Mourning.

From 21 Love Poems 13 The Rules Of Break Like A Thermometer.

Gregory Corso.

Marriage

Gary Snyder.

Hay, For The Horses.

Riprap.

Mid August As Sourdough Mountain Lookout.

Dereck Walcott.

A Far Cry From Africa.

Sea Grapes.

Find The Schooner Flight Part 11 After The Storm. There’s A Fresh Light That Follows.

The Light Of The World.

From Omeros Book. 7. 44 I Sing Of Quiet,Achiles, Afrolabe’s Son.

Miller Williams.

Let Me tell you.

Etheridge Knight

Idea Of Ancestry.

Amira Baraka, Leroy Jones.

Preface To A 20 Volume Suicide Note.

Agony As Now.

SOS.

Black Art.

Ted Berrigon .

Wrong Rain.

A Final Sonnet

Andre Lorde.

Power.

Sonia Sanchez.

Poetry at 30.

Mark Strand.

The Prediction.

The Night, The Porch.

Russell Edson.

A Stone Is Nobody’s.

Mary Oliver.

Singapore.

The Summer’s Day.

Charles Wright.

Reunion.

Dead Color.

California Dreaming.

Lucile Clifton.

Homage To My Hips.

At Least At Last We Killed The Roaches.

The Death Of Fry, Alfred Clifton.

To My Last.

June, Jordan.

Home About My Rights.

Frederick Seidel.

1968.

CK Williams.

Find My Window.

Blades

Tynan Wilkowski.’

The Mechanic.

Michael S Harper.

Dear John. Dear Coltrane.

Last Affair. Bessies Blues Song.

Grandfather.

Nightmare Begins Responsibility.

Charles Simik .

Stone.

Fork.

Classic Ballroom Dances.

Paula Gunn Allen.

Grandmother.

Frank Bidart.

Ellen West.

Carl Dennis.

Spring Letter.

Two Or Three Wishes.

Stephen Dunn.

Allegory Of The Cave.

Tucson.

Robert Pensky.

History Of My Heart.

The Questions.

Samurai Song.

James Welch.

Christmas Comes To Moccasin Flat.

Billy Collins.

Introduction To Poetry.

The Dead.

Toi Derricote .

Allen Ginsberg.

The Weakness.

Stephen Dobyns.

How To Like It?

Lullaby.

Robert Hass.

Song.

That Photographer?

Return Of Robinson Jeffers.

Lyn Hejinian

From My Life trim With Colored Ribbons.

BH Fairchild.

The Machinist Teaching His Daughter To Play The Piano.

Haki R Madhubuti Don L Lee.

But He Was Cool Or Even Stopped For Green Lights.

Upon To Compliment Other Poems.

William Matthews.

In Memory Of The Utah Stars.

The Accompanist

. Sharon Olds

The Language Of The Brag.

The Lifting.

Henry Taylor.

Barbed Wire.

Tess Gallagher.

Black, Silver.

Under Stars.

Michael Palmer.

I Do Not.

James Tate.

The Lost Pilot.

Norman Dubie.

Elizabeth War With The Christmas Bear.

The Funeral.

Carol Muske Dukes,.

August, Los Angeles Lullaby.

Kay Ryan.

Turtle

Bestiary

Larry Levis.

Childhood Ideogram

Winter Stars

Adrian C Lousis

Looking For Judas

How much lux?

The People of the Other Village.

Marilyn Nelson.

The Ballad of Aunt Geneva.

Star Fix.

Run Stilleman

Albany

AI

Cuba 1963

The Kid

Finished

Yusef Komunyakaa

Thanks

To Do Street

Facing It

Nude Interogation

Nathaniel Mc Kay

Song of the Aduumboulou

Gregory Orr

Gathering the Bones Together

Two Lines From the Brother Grimm

Origin of the Marble Forrest

Robert Hill Whiteman

Reaching Yellow River

Albert Goldbarth

Away

Heather Mc Hugh

Language Lesson 1976

What He Thought

Leslie Marmon Silko

In Cold Storm Light

Olga Boumas

Calypso

Victor Hernadez Soul

Latin and Soul

Jane Miller

Miami Heart

David St. James

Iris

CD Wright

Why Ralph Refuses to Dance

Girl Friend Poe # 3

Crescent

Carolyn Forche

Taking Off My Clothes

Jorie Graham

San Sepolcro

Marie Howe

What the Living Do

Joy Harjo

She Had Some Horses

My House is the Red Earth

Garret Honjo

The Legend

Andrew Hugins

Beggoten

We Were Simply Talking

Brigit Peggen Kelly

Imaging Their Own Hyms

Song

Paul Muldoon

Meeting the British

Errata

The Throwback

Judith Orez Coffer

Quinceanera

Rita Dove

Parsely

Day Star

After Reading Mikey in the Night Kitchen for the Third Time Before Bed

Alice Fulton

Our Calling

Brbar Hamby

Thinking of Galieo

Hatred

Mark Jarman

Unholly Sonnet

Naomi Shibab Nye

The Traveling Onion

Arabic

Wedding Cake

Alberto Rios

Nani

Enland Finally like My Mother Always Said We Would

Laurie Sheck

Nocturne Blue Waves

The Unfinished

Gary Sotto

Field Poem

Oranges

Black Hair

Susan Stewart

Yellow Star and Ice

The Forrest

Mark Dotty

Brillance

Esta Noche

Bill’s Story

Harryette Mullen

Black Nikes

Franz Wright

Alcohol

Lorna Dee Cervantes

To My Brother

Love of My Flesh, Living Death

Sandra Cisneros.

My Wicked, Wicked Ways.

Little Clowns, My Heart.

Cornelius, Eady.

Jack Johnson Does The Eagle Rock.

Crows In A Strong Wind.

I’m A Fool To Love You.

Louise Eldritch

. Indian Boarding School. The Runaways.

David Mason.

Spooning.

Marilyn Chin.

How I Got That Name?

Compose Near The Bay Bridge

The Survivor

Cathysong .

The Youngest Daughter.

Ann Finch.

Another Reluctance.

Insert

Lee Young Lee.

The Gift

Eating Together.

Carl Philiphs

Our Lady

As From a Quiver of Arrows

Nick Flynn

Bag of Mice

Cartoon Physics

Elizabeth Alexander

The Viena Hottenot

Reetivka Vazisrani

From White Elephants

A million Balconies

Train Windows

Sherman Alexie

What the Orphan Inherits

The Pow Wow at the End of the World

Natasha Trethevey

Hot Combs

Amateur Fighter

Flounder

A E Stallings

The Tantrum

Joana Klink

Spare

Brenda Shaughnessy

Postfeminism

Your One Good Dress

Kevin Young

Quivra City Limits

Everywhere is Out of Town

Whaatever You Want

Terrance Hayes

At Pegasus

Lady Sings the Blues

Monthly Themes enter one review per month

January

Cather, Willa: My Ántonia
Chopin, Kate: The Awakening

Read

#1: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

#2: The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

#4: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

#5: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

#6: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

#7: Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

#8: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

#9: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

10: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

#11: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

#12: The Stranger by Albert Camus

#13: The Road by Cormac McCarthy

#14: Animal Farm by George Orwell

#15: Watership Down by Richard Adams

#16: Lord of the Flies by William Golding

#17: Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

#18: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

#19: 1984 by George Orwell

#20: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

#24: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

#26: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Not read

#3: Night by Elie Wiesel

#21: East of Eden by John Steinbeck

#22: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

#23: Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges#25: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

16 Famous Books Everyone Pretends They’ve Read (But Haven’t)

Read

Moby-Dickby Herman Melville

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

1984 by George Orwell

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

F Scott Fitsgerald the Great Gatsby

F Scott Fitsgerald This Side of Paradise

Yet to Read

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

F Scott Fitsgerald Tender is the Night

F Scott Fitsgerald The Last Tycoon

25 Classic Books You Have to Read in 2025

Read

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

1984 by George Orwell

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

The Awakening by Kate Chopin

The Odyssey by Homer

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

CS Lewis Prince Caspian

CS Lewis the Voyage of the Dawn Begal

CS Lewis the Horse and His Boy

CS Lewis the the Magican’s Newphew

CS Lewis the Silver Chair

CS Lewis The Final Battle

Willa Cather My Antonio

Alice Walker The Color Purple

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

The classic books everyone should read at least once before they die

Read

#35. The Old Man and the Sea

– Author: Ernest Hemingway

The Canterbury Tales

– Author: Geoffrey Chaucer

#33. Othello

– Author: William Shakespeare

#32. Flowers for Algernon

– Author: Daniel Keyes

#30. A Tale of Two Cities

– Author: Charles Dickens

#30. A Tale of Two Cities

– Author: Charles Dickens

#31. Beowulf

– Author: Unknown

#29. Wuthering Heights

– Author: Emily Brontë

#28. The Hobbit (The Lord of the Rings, #0)

– Author: J.R.R. Tolkien

#27. A Midsummer Night’s Dream

– Author: William Shakespeare

#26. The Grapes of Wrath

– Author: John Steinbeck

#25. Great Expectations

– Author: Charles Dickens

#24. Frankenstein: The 1818 Text

– Author: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

#23. Julius Caesar

– Author: William Shakespeare

#22. The Outsiders

– Author: S.E. Hinton

#21. Brave New World

– Author: Aldous Huxley

#19. The Crucible

– Author: Arthur Miller

#17. Jane Eyre

– Author: Charlotte Brontë

#16. Fahrenheit 451

– Author: Ray Bradbury

#15. Pride and Prejudice

– Author: Jane Austen

#14. The Odyssey

– Author: Homer

#12. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

– Author: Mark Twain

#11. 1984

– Author: George Orwell

#10. The Scarlet Letter

– Author: Nathaniel Hawthorn

#9. Hamlet

– Author: William Shakespeare

#8. The Catcher in the Rye

– Author: J.D. Salinger

#7. Of Mice and Men

– Author: John Steinbeck

#6. Macbeth

– Author: William Shakespeare

#5. Animal Farm

– Author: George Orwel

#4. Lord of the Flies

Author: William Golding

#2. Romeo and Juliet

– Author: William Shakespeare

#1. To Kill a Mockingbird

Author: Harper Lee

100 thriller novels everyone should read at least once

2024’s top 100 books: How many did you read? – jakecaller@gmail.com – Gmail

The 100 books that defined the past 100 years

1955: ‘Marjorie Morningstar’ by Herman Wouk©Goodreads

“Marjorie Morningstar” is the love story of a young woman who accepts a job in New York, leaving her traditional Jewish family to become immersed in the theater world.

The best new books to read in January 2025

The 14 best classic novels under 200 pages

42 Must-Read Short Stories on Science Fiction That Will Transform Your Reality

15 Beautiful Literary Spots Across America for Every Reader

100 of the Best Books of All Time

Baby Boy Laughs When Mom Reads Storybook

0

3. Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein (1974)

The imagination and artistry of Shel Silverstein are on full display in this classic collection of short stories and poems. Where the Sidewalk Ends is truly one of the best poetry books of all time because of its staying power for children and adults alike. Whimsical and masterful, the stories of this American poet, author, singer, and folk artist have something for everyone.

4. Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann (1966)

Sex and drugs have a common allure, but they also have a common endgame: a downward spiral. In Valley of the Dolls, Jacqueline Susann offers in lurid detail the stories of three young women who want nothing more than to reach the pinnacle of life. But just as they see it in their grasp, they lose it all in a coil of sex, lust, romance, and abandonment. This page-turner is one of those classic beach reads you won’t be able to put down, and it paved the way for similar scintillating vacation books.

5. The Shining by Stephen King (1977)

The master of suspense must be included in any list of books you should read in a lifetime. That’s why you’ll find Stephen King’s The Shining here. Brought to life in cinematic perfection by Jack Nicholson, Jack Torrance is a middle-aged man looking for a fresh start. He thinks he’s found it when he lands a job as the off-season caretaker at an idyllic old hotel, the Overlook. But as snow piles higher outside, the secluded location begins to feel more confining and sinister, less freeing and more provoking. Horror fans, take note: This is one of the scariest and best Stephen King books of all time.

6. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1943) on my 50 Books to read List

**7. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien (1954)**

70 The Handmaids Tale By Margaret Atwood Via Amazon© Provided by Reader’s Digest

8. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985)

**9. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (1962)**

**10. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813)**

**11. All the President’s Men by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein (1974)**

12. Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl (1946)

13. Beloved by Toni Morrison (1987)

14. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (1965)

15. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah (2007)

**16. Dune by Frank Herbert (1965) plus rest of the series**

**17. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (1861)**

20 Daring Greatly How The Courage To Be Vulnerable Transforms The Way We Live, Love, Parent, And Lead By Brené Brow© Provided by Reader’s Digest

18. Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown (2012)

**19. 1984 by George Orwell (1949)**

20. Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir by Frank McCourt (1996)

**21. A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking (1988)**

**22. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (1953)**

23. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers (2000)

**24. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling (1997) plus rest of the Series**

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
The Metamorphosis and Other Stories
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, by J.K. Rowling

25. Selected Stories, 1968–1994 by Alice Munro (1996)

65 The Fault In Our Stars By John Green Via Amazon© Provided by Reader’s Digest

26. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (2012)

**27. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll (1865)**

**28. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (1952)**

29. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume (1970)

**30. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez (1967)**

**31. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (1961)**

32. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi (2000)

35. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (2009)

**36. The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley by Malcolm X and Alex Haley (1965)**

**37. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream by Hunter S. Thompson (1971)**

38. Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri (1999)

**39. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (1947)**

40. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (1955)

41. Love Medicine by Louise Eldrich (1984)

42. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris (2000)

43. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (2002)

**44. Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie (1981)**

**45. East of Eden by John Steinbeck (1952)**

46. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis (2003)

**47. Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham (1915)**

**48. On the Road by Jack Kerouac (1957)**

**49. Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen (1937)**

**50. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (1939)**

**51. Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth (1969)**

**52. Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (1962)**

53. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin (2005)

54. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (2016)

55. The Age of Innocence by Edith Warton (1920)

56. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon (2000)

57. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (2005)

**58. Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown (1973)**

59. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz (2007)

**60. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (1951)**

61. The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride (1995)

**62. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (1989)**

63. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen (2001)

64. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson (2003)

65. The Giver by Lois Lowry (1993)

66. The Night Watchmen by Louise Erdrich (2020)

**67. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (1995)**

**68. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)**

69. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (2010)

70. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (2005)

71. The Liars’ Club: A Memoir by Mary Karr (1995)

**72. The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler (1953)**

73. The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright (2006)

74. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: And Other Clinical Tales by Olive Sacks (1985)

75. The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan (2006)

76. The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert A. Caro (1974)

**77. The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe (1979)**

**78. Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin (1953)**

84 The Road By Cormac Mccarthy Via Amazon© Provided by Reader’s Digest

**79. The Road by Cormac McCarthy (2006)**

**80. The Stranger by Albert Camus (1942)**

**81. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway (1926)**

82. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (2015)

83. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien (1990)

84. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami (1994)

**85. The World According to Garp by John Irving (1978) plus rest of his works**

86. Hamlet by William Shakespeare (1603) plus rest of his plays

87. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (2005)

88. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (1958)

89. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand (2010)

**90. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (1868)**

91. White Teeth by Zadie Smith (2000)

**92. The Color Purple by Alice Walker (1982)**

93. Atonement by Ian McEwan (2001)

94. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (1847)

95. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis (1950) plus rest of the series

96. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2013)97. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (1937)

**98. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1932)**

**99. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (2003)**

100. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (2010)

Shakespear – plays and sonnets

Additional books from the list 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (1318 books)

The Call of the Wild
Water for Elephants
The Princess Bride
The Kite Runner
The Pillars of the Earth
Illusions
Watership Down
Nice Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch
Where the Sidewalk Ends

Tuesdays with Morrie
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster
Ender’s Game
The Valley of Horses
It
The Chronicles of Narnia
The Screwtape Letters
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
The Clan of the Cave Bear
American Gods
The Stand

– “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” – Jean-Dominique Bauby
– “Hamlet” – William Shakespeare
– “Goodnight Opus” – Berkeley Breathed
– “The Devil in the White City” – Erik Larson
– “The Thief Lord” – Cornelia Funke
– “Indigo” – Alice Hoffman
– “Mythology” – Edith Hamilton
– “The Outsiders” – S.E. Hinton

The Metamorphosis and Other Stories, by Franz Kafka

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain
The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl
The Stranger, by Albert Camus
Peter Pan, by J.M. Barrie on 50 books list
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, by Kim Edwards
The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde (if it’s a play, it’s probably not on the list, which is mostly novels)
The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant
The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales, by Jacob Grimm
East of Eden, by John Steinbeck
The Gift of the Magi, by O. Henry
Dune, by Frank Herbert
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith
The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman
The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold
The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho (again)
Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery on 50 book list
And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie
The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan (the list is, I believe, strictly fiction)
New Moon, by Stephenie Meyer
Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke
Ringworld by Larry Niven
Tales of Known Space: The Universe of Larry Niven by Larry Niven
The Long Arm of Gil Hamilton by Larry Niven
Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Doorways in the Sand by Robert Zelazny
Creatures of Light and Darkness by Rober Zelazny
Portrait of a Killer: Jack The Ripper – Case Cl… by Patricia Cornwell
The Nine Billion Names of God: The Best Short S… by Arthur C. Clarke
The Aleph and Other Stories by Jorge Luis Borges
Labyrinths: Selected Stories & Other Writings by Jorge Luis Borges
Carried Away: A Selection of Stories by Alice Munro
Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges
Ficciones is the piece that’s on the list, if you want to add it.
Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
The Immaculate Conception by Gaetan Soucy
The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac
Double Helix by J. Watson
The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant
A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White H… by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.
Broken Government: How the Republi…by John W. Dean
Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin
Manhunt: The Twelve Day Chase… by James L. Swanson
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
The Pianist: The Extraordinary True… by Wladyslaw Szpilman
The Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset Maugham
My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier
Leviathan by Paul Auster
D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths by Ingri D’Aulaire

Jurassic Park, by Michael Crichton
The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown
The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Fight Club, by Chuck Palahniuk
The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman
Where the Sidewalk Ends, by Shel Silverstein
The Tell-Tale Heart, by Edgar Allan Poe (Poe is on the list three times, but not for this one.)
The Bible
The Quoran

Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown
Shogun, by James Clavell
The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield
A Child Called It, by Dave Pelzer
The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova
White Oleander, by Janet Fitch
The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls
Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller
The Lottery and Other Stories, by Shirley Jackson
Love Story, by Erich Segal
Love You Forever, by Robert N. Munsch
John Adams, by David McCullough
Angela’s Ashes, by Frank McCourt
The Aeneid, by Virgil
Leaves of Grass, by Walt Whitman
The World of Pooh, by A.A. Milne
Katherine, by Anya Seton
The Stand, by Stephen King (Mr. King is on, but only for The Shining.)
Daughter of the Forrest, by Juliet Marillier
World Without End, by Ken Follett
The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins
Freakonomics, by Stephen D. Levitt
World War Z, by Max Brooks
The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran
Roots, by Alex Haley
House of Sand and Fog, by Andre Dubus III
The Canterbury Tales, by Barbara Cohen
The Eyre Affair, by Jasper FfordeThe Ruins, by Scott B. Smith
The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
Farmer Boy, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Forrest Gump, by Winston Groom
The Mammoth Hunters, by Jean Auel
Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman
100 Love Sonnets, by Pablo Neruda
Watership Down, by Richard Adams
Shadow Kiss, by Richelle Mead
The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
The Shack, by William Young
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, by Carson McCullers
Coraline, by Neil Gaiman
A Wizard of Earthsea, by Urusula K. Le Guin
The Eye of the World, by Robert Jordan
Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson
The Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx
Le Morte d’Arthur, by Thomas Malory

Fail Safe, by Eugene Burdick
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle-Stop Cafe, by Fannie Flagg
Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
Graceling, by Kristin Cashore
Enchanted April, by Elizabeth von Arnim
The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein
Ripley’s Game, by Patricia Highsmith (The Talented Mr. Ripley is on, but this one isn’t.)
Watchers, by Dean Koontz
Paradise Lost, by John Milton and other works by Milton
The Twentieth Wife, by Indu Sundaresan
Angels in America, by Tony Kushner
The Giver, by Lois Lowry
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
1776, by David McCullough
The Tale of Genji, by Murasaki Shikibu
Zorba the Greek, by Nikos Kazantzakis
The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov (Foundation is on, but the other two are not.)
Into the Wild, by Erin Hunter
The Republic, by Plato
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, by William L. Shirer
If I Die in a Combat Zone, by Tim O’Brien (The Things They Carried is on; this isn’t.)
Blood Promise, by Richelle Mead
Final Exit, by Derek Humphry
Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins
Eleven Minutes, by Paulo Coelho
Guards! Guards!, by Terry Pratchett
Frostbite, by Richelle Mead
The Zahir, by Paulo Coelho
The Man in the Iron Mask, by Alexandre Dumas (Monte Cristo, Reine Margot, and Three Musketeers are in; this isn’t.)
Burned, by P.C. Cast
Ender’s Shadow, by Orson Scott Card
The Taming of the Shrew, by William Shakespeare (There is no Shakespeare on this list.)
Vampire Academy, by Richelle Mead
The Elephant Vanishes, by Haruki Murakami
The Painted Veil, by Somerset Maugham
The History of the Pelopponnesian War, by Thucydides
Children of the Mind, by Orson Scott Card
Le Grand Meaulnes, by Henri Alain-Fournier
Amadeus, by Peter Shaffer
Dark Rivers of the Heart, by Dean Koontz
The Dancing Wu Li Masters, by Gary Zukav
Starman Jones, by Robert Heinlein (Stranger in a Strange Land is on.)
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, by John Boyne
The Last Olympian, by Rick Riordan
Maurice, by E.M. Forster
The Tale of Gilgamesh, by Anonymous
The Book Thief, by Marcus Zusak
A Long Way Gone, by Ishmael Beah
Chasing Vermeer, by Blue Balliett
Poison Study, by Maria V. Snyder
When Nietzsche Wept, by Irvin D. Yalom
Child of the Prophecy, by Juliet Marillier

Marley & Me, by John Grogan
The Color of Water, by James McBride
On Death and Dying, by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffennegger
The Onion Field, by Joseph Wambaugh
Insomnia, by Stephen King
Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous
The Exorcist, by William Peter Blatty
Amazing Grace, by Kathleen Norris
Battlefield Earth, by L. Ron Hubbard
The Three Questions, by Jon J. Muth
The Bonesetter’s Daughter, by Amy Tan
The Demigod Files, by Rick Riordan
The Study Series Bundle, by Maria V. Snyder
The Tea Rose, by Jennifer Donnelly
Harriet the Spy, by Louise Fitzhugh
Free Speech for Me, by Nat Hentoff
Moloka’i, by Alan Brennert
From a Buick 8, by Stephen King
The Hiding Place, by Corrie Ten Boom
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein
The Robe, by Lloyd C. Douglas
Nobody’s Fool, by Richard Russo

Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout
The March, by E.L. Doctorow
A Lesson Before Dying, by Earnest Gaines
The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls
Me Talk Pretty One Day, by David Sedaris
The Histories, by Herodotus
Rabbit at Rest, by John Updike (Oddly enough, the other three are on the list)
Kitchen Confidential, by Anthony Bourdain
The Essential Rumi, by Mawlana Jalal-al-Din Rumi
Duma Key, by Stephen King
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, by David Wroblewski
Ahab’s Wife, by Sena Jeter Naslund
Angels in America, Part Two: Perestroika, by Tony Kushner (plays aren’t generally on this list)
American Nightmare, by Jerrold M. Packard
The Complete Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi
The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara
Because of Winn-Dixie, by Kate DiCamillo
The Color of Magic, by Terry Pratchett
Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, by Barbara Kingsolver
Richard III, by William Shakespeare (Shakespeare is not on this list)
The Plains of Passage, by Jean M. Auel
QB VII, by Leon Uris
The Shelters of Stone, by Jean M. Auel
Rain of Gold, by Victor Villasenor
Inkheart, by Cornelia Funke
Neither Here Nor There, by Bill Bryson
The Lightening Thief, by Rick Riordan
Sunshine, by Robin McKinley
The Sea of Monsters, by Rick Riordan
The Titan’s Curse, by Rick Riordan
The Battle of the Labyrinth, by Rick Riordan
The Notebook, by Nicholas Sparks
The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd
The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams
Time Enough for Love, by Robert Heinlein
Rendezvous with Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke
The Mutiny on the Bounty Trilogy, by Charles Nordhoff
The World Without Us, by Alan Weisman

The Voyage of the Star Wolf
and
The War Against the Chtorr 1: A Matter For Men
by David Gerrold

The Holy Man
by Susan Trott

A Canticle for Leibowitz
by Walter M. Miller Jr.

Tiger Eyes
by Judy Blume

Song of the Sound
by ADAM ARMSTRONG

The Competitive Advantage of Nations
by Michael E. Porter

Atlantis Found
by Clive Cussler

Hellboy Volume 1: Seed of Destruction
by Mike Mignola

The Girlfriends’ Guide to Pregnancy: Second Edi…
by Vicki Iovine

NO: Why Kids–of All Ages–Need to Hear It and …
by David Walsh

The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of …
by Robert A. Caro

Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary C…
by Jim Collins

Reclaiming History: The Assassination of Presid…
by Vincent Bugliosi

Magic Study
and
Fire Study
and
Assassin Study
and
Storm Glass
and
Ice Study
by Maria V. Snyder

Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Id…
by Gary Paulsen

Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture
by Douglas Coupland

Angels In America
by Joseph Kushner

The Dictionary of Imaginary Places
by Alberto Manguel

A Day in the Life: The Music and Artistry
by Mark Hertsgaard

List of Book Recommendations

The 13 Best College-Set Novels of All Time

15 Captivating Books That Will Draw You In From the Very First Line

10 Literary Classics You Must Revisit As an Adult

15 Fantasy Books as Good as Lord of the Rings – The Quick Report

20 Ways Reading Will Change in 2025

20 Influential Places That Inspire Writers

11 Destinations To Visit For Fans Of Every Book Genre

Must-Read Historical Fiction That Will Take You Back in Time – authorjakecosmosaller@gmail.com – Gmail

8 Dystopian Books Like Severance on Apple TV – authorjakecosmosaller@gmail.com – Gmail

25 Literary Museums Literature Lovers Will Want to Visit

The 5 Stephen King Books You Should Read First

The Shinning

Skeleton Key

The Running Man

11/23/63

It

10 Long Books That Will Keep You Entertained for Hours (or Days!): Our Title Recommendations

26 Must-Read Novels Every Book Worm Should Read At Least Once

The 26 Most Famous Historical Fiction Books Worth Reading

Three Classical Reads That Are Anything But Boring

Six Books to Read by the Fire

33 Magnificent Libraries To Visit In America, Beyond

Forbidden Pages: 15 Banned Books in 19th Century America

Additional recommendations:

“The Age of Reason” by Thomas Paine

Leaves from the Diary of an Old Lawyer” by Joseph M. Field

Description: A collection of essays and stories providing a critical look at various social issues, including slavery, legal corruption, and societal norms.

Reason for Ban: Banned for its critical stance on slavery and its portrayal of the legal system’s corruption. Its progressive views and social critique were deemed too radical and threatening by conservative groups.

“The Life and Adventures of Joaquín Murieta” by John Rollin Ridge

Description: Often considered the first novel by a Native American author, this book tells the semi-fictionalized story of Joaquín Murieta, a Mexican outlaw in California.

Reason for Ban: Banned for its violent content and its sympathetic portrayal of a bandit who resisted oppression, which authorities feared might incite rebellion among marginalized communitie

The Blithedale Romance” by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Description: A novel based on Hawthorne’s experiences at the utopian Brook Farm community, it critiques idealistic social experiments and explores themes of feminism and individualism.

Reason for Ban: Banned for its criticism of transcendentalism and for challenging traditional gender roles, particularly through its portrayal of strong-willed female characters

.“Wieland” by Charles Brockden Brown

Description: A Gothic novel exploring themes of religious fanaticism, psychological horror, and supernatural elements, featuring a protagonist who is driven to murder by perceived divine commands.

Reason for Ban: Considered dangerous for its portrayal of religious extremism and insanity, which some saw as an attack on religious authority and moral values.

“Herland” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Description: Though published later in 1915, early feminist works like Gilman’s were influenced by 19th-century thought. “Herland” is a utopian novel about an all-female society that thrives without men.

Reason for Ban: Banned for its radical feminist themes and its challenge to traditional gender roles, particularly its depiction of a successful, self-sufficient society without male dominance.

“Clotel; or, The President’s Daughter” by William Wells Brown

Description: The first novel by an African American author, it tells the tragic story of Clotel, a mixed-race daughter of Thomas Jefferson, and exposes the horrors of slavery.

Reason for Ban: Banned in slaveholding states for its abolitionist message and its direct implication of a U.S. president in the institution of slavery, which was seen as inflammatory.

“The Woman in the Nineteenth Century” by Margaret Fuller

Description: A foundational feminist text arguing for women’s intellectual and social equality, advocating for their right to education, employment, and political participation.

Reason for Ban: Banned for its advocacy of women’s rights, which was considered radical and threatening to the patriarchal structure of 19th-century American society.

20 Best science fiction novels for every sci-fi fan

Read

2) Dune by Frank Herbert

Focusing on the planet Arrakis, where the spice is extracted, Frank Herbert’s captivating picture of a feudal distant future transformed by the mind-altering capabilities of a drug called spice is a classic that yet feels revolutionary today. The book was so successful that it was adapted into three films and resurrected on television. Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya were among the well-known actors who starred in the subsequent films.

4) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

Earth is almost uninhabitable due to the effects of pollution and war. The wealthy have departed the planet, leaving the less fortunate, like Rick Deckard, to fend for themselves. During a particularly difficult assignment, Rick, who earns his livelihood by destroying rogue androids, is forced to consider his work and perhaps his identity. Perhaps the most comprehensible of Dick’s many writings, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is an incredible book.

9) The Big Book of Science Fiction, edited by Jeff VanderMeer and Ann Vandermeer

Since it includes works by many of the top science fiction authors we are talking about on our list, this anthology deserves to be on our “Best Of” lists, even though they don’t often. Wells, Clarke, Butler, Vonnegut, Asimov, Liu, Doctorow, Le Guin, and the list goes on and on! An excellent beginning for readers of science fiction.

1) The Blazing World and Other Writings by Margaret Cavendish

The Blazing World, an early female utopian and proto-science fiction book, is about a lady from Earth who enters another planet through a portal in the North Pole and ascends to the position of empress of a fantasy society composed of half-human, half-animal creatures. Cavendish imagines submarines, boats with motors, and an endless cosmos in this 1666 work, which embodies the theoretical science of the Enlightenment.

George Orwell 1984

George Orwell Animal Farm

Bradbery Farenhiet 451

Huxley Brave New World

To Read

1) Downbelow Station by C. J. Cherryh

Twenty separate people would have different opinions about C.J. Cherryh’s finest novel since her body of work is so vast. However, a Hugo Award and a Locus finalist make it difficult to refute. Thus, in our opinion, Downbelow Station is the best place to start. As humanity spreads out among the stars, Downbelow Station, set in Cherryh’s Alliance-Union Universe, is the tale of corporate space exploration gone wrong.

3) Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany

Bellona is no longer the same city; the majority of its residents have left, leaving only the destitute, deranged, and criminals. And a young man, the Kid, who was a poet. This complex and nuanced story navigates racial, gender, and sexual concerns in a near-future, devastated setting in a way that is impossible to overlook.

5) Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

The author of Upgrade, Recursion, and the Wayward Pines trilogy presents a “mind-blowing” (Entertainment Weekly) speculative thriller about a regular man who awakens in a world that is oddly different from the one he believed he knew. The narrative of Dark Matter is about decisions, unexplored avenues, and the lengths we will go to in order to live the lives we envision.

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau is a stand-alone tale that reads less like a contemporary fantasy and more like a traditional gothic fiction. Set in nineteenth-century Mexico, this rich historical drama reworking of The Island of Doctor Moreau comes from the acclaimed author of Mexican Gothic and Velvet Was the Nigh

8) The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord

Even though the majority of the Sadiri survivors are men, they still have to figure out how to keep their people going after their homeworld is destroyed. Under the direction of a lady from the planet’s Central Government, they set out to preserve their disappearing species by traveling around the colony world of Cygnus Beta, where they come across a diverse range of people and civilizations.

10) Binti: The Complete Trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor

Nnedi Okorafor presented us with Binti, a young Himba girl who has the opportunity of a lifetime: to enroll in the esteemed Oomza University in her novella that won both Hugo and Nebula awards. Notwithstanding her family’s reservations, Binti is a strong contender to go on this intergalactic voyage because of her aptitude for astrolabes and her gift for mathematics. But everything changes when the Medusae, which resemble jellyfish, invade Binti’s spaceship, and she is the only one left alive. With only five days to get to her objective, Binti is now left to fight for herself aboard a ship full of the creatures who killed her crew

2) A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller

Nuclear war razed the Earth, plunging its survivors into a new dark age in which science is reviled and books are destroyed on sight. A small order of Catholic monks dedicated to a legendary miracle worker holds back the wave of ignorance as best that it can as barbarism swells at its gates. A Canticle for Leibowitz is a bittersweet tale that might make you worry about our future as a species.

16) 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

Tokyo is the setting, and the year is 1984. After heeding the mysterious advice of a cab driver, a young lady called Aomame starts to observe perplexing contradictions in her surroundings. In addition to being a dystopia to match George Orwell’s, 1Q84 is a love tale, mystery, fantasy, and self-discovery book.

10 Book Trilogies That Provide the Perfect Escape: From Romances to Dystopian Series and More

50 books for 50 states that should be on your must-read list

15 can’t-miss books to read in a lifetime, per reviews

25 Classic Books to Read Before They’re Banned

Read

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley©(Image via Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/Frankenstein-Mary-Shelley/dp/0486282112

Published in full in 1818, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a literary classic. The gothic tale explores the dark and brooding aspects of humanity.

The story’s two main characters—Victor Frankenstein and the creature he creates—interact in such a way that intrigues readers. It’s a story about tragedies and the implications of those tragedies.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne©Provided by ALot.com

1984 by George Orwell

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald©(Image via Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/Great-Gatsby-F-Scott-Fitzgerald/dp/0743273567

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen©Provided by ALot.com

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott©(Image via Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/Little-Women-Louisa-May-Alcott/dp/1503280292

The Awakening by Kate Chopin

The Odyssey by Homer©Provided by ALot.com

Reading Homer’s The Odyssey is a challenging task, but a task that’s worthwhile. This is because it was written sometime in the 8th century BCE. The epic poem was found engraved into a clay slab and has since been translated into modern English.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte©(Image via Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/Wuthering-Heights-Wordsworth-Classics-Bronte/dp/1853260010

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison©(Image via Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Man-Ralph-Ellison/dp/0679732764

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte©Provided by ALot.com

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley©(Image via Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/Brave-New-World-Aldous-Huxley/dp/0060850523

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens©(Image via Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/Great-Expectations-Charles-Dickens/dp/1503275183

The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis©Provided by ALot.com

My Antonia by Willa Cather©(Image via Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/My-Ántonia-Dover-Thrift-Editions/dp/0486282406

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy©(Image via Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/Anna-Karenina-Leo-Tolstoy/dp/0143035002

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde©(Image via Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/Picture-Dorian-Dover-Thrift-Editions/dp/0486278077

Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray is an enduringly popular novel that is both Gothic and philosophical. Although it was Wilde’s first and only published work, it’s created quite the impression.

To Read

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf©(Image via Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/Mrs-Dalloway-Virginia-Woolf/dp/0156628708

It’s likely you’ve heard of Virginia Woolf. She’s an English writer and one of the most prominent female authors in literary history. Her novel Mrs. Dalloway is unique because it was one of the first stories written using stream of consciousness.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee©(Image via Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/Kill-Mockingbird-Harper-Lee/dp/0446310786

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath©(Image via Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/Bell-Jar-Sylvia-Plath/dp/0061148512

There’s something to be said about novels like The Bell Jar. Sylvia Plath’s female-driven narrative has lasting power. Many find this novel to be sad, but it’s so much more than that. It’s also incisive and witty.

Esther Greenwood, the protagonist, suffers from severe depression. Her coming-of-age story is filled with expectations and preconceived notions of what should be and what shouldn’t be. It’s impossible not to relate to the unsureness that Esther feels.

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote©Provided by ALot.com

Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood is about the quadruple murder of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas, and it is one of the best selling true-crime novels ever published.

Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt©Provided by ALot.com

Frank McCourt’s childhood memoir is filled with heartbreak, self-doubt, and hardship. As McCourt grows up, he is overlooked at school and church because he’s from a lower class family, despite the fact that he is a smart child and desperate to learn.

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood©(Image via Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/Handmaids-Tale-Classic-Collection/dp/1480560103

Although Margaret Atwood didn’t release her dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale until 1985, it’s a compelling classic. And it’s recently been adapted into a popular Hulu series.

The Color Purple by Alice Walker©(Image via Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/Color-Purple-Alice-Walker/dp/0156028352

In 1982, Alice Walker published a novel that went on to become a contemporary classic and a cultural phenomena. That novel is The Color Purple. It became the first work by an African American woman to win the Pulitzer and National Book awards.

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams©(Image via Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/Glass-Menagerie-Tennessee-Williams/dp/0811214044

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison©(Image via Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/Bluest-Eye-Vintage-International/dp/0307278441

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler©Provided by ALot.com

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce©(Image via Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/Portrait-Artist-Young-Thrift-Editions/dp/0486280500

The Books That Keep Readers Awake at Night

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10 Fantasy Book Series That Are Considered Masterpieces

Few fantasy book series are considered masterpieces; fantasy is a broad genre, spanning generations across various media formats. There are many subgenres within fantasy, such as urban fantasy, high fantasy, historical fantasy, and more. The sky is the limit within this genre, containing fantasy books where the protagonist is the villain, books that blend fantasy with other genres, or fantasy books about revenge. Of course, with such a vast genre, there are some negative aspects, including fantasy movies that have aged badly and fantasy TV shows that have wasted their potential.

However, there are many amazing aspects to fantasy as well, including iconic book series that are true masterpieces. There are several reasons why certain fantasy book series are considered to be superior, including creative fantasy books that defy all the tropes, fantasy books that illustrate critical themes in groundbreaking ways, and fantasy books with villains just as compelling as the heroes. Regardless of the reason, there are at least 10 fantasy book series that are considered masterpieces in the genre; that revolutionized this genre in some form.

The Chronicles Of Narnia By C.S. Lewis

A Children’s Fantasy Series

This image shows the cover of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the second chronological book in The Chronicles of Narnia.© Provided by ScreenRant

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis is a children’s fantasy series comprising seven installments. It revolves around human children discovering the magical world of Narnia, initially in Professor Digory Kirke’s wardrobe. As the series goes on, the narrative introduces new protagonists, including the Pevensies’ cousin, Eustace Scrubb, and his classmate, Jill Pole. Time passes differently in this magical world, so each Chronicles of Narnia book illustrates a different conflict within this realm.

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Director Greta Gerwig has officially been tapped to helm a Chronicles of Narnia reboot, and here’s what we know about the upcoming film series.

The Chronicles of Narnia is one of the most beloved children’s classic book series. Two of the books are on TIME‘s 100 Best Fantasy Books list, demonstrating the timelessness of this story. Furthermore, The Chronicles of Narnia has largely influenced other works of fiction, including His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman, Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson, and The Magicians by Lev Grossman. The Chronicles of Narnia continues to stand against the test of time, utilizing children’s fantasy to convey religious themes.

The Lord Of The Rings By J. R. R. Tolkien

An Epic High Fantasy Adventure Trilogy

The Fellowship of the Ring in The Lord of The Rings.© Provided by ScreenRant

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien revolutionized modern fantasy and is largely credited as the reason for the genre’s popularity. This epic high fantasy trilogy is set in the fictional world of Middle-earth, depicting the fight against the Dark Lord Sauron, who uses The Lord of the Rings‘ One Ring to rule over the realm. The trilogy follows several characters, including the Hobbits (Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin), the humans (Aragorn and Boromir), the elves (Legolas), the dwarves (Gimli), and Gandalf, the wizard.

The Lord of the Rings is a staple in fantasy literature. It is one of the bestselling book series of all time, with over 150 million copies sold. Tolkien’s works have transformed into a franchise that includes several The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movie adaptations, a critically acclaimed TV show, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, games based on the books, and theatrical productions. The Lord of the Rings is a masterpiece for many reasons, largely including the themes of love and friendship, oppression, and tyranny.

The Time Quintet By Madeleine L’Engle

A Young Adult Sci-Fi Fantasy Series

A Wrinkle In Time By Madeleine L’Engle (Time Quintet Book 1)

Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Quintet is a book series that perfectly blends sci-fi and fantasy, revolving around Meg Murry, Charles Wallace Murry, and Calvin O’Keefe as they save their universe from various dark forces. L’Engle also wrote several spinoff books, including The Arm of the Starfish, Dragons in the Waters, and A House Like a Lotus. The Time Quintet’s first installment won the Newbery Medal, one of the highest and most prestigious achievements in children’s literature and a rare accomplishment for fantasy.

Although Disney’s adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time was unsuccessful, it does not tarnish the Time Quintet’s status as a masterpiece fantasy book series. L’Engle explores various themes, such as friendship, good and evil, religion, and grief. A Wrinkle in Time was published in 1962, a time when fantasy began to grow, and young adult fantasy was largely unheard of. However, the Time Quintet defied the odds and remains a classic staple of young adult fantasy.

The Earthsea Cycle By Ursula K. Le Guin

A Young Adult High Fantasy Series

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Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea Cycle is a young adult high fantasy book series comprising six installments and an anthology of short stories. The series is set in the fictional universe Earthsea, a large ocean containing several islands. This universe thrives on an intricate magic system that illustrates how the people of Earthsea largely depend on magic. The series has won several accolades, including a Newbery Honor, the National Book Award for Children’s Books, two Locus Awards, and the Nebula Award for Best Novel.

Hero Wars전설의 영웅이 되어보세요 [플레이]

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A Song of Ice and Fire By George R.R. Martin
Book	Publication Date	Corresponding Game of Thrones Season
A Game of Thrones	August 6, 1996	Season 1
A Clash of Kings	November 16, 1998	Season 2
A Storm of Swords	August 8, 2000	Season 3, Season 4
A Feast for Crows	October 17, 2005	Season 5
A Dance with Dragons	July 12, 2011	Season 5
The Winds of Winter	TBC	N/A (Seasons 6 & 7 original material)
A Dream of Spring	TBC	” “

Although the series is notorious for its next installment being a fantasy book many have waited years for, it does not lessen its significant impact on the fantasy genre. Before A Song of Ice and Fire, very few fantasy book series featured strong female main characters. However, Martin’s novels revolutionized that aspect with the introduction of Daenerys Targaryen, one of the most popular fictional characters to date.

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George R.R. Martin is known as one of the world’s premiere fantasy authors, but his career has much more to it. Here are his best books.

The books also subvert the chosen one trope by making a female character (Daenerys) “the chosen one” (The Prince That Was Promised), also a rare occasion in fantasy before this series. The Prince That Was Promised exists in Game of Thrones, but the show does not particularly focus on the importance of this role or the prophecy the way the books do. Although the books do not officially confirm the identity of the Prince That Was Promised, several significant signs point to Daenerys holding this title.

The Broken Earth By N. K. Jemisin

A Sci-Fi Fantasy Trilogy

The Fifth Season By N.K. Jemisin

The Broken Earth by N. K. Jemisin is a sci-fi fantasy book series that focuses on one continent, the Stillness, that endures a cataclysmic climate change event that occurs every few hundred years. The first installment, The Fifth Season, follows this universe as it is about to enter a devastating Fifth Season event. The Broken Earth features a society that is constructed on the oppression of orogenes, people who can manipulate earth elements. This trilogy also explores critical themes such as oppression, climate change, motherhood, identity, and family.

Jemisin is the first person to win the Hugo Award for Best Novel three years in a row and for all installments in a trilogy. The Broken Earth was also groundbreaking for the fantasy genre, illustrating how books can perfectly blend fantasy and sci-fi. This trilogy features some of the best world-building in fantasy books, detailing specific aspects that most stories do not consider. The Fifth Season was published in 2015, at a time when fantasy had already covered so much ground. Nevertheless, The Broken Earth reformed how multiple genres blend together.

Six Of Crows By Leigh Bardugo

A High Fantasy Young Adult Duology Part Of The Grishaverse

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The Six of Crows duology is not the first series within the Grishaverse, but it is the best one. This duology revolves around six vastly different characters who come together for an epic heist. Their commonality is their circumstances: Society works against all six protagonists in some way, so if they perished during the heist, no one would come looking for them. The Six of Crows duology is also one of Leigh Bardugo’s best books, illustrating her talent for complex characters, riveting dynamics, and critical themes.

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Shadow and Bone

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Six of Crows is also featured on TIME‘s 100 Best Fantasy Books list, illustrating its impact on the genre. The duology has received other accolades, including The Independent‘s 10 Best Fantasy Novels and The Wall Street Journal‘s Best Young Adult Books. Six of Crows will stand the test of time as one of the best young adult fantasy book series because of Bardugo’s stellar craft and the truly brilliant characters.

The Poppy War By R.F. Kuang

A High Fantasy Trilogy Based On The Second Sino-Japanese War & The Opium Wars

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The Poppy War is a high fantasy trilogy by R. F. Kuang immersed in Chinese mythology and loosely based on historical events. The narrative follows Rin, a war orphan who moves to Sinegard to attend the most prestigious military academy in the Nikan Empire against all odds. However, dark forces unfold during Rin’s time in Sinegard, leading Rin to the third Poppy War in Nikan. The Poppy War is a groundbreaking fantasy series, exploring Chinese politics and the fraught, oppressive dynamics between the British Empire and China.

The covers of The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty and The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang with a fiery red background

So many fantasy books base their settings on Western Europe, but there are great additions to the genre that draw inspiration from elsewhere.

The Poppy War has numerous accolades, including nominations for the Nebula Awards and the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel. Each installment in this trilogy makes its mark on the fantasy genre and pushes the boundaries of fantasy with its unique world-building and intricate politics. The Dragon Republic ties the entire narrative together with parallels to Britain, China, Japan, and Taiwan. Finally, The Burning God features an epic conclusion that depicts an alternate reality involving the Chinese Communist Revolution failing, having both positive and negative results.

The Scholomance Trilogy By Naomi Novik

A Dark Academia Young Adult Fantasy Trilogy

The Scholomance Trilogy By Naomi Novik

The Scholomance Trilogy is a dark academia fantasy series by Naomi Novik, revolving around Galadriel Higgins at the Scholomance in a universe where non-magical people cannot see magic, and wizards live in enclaves to fend off maleficaria. The Scholomance Trilogy is an excellent example of dark fantasy books and the unlimited potential they bring. The story surpasses other fantasy books about magical schools, moving into a darker realm, and deconstructing presumptions with this subgenre that is not always particularly dark.

The Scholomance Trilogy is notably different from Novik’s other works, such as Uprooted and Spinning Silver. However, this series, a departure from Novik’s fairy tale retellings, is a breath of fresh air that illustrates the exciting parts of dark academia, especially when mixed with fantasy. The Scholomance Trilogy stands out among magic school narratives because of its unique magic system combined with the grim aspects of the series.

Source: TIME, BBC, The Independent, The Wall Street Journal

5 Books You (Should Have) Read In High School That Are Worth Re-Reading As An Adult!

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Brave New WorldBy Aldous Huxley

If you love Dystopian novels, this is the book for you, as it is definitely a blueprint for modern favorites like The Hunger Games and Divergent. The writing style definitely comes across as literary, which may be a positive or a negative depending on your tastes. The story is unique and still feels like a relevant critique of our society today.

Of Mice and Menby John Steinbeck

This book is short and a very easy read, so it’s perfect if you don’t want to get into anything too long or complex while still reading a classic. It is so tragic throughout and ends with a shocking and sad twist. If you’ve never read this before and don’t know how it ends, you need to pick this book up right now, as reading it for the first time is truly a gut-wrenching experience! Even if you know what’s coming, the story is still both sad and sentimental, while also providing a tenderhearted take on the meaning of friendship.

Lord of The Fliesby William Golding

This novel is a fever dream – one that may have ruined you when you were in middle school. There is so much imagery and hidden meaning behind every description that it’s worth looking back on years later. If you love crazy and weird commentary on human nature, this is the novel for you. If anything, it will make you glad you’re not 13 anymore!

Fahrenheit 451by Ray Bradbury

If you’re an avid fan of reading, this one might especially hit home for you because, if you don’t know, or don’t remember, it’s all about a futuristic society where they burn every book. Because it is a little dense, it will definitely be easier to understand on the second read. Like Brave New World, this is also a great option for fans of dystopian worlds.

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The Outsidersby S.E. Hinton

If you’re anything like me, this book made you cry when you first read it. Sometimes called “the original YA novel”, The Outsiders is both simple and beautiful, as well as extremely nostalgic for those who read it in middle school or high school. If you remember having a crush on the actors in the movie, or if you have an emotional reaction to the phrase “Stay gold, Ponyboy,” you need to re-read this book ASAP!

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10 Modern Books Likely To Become Classics One Day

Modern classics are determined by quality, subject matter, and relevance, along with reader engagement and interest.
Modern literature uplifts voices overlooked by mainstream while exploring complex themes and compelling prose.
Novels from the 21st century may not yet be classics, but some, like “Between the World and Me,” could earn that status.

It takes a lot for a contemporary book to be considered a modern classic, including the quality, subject matter, and relevancy of the text. These elements come together to create a novel that will join the ranks of the literary canon one day. One of the most exciting parts of modern literature is the elevation of voices previously overlooked by popular literature, leading to beautiful and compelling prose by people from all walks of life entering the mainstream. When considering what books will earn the title of classic, reader engagement, and interest must be taken into account alongside merit.

As an entrance into the larger literary exploration of World War II, The Book Thief stands out as the perfect place to start.

The Book Thief sees Liesel adapt to a new home with adoptive parents, help them conceal a Jewish man from the Nazis, and learn the power of the written word as she becomes literate and seeks to save books from being destroyed. The story is narrated by Death, but even in this supposed objectivity, Death cannot help but be moved to certain actions by the human spirit and the bravery of Liesel and her family. As an entrance into the larger literary exploration of World War II, The Book Thief stands out as the perfect place to start.

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The Hunger Games (2008)

Written by Suzanne Collins

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Expertly crafting not only an intricate but also a logical world with rules that make sense to the reader, The Hunger Games taught a generation of readers to expect more from the stories they engage with.

While novels written for adults are more typically discussed as hallmarks of the literary canon, that doesn’t mean that young adult or even children’s books are any less important. What young audiences read as they come of age has a direct impact on their views and social and cultural development. The Hunger Games was written when YA dystopian narratives were extremely popular, but Suzanne Collins wrote a story unlike anything else available. At once accessible and brutally honest in the violence and cruelty of the story’s world, The Hunger Games doesn’t pull punches in expressing its lessons and themes.

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Expertly crafting not only an intricate but also a logical world with rules that make sense to the reader, The Hunger Games taught a generation of readers to expect more from the stories they engage with. Every Hunger Games book has its pros and cons, but the first installment of the series is well-remembered as capturing the hearts and minds of everyone who reads it. Collins has released several prequels since the series’ popularity exploded thanks to the films. However, nothing will ever come close to the magic of The Hunger Games and Katniss’ first trip into the arena.

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Between The World And Me (2015)

Written by Ta-Nehisi Coates

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It can be difficult for memories, autobiography, and even autofiction to become a classic, as there’s an argument to be made for how universal and enduring personal stories can be. This is not an issue in Between the World and Me, which seamlessly connects the intimate experiences of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ life with the long and complex history of racial prejudice and injustice across the world. Coates is in conversation with his son throughout the work as he grapples with how to communicate the lessons and context that cannot be separated from how Black men and women are treated.

Race as a concept and a political agenda are some of the biggest themes in Between the World and Me, and Coates’s writing and style have drawn comparisons to James Baldwin, one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. If Between the World and Me is any indication, Coates will go down in history as a pivotal voice in the literary canon, and Between the World and Me will be taught and celebrated for years to come. As a stunning and vulnerable non-fiction, the book should be read by audiences both inside the U.S. and out.

James (2024)

Written by Percival Everett

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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a book that’s long been taught as one of the great works of American literature but has always been read with the caveat of racial prejudice of the time. Percival Everett’s James challenges the perspectives of the original book and Jim’s archetype. Jim, Huck’s travel companion who escapes enslavement, is not the man that Mark Twain wrote him to be. James is far more than a retelling of an American classic. It represents Jim as a vivid and fully formed character and expands upon his adventures with Huck with greater depth and complexity.

The connection between Jim and Huck is painted with newfound nuance in James, as there isn’t a moment when Jim isn’t aware of his position as a Black man next to a young white boy. Even as they become close and Huck begins to see Jim as a man, there’s no question that Jim can bring his guard down. Language and the written word play an enormous role in James, and Everett plays with this to great effect through his writing. The novel is not only necessary and compelling but highlights Everett as a once-in-a-generation writer.

All The Light We Cannot See (2014)

Written by Anthony Doerr

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There’s no shortage of amazing books about World War II from many perspectives, but All The Light We Cannot See looked at this well-known part of history in a new way. Doerr’s work is defined by his non-linear style of storytelling as well as his extremely lyrical prose that imbues light and beauty into the darkest moments of the narrative. As much as the novel is about the horrors of WWII on the millions it affected, it also highlights Doerr’s interest in technology and how communication has been altered so deeply due to technological innovation.

Relying on intricate descriptions of the senses and how humans interact with their world, All The Light We Cannot See is an immersive experience.

All The Light We Cannot See won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and has skyrocketed Doerr and his other works to fame and popularity. The recent miniseries based on the novel was a solid effort, but it failed to capture the nuance and emotional realism of the book. It stands out not only in terms of critical reception but also in far-reaching popularity with readers. Transcending genre, the book appeals to readers of all kinds. Relying on intricate descriptions of the senses and how humans interact with their world, All The Light We Cannot See is an immersive experience.

My Brilliant Friend (2011)

Written by Elena Ferrante

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My Brilliant Friend is the first in the Neopolitan Novels series by Elena Ferrante, which chronicles a stunning portrait of true friendship between women in Italy throughout the latter half of the 20th century. It’s told from the perspective of Elena, or Lenù, about growing up with her mercurial and beautiful friend Lila. Elena considers Lila to be the smartest and most advanced person she knows, but Lila is forced to quit school and work for her father until marriage. Conversely, Elena is allowed to get a formal education but always feels equally inferior and drawn to Lila.

Much of My Brilliant Friend focuses on the limited opportunities afforded to the lower economic class in Italy, particularly for women. Ferrante frequently discusses what she refers to as the pleb, or plebian, class, which Elena comes to understand herself and the people of her community to be part of. Elena’s understanding of the world’s divisions and the invented separation between people shifts her relationship with Lila. Additionally, few books have so accurately captured the jealous, loving, and disappointing nature of a friendship between young women who mean more to each other than they can describe.

The Road (2006)

Written by Cormac McCarthy

Viggo Mortensen as Man and Kodi Smit-McPhee as Boy in a scene from The Road.© Provided by ScreenRant

Outside of the brutal world of man versus man that the characters inhabit, there is an accessible and affecting tale of the bond between a father and son and the lengths a parent will go to protect their child.

The Road is one of the most instrumental works of post-apocalyptic fiction from the modern era, as it successfully capitalizes on the fears and hopes of a generation growing up facing an increasingly violent and environmentally volatile world. Cormac McCarthy is well-known for his biting works that tackle the legacy of American mythology with works like Blood Meridian and No Country For Old Men. The Road lent itself to a film adaptation because McCarthy paints a vividly visual portrait in his prose alongside characters that become more real to the reader than themselves by the end of the story.

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McCarthy won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for The Road, and few other honors are so universally acknowledged as the highest recognition an author and novel can receive. Post-apocalyptic books like Fallout and other popular dystopian TV shows and movies have never been more popular, and the influence that prose like The Road has on these onscreen works is obvious. Outside of the brutal world of man versus man that the characters inhabit, there is an accessible and affecting tale of the bond between a father and son and the lengths a parent will go to protect their child.

The Round House (2012)

Written by Louise Erdrich

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Pulitzer Prize winner Louise Erdrich has spent her career bringing to life her experience growing up as an Objibwe woman and discussing the far-reaching impact of the United States’ treatment of Indigenous communities. The Round House was Erdrich’s fourteenth novel, but her work never falters or flags, as there’s always a new story and brilliant characters to engage with. Erdrich is known for writing about subjects intersectionally, looking at feminism specifically through the lens of being an Ojibwe woman. This makes it interesting that the protagonist of The Round House is a young man named Joe.

Joe’s mother is assaulted, and he takes it upon himself to investigate the perpetrator because he understands, even at a young age, that he cannot rely on the criminal justice system to work as it should for an Indigenous woman. The Round House is open about the disproportionate number of attacks upon Indigenous women and how the law consistently fails to help, as well as the cycles of masculinity that lead to male violence. Winning the 2012 National Book Award for Fiction, The Round House has not diminished in its relevance or urgency since its publication.

Never Let Me Go (2005)

Written by Kazuo Ishiguro

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Also known for his 1989 novel, The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro penned his equally compelling, Never Let Me Go, in 2005. Adapted into a film starring Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, and Kiera Knightley in 2010, the story follows an alternate history where human cloning has become common practice, but these clones are raised to be living organ donors for other humans, with no rights of their own. It’s a tragic science fiction twist that adds an unending layer of melancholy to a narrative of human connection and struggle.

When drawing comparisons between the clones and the oppressed lower social classes of the UK, the novel’s setting, the metaphor becomes obvious.

The three main characters are confined by their circumstances, but it doesn’t stop them from experiencing the full scale of human emotion that every person goes through. Never Let Me Go engages with the question of what it means to be human. When drawing comparisons between the clones and the oppressed lower social classes of the UK, the novel’s setting, the metaphor becomes obvious. There’s no question that Never Let Me Go will end in tragedy, but that doesn’t make the beauty of the prose and the true love between the characters any less impactful.

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Written by Bernardine Evaristo

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Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other may have won the 2019 Booker Prize, but this accolade only further cemented what readers of the novel already knew: it was a book that changed the lives of those who read it. Told from multiple interweaving perspectives across decades in the United Kingdom, the novel swiftly provides context and characterization for each new person and subject it introduces. This is a clear example of the skill of the prose, as the reader never gets lost or bogged down by the changing settings and characters.

Everyone in the book feels like a separate and fully realized individual while being part of the larger whole. Girl, Woman, Other primarily grapples with and celebrates the joy and pain of being a Black woman, or non-man, in the modern era. While there are plenty of moments of struggle, the novel still lifts up its characters, providing an amazing representation of what human connection and strong relationships do for a person and a community. Regardless of the reader’s identity or where they live, there is something universal and poignant to be found in the novel’s pages.

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Parade’s Handy Guide to Its “Best Books of All Time” Lists

Here are the lists we’ve done so far!

222 Best Books of All Time That Deserve a Spot on Your Bookshelf, With Picks from Bestselling Authors and Indie Booksellers

George R.R. Martin and Anne Tyler are just two of the acclaimed authors who shared their personal picks with us.

Michael Giltz
Updated:

May 17, 2024

Why 222 books? We think a list of The 100 Best Books sounds too definitive, too final. Hopefully, offering 222 titles feels like a treasure trove worth diving into and arguing over and enjoying. You’ll find all types of works of fiction—picture books and romances and fantasies and westerns and young adult novels and good ole fiction and mysteries and classics and recent works we believe will be classics in years to come. (Nonfiction will be its own list someday soon.) But they’re still just some of the best books of all time—if we made this list a thousand titles long, we’d still be missing so many.

To help us narrow this down to the absolute best books, we reached out to thirty-three acclaimed and best-selling authors. Everyone from Anne Tyler to George R.R. Martin to Karin Slaughter took the time to share their passionate recommendations. Then we called some of our favorite bookstores and asked for their suggestions. So you’ll find personal picks on the list by dozens of writers and staff members from indie booksellers all over the country. We even scoured sites like Goodreads to see what you love the most. Our guiding principle was to include as many types of books as possible, because a great picture book is just as worthy as Proust. And both deserve to be on our list.

We can name 100 great mysteries (in fact we have). We can name 100 great crime novels. (Yep, we’ve done that too.) So a list of the best books of all time from every genre is just a starting point. Tell us which ones you love. Tell us what’s missing. Tell us what shouldn’t be on here. And tell us what list you’d like to see next. (The 100 Best Sports Books? The 100 Best Memoirs/Biographies? The 100 Best Picture Books?) We’ll keep reading if you will.

‘7 Little Johnstons’ Star Liz Addresses Sister Anna’s Reported Family Rift (Exclusive)’7 Little Johnstons’ Star Liz Addresses Sister Anna’s Reported Family Rift (Exclusive)

222 Best Books of All Time

The Remains of the Day

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The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

Writer Anne Tyler said yes when asked to contribute to Parade’s list of some of the best books of all time. Yes, with one condition: the only book she wanted to talk about was The Remains of the Day. It’s that sort of book. The story of an English butler so devoted to service he misses his chance at love, it was hailed as an instant classic on publication in 1989. Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel isn’t path-breaking or stylistically shocking; it’s just very, very good and everyone knew it, right away. Tyler, author most recently of French Braid, cherishes the remarkable scene at its climax. “I don’t think I’ll ever forget the heart-stopping moment near the end,” says Tyler, “when the central character all at once understands that his entire life has been wrong.”

Harold and the Purple Crayon (Purple Crayon Books)

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Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson

You know how parents can spend a lot of money on a gift for kids, only to watch them play with the box it came in more than the toy itself? That embrace of imagination is at the heart of this picture book. Harold decides to go for a walk late at night. Armed with only a purple crayon, he embarks on all sorts of adventures before winding up right back where he started. Bookseller Nina Barrett of Bookends & Beginnings in Evanston, Illinois loves handselling this one. It’s a classic, Barrett says, “for showing how, with just a few simple lines, a small child can follow his imagination anywhere it leads, and create his own destiny”

Pride and Prejudice

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Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Jane Austen went from an anonymous author (because nice women didn’t write) to being labeled a purveyor of mere romance novels (which are women’s stuff and so don’t really matter) to grudgingly called “beloved” (one way of admitting how wildly popular she is, without actually respecting her) to a full recognition that Austen’s novels are insightful, rich and intellectually complex. And what the heck is wrong with being entertaining, anyway? It took too long for Austen to gain her due. Still, we’ve always had the novels, at least four of which are practically perfect. Tomorrow we’ll pick Sense and Sensibility or Persuasion as our favorite. But today we’re choosing Pride and Prejudice with the willful and smart Elizabeth Bennett, the infuriating Mr. Darcy, that cad George Wickam and so many other memorable characters. Marriage is serious business—indeed, the most serious act a woman of a certain class makes in life—and Austen is as keen an observer of manners and mores as one could hope for.

The Lord Of The Rings: One Volume

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The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

A work of imagination so profound and unique, it stands alone…unless you count the modern fantasy genre that sprang up in its wake. Heck, even the idea of the trilogy that dominates sci-fi and fantasy is a cliche simply because this one, long novel was broken up into three parts by its publisher. Even the biggest names will take a moment to honor Tolkien. “It will surprise no one to learn that my favorite fantasy novel is The Lord of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien,” says writer George R.R. Martin, author most recently ofFull House: Wild Cards 30, which he edited, and The Rise Of The Dragon, with Elio M. Garcia Jr. and Linda Antonsson. “Fantasy is the oldest branch of literature, with roots that go back as far as Gilgamesh and Homer, but Professor Tolkien redefined the genre, and every fantasist since has been writing in his shadow. He is as important to fantasy as Shakespeare is to the theatre… and like Shakespeare, his work will endure for centuries, being read, reread, and treasured.”

Gilead (Oprah’s Book Club): A Novel

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Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

Marilynne Robinson wowed everyone in 1980 with her debut novel, Housekeeping, the story of an eccentric aunt who burdened (or freed?) her nieces with an unconventional approach to life. It became a marvelous film in 1987 starring Christine Lahti. Twenty-four years later, Robinson finally published her follow-up. Gilead was worth the wait. It’s a novel of faith and family, bringing to life John Ames, a minister dying of heart disease who wants to leave behind a document for the young son who will never really know him. Robinson tackles the Underground Railroad, John Brown, the unfair caricaturing of Calvinists as dour scolds and above all life in a small town for a man of faith. Ames wrestles with his conscience but Robinson never seems to struggle at all. Her novel is illuminated from within, like stained glass lit up by the sun.

Arrow of God

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Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe

One work often becomes the gateway to an entire world of literature for outsiders. Latin America? Start with One Hundred Years Of Solitude. Spain? Don Quixote. Africa? For decades, African literature was represented by one book: Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. Happily, countless novels have come in its wake, not least Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. And Adichie is here to champion not just the many authors who walked through the door Achebe opened, but his entire African Trilogy. It begins with Things Fall Apart, continues with No Longer At Ease and climaxes with Arrow of God, the story of a tragic clash between the chief priest of a small village and the Christian missionary John Goodcountry. “You know about the big historical events for which words like ‘colonization’ and ‘imperialism’ are used,” says Adichie, author most recently of Notes On Grief. “And then you read a novel like Arrow of God and you are struck by the beautiful, fragile, complicated humanity of the people whose lives were forever changed by history.”

Lonesome Dove: A Novel

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Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

If you’re going to name one book the “Great American Novel,” surely it should be in that most American of genres, the Western. Mind you, even people who never fantasize about heading to Deadwood fall under the spell of Larry McMurtry’s epic oater. Just ask bookseller Deb Leonard. “The romantic notion of cowboys permeates American culture,” says Leonard of Literati Bookstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan. “Those stoic, laconic heroes risking life and limb to drive their cattle across deserts and raging rivers, battling blizzards, sandstorms, rattlesnakes, coyotes (pronounced ki-oats), and no-good rustlers loom large in our psyche. It is hard to believe those cattle-driving days lasted less than twenty years. This gorgeous novel chronicles one of those adventures: a couple of retired Texas Rangers on a drive from Mexico to Montana. Cattle-drives not your cup of tea? Then how about a soaring story full of vivid landscapes and absolutely unforgettable characters. It is a book that will make you laugh so hard that it hurts on one page, just to break your heart into pieces on the next. If you only read one Western in your life, make it this one.”

The Haunting of Hill House (Penguin Classics)

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The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Sometimes you just want the bejesus scared out of you and if that’s your wish, bookseller Lisa Morton recommends The Haunting Of Hill House. “Not only was this modern classic the first major novel to deal with a paranormal investigation, it also contains what may be the most disturbing opening in all of literature,” says Morton of The Iliad Bookshop in North Hollywood, California. “The entire paragraph is sublime, but the last five words—”whatever walked there, walked alone”—is the perfect evocative, chilling introduction to the story. Breathing walls, rattling door knobs, a damaged and fragile heroine…. Jackson may have produced equally fine novels (especially We Have Always Lived in the Castle) and one of literature’s great short stories (“The Lottery“), but she was never better or more frightening than here.”

Maggie the Mechanic: The Love & Rockets Library – Locas Book 1

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Heartbreak Soup (Love & Rockets)

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Love and Rockets: Maggie the Mechanic and Love and Rockets: Heartbreak Soup by Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez

For 40(!) years, Los Bros Hernandez have produced “alternative” comics that helped revolutionize the industry. Along the way, they’ve created two sprawling worlds peopled with vivid characters, crazy storylines and the quotidian challenges of everyday life. Gilbert is best known for the Palomar stories, set in a mythical Latin American country suffused with magic realism (natch) and featuring Heraclio and Carmen, a happy couple at the heart of early storylines. Jaime is best known for the Locas stories set in LA and centered by oft-time lovers Maggie and Hopey. It’s the serialized novel to end all novels, it’s Dickensian, it’s Borgesian and certainly Trollope would be proud. Start with these two collections from the early 1980s. Binge-watching has nothing on the binge-reading you’ll soon be doing.

Pachinko (National Book Award Finalist)

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Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Lee’s book is so wonderfully complex it boggles the mind. Lee covers 80 years of history from 1910 to 1989. And if you think the usual immigrant experience is complicated, imagine you’re a Korean moving to Japan, only to discover with a shock that your people are despised there and forced to live in a ghetto-ized area. Then the Japanese invade and occupy Korea. Conflicted much? Lee captures the inner turmoil these events create in her characters, along with everything from kimchi to pachinko parlors. A rich, rich novel that we believe will be considered a classic years from now. So why wait? (The TV series is good too.)

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.

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Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume

Judy Blume changed everything for young adult fiction, though Blume would be the first to highlight those who paved the way for her. But if Blume were just an Important Figure, she wouldn’t be so beloved. Kids still read her fiction, still get caught up in the drama and still find themselves in it. First among equals in her admirable body of work? It has to be Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. A girl on the cusp of puberty is worried when all her friends get their period before her. Will it ever come? Buying bras, worrying about breast size, spreading rumors about girls who seem a little faster when it comes to boys? This might be an episode of HBO’s Euphoria, though with less drugs and no actual sex. Margaret spends the book exploring different faiths, but kids quickly learned they could always have faith in a book with Judy Blume’s name on it. A classic.

Another Country

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Another Country by James Baldwin

One of our richest thinkers, James Baldwin shared the wealth with his autobiographical debut Go Tell It On The Mountain, the righteous essay collection The Fire Next Time, numerous short stories, his powerful work as a public intellectual and the groundbreaking Giovanni’s Room. Author Arundhati Roy is drawn, most of all, to his complex, troubling novel Another Country. It’s the story of jazz drummer Rufus Scott and his abusive relationship with Leona in 1950s Greenwich Village. “Rage. Poetry. Beauty,” says Roy, author most recently of Azadi. “A book in which writing meets music. In which literature shows the world its place in the universe—with precise coordinates.”

My Brilliant Friend (HBO Tie-in Edition): Book 1: Childhood and Adolescence

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My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

An Italian novel about female friendship amidst the backdrop of domestic violence shouldn’t be the stuff of bestsellers. When My Brilliant Friend turns out to be the first of four novels that tell one long story, when the whole thing is handled by the boutique label Europa Editions (rather than a big house with tons of marketing muscle) and when the author refuses to do most press and remains anonymous? Well, you’d be lucky to reach cult status. Instead, Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels became an absolute sensation, even getting adapted into a fine HBO series. Why? How did it happen? Just read it. Sometimes, great writing is enough.

The Stand (Movie Tie-in Edition)

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The Stand by Stephen King

As we said when choosing just one Stephen King novel for our list of the best thrillers of all time, pick one of his books and readers will invariably say, “But what about…?” We know, we know. We said it ourselves. What about The Dark Tower series? What about his marvelous collection of four novellas Different Seasons? What about Misery or Mr. Mercedes or 11/22/63 or It, for pete’s sake? What about It? Sure, but if we chose any of those books, we bet a lot more people would say loudly and clearly, what about The Stand? It’s the book that is the most Stephen King of Stephen King books. It’s big and sprawling and he’s come back to it and added in more because it needed more and we wanted more and it’s about a pandemic and god knows we can’t pretend that’s some fantastical conceit any more, can we? The Stand has it all. While the hardcore fans see his entire body of work centering on The Dark Tower, we say maybe, sure, you could be right. But start with The Stand.

Americanah: A novel

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Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

It seems like Americanah is Adichie’s masterpiece, but that’s probably because we haven’t read her next novel yet. Her debut, Purple Hibiscus, was a revelation. Then came her second novel, Half Of A Yellow Sun (another peak!). In 2013 she delivered Americanah, a remarkable, decades-spanning story of a young woman in Nigeria who falls in love but chooses to flee a military dictatorship and come to America. She is changed and also changes the U.S. in her way, by blogging on race and identity. Like so many people forced by circumstance to uproot, our heroine returns home when she can. Are the changes she has undergone going to mark her forever as not-Nigerian, as an “Americanah?” Must she change again? Or must Nigeria? And who decides? Praised by Beyoncé, who even sampled a speech by Adichie in a song, but that’s just the most glamorous of many accolades Adichie has received. So far.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Don’t panic! The Douglas Adams radio play turned franchise is an eco-friendly renewable resource, spinning off plays, movies, TV shows, comic books, computer games and a “trilogy” of novels that total six in all. If you enjoy the madcap new movie Everything Everywhere All At Once, then you’re ready for The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, the first book in the series. It begins with Earth being demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass, soon sees our hero tortured by aliens (they read him their poetry) and includes all sorts of nonsense mixed up with concepts from philosophy, science, religion et al in the silly/smart way perfected by Monty Python. Gloriously bonkers and sneakily serious—think Candide, but with more spaceships. Bonus points if you also listen to the marvelous Stephen Fry reading it for the audiobook version.

Wuthering Heights (Penguin Classics)

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Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Which Brontë sister is your favorite? This question can spark a knock-down drag out fight. Some of us, like perhaps Kate Bush, choose Emily Brontë and her only novel, the romantic classic Wuthering Heights. Others pick Charlotte’s Jane Eyre, preferring the brooding Mr. Rochester to the passionate Heathcliff or maybe the self-made Jane to the doomed Catherine. And someone, somewhere must be arguing for poor Anne and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall as the best of the bunch, though they’re quite alone in that. We’ll take the wild abandon and disastrous mistakes of Wuthering Heights. Just consider this a placeholder for all the Brontës and what might have been if they hadn’t each died so very young.

A Perfect Spy: A Novel

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A Perfect Spy by John Le Carré

We put Le Carré’s novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy on our list of the best mysteries of all time because it’s riveting to watch George Smiley ferret out a mole in Britain’s MI5 by sitting and thinking. It’s a true mystery, even though Le Carré is usually classified differently. Then we put his novel A Perfect Spy on our list of the greatest thrillers ever written. Either one could be on this list of the best books of all time. We chose A Perfect Spy in part because we could just as easily file it under “memoir.” Le Carré drew deeply upon the relationship he had (or lacked) with his own father. Dad was a con man that hobnobbed with violent London gangsters the Kray brothers, made and lost fortunes and charmed everyone within a mile of his magnetism. Jeffery Deaver, author most recently of Hunting Time, concurs. “No one writes about espionage like this author,” says Deaver. “But I’ve picked it because it is also one of the most engrossing—and harrowing—portraits of a father-son relationship I’ve ever read. It’s not for the faint of heart, and that warning is not because of car chases and shootouts.”

Madeline

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Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans

Picture books are evocative for adults and few offer as Proustian a trigger as the opening lines of Madeline: “In an old house in Paris/that was covered in vines/lived twelve little girls/in two straight lines.” Picture books are powerful, especially when read again and again and again, as Kathy Doyle Thomas, of Half Price Books in Dallas, can attest. “My daughter loved the Madeline books and I loved my daughter sitting on my lap and us reading the books together,” says Thomas. “Madeline was smart, cute, French and adventurous, a fun role model for my daughter. I have two sons, so my daughter loved the idea of a little girl surrounded by other little girls instead of her BROTHERS!”

Don Quixote (Penguin Classics)

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Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes

One sign of a classic is the way it speaks in a fresh way to each new generation. Don Quixote’s tale of a woebegone knight errant and his blunt-spoken sidekick Sancho has been labeled comic, tragic, a defense of eternal values and a repudiation of the very idea of eternal values. Or it’s been seen as lacking only a song (and thus turned into the musical The Man Of La Mancha) or a little dance (and thus turned into a ballet by George Balanchine, among others). It certainly speaks to George Saunders, author most recently of A Swim In A Pond In the Rain. “What I love about Don Quixote is its energetic portraiture of someone who is, like all of us, sometimes very right and sometimes very wrong, but always sees himself as the former,” says Saunders. “The book is a vast canvas, gloriously full of ‘on the other hand’ thinking—no stolid, lazy truth is allowed to exist for long in its universe. So, to read it is to be reminded that our tendency to always know where we stand on things is a weakness—a very human weakness, the human weakness, really, part of what makes us both dangerous and dear.”

The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway: The Finca Vigia Edition

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The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway, The Finca Vigia Edition by Ernest Hemingway

Not every great writer is influential. Not every influential writer is great. Hemingway is both. And he should be read by everyone. “I’d somehow managed to avoid reading Hemingway until my early thirties, when I was first beginning to write,” says Julie Otsuka, author most recently of The Swimmers. “I’d always thought he was ‘not for me’—I’m not white, I’m not a man, I’ve never stalked a lion, I haven’t been to war. And yet, as soon as I began to read him, I could not stop. It was the cadence of his sentences that first drew me in, the clarity and beauty of his language. Also, the humor and quiet melancholy. And his ‘iceberg theory’—in many of his stories, the war is only hinted at, obliquely, through small details, but so much is left unsaid—was helpful to me when I was trying to figure out how to write my first novel, which also deals with the trauma of war.”

Bridget Jones’s Diary 25th Anniversary edition

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Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding

When Samuel Pepys began his diary in 1660, he recorded what time he woke up, what he ate for lunch, the actresses he dallied with, the horrors of the Plague and even his new watch. (Pepys was very fond of his new watch.) Everyone calls it a masterpiece. But when Bridget Jones keeps a diary and records her battles with weight, the plague of her singleness, the challenges at work, the irritating Mr. Darcy and never once mentions her watch, male critics dismiss it as “chick lit.” It’s too funny, too romantic, too entertaining to be “real” literature. Bollocks, we say. If a novel is meant to capture an era and bring to life a vivid character we know better than we know ourselves, then Helen Fielding’s novel ranks right up there.

Dune (Movie Tie-In)

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Dune by Frank Herbert

Frank Herbert’s Dune has many facets: it’s science-fiction, it’s fantasy, it’s a commentary on religion, it’s a dissection of colonialism and it’s an early example of cli-fi (that is, climate fiction). But it takes romance legend Beverly Jenkins to center the passionate and strong woman whose decision puts the entire story into motion. “Dune is one of my all time faves,” says Jenkins, author most recently of To Catch A Raven. “As a classic space opera, it appeals to the fantasy/sci-fi lover that I am. Dune is also the ultimate romance and that appeals to me as well. Lady Jessica was told by her Order to birth a girl child, but her love for her Duke overrode that directive. She gave Leto a son instead. Without that love, there’d be no Paul. And without Paul, there’d be no Dune.”

I Capture the Castle

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I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

This charming debut has beguiled everyone from Walt Disney to J.K. Rowling. Writer Armistead Maupin is no exception. “When I was a teenager in North Carolina, Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle taught me to love the very idea of England, a land where a deeply eccentric family could cheerfully endure poverty in a dilapidated castle while their father faces writer’s block in a nearby tower,” says Maupin, author most recently of Logical Family. “Smith’s novel was in the form of a teenage girl’s diary, and I’ve never forgotten how its first line lured me into the story. (‘I write this sitting in the kitchen sink.’) It makes sense that I would end up making a home in England and writing a novel about an eccentric American living in a crumbling Elizabethan manor house. It’s called Mona of the Manor and it will be published as soon as I climb down from my lockdown tower.”

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Dover Thrift Editions: Crime/Mystery)

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The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes is everything, everywhere, all at once, it seems, with an endless stream of movies, TV shows, mangas, spin-offs and even a new stage play in the works. (The same is true in the multiverse, we assume.) But it begins with the work of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. While Holmes first appeared in the novel A Study in Scarlet, most everyone agrees with bookseller Ed Justus that the stories are the heart of the matter. “In my opinion, the short stories are far better than the novels,” says Justus of Talk Story Bookstore in Hanapepe, Hawaii. “Any of the short stories of Sherlock Holmes by A.C. Doyle are truly amazing. Even though these stories were written a century ago, the prose and conversational style immediately draws in the reader, effortlessly accepting the characters as if they were completely real. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes? I couldn’t get enough of this one.”

Wolf Hall (Wolf Hall Trilogy, 1)

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Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

History is written by the victors. That may explain why Thomas Cromwell has been seen as such a villain for the past 500 years, despite his key role in the English Reformation. After all, when you’re beheaded by the King, you can hardly take part in writing history. So it took Hilary Mantel’s trilogy about Cromwell to give his side of the story. She starts with Wolf Hall and continues with two further, only slightly less perfect books. We meet a man of modest origins who is always the smartest person in the room. Watching Cromwell move mountains so Henry VIII can defy a Pope and declare himself the Supreme Head Of The Church of England—all so he can get a divorce—is so thrilling you can barely breathe while reading it. It’s a pity Henry’s new wife Anne Boleyn wasn’t more grateful. One flaw of Cromwell’s? He knew he was always the smartest man in the room, but wasn’t always smart enough to keep everyone else from knowing it too.

The Sandman Book One

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The Sandman Book One by Neil Gaiman and Various Artists

Ok, so you’re kind of intrigued by comic books. A lot of people take them seriously and you want to see what all the fuss is about. You can—and should—check out one of the great Batman or Superman storylines because maybe you’ve seen the movies and know what they’re all about. It will be familiar territory. Or you can dive into the deep end. You can sample the pure, unadulterated, uncut stuff. You can read The Sandman by Neil Gaiman and a host of world class illustrators. In 75 issues from 1989 to 1996, Gaiman and his collaborators spun out the story of Morpheus and a desire to right the wrongs he committed earlier in life. It’s a mind-spinning combination of horror and fantasy and the superhero genres, all girded by a mordant sense of humor. People who never read comic books read The Sandman, especially college students and especially female college students. For an industry yearning for respectability and new fans, it was a dream come true.

The Goldfinch: A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)

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The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Donna Tartt arrived with a thunderclap via the murder-on-campus success of The Secret History. But Chris Pavone, author most recently of Two Nights In Lisbon, speaks up for her Pulitzer Prize-winning The Goldfinch. The novel, triggered by a terrorist act and the almost accidental filching of a painting, “is a sprawling masterpiece of suspense that also happens to be a book about nearly everything: family and loss and grief and despair and growing up and art and betrayal and many types of love,” says Pavone. Since Tartt takes a good decade between releases, it’s lucky that, as Pavone says, the novel is “very long (at 784 pages) but for me, not nearly long enough. It’s a book I could read forever.”

The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War (Civil War Trilogy)

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The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara

Amidst the mountain of material about the Civil War, Michael Shaara’s The Killer Angels is a peak. This Pulitzer Prize winner uses the Battle at Gettysburg to encompass the entire arc of the war. The Confederacy’s Robert E. Lee—accustomed to winning—goes head to head with the Union’s John Buford and makes fatal mistakes. Historians love the accuracy, as well as Shaara’s reappraisal of the Confederacy’s James Longstreet and more. Military buffs love how Pickett’s Charge and the battle on Little Round Top come alive. And readers simply become enthralled with its sweep and power. Heck, The Killer Angels even prodded Ken Burns into making his landmark documentary, The Civil War, and that’s about as impressive as it gets.

The End of the Affair (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

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The End of the Affair by Graham Greene

That most Catholic of writers, Graham Greene, captures guilt and sin and the flickering possibility of redemption like few others. Published in 1951, The End Of The Affair completes his Catholic quartet, which also includes Brighton Rock, The Power and the Glory and The Heart of the Matter. Author Patti Callahan Henry calls it his masterpiece. “Always visiting his favorite themes—God, love and jealousy—Graham Greene was inspired to write this novel from his own affair with a woman named Catherine Walston,” says Callahan Henry, author most recently of Once Upon A Wardrobe. “There is nothing like it and it reads better every single time I pick it up (or listen to Colin Firth read it). It’s a love story, and yet it’s so much more.”

The Buddha in the Attic (Pen/Faulkner Award – Fiction)

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The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka

With just three novels, writer Julie Otsuka has memorialized the brutal mistreatment of Japanese-Americans during World War II with precision and passion. Writer Madeline Miller knows the challenges of bringing history to life and admires Otsuka all the more. “The Buddha in the Attic tells the stories of the ‘picture brides’—women who immigrated from Japan to America in the early 20th century in hopes of a better future,” says Miller, the author most recently of Circe. “The women speak in the first person plural, and part of the wonder of this book is its stunning choral voice—piercing, elegiac, beautiful, brutal, unflinching. The stories they tell of their lives are unforgettable and the novel is a literary and historical masterpiece. It is the book I read when I need to remember what fiction can do at its very best.”

His Dark Materials 3-Book Paperback Boxed Set: The Golden Compass; The Subtle Knife; The Amber Spyglass

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His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

Beginning with The Golden Compass, author Philip Pullman retold and reimagined Milton’s Paradise Lost in a trilogy of almost shocking ambition. The pearl-clutchers who feared it might be sneaking in Ideas—and Dangerous Ideas at that—were right. Fellow writers immediately paid attention. “No books are more important to the history of modern fantasy after The Lord of the Rings than His Dark Materials,” says Terry Brooks, author most recently of Daughter Of Darkness. “Pullman’s trilogy transformed the genre. Here were books in which angels rebelled against a dysfunctional deity to see it cast out of Heaven. Here was a reimagined, compelling story of how a boy and a girl reformed a world in which magic was a transformative power and love provided a means for changing everything…This is high fantasy at its very best.”

The Talented Mr. Ripley

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The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

Horrible people can become disturbingly sympathetic once you spend time with them, whether it’s Norman Bates in Psycho or Jeff Lindsay’s Dexter, the serial killer with good intentions (or at least bad victims). The brilliant Highsmith knew this well, and perhaps her greatest creation, Tom Ripley, toyed with our affections throughout five novels. “The Talented Mr. Ripley is certainly one of the best if not the best thrillers of all time,” says Karin Slaughter, author most recently of Girl, Forgotten. “Tom Ripley is not just a classic antihero, he is a precursor to so many flawed men we’re meant to root for—from Don Draper to Tony Soprano. Highsmith crafts him as a perpetual underdog, a striver that the reader finds more relatable than the monied snobs he so desperately wants to be a part of.” It’s a delicious irony at the heart of so many crime novels: you’re not supposed to root for the criminal or vicariously enjoy someone knocking off those people who really, really “deserve it.” And yet….

The Good Lord Bird: A Novel

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The Good Lord Bird by James McBride

Many artists have tackled the bloody, righteous act of John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry, an act meant to stir up a slave revolt in the South. It was the dress rehearsal for the Civil War, which began about a year and a half later, and usually inspires sober, serious works like Russell Banks’ Cloudsplitter or Stephen Vincent Benét’s epic poem John Brown’s Body. But James McBride is the only one to see the violent attack called a dress rehearsal, think “aha!” and launch into a no-holds barred comic retelling of the tragedy. He creates Henry Shackleford, an enslaved man caught up in John Brown’s crusade and is soon bumping into other historical figures like Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass. Oh, and John Brown thinks Henry is a girl and puts him in a dress, which the young man wears for most of the book. We did say “comic!” Compared favorably to Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—that other rollicking, hilarious, pointed takedown of slavery—McBride’s novel won the National Book Award and what is apparently another badge of importance in today’s world. Yes, it was turned into a TV miniseries (and a very good one) starring Ethan Hawke.

The Awakening and Selected Stories (Penguin Classics)

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The Awakening by Kate Chopin

If revenge is a dish best served cold, author Kate Chopin should be well pleased. Her second and final novel was tut-tutted over by critics. Chopin dealt forthrightly with a woman’s sexual desires, intellectual needs, suicide, society’s constraints and the limited roles of wife and mother open to her gender. Toss in a caustic attitude towards religion and you had a book that was just as controversial as Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House and Gustave Flaubert’s novel Madame Bovary. Even those forced to admit The Awakening was brilliantly written tended to hope—like fellow writer Willa Cather—that Chopin would use her talents for “a better cause.” Chopin died all but forgotten. But seventy years later, people finally awakened to her immense achievement—a novel deeply influential on other writers, the Southern literary tradition and a key work in feminism. Today it’s widely read, widely studied and widely enjoyed.

The Collected Stories

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The Collected Stories: William Trevor by William Trevor

Short story writers are diamond cutters: meticulous and sharp, with only one chance to get it right. Few were as brilliant as the Irish writer William Trevor, whose work is invariably referred to as Chekhovian because what higher compliment can be paid to a short story writer? “My favorite book of all time is The Collected Stories by William Trevor,” says Elizabeth Strout, author most recently of Lucy By The Sea. “As a writer I found his influence huge ever since I first read his work years ago in The New Yorker. But he is not just a writer’s writer. He is so precise and so gentle and can flip over a sentence in a heartbeat. He writes about the lives of ordinary people, who are all—of course—extraordinary. One of my favorites is called ‘Mrs. Silly’ about a young boy sent to boarding school and his lovely mother who embarrasses herself on their visiting day. It’s a quiet, honest killer of a story.”

The Bluest Eye (Vintage International)

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The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison’s debut is one of the most banned books in America and also one of the best. Set in 1941, it tells the story of Pecola, a young African-American woman who is told so often she’s ugly that she finally begins to believe it. Child molestation and racism are just two of the omnipresent dangers the book details. For decades it has been a popular pick for college reading lists. That means bookseller Lynette Yates is far from alone in her experience with it. “The Bluest Eye is the first book I ever read by Toni Morrison,” says Yates of Half Price Books headquartered in Dallas. “And I was hooked. I could not put it down!” Morrison has other masterpieces like Beloved and Song Of Solomon but you might as well start at the beginning. Then, you’ll want to read them all.

Doctor Zhivago (Vintage International)

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Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak

The journey of Boris Pasternak’s masterwork—about a physician and poet during the two world wars—is as remarkable as the story itself. Impossible for it to be released in the Soviet Union, his novel was smuggled out, published in part by the C.I.A.(!), turned into a massively popular film and helped win its author the Nobel Prize, which Pasternak was then forced to turn down. But let’s not forget the novel itself. Writer Mark Helprin, himself a proponent of the “epic tradition” school of writing Doctor Zhivago epitomizes, loves it above all others. “Doctor Zhivago combines astoundingly beautiful writing with epic sweep, deep emotion, historically riveting action and impossible-to-ignore spirituality,” says Helprin, author most recently of Paris In The Present Tense. “And the courage to write in defiance of a crushing dictatorship illuminates every serious word and phrase. Unlike many books awarded the Nobel Prize, it fully deserved it, and will live on (even though it was made into a movie).”

To Kill a Mockingbird

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To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

A beloved children’s book, if a book about an accusation of rape underlined by racism can be said to be for children. Whether you read it as a child, decided to become a lawyer because of Atticus Finch, saw the movie or the new Broadway play, or were assigned it at school, To Kill a Mockingbird is inescapable. Our favorite part of its mythic status was the fact that Lee avoided any press and said almost nothing about it—or anything else. That was as cool as the little girl Scout refusing to wear frilly pink dresses if she didn’t want to.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

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The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz

Ok, don’t rush him. Writer Junot Díaz takes his time, but patience pays off—both for him and us. Díaz exploded onto the scene in 1996 with the short story collection Drown, immediately establishing the Dominican-American author as a major talent. Over the next 26 years? One more short story collection (This Is How You Lose Her), one picture book (Islandborn) and one novel. The picture book is sweet, the two short story collections are both so strong we couldn’t choose between them and the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is just amazing. The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao celebrates a chubby kid growing up in New Jersey who suffers under a curse that dogs his family for generations. Oscar is obsessed with comic books and fantasy/sci-fi, so Díaz amusingly peppers his story with everything from references to J.R.R. Tolkien to footnotes and touches of magic realism. Oh and mongooses. (Mongeese?) Now, wouldn’t it be wondrous if Díaz finally delivered a full-on sci-fi/fantasy novel of his own?

Lincoln in the Bardo: A Novel

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Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

When Abraham Lincoln was President, his son Willie died. According to newspaper reports, on the day the child was laid to rest, Lincoln returned repeatedly to the crypt and cradled the body of Willie in his arms. George Saunders took that image and turned it into his first novel. After twenty years of increasing acclaim and success penning erudite, clever short stories, Saunders was daunted by the idea of a novel, not to mention a novel set in the past, not to mention a novel depicting one of the most famous people in history raw with emotion. Well, it worked—ghosts and all. Writer Michael Cunningham is just one of many to stand back in awe. “Quite possibly the most remarkable, original, beautiful book I’ve read yet, in the 21^st century,” says Cunningham, author most recently of A Wild Swan and Other Tales. “If it doesn’t become a classic, my faith in the ongoing history of literature will suffer as a result.”

And Then There Were None

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And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie is the most popular mystery writer of all time. And this is her most popular novel. Indeed, by some accounts, it’s the best-selling mystery novel and one of the best selling books ever, with 100 million copies sold and counting. Happily, the ugly racial slur that besmirched both its title and a key clue for decades (up to 1986, in UK editions) has been thoroughly erased. Now, fans can enjoy the novel for what it is: a brilliantly constructed tale of suspense. The set-up is so ingenious that others (not to mention Christie herself) use it time and again in movies, plays and novels. A group of strangers is brought together in an isolated location (in this case an island) under false pretenses. They slowly realize this…and quickly realize the members of their party are being knocked off, one by one. Who among them is the killer? And what have they each done to deserve this fate? The mounting tension, the suspicion, the backstabbing—it’s all delicious fun and Christie delivers one of her neatest solutions to tie it up very nicely indeed.

The Sellout: A Novel

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The Sellout by Paul Beatty

If you want to understand how timid, mean-spirited and ugly some stand-ups are today—both in what they make fun of and how—just read The Sellout. This is how it’s done. In his Booker and National Book Award-winning novel, Paul Beatty starts at outrageous, then builds up steam and really gets going. A black man looking to reinstate slavery in an abandoned town called Dickens on the outskirts of LA? The last surviving member of The Little Rascals, a fellow called Hominy Jenkins? A Supreme Court showdown lacerating the likes of Clarence Thomas with glee? It’s all here and Beatty is always punching up—never down. He pricks pomposity, makes serious points with jaw-dropping hilarity and swiftly outpaces Jonathan Swift with one of the best satires in generations.

Birds of America: Stories (Vintage Contemporaries)

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Birds of America by Lorrie Moore

Lorrie Moore has written acclaimed novels, criticism, essays and a children’s book. But short stories are where Moore shines best, from her 1985 debut collection Self-Help to 2014’s Bark. Writer Sherman Alexie returns to one of her collections again and again. “Birds of America is hilarious and heart-wrenching in equal measure,” says Alexie, author most recently of the memoir You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me. “I’ve re-read this book at least twenty times and I think that’s always the best sign of greatness.”

Madame Bovary: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

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Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

Bored with life, infatuated with the idea of romance, always searching for the next thrill, Emma Bovary is a frustrating, fascinating, fully alive character in a novel so influential it’s hard to believe this was Flaubert’s debut. Emma flits from affair to affair, piling up bills and disappointments with abandon, never putting a foot right. Flaubert, however, never puts a foot wrong and Anthony Doerr can’t praise it enough. “Attacked upon its publication for being ‘obscene,’ Madame Bovary has remained relevant ever since,” says Doerr, author most recently of Cloud Cuckoo Land. “It’s a 160+ year-old novel that still feels contemporary in its techniques and its critiques of the patriarchy. Flaubert’s portrayal of Emma Bovary is simultaneously beautiful and brutal, and lives at the headwaters of realistic psychological fiction.”

Little Fires Everywhere: A Novel

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Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

In an earlier era, it was Peyton Place that revealed the scandalous goings-on in suburbia. Stories like that were dismissed by some as little better than soap operas. Never mind that they dealt with the frustrations of women trapped in a certain role, the unspoken divide of class and so much more. It’s a domestic drama, mere women’s fiction and thus not important. We’ve learned better. Celeste Ng’s second novel is set in Shaker Heights, Ohio, the hometown of Ward Cleaver of Leave It To Beaver, which is to say the suburbs of our dreams. And yet, this seemingly quiet domestic drama soon explodes with an act of arson, secret abortions, transracial adoptions, surrogate mothers, sex, love, jealousy, heartbreak and, yes, little fires everywhere. It’s complex, cathartic and no wonder Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington produced and starred in a miniseries adaptation.

The Princess Bride (text only) by W. Goldman

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The Princess Bride by William Goldman

William Goldman is the Oscar-winning screenwriter of movie classics like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All The President’s Men. He also wrote about two dozen books, including a nonfiction memoir about Hollywood that captures the entire industry in one sentence: “Nobody knows anything.” But nothing tops the pleasures of his fantasy novel The Princess Bride. It tells the story of Buttercup, a young woman who believes her true love died at the hands of the Dread Pirate Robert. She’s pressured to marry Prince Humperdinck, heir to the throne of Florin. Before the wedding takes place, Buttercup is kidnapped by a rather kindly trio of outlaws. Toss in a framing device that includes details from the author’s “real” life, silly footnotes and other nonsense about this book being an abridged version of an earlier book that really wasn’t as good as the author remembered and you’ve got a treat. Goldman’s novel was twice blessed. First, it was turned into an equally magical film in 1987 that beautifully captures the tone of the novel. Second, while Goldman was determined to write a sequel called Buttercup’s Baby, he never could recapture the magic and gave up. So readers will never be tempted to read a sequel that would inevitably fall short of the original. And there it sits: a perfect little gem, just waiting for you and your children to enjoy.

Frankenstein: The 1818 Text (Penguin Classics)

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Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley

It’s not nice to fool with Mother Nature. But that never stopped humans before, did it? Written on a bet about who among friends could tell the best ghost story, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a landmark work of horror and caution. If all you know is the (brilliant) 1931 film version starring Boris Karloff as the Monster, then you’re in for a shock. The novel is far more expansive and the Creature (as Shelley calls him) is far more articulate, deadly, purposeful and plaintive. Some call it the greatest horror story ever written and others the prototype for science fiction. But one thing is clear: it’s not Victor Frankenstein who is the modern Prometheus, but Shelley herself. In other words, she won the bet.

Ficciones

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Labyrinths (New Directions Paperbook)

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Ficciones/Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges

Prepare to enter the labyrinth of Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges. Or, if you prefer, prepare to dive into the fiction of Labyrinths. The Argentine writer burst into worldwide prominence in 1962 with the publication of two short story collections translating his work into English. One was Ficciones, or in English Fictions. The other was Labyrinths. Borges is a beguiling Prospero, wielding his magic to enchant anyone brave enough to explore a world of saintly librarians, imaginary lands and fanciful reviews of the second editions of books that never existed in the first place. For a writer who relished wordplay, plots that circled back upon themselves and concepts that anticipated the multiverse, it must please Borges no end that these two collections overlap, with numerous stories appearing in both. Which one should people read first? In what order? This unintentional creation of confusion and uncertainty for readers new to him? Perfect.

The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, 1)

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The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

Here are the facts. N.K. Jemisin is the first African American writer to win the Hugo Award for Best Science Fiction or Fantasy novel. She’s the first writer ever to win the Hugo Award in three consecutive years. And she’s the first writer ever to win a Hugo Award for all three books in a trilogy. That should make you sit up. We could also mention her MacArthur genius grant, how fans believed in Jemisin enough to help crowd-fund her move to writing full-time way back when and much more. But those are just the facts. Read the Broken Earth trilogy of science fantasy that begins with The Fifth Season and you’ll be plunged into a vivid world devastated by a climate crisis every few centuries. You’ll discover a middle-aged woman necessarily hiding her extraordinary powers to influence the entire planet. You’ll fear for a small girl also blessed or cursed with those powers, a girl whose parents can’t bring themselves to kill her as society demands. And you’ll follow a young woman who discovers the truth about how their world is actually kept safe. It’s classic fantasy but also thoroughly modern. Jemisin blends the three storylines together with a flourish worthy of Proust, but that’s just one of its many pleasures. A landmark.

Indigo

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Indigo by Beverly Jenkins

An early peak for romance legend Beverly Jenkins, Indigo features all her trademarks. The story is an unexpected one, focusing on a young woman named Hester Wyatt bravely risking her life in the Underground Railroad (in Michigan!). She finds herself drawn to an arrogant conductor named Galen Vachon, a man who is badly injured and needs hiding. Galen is handsome and wealthy; she doesn’t know the latter fact but can’t help noticing the former. She’s pretty and willful; he can’t help noticing both of these qualities. In other words, it’s a classic romance with all the pleasures that entails. But Jenkins weaves in history and background detail with ease, grounding the story in a real world that’s far more complicated and interesting than most genre books ever attempt. And that makes her stories all the more gripping. She’s successful in many genres, but historical romances are where Jenkins flourishes—from stories about high-class hotels for people of color to the challenges facing professional doctors long ago to the many black cowboys of the Old West. Her novels are told with verve and accuracy, complete with bibliographies at the end for those who want to explore the history further. Whoever imagined romance novels with a bibliography? Beverly Jenkins.

Moby-Dick or, The Whale (Penguin Classics)

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Moby-Dick; or, The Whale by Herman Melville

Forget the whale, for a moment. Most people haven’t read Moby-Dick, so for them it’s about some crazy guy on a boat obsessed with tracking down a white whale that made a snack of his leg. And yeah, sure, that’s a big part of it. But Herman Melville’s novel is a wilder ride than this implies. It’s the 1851 equivalent of surfing the web, with Melville telling his story about Ishmael, the newest member of the whaling ship Pequod. He veers from a fascinating breakdown of ship life and its culturally diverse crew members to describe the migratory patterns of whales and then back to the ship and the surprisingly cozy sleeping arrangements for the men and off again for a useful guide on harvesting whale blubber to a fiery sermon of poetry and song and back to the story at hand and then onto some other tangent. It’s remarkable how often the novel isn’t recounting the obsessive quest of Captain Ahab, though that mad venture is always just below the surface. Melville’s novel is obsessive itself, seeming determined to tell you everything that crosses its mind. It’s as mad as Ahab and just as fearsome and magnetic and impossible to forget.

Blonde: A Novel

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Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates

Norma Jean Baker’s greatest performance was as the movie star Marilyn Monroe. In her last interview, she spoke about current issues of the day and pleaded with the writer, “Please don’t make me a joke.” No luck; it was too late. Or at least it seemed too late. Now, writer Joyce Carol Oates treats Norma Jean with the seriousness she deserves. This meaty, compulsively readable and epic novel tracks her entire life, from a tumultuous childhood with a mentally disturbed mother to life in an orphanage, followed by brutal early days in Hollywood with sleazy studio execs and then the reward of suffocating fame. Monroe is naturally savvy if also innocent, desperate to learn more and be more, but also aware her sex appeal is the best way to get there. Oates captures her mercurial but insightful approach to acting, her determination to break with the studio system and tackle the roles she knows she can and her desire for someone—anyone—who might treat her with the kindness and respect she’s never known. You know how it ends and yet the journey is captivating, unexpected, funny, painful and as great as Monroe—or rather, Norma Jean—could dare imagine. Oates has written literally dozens and dozens of novels and short story collections. This is her masterpiece.

The Underground Railroad: A Novel

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The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

All eyes have been on writer Colson Whitehead since his oddball debut The Intuitionist. He satirized the publicity machine that feted him (John Henry Days), explored genres like horror (Zone One) and the bildungsroman (Sag Harbor) and even nodded towards forebears like E.B. White with his nonfiction work The Colossus of New York. Then, like Muhammad Ali predicting a knock-out, in 2016 Whitehead gave his next novel the totemic, throw-down-the-gauntlet, this-is-the-one title The Underground Railroad. And yes, it was the brilliant, captivating, mind-bending masterpiece everyone expected of him. In this case, the Underground Railroad is literally an underground railroad and the characters who escape by riding it enter into post-Civil War worlds where racism remains ever-changing, ever-new and ever-present. It’s upsetting, unexpected, propulsive and the most entertaining Important Book you’ve read in ages. With two more acclaimed novels since (The Nickel Boys and Harlem Shuffle), Whitehead is clearly just getting started.

The Song of Achilles: A Novel

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The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Writer Madeline Miller spent a decade bringing the passionate romance at the heart of Homer’s Iliad to vivid life. The love between Achilles and Patroclus upends the entire Trojan War and it’s there for all to read in the epic poem dating from roughly 2700 years ago. And, still, it came as a shock to some in 2011 when Miller brought these two lovers so fully and beautifully to life in her debut novel. Miller did it again by turning an enchantress of The Odyssey from a minor villain to a complex, fascinating heroine in her 2018 book Circe. Surely Mary Renault and Robert Graves look on approvingly—two similar writers of historical fiction who captured the imagination of contemporary readers.

The Last Good Kiss (C.W. Sughrue Book 1)

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The Last Good Kiss by James Crumley

James Crumley was a “writer’s writer,” which means his books never sold that much, but boy were they good. Heck, when the legendary author Ray Bradbury wrote three mystery novels, he named the detective “Crumley” in honor of the man! “[The Last Good Kiss] is the best private eye novel I’ve ever read,” says author Dennis Lehane, author most recently of Since We Fell. “Best first sentence, most satisfying ending, most beautifully written from beginning to end.” In the novel, investigator C.W. Sughrue is lured away from his job at a topless bar to find a wayward writer but ends up hunting down a woman missing for more than a decade. Crumley died in 2008, but not before enjoying a late-career appreciation from many quarters. “One of the great pleasures of my life,” says Lehane, “was getting to meet Crumley and tell him that his masterpiece forever changed my perception of what a crime novel could be.”

The Joy Luck Club: A Novel

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The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

Oh, the joy of finally seeing yourself in an acclaimed, best-selling novel! In her debut, Amy Tan told of Chinese mothers and their Chinese-American daughters. Friends in San Francisco gather together each week to play mahjong, eat and talk, but mostly talk. They complain about their daughters while their daughters complain about the mothers. Stories are told, of the hardships the women faced when risking it all to move from China to America and of the very different lives their daughters are having thanks to that gamble and why can’t those daughters respect them and do as they’re told and not marry this boy or go to this school but marry that boy and study for that degree at the school chosen for them? Unless you’re a Chinese-American, it’s hard to appreciate the thrill, the deep satisfaction of seeing your stories embraced and celebrated. Like the best art, it’s universal for being so very specific. And oh, the joy of having something other than Charlie Chan and The Good Earth represent all of Chinese culture to America. Now, strands of that culture can be found in “everything, everywhere, all at once.” But The Joy Luck Club will always be a beloved and important breakthrough.

Winesburg, Ohio (Dover Thrift Editions)

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Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson

Whatever the truth, the romantic tale of how Sherwood Anderson became a writer is too good to pass up. He was a very successful businessman, overseeing a company selling paint, buying up smaller paint companies and expanding into other ventures. Anderson was 36 years old, married and had three children. But on November 28, 1912, he went to work and then rebelliously decided to chuck it all and devote himself full-time to writing. Anderson feigned mental illness of some sort so no one would get angry at him, walked out the door and never came back. Or, more likely, he had his second nervous breakdown (following an earlier one in 1907) and that left him unfit, unable or unwilling to work in paint any more. After two not so good novels, he hit paydirt with Winesburg, Ohio, a collection of short stories that combine to tell the life of one man and the frustrated, lonely dreams of everyone around him in a small town. It does in fiction what Edgar Lee Masters did in poetry with 1915’s Spoon River Anthology, another book that puts the lie to small-town life always being idyllic and sweet.

The Blind Assassin: A Novel, Cover may vary

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The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

We might have made the obvious choice and picked Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, a depressingly timely novel that didn’t predict a thing, since every cruelty in its male-dominated dystopia had already been done to women. But for sheer bravado, her Booker Prize winner The Blind Assassin is hard to beat, offering the sweep of Canadian history in the 20th century. The narrator is an old woman looking back on her life, mostly to the 1930s and 1940s. It captures the pulpy feel of that era’s paperbacks without sacrificing complexity. And for an author who rejects the label of science-fiction writer, it offers a novel-within-a-novel that’s pure sci-fi and throws in enough betrayals and revelations to fuel a Buck Rogers serial. Very satisfying.

Winter’s Tale

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Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin

By 1983, writer Mark Helprin had published two collections of short stories diamond-like in their clarity, not to mention a wonderfully sprawling debut novel (Refiner’s Fire) of the sort one expects from a writer who values tradition and the great novels of the 19th century. So no one was quite prepared for Winter’s Tale. Out of the blue, Helprin delivered a Dickensian fantasy celebrating the New York City of our dreams. It tells the story of Peter Lake, a burglar who lives in the ceiling of Grand Central Station (when not sneaking into the mansions of the wealthy to relieve them of their possessions). A white horse that swoops down from the stars, a beautiful young woman tragically dying of consumption, gangs of burglars, marshmen who live on the fringes of society, a raging fire, truth and joy and beauty and light and all of it wrapped up in language of boldness and verve. Magic? Just a touch. Magical? From start to finish.

Winnie-the-Pooh (Puffin Modern Classics)

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The House at Pooh Corner (Winnie-the-Pooh)

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Winnie the Pooh/The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne

Yes, but have you read it as an adult? Have you read it lately? A.A. Milne captures children to perfection, the way they interrupt your storytelling, their pleasure at seeing themselves included in it and their desire to learn more without quite admitting they don’t understand everything just yet. Any adult who’s made up a story for a small child will purr with pleasure when reading the opening chapters of Winnie The Pooh. It has charm to spare, thanks to timeless tales about friends and pranks and accepting people for who they are, like the dour Eeyore or the over-excitable Tigger. Not accepting them despite their quirks, but because of them. And oh, The House At Pooh Corner. The sad encroachment of school and Growing Up and time away from play and the need to Learn Things. Long before the Toy Story trilogy tore your heart out, Milne did it here to perfection.

Station Eleven

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Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Like most overnight successes, Emily St. John Mandel put in years of hard work to make it happen, switching from a career in dance to full-time writing. Three hard-boiled noirs led to her fourth novel, the sort of breakthrough that booksellers like Emily Bruce at Half Price Books in Dallas love to champion. “Mandel tells the story of a young actress in King Lear witnessing the lead have a heart attack on stage the same night a devastating flu pandemic begins and ultimately ends life across the world as we know it,” says Bruce. “Flashing forward to the survivors twenty years later, the actress is in a traveling symphony and encounters a violent prophet. Although a book about a pandemic is certainly an unsettling topic these days, the story of survival is moving, powerful and well worth the read.

David Copperfield (Penguin Classics)

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David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

Ok, maybe you were forced to read Dickens in school and it didn’t take. Heck, if school forced you to eat chocolate ice cream every day you’d probably get sick of that too and vow “never again.” But as someone once said about London, anyone who is tired of Dickens is tired of life. His novels were first serialized in magazines so the cliffhanger endings of each chapter make them as binge-worthy as any TV show streaming online. You could start with the nigh-on-perfect Great Expectations or the righteous Hard Times or the novella you already know called A Christmas Carol. We suggest David Copperfield, the story of a young man making his way in the world. It’s bursting with the eccentric, colorful, immediately recognizable characters Dickens is known for. It boasts a clutch of passionate social issues Dickens illuminates like the brutal school system, child labor, prostitution and more. And because it’s based in part on his own challenging childhood, David Copperfield is as close to a memoir and the author’s own beating heart as anything else he wrote.

Another Brooklyn: A Novel

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Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson

A genius (hey, the MacArthur people know what they’re talking about), writer Jacqueline Woodson is a talent whose work transcends labels like “young adult” or “kids” books. They’re for everyone. And you can start anywhere, from an exuberant picture book like The Year We Learned To Fly to young adult novels like Miracle’s Boys or her classic debut Last Summer With Maizon. You’ll find vivid characters, real life and the power of friendship. But you might as well start with her “adult” novel Another Brooklyn, a 2016 peak in which a woman coming to bury her father remembers the culture shock of moving from Tennessee to Brooklyn and adjusting to life in NYC. Woodson has been capturing young people and their fears and joys for more than 30 years. And she keeps getting better.

Riders of the Purple Sage (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics)

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Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey

The Western of Westerns, Riders Of The Purple Sage from 1912 is the model for every Western that followed. It’s the story of a willful young Mormon woman in Utah who resists becoming the third wife of an Elder and then befriends some Gentiles. Some consider it anti-Mormon. But if the villain is a Mormon, so is our heroine! And her objection to polygamy and approval of comity with other faiths is exactly where the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints is officially at today. So not only is this one of the great Westerns, it was arguably ahead of its time spiritually too.

Their Eyes Were Watching God

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Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Writer Zora Neale Hurston is now rightly recognized for her pioneering scholarly work in documenting the folktales of African-Americans and the Caribbean peoples. She did serious ethnographic work, documented the life of one of the last people to have survived the Middle Passage and wrote about voodoo rituals in Haiti and Jamaica. All of this now receives a brighter spotlight, along with her plays, short stories, poetry and the like. We can thank writer Alice Walker, who renewed attention for Hurston and the masterpiece that is Their Eyes Were Watching God. If this novel was the only accomplishment of her life, she would still loom large. Just as in Jane Austen, the heroine of this story is abused for wanting a marriage based on love. Janie Crawford triumphs over her enslaved beginnings to become a woman of property who can choose the man she wants from many suitors. That doesn’t mean she’ll choose well, mind you. Published in 1937, its centerpiece is the devastating Okeechobee hurricane of 1928, an event that wipes the slate clean for Janie and lets her start her life over yet again. Gripping, moving and bold for this time—not to mention 1937—the only surprise is that it took 40 years for people to recognize how great this novel truly is.

The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love: A Novel (FSG Classics)

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The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos

What might have been? That’s the bittersweet question at the heart of this elegiac novel that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1990. The dying musician Cesar Castillo sits alone in a hotel room, listening to old records by his band the Mambo Kings and thinking back on his life. Exiled from Cuba after Castro overthrew the U.S.-backed dictator Batista, Cesar and his brother move to New York City. Fittingly for musicians, their timing is perfect. A mambo craze sweeps the country and they enjoy a burst of fame after appearing on the sitcom I Love Lucy. Of course, the craze ends, the Mambo Kings fade from the scene and Cesar now remembers the many highs and lows of his life both personal and professional. What might have been? With the life-changing success of his second novel, Oscar Hijuelos assured he would never have to ask himself that question.

Lud In The Mist

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Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees

All but forgotten, British writer Hope Mirrlees is enjoying a resurgence. Her 600-line work Paris: A Poem is now considered a modernist classic and a major influence on T.S. Eliot and Virginia Woolf, who originally published the piece with her husband. Mirrlees’s “friendship” with the famous classicist Jane Ellen Harrison is now seen in a new light. (Harrison was 37 years her senior but they lived together for 15 years until Harrison died. So perhaps “good pals” doesn’t quite cover it.) And her lone fantasy novel has passionate fans like writer Neil Gaiman. “My favourite book of all time is probably Lud-in-the-Mist,” says Gaiman, author most recently of Neil Gaiman’s Chivalry and Death: The Deluxe Edition. “It’s a story about a stolid land, and the fairy fruit that comes over the border, bringing dreams and poetry and madness; it’s a ghost story and a detective story and it’s also about existential angst and the pain of living in reality. I read it as a boy, and return to it every decade, finding new things in it—sometimes in the plot, sometimes in the way Mirrlees put words together.”

Where I’m Calling From: Selected Stories

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Where I’m Calling From: Selected Stories by Raymond Carver

Raymond Carver was married twice and for a while considered himself a full-time drinker and merely a part-time writer. After being lauded as a major talent, he famously broke away from the influence of an editor that made his reputation and turned minimalism into the style du jour of the 1970s and 1980s. You can ignore the public profile, the stuff of magazine features and literary debates and just read his stories. You won’t find any major twists in the tales. No meta conceits to flatter your brain. No highbrow allusions. Just stories capturing life in such a straightforward manner that you catch your breath. “Cathedral.” “Boxes.” “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.” And best of all, with this final collection done before Carver died of lung cancer, we get his own stamp of approval on 37 stories, some presented as they were first published (with his editor’s strong hand), some as Carver originally wrote them and some brand new. Brilliant.

The Round House: A Novel

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The Round House by Louise Erdrich

Sarah Hollenbeck of the Women & Children First bookstore in Chicago says simply that The Round House is “a transformative and mesmerizing novel by national treasure Louise Erdrich.” Indeed. One of our best writers, Erdrich is also one of our best chroniclers of crime, violence, poverty and its impact on individuals and communities. An enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, Erdrich finds rich material amidst life on the reservation in North Dakota. Fiction, poetry, children’s books, nonfiction—the Pulitzer-Prize winner has done it all. But the Justice Trilogy is a keystone of her career, encompassing Plague of Doves, LaRose and smack dab in the middle is 2012’s The Round House. It shows a 13-year-old boy frustrated that the police aren’t looking more seriously into a horrific attack on his mother. Disastrously, the kid takes matters into his own hands, with the help of friends and a stolen rifle. Justice is far, far away but a riveting story and art is right at hand.

Gone Girl

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Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

This massive blockbuster reverberates in the mind as a novel about a scheming spouse…or perhaps a novel about how the media loves a scheming spouse…or perhaps how we secretly love it when the media piles on a scheming spouse. Let’s face it, Gone Girl is a roller coaster as the happy marriage of Nick and Amy Dunne falls apart in the white-hot glare of a missing wife case. Infidelity! Betrayal! Hidden diaries! Faked diaries! Clues! False clues! You can’t trust anyone or anything in this masterful tale filled with unreliable narrators. Unreliable except for Flynn, that is, who knows exactly what she’s doing.

Pale Fire

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Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov

Vladimir Nabokov shocked the world with Lolita, while his work Speak, Memory is one of the great memoirs. But writer Scott Spencer isn’t mincing words about the book of Nabokov’s he admires the most. “You’re always on thin ice when you say a book is the greatest of all time—or even the greatest of the year in which it was first published,” says Spencer, author most recently of An Ocean Without A Shore. “But I feel terra firma beneath my feet when I say Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov is the most astonishing work of fiction I have ever read. After a harrumphing, hilarious foreword, the novel presents us with a 999-line poem written by a poet named John Shade. Shade’s next door neighbor is a colleague at the local college named Charles Kinbote, a madman who believes himself to be Charles the Great, the exiled king of Zembla. The rest of the novel is Kimbote’s commentary/explication of Shade’s poem, in which Kimbote’s personality and preoccupations all but devour the poem itself. It is a narrative strategy of mind-bending weirdness and complexity, and the grateful reader can’t help but wonder how anyone—even the supremely gifted Nabokov—could create something so intricate, so dazzling, yet so filled with humanity. Pale Fire is a gorgeous, radiant work of high spirits and deep sorrow, an other-worldly novel with no predecessors and no descendants.”

A Visit from the Goon Squad

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A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

Chrissie Hynde called time “the avenger.” Bob Dylan said “time is a jet plane—it moves too fast.” Jennifer Egan simply calls time “the goon squad,” the thug that beats you up no matter how you try to avoid it. Time ravages all the characters in her not-quite short story collection but not-quite novel that won the Pulitzer Prize. Set in and around the business of rock ‘n’ roll, Egan’s work jumps around in time, turns one passage into a PowerPoint presentation and does pretty much everything you’d expect from a cool contemporary book. It’s also everything you’d expect from a classic penned one hundred years ago: beautifully written, filled with great characters and hard to shake. Time will be kind to it.

Watership Down: A Novel

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Watership Down by Richard Adams

This novel is about rabbits and was inspired by stories that author Richard Adams told to his daughters on long road trips. So that explains why Watership Down is often slotted in the children’s section. But it might just as easily be put in the fantasy or fiction or nature or “books you didn’t think you’d care about but the second you start reading them you can’t stop” section. That’s a category, right? In this beguiling adventure, a group of rabbits listen to the prophet-like Fiver, who has a vision their warren is about to be destroyed. They break away from the only world they’ve ever known and head off into the unknown. The group struggles to overcome dangers like cars, dogs, snares, mutiny and much more, with only the vague idea of a destination — a hilltop where they might live in peace. These aren’t rabbits with pocket watches and they don’t live in some fantasy world. This is our world and the rabbits behave very much like rabbits do. And yet, they’re us too. Gripping, frightening, inspiring.

The Namesake: A Novel

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The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

Every well-written story is universal. And Jhumpa Lahiri’s first novel after her acclaimed short story collection Interpreter of Maladies is yet another example. A Bengali couple from Calcutta India moves to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Their son born in America is named Gogol, after the Russian writer Nikolai Gogol. It’s the familiar and fresh story of immigrants, of people making a new home and wondering how and if they should fit in, what to leave behind and what to cling to. What kind of a name is “Gogol,” wonders the son, who wants to legally change his name, rebelling against his parents by becoming so American they think they might be losing him. Nuanced and moving, Lahiri’s book shows that the immigrant story—that most American of stories—is always being told anew.

The Brothers Karamazov (Bicentennial Edition): A Novel in Four Parts With Epilogue

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The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Everyone from Sigmund Freud to Albert Einstein loved this novel—the final and greatest achievement of one of Russia’s greatest writers. You’ve heard about The Grand Inquisitor, even if you’ve never read the poem in the novel where he first appears. And pretty much anyone who makes a list of this sort includes it. Indeed, author W. Somerset Maugham includes it in his admirably brief list of the ten greatest novels of all time. We can’t bring ourselves to be as succinct as he, but at least we’ve included seven of the books he admired best. Just as Dostoevsky wrestles with the idea of God and free will, you simply have to wrestle with Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. Don’t worry; even if they best you, you’ll never forget the struggle to truly understand these Russian bears.

Parable of the Sower (Parable, 1)

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Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

The body of work created by Octavia E. Butler is rich. But 1993’s Parable of the Sower looms larger and larger, if only because it grapples with the climate crisis, inequality, corporate greed and the eternal hope that life will be better somewhere else. Lauren Oya Olamina is an African American teenager living in the deteriorating society of 2024. She escapes the violent collapse of her preacher father’s isolated community and travels north for work. Hiding her gender, fearing rape, risking an interracial romance, Lauren creates a new religion she calls Earthseed, where humanity’s only chance to get it right is to start again on another planet. Like the best parables, Butler’s book is first and foremost a story you’ll remember. But it also has much to teach.

Waiting (Vintage International)

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Waiting by Jin Ha

Just…wait. That’s all Dr. Lin Kong is asking his girlfriend, Nurse Manna Wu, to do. Wait. Lin wants to marry Manna but he’s already married to Shuyu, an old-fashioned village woman Lin never loved but dutifully wed. Now he needs to ask for a divorce. Every year he heads home to his village determined to do so…and every year he comes back to the city and asks Manna to wait just one more year. Jin Ha’s National Book Award-winning novel revealed life in Communist China in new detail for many readers, showing its constraints on personal freedom. More broadly, Waiting shows the divide between city and country, between tradition and modernism, between passion and responsibility, divides that are familiar the world over. Which explains its popularity the world over…except in China, where the book was denounced and has yet to be officially published.

Play It As It Lays (FSG Classics)

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Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion

Joan Didion is rightly acclaimed for her nonfiction work laying bare the soul of America. She also won a legion of new fans with the memoir The Year Of Magical Thinking, the story of Didion’s life in the year after the death of her husband John Gregory Dunne. But boy did she know show biz. In her second novel, Didion presents one of its fringe players. Maria is in a psychiatric hospital in LA, thinking back on how she got there. Born in a small town, Maria dreams of being an actress, falls in with abusive men and only moves to Hollywood after she’s given acting up. That may be the sanest move of her life. Everything is a struggle for Maria, who fights to protect her ailing child, fights addiction, fights for a divorce and is now fighting to get better and get out of the hospital. Life soon imitated art: the novel came out to acclaim in 1970 and Didion along with her husband spent the next decade working in Hollywood, albeit with much more success than Maria.

Anna Karenina

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Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

If you’re not ambitious, start with Tolstoy’s devastating novella The Death Of Ivan Ilyich. If you’re overly ambitious, go for War And Peace, a novel as big and sprawling and all-encompassing as its title. But if you want to start at the top and prefer a little doomed romance with your Russian epics, try Anna Karenina. It features enough vivid characters and plotlines to power two soap operas. Like War and Peace, it’s not shy about boldly tackling everything from religion to Imperial Russia in all its glorious complications and so on. But it revolves around a juicy love affair between the married Anna and the cavalry officer Count Vronsky, who simply must be described as “dashing.” You’ll be caught up in a way you’re simply not by the equally marvelous but less focused musings of War And Peace. Just don’t read it on a station platform while waiting for a train.

Dandelion Wine: A Novel (Grand Master Editions)

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Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury is famous for his dystopian novel about book-burning titled Fahrenheit 451. He’s acclaimed for his eerie tales of space colonization called The Martian Chronicles. But those who love him best gravitate to the nostalgic tales of childhood in Dandelion Wine. Tinged with magical realism, these evocations of small town life dipped in honey are irresistible because they capture a perfect past that never really existed…except for every boy and girl with a little imagination and a lot of heart. Bookseller Jim Reed of Jim Reed Books in Birmingham, Alabama, always has a few copies on hand to press on lucky browsers. “Christopher Isherwood and R.L. Stine and I, among others, believe this is the great American novel,” says Reed. “Dandelion Wine is a magical lightning bolt. When I first read this wonderful book in the 1950s, I was a teenager without compass, a quiet kid with no prospects. Dandelion Wine awakened me to the idea that I could be a dreamer, an actor, a writer…and that that was ok. Apparently I wasn’t the only kid on the planet who was amazed by life.”

Three Novels of New York: The House of Mirth, The Custom of the Country, The Age of Innocence (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

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The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. At the time, that wasn’t a big deal, as such—four of the first seven winners were women. Men slowly began to dominate the award, with women now making up only a third of all winners. Men also dominate in The Age Of Innocence. The protagonist Newland Archer is accustomed to getting whatever he wants: Newland is old money, upper class and proud of it. He should marry the innocent seeming May Welland but he’s drawn to the unsuitable yet more interesting Ellen Olenska. Newland pursues her, but his peers won’t have it and quietly disapprove. The bonds of society, the sharply defined lines between old money and new, between the “better” classes and the lower ones are all on display in Wharton’s dissection of a world she knew so well. Pregnancy as a plot twist and a weapon? You might say only a woman would have thought of that. But you’d be more correct to say only a great writer would have deployed it so well.

Midnight’s Children

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Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie’s second novel is so influential in India that critics refer to the “post-Rushdie” era. Among countless accolades, it scored the highest honor in the Commonwealth: the Booker Prize. Then on the Booker’s 25th anniversary, it was named the best book to win the Booker. And on its 40th anniversary, Midnight’s Children did it again, being chosen as the Booker of Bookers. Rushdie’s third novel The Satanic Verses is the one that unfortunately made him a household name around the world, as well as a fugitive from a fatwa. But Midnight’s Children remains a landmark in world literature, as signal an event in its way as the independence of India from the U.K. and the wrenching partition of that country into India and Pakistan. The babies born between midnight and 1 a.m. on that fateful day have special powers. Our hero Saleem is born very close to midnight, so he proves very powerful indeed. Saleem’s story is very much the story of modern India in all its tragedy, missed opportunity and promise. Few novels are as ambitious and even fewer succeed so splendidly.

Devil’s Cub

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Devil’s Cub by Georgette Heyer

J.R.R. Tolkien established the modern fantasy, a genre almost entirely indebted to him for its existence. Few can make a similar claim about pioneering a new category of fiction. But Georgette Heyer can. She wrote many thrillers, often one a year, and they deserve your attention. But she’s widely recognized as creating the modern historical romance and more specifically, the Regency romance. Jane Austen wrote Regency romances as a matter of course—for her, they were contemporary novels because that’s when she lived. One hundred years later, Heyer would bring a scholar’s passion for accuracy to the Regency romance. By the end of her life, Heyer owned a reference library exceeding 1000 titles about the era, along with any info she could find on the history of snuff boxes, the cost of candles in a particular year and so on. What’s truly exciting is that her novels like Devil’s Cub are so much fun. The characters are offbeat for the day (Marrying for love? What an idea!) and Heyer has a blast upending convention, even as she establishes that convention so well. Everyone in the romance field stands in her debt. Devil’s Cub is great but really you can’t go wrong with anything she wrote.

Where the Wild Things Are

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Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

A picture book classic can’t just appeal to kids—it also must appeal to adults because they’re the ones who read it. Author Matthew Paul Turner estimates he’s read Where The Wild Things Are hundreds of times to his own children and to classrooms of kids. “To me, Sendak’s 1963 offering is a perfect children’s book because it’s one of the most delightful books to read aloud, offering moments to read quietly, in almost a hush, and also lines to read loudly with growls and snorts,” says Turner, author most recently of I Am God’s Dream with illustrator Estrella Bascuñan. “With every turn of the page, Sendak adds mystery and nuance to Max’s adventure using the fewest words possible. One minute we’re observing Max in his bedroom yelling ‘I’ll eat you up!’ at his mother and a few pages later, we’ve joined Max on an island of monsters, romping and stomping with the young hero. Wild Things is real and it’s fantasy, it’s childlike and yet it leaves space between the words to imagine a deeper and more profound story. Its illustrations are simple and timeless and have inspired the imaginations of generations of readers. I love that I was able to introduce my kids to a story that I loved deeply when I was their age.”

Waiting to Exhale

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Waiting To Exhale by Terry McMillan

It’s hard to overstate the impact of Waiting To Exhale when it came out in 1992. It’s a thoroughly entertaining novel about female friendship, the pressures of career and how very disappointing men can sometimes (ok, often) be. Funny, sexy and smart, Terry McMillan’s book is a winner. While it has many precursors (many mothers, you might say), the success of it and her follow-up How Stella Got Her Groove Back proved a landmark. This was a book embraced by a wide audience. But it wasn’t written to reach a wide audience and didn’t worry about a wide (that is, white) audience. It was by and for people of color and especially black people and especially black women. So when it became a best-seller and reached both the women it celebrated and everyone else as well, the change was fundamental. One year later, the TV show Living Single debuted, so change was in the air, a change marked by so many movies and TV shows and books and music by the likes of Jill Scott. A change sparked by Waiting To Exhale.

The Sound and the Fury: The Corrected Text

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The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

One of William Faulkner’s masterpieces, The Sound and the Fury, signified something, though critics were mostly dismissive when this story of a fading Southern family came out in 1929. Its stream of consciousness style, jumps in time and multiple narrators led off by the mentally challenged Benjy Compson was just too much for many. Respected critic Clifton Fadiman wasn’t alone when he recognized Faulkner’s artistry but for the life of him couldn’t understand why it was used to tell this confusing story. Within two years, the book would start to gain momentum commercially and in 20 years, Faulkner received the Nobel Prize for Literature. Today, so many books and tv shows and movies like Pulp Fiction have used similar time-jumping structures to tell a story that The Sound And The Fury feels almost familiar. It’s still bold and disorienting, but at least readers can rest assured they’ll figure out what the heck is going on and that it’s all worth the ride.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn [75th Anniversary Ed] (Perennial Classics)

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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

This autobiographical novel about a young girl who loves reading and dreams of something…more speaks to immigrants and adolescents everywhere. Writers like Kristy Woodson Harvey hold it especially dear. “I read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn for the first time in the fourth grade,” says Harvey, author most recently of The Wedding Veil, “and have read it almost every year since. Every time, every page, I find something new to love, some different piece of wisdom to grasp onto, something truer and more real about humanity than I did before. The brilliance of Betty Smith was her ability to transform the ordinary moments of our lives into something bright and shining, to find that morsel of goodness that connects us across circumstance and time. And, of course, ‘The world was hers for the reading,’ is a quote that still, all these years later, can’t help but make my book-loving heart race.”

Donald Barthelme: Collected Stories (LOA #343) (Library of America, 343)

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Donald Barthelme: Collected Stories by Donald Barthelme

Donald Barthelme is America’s Beckett, which is to say America’s class clown or more exactly America’s court jester—the one who gets away with speaking the brutal truth because it’s cloaked in absurdist humor the unwary dismiss as surreal, fragmented nonsense. His short stories (and the infrequent novel) are invariably playful, hilarious and grim. In his work Barthelme drew inspiration from visual artists as much as he did fellow writers as diverse as Kafka and S.J. Perelman, always deferential if not reverential to Beckett. So, at times, his stories would be interrupted by a found piece of illustration from the 19th century, just to keep you on your toes. Monty Python probably paid attention. Collected Stories from the Library of America gathers together essentially every short story he ever published, which is appropriate since every short story of his is essential. To say he was held in high esteem by other writers is an understatement. “This book will take you from the early let’s say cubism to the later let’s say domesticity in the Barthelme progression,” says Padgett Powell, author most recently of Indigo. “A major book: what Hemingway was to the first, Barthelme was to the second half of 20th century American fiction.”

Get Shorty: A Novel

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Get Shorty by Elmore Leonard

Toss a dart at the books of Elmore Leonard and you’ll hit a classic. Thunk and you’ve picked his wonderfully unconventional Western Valdez Is Coming. Or thunk the period gangster story The Hot Kid. Or thunk and you’ve landed on Get Shorty, in which Leonard combines hilarious dialogue and vivid characters with genuine danger to skewer Hollywood along with the usual loan sharks and criminal lowlifes. God knows why Leonard would bite the hand that feeds him—Hollywood made one terrific movie after another based on his novels and the 1995 film Get Shorty with John Travolta was no exception.

The Bell Jar (Modern Classics)

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The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

For people living with depression, for certain women, for certain artists, few books matter as much as The Bell Jar. The poet Sylvia Plath shows her (autobiographical) character Esther Greenwood fighting depression with a humor and clarity that astonishes even today. We know so much more about bipolar disorder, depression and the like now. But Plath knew it instinctively in 1963 and she captured what it is to live with depression, rather than damning or praising this treatment or that clinic or yet another off-target diagnosis. What a person really wants first—really needs first—is to be believed and listened to and understood. When you’re trapped under a bell jar, it’s hard to be heard. Not for Plath, who’s still speaking out some 60 years later.

Lake Wobegon Days

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Lake Wobegon Days by Garrison Keillor

“It’s been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, my hometown out there on the edge of the prairie….” For decades, those words promised a return to an idyllic innocence that never really existed and a gentle teasing of human foibles that always will. The radio show A Prairie Home Companion was a marvelous combination of good music, bad jokes, community and a generosity of spirit. The highlight back in the day was the monologue with news from Lake Wobegon, delivered extemporaneously by host Garrison Keillor. He reshaped some of the best monologues into the collection Lake Wobegon Days and it catapulted him and the show into even greater worldwide fame. Yes, it won a Grammy as an audiobook and yes, some fans prefer to hear him, rather than read him. But Keillor is a careful writer and knows the difference between what works on the air and what works on the page. So don’t discount the craft put into this gem of gentle humor. If you can’t help hearing Keillor’s voice while reading it, well that’s okay too.

The Nightingale: A Novel

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The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Without warning, every once in a while, it seems like everyone you know—everyone—has read, is reading or is about to read the same book. In 2015, that book was The Nightingale, a World War II novel about two estranged sisters resisting the Nazi invasion of France. One secretly shelters Jews, including a neighbor’s child she hides in plain sight. The other sister joins the French Resistance and devises a plan to spirit away stranded Allied pilots to neutral territory. Like the most enduring thrillers, you’re sucked in not just by plot twists or the high drama of war but by the characters who become so real to you that their fate is akin to your own.

The Good Soldier (Vintage Classics)

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The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford

Ford Madox Ford’s novel came out in 1915. You have to remember that when reading this story of poisoned marriages, infidelity and madness. Its narrator is so slippery and its attitude so cynical that the effect is almost shocking. Two couples meet at a spa in Germany where a respective spouse can be treated for their ailing heart. One couple is British, with Captain Edward Ashburnham resting his heart after overuse: the man is chronically unfaithful to his wife Leonora. The other couple is American, with the wife Florence pretending to have a weak heart so she can keep her husband John from “bothering” her in bed while she maintains an affair on the side. This isn’t Noel Coward territory: suicide and mental breakdowns are on tap, not to mention intimations of abuse and even the possibility that we’re being sold a bill of goods by the narrator. Truly no one is good here except, of course, for Ford.

Normal People: A Novel

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Normal People by Sally Rooney

She’s the voice of a generation! She’s Ireland’s most popular export since U2! Or we could calm down and say that, three novels in, Sally Rooney is the real deal. Normal People became a hugely popular miniseries and turned Paul Mescal into a star, so thank you for that, Sally. But what a novel! It’s so engaging you almost don’t realize how ambitious it proves, tackling class and gender with insight and complexity. Connell is the star of his high school, almost embarrassed to be dating the shy Marianne. But she blossoms at university while Connell struggles to adapt to a wider world where he’s not automatically B.M.O.C. She’s rich, he’s working class and they are both smart enough to realize this tangled, confusing, ever-shifting relationship (friendship? love?) has to mean something. Doesn’t it?

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Dover Thrift Editions: Classic Novels)

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Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Some novels reveal their pleasures immediately. Others need careful attention, re-reading and perhaps a little life under the reader’s belt before they can be fully appreciated. Lewis Carroll’s masterpiece is different. Its pleasures are immediate and abundantly clear—the fantastical tale is hilarious, satirical, intellectually playful, clearly has a lot on its mind and is above all fun. Even a child knows this. Yet the more you read it and the more you think about it and what it says and means, the curiouser and curiouser it becomes. Novelist Joyce Carol Oates, for one, often cites it as a profound influence. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is hilarious and satirical and all that, but far more than you realized. If it’s been a while since you went down the rabbit hole, all we can say is don’t hesitate to DRINK ME and EAT ME and indeed READ ME.

Olive Kitteridge

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Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

In real life, we want nothing to do with ornery, cranky, difficult people. Who needs the bother? But in movies and TV shows and books we positively delight in them. It’s fun to spend time with the rude, downright obnoxious character who says what everyone is secretly thinking. Writer Elizabeth Strout hit pay dirt with the prickly personality of Olive Kitteridge. Embodied to perfection by Frances McDormand in an HBO miniseries, Olive observes everyone around her with a gimlet eye…and then tells them precisely what she sees. Her saving grace is that Olive is just as hard on herself. You finish the book and immediately start to miss her. Strout must have felt the same way—she wrote an equally acclaimed sequel called Olive, Again about a decade later.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (with bonus content): A Novel

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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon

In the year 2000, author Michael Chabon discovered his superpower. Prior to that, he seemed a mild-mannered writer. Chabon’s acclaimed debut novel The Mysteries of Pittsburgh was seen as semi-autobiographical, like many first novels. He struggled with the follow-up and then dropped it completely to do that most writerly of things—write a novel about a writer trying to write a novel (a college professor, no less!). Wonder Boys was a huge success and spawned a good movie, but still. One worried. Then Chabon was bitten by a radioactive bug or discovered a hidden passage in his library or was told about his true origins on another planet or something! Because out of nowhere he delivered The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, a fictionalized reimagining of two nice Jewish boys who create a superhero comic book, a la Superman. It’s a rich period story punctuated by vivid retellings of the comic book plot, World War II, a gay romance, assimilation and so on. Even more amazing, Chabon hasn’t looked back. Since this landmark, he’s written children’s books, a sci-fi mystery set in an alternate timeline, a novella capturing Sherlock Holmes in his old age, a serialized novel about swashbuckling Jews around the turn of the last millennium and even a comic book bringing to life the comic book hero of Kavalier & Clay! Genre is his superpower and Chabon won’t ever forget it.

An American Marriage (Oprah’s Book Club): A Novel

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An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

Writer Tayari Jones lays claim to Atlanta as her literary stomping ground, thanks to a string of acclaimed novels and her role as editor of the mystery/thriller collection Atlanta Noir. Bookseller Sarah Hollenbeck touts An American Marriage, the story of a newly married couple whose lives are torn apart when the husband is wrongfully convicted and sent to prison for a crime he didn’t commit. “It’s an intimate look deep into the hearts of people who are victims of our current mass incarceration crisis but must somehow face the future,” says Hollenbeck of Women & Children First bookstore in Chicago. “A profound and stirring book!” She’s not alone in loving it. Oprah made it a pick for her book club, President Barack Obama touted the title and it won the prestigious Women’s Prize For Fiction.

The Chosen

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The Chosen by Chaim Potok

A father expects his son to enter the family business, but the son has other plans. You’ve heard this one before. But when that tension between expectation and desire is set in the world of Jewish boys growing up in Brooklyn during World War II, it becomes fresh and surprising. Reuven and Danny are friends, even though Reuven is part of the more worldly Modern Orthodox community while Danny is the son of a rabbi leading an ultra-orthodox Hasidic yeshiva. They’re all-American boys who bond over baseball. And both want to defy their parents. Reuven yearns to be a rabbi, but his father expects the boy to pursue higher education. Danny’s father assumes the boy will become a rabbi, but Danny wants to study psychology. Who gets to choose the life you lead? Your father? Yourself? And if the Jews are the Chosen, how could the Holocaust ever take place? A novel that grapples with faith and family, The Chosen will remain a perennial favorite as long as kids and parents clash.

A Song Of Ice And Fire 7 Books Set By George R. R. Martin

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A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin

How can we celebrate a fantasy series that’s not even done yet? Easy. All fantasy writers stand on the shoulders of J.R.R. Tolkien, as Martin himself readily acknowledges. But few do it with such flair and passion as he. Martin’s novels are brutal, cynical, and thrilling in their scope. In them, the smallest and kindest among us don’t pop up to save the day. More likely, they’re trampled underfoot. Major characters who die won’t be brought back to life. They’re just dead. Betrayal and honor carry a heavy price and it’s not clear which is higher. Watching leaders battle for control of Westeros while ignoring a looming (ecological?) disaster isn’t “timely.” It’s timeless. Fighting for power while sidestepping the issues that really matter is par for the course with the ruling class. Someday we’ll be able to read A Song Of Ice and Fire from start to finish. Those frustrating gaps where characters aren’t heard from for a thousand pages won’t matter. The gaps between books being published won’t matter either. All that will matter is the song. So take your time, Mr. Martin.

Selected Stories of Alice Munro, 1968-1994 (Vintage International)

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Selected Stories by Alice Munro

This is the name of the greatest hits set from 1996, gathering the best stories from Alice Munro’s first eight volumes. It’s been published under various titles, but don’t worry. You can grab any collection, like Vintage Munro (which is a redundant title) or My Best Stories. Or you can buy her first book of stories Dance Of The Happy Shades or her most recent Dear Life. Really, just look for the name Alice Munro and read it. She’s the first Canadian and only the thirteenth woman in history to win the Nobel Prize. You’ll soon understand why.

Roots: The Saga of an American Family

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Roots by Alex Haley

If you or someone in your family has taken a swab test to trace your roots, you can thank writer Alex Haley. A passion for genealogy and a desire to see if the oral history he’d heard over the years was based on truth sent Haley on a quest. It took him all the way to Africa and what is now known as The Gambia. Then it led him to a typewriter, where Haley took the facts as he best knew them and crafted a novel. That book told the story of Kunta Kinte, a 17 year old man cruelly kidnapped from his home and sold into slavery…and then it told the story of the next seven generations of Kinte’s family, moving from tragedy to triumph. They started filming the miniseries even before the novel was published; both were massive, unprecedented successes. Genealogy and our understanding of American history have never been the same.

Anne of Green Gables (Children’s Signature Classics)

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Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

A plucky young orphan girl with spunk? Check! Ornery old people who turn out to be endearing? Check! Some “disasters” and setbacks that loom large for our heroine but prove surmountable? Check! A boy who is infuriating but proves to be rather handsome and kind once you get to know him? Check! Yes, this 1908 classic was not the first of its kind (hello, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm) and certainly inspired countless successors. But the red-haired Anne with an “e” is special. It inspired five sequels of increasing depth and sophistication, though writer Margaret Atwood insists this first novel is the best. And who are we to argue with Margaret Atwood? By the end of the series, Anne looks on as her children sleep, while the shadows of World War I loom large. You realize how much Anne and her world mean to you…and start to read them all over again.

Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth (Pantheon Graphic Library)

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Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid On Earth by Chris Ware

When people who don’t love comics single out a comic (or graphic novel or what-have-you) worth reading, they often light on something that is the least comic book-y thing they can find. Hence the universal—and yet deserved—praise for Chris Ware’s atypical, beautiful comic Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid On Earth. Outlets that rarely get comic books can “get” this mournful story of a middle-aged man who has a troubled relationship with his dad. The stories are quiet, piercing and broken up by flashbacks to Jimmy Corrigan’s grandfather as a boy, when he had a troubled relationship with his dad. First, you’ll be enraptured by the sheer pleasure of looking at this work of art. Then, you’ll sink into the story and its quiet moments and before you know it, you’re under his spell.

Speedboat: With an introduction by Hilton Als (W&N Essentials)

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Speedboat by Renata Adler

Renata Adler became infamous for reviewing a collection of movie criticism by Pauline Kael. Both were writers at the New Yorker but that didn’t stop Adler from decimating her colleague Kael’s work, tearing it down line by line, piece by piece. In her autobiographical-ish debut novel Speedboat, Adler did much the same for modern life in the 1970s. Moments flit by, fragmented scene follows fragmented scene and yet somehow it all coheres into the story of a journalist making her way through the world of New York City and politics and parties. “Reading it is like being in a snowstorm,” said one rave review in The New Yorker (not written by Kael, needless to say). Everyone from Elizabeth Hardwick to David Foster Wallace has championed it and Speedboat went from an out-of-print cult favorite to a modern classic.

The Grapes of Wrath: 75th Anniversary Edition

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The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

This is an angry book. It’s a nice, safe classic now, enshrined on lists like this, turned into a great movie starring Henry Fonda, a great stage play and even an opera. But when it came out, The Grapes Of Wrath was a thunderbolt. It was banned all over the place and burned…even by librarians! People argued about it. Debates were held on the radio. John Steinbeck was called a socialist, a communist and he would have been called worse but there was nothing worse to be called than a communist. Yet it sold and sold and sold. The debate hasn’t stopped. It was banned in Ireland in the 1950s. It was banned in Turkey in the 1970s. Today, people still raise objections to it being required reading in high schools or even optional reading or even just sitting on the shelf in libraries where some impressionable child might find it. The story of the Joad family, fleeing the ravages of the Dust Bowl and the Depression, desperate for jobs, hounded everywhere they go when all they want is a decent wage for a decent day’s work? That’s as timeless as it gets. Steinbeck might prefer a better future where the book was long forgotten or just a relic of ancient history. But he certainly wouldn’t be surprised that it’s still blazingly relevant. And he’d still be angry.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

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Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

No matter how unique, how unexpected, how new a novel seems, even its author can readily name the many novels that inspired it, paving the way for their “unprecedented” and original work. Still, the debut novel of Susanna Clarke certainly felt wonderfully fresh and new. Clarke might have mentioned Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees as one of many predecessors in tone and style. But we simply weren’t expecting a pitch-perfect evocation of the 19th-century novel a la Dickens and Austen, a comedy of manners and high drama which combines an alternate history, the Napoleonic Wars, the re-emergence of magic and most deliciously of all the knives-out ferocity that is academia into one bewitching tale. No one is more territorial than a scholar defending their minor backwater of knowledge and Clarke punctures such pomposity with footnotes to her novel that are howlingly funny in their pedanticism. This might have turned into a cult classic, one especially treasured by tenured professors. Instead, it became a rip-roaring bestseller to the delight of all.

A Death in the Family (Penguin Classics)

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A Death in the Family by James Agee

A brilliant film critic, James Agee also penned two classic screenplays: The African Queen (along with director John Huston and two others) and The Night Of The Hunter (with an uncredited Charles Laughton also playing a role). A good collaborator, Agee worked with photographer Walker Evans on Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, a ground-breaking combination of words and images documenting the lives of impoverished tenant farmers. But his posthumous novel A Death In The Family is the riveting, anguished pinnacle of Agee’s life. People can’t leave it alone. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize after an editor pulled it together from an unfinished manuscript. Others turned it into a Pulitzer Prize-winning play, a film, a TV movie and an opera. Then a scholar took issue with the editing and oversaw a new edition of the novel closer to the form it was in when Agee died. In every form, the story of a little boy in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1915—the year his father dies in a car accident—is piercing, heartwarming, nostalgic and so very moving.

Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West

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Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

Cormac McCarthy wrote easier books. The Road is his most popular work—a dystopian novel where the brutal struggle to survive is given purpose by showing a father determined to protect his young son. All The Pretty Horses is more lyrical and open-hearted, with a doomed romance at its core. Then there’s Blood Meridian, the anti-Western, a novel few praised when it first came out in 1985. In it, a semi-lawless band of men is sent off to scalp any violent Indians that cross their path along the U.S.-Mexican border. Soon they’re attacking peaceful Indians, sleepy Mexican villages, the Mexican army and pretty much anyone else unlucky enough to come in range. The violence is unremitting and you’ll decide it puts the lie to the romantic Westerns of your youth or you’ll decide this is how it really was back then so deal with it or you’ll decide violence is just the way of humanity, as one of the novel’s epigraphs suggests. Hard to shake, and maybe you shouldn’t try.

Tipping the Velvet: A Novel

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Tipping The Velvet by Sarah Waters

Don’t get the impression that Sarah Waters peaked with her marvelous debut Tipping The Velvet. You’ll find her crime novel Fingersmith on our list of the 110 Best Thriller, Crime, Suspense Novels Of All Time. But since she began with Tipping The Velvet, you should too. Waters was writing her PhD on historical fiction, figured she’d have a go at it herself and wrote this gripping novel. Forget everything you imagine you know about the Victorian era because it’s probably wrong. Here you’ll discover Nan, a young woman working in the unromantic business of oysters. Her world is upended by Kitty, a “masher,” a woman who dresses as a man onstage. Crime, betrayal, life on the stage, sex work of unimagined variety and more take place in the late 1800s against the backdrop of the suffragette movement, socialism and the constant fear of being arrested for whom they love. It’s a proper melodrama and in a novel this well-written and historically grounded, that’s a compliment.

Howards End (Warbler Classics Annotated Edition)

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Howards End by E.M. Forster

A Room With A View is Forster’s wittiest and most romantic novel. Maurice, and its doomed gay love, is his most personal. (It was only published after the author died in 1970.) A Passage To India, and its take on Empire, is his most popular. But Forster is at his most focused and refined with Howards End. He diagnoses the ills of English society while gently satirizing those who saw “the poor” as their own personal pet project. It’s all-encompassing, shrewd and generous of spirit, with the titular home proving both a symbol and a burden, until it’s finally placed into the right hands.

Underworld: A Novel

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Underworld by Don DeLillo

Like Babe Ruth pointing to where he’d hit a home run before a pitch is thrown, writer Don DeLillo’s career clearly pointed to this: a sprawling yet focused, all-encompassing masterpiece. And just like the Babe, he delivered. The 98-page opening section is devoted to The Shot Heard ‘Round The World, a home run by Bobby Thomson that won the New York Giants the pennant and sent them to the World Series. That ball is caught by a young black fan while J. Edgar Hoover watches from the stands, being informed during the game that the Soviets have successfully tested a hydrogen bomb. It’s all there—America, the Cold War, race, class, sports, sexuality, politics, joy, despair—and it’s done so perfectly that this chunk of the book would later be titled Pafko At The Wall and sold separately as a novella. The rest of the novel charts the life of a man obsessed with finding out what happened to that home run ball and acquiring it for himself. Oh, and charting the 20th century as well. So far, it’s DeLillo’s best novel, but he still has innings left to play.

The God of Small Things: A Novel

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The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

The cruelty of caste. The dismissal of women. The pain of heartbreak. Family. Religion. All play a role in the meticulous, absorbing debut novel by Arundhati Roy that took the literary world by storm 25 years ago. Set in Kerala, India, and beginning in the 1960s, Roy’s story centers on women betrayed by love, bolstered by love and bent on love. To this day, so-called “Love Laws,” in both the cultural and legal sense, limit who can love who and how much in India, with gender, caste and faith all obstacles to be surmounted. What’s love got to do with it? Everything—and Roy demonstrates why in a novel as formally complex as it is generous of spirit.

Ubik

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Ubik by Philip K. Dick

Sci-fi author Philip K. Dick is compared to Franz Kafka and Thomas Pynchon as much as to other science fiction writers. But where to begin with his confounding body of work? The books that inspired the film Blade Runner or the TV series The Man in The High Castle? Well, a body of voters in France and the very American magazine Time both agree his masterpiece is, in fact, Ubik—a nightmare of the future where everything is monetized. Bookseller Lisa Morton agrees. “Ubik starts with a hero named Joe Chip who is unable to leave his automated apartment because he doesn’t have money to pay his door,” says Morton of Iliad Bookshop in North Hollywood, California. “From there, it takes off on a mind-bending story of time and evolution moving backwards, with all roads seeming to lead to death and dissolution. That mad genius Philip K. Dick was once shocked when told that French critics had chosen Ubik as one of the five best novels ever written. He thought surely the list must be the five best science fiction novels, but no—it was simply the five best novels in all of literature. After reading this funny, horrific, tragic and surprising book, you might agree with the French.”

The Golden Notebook: A Novel (Perennial Classics)

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The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing

Were you wowed by Cloud Atlas, the David Mitchell novel that toyed with structure so cleverly it turned his genre-hopping book into a literary Matryoshka, a Russian nesting doll? Did the way Ian McEwan ended Atonement—changing everything that came before—blow your mind? Well, open The Golden Notebook. Doris Lessing’s masterpiece is often hailed for its clever-clever narrative, which goes back and forth between the four notebooks that document the life of writer Anna Wulf. Others emphasize its importance as a feminist classic. Lessing herself put the focus on the titanic issues the novel engaged with, from Stalinism to colonialism to the sexual revolution and the women’s liberation movement. The fact that she dazzled while doing so, thought Lessing, was not the point. She’s right, but dazzle it does.

A Brief History of Seven Killings: A Novel

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A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James

Artist Bob Marley looms large over popular music and the history of Jamaica. His greatest hits set, Legend, is one of the best-selling albums of all time. His influence is incalculable. And writer Marlon James captures both Marley—referred to only as The Singer—and decades of Jamaican history in his third novel. It leaps from an attempted assassination of Marley in 1976 to the ravages of crack in the U.S. and back to Jamaica in the 1990s. James is so masterful as he captures a remarkable range of characters and time periods that he became the first Jamaican writer to win the prestigious Booker Prize for best novel. After capturing such a broad sweep of history, the only way for James to top himself was to create an entire world. He is doing just that with a fantasy trilogy based on African myths and history. It began with Black Leopard, Red Wolf, continued with the just-out Moon Witch, Spider King and will be complete with White Wing, Dark Star.

Life After Life: A Novel

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Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

Oh for a chance to try again! Who hasn’t said, “If I knew then what I know now!” and meant it? It’s a tempting desire and that’s why movies like Groundhog Day are so powerful. Writer Kate Atkinson tackles this premise with relish in Life After Life. Our heroine Ursula (or should that be “heroines?”) is conceived…and then dies in the womb, strangled by an umbilical cord. Fade to black. She is conceived again, avoids the danger and is born…only to die another way. Fade to black! Again and again, Ursula is born and makes her way through life. She dies repeatedly during the Spanish Flu and tries again, dimly aware as her lives repeat that she’s done this before and learning just enough to improve her chances. Facing down a rapist, surviving the Blitz during World War II, choosing to fall in love and spending WWII in Berlin with her German husband, again and again Ursula lives out her lives with an ever-expanding sense of the possibilities we all have at our command. It’s playful, serious, mind-blowing and oh, for a chance to try again. At least, we can read it again.

The Adventures of Captain Underpants: Color Edition

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The Adventures of Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey

When a parent is desperate to see their kids embrace reading, any book they will actually read, indeed demand to read as soon as the latest one comes out, is immediately one of the greatest books of all time. And that’s why the silly, punny, juvenile humor of the Captain Underpants series is here. Two boys turn their school principal into a superhero? Professor Poopypants? Bionic Boogie Boy? Relax! As long as they’re giggling and reading, it’s good. Bookseller Kathy Doyle Thomas of Half Price Books (headquartered in Dallas, Texas), knows that well. “My dyslexic son was obsessed with Captain Underpants and his crazy adventures,” says Doyle Thomas. “He was not a strong reader, but could easily read and comprehend the books and relate to the character. Most importantly, he felt good about himself!”

The Great Gatsby: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

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The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

If you want to become an indelible part of American culture, it’s always smart to write a short, easy-to-read novel that can be taught in high school English classes. For generations past, those novels included A Separate Peace by John Knowles, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. They’re part of a shared memory for older generations, the way the Harry Potter books and Star Wars films are for people today. Each followed a different path to success. A Separate Peace began as a short story appearing in Cosmopolitan and was a solid success when published as a novel. To Kill A Mockingbird proved a runaway bestseller and scored the Pulitzer Prize. The Great Gatsby languished with modest sales in 1925; Fitzgerald died fifteen years later believing it was a flop. But when World War II came along, G.I.s were given a paperback copy and its popularity soared. Today, few books embody and question the American Dream quite like this novel about Nick Carraway caught up in the frenzied world of new money living it up in Long Island. Not only do some lives have a second act, so do some books. Especially the great ones.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone: Ravenclaw Edition; Black and Blue

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Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

Sure, it’s just a modern updating of Tom Brown’s School Days with a dollop of fantasy. But the magic isn’t just in the spells and potions. It’s found in J.K. Rowling’s remarkable gift for naming (Dumbledore, Hagrid, Ravenclaw), plotting and humor. From the butterbeer on tap to Harry the Boy Who Lived (but did so in a cramped space underneath the stairs of his mean aunt and uncle), the invention never flags. Rowling’s expansive vision grew and grew along with the books in this seven-volume series. An entire generation simply had to read them. People lined up at midnight all over the world when a new one came out. The movies and games and plays and merchandise still stand in their shadow. And it all began with this debut, which is nigh on perfect and magical in every way that matters.

One Hundred Years of Solitude (Harper Perennial Modern Classics)

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One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

What do you do as a critic when a major writer like Gabriel García Márquez delivers a novel so brilliant it can’t be denied? Normally, you just shout about it from the rooftops. But when that novel combines the fantastical with the ordinary, when it draws upon the magical in a way that is uncomfortably akin to the despised genre of fantasy, you’re in trouble, since fantasy can’t be taken seriously by literary critics. The answer is simple. You cast a spell and instead of calling it “fantasy,” you call it “magical realism” and everyone is happy. The novel can be praised, a new fancy phrase has been invented (and will be applied to almost any writer from Latin America, whether it fits or not) and a sprawling, sexy, bewildering tale that spans generations and is set in part in a fictional town called Macondo and includes people tied to trees for years on end and more incest than you would expect becomes one of the most acclaimed and best-selling books of all time. And realistically, that’s pretty magical.

White Teeth (Vintage International)

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White Teeth by Zadie Smith

It’s not fair, but we’re still happily waiting for writer Zadie Smith to fulfill the promise of her debut novel White Teeth. This sprawling story covers 25 years and the lives of everyone from a devout Jehovah’s Witness from Jamaica to a white Englishman dumped by his Italian wife to a Bengali Muslim from Bangladesh who is endlessly distracted from his faith by a fondness for beer, masturbation and his children’s music teacher. As Edward R. Murrow famously intoned during his war reporting: this…is London. Critics and readers agreed wholeheartedly as White Teeth won awards, hit the bestseller list and became a miniseries and a play. Smith hasn’t stopped: she overcame the sophomore slump with her excellent third novel On Beauty and continues steadily on with five novels in all, two short story collections, a play, teaching and the occasional foray into the role of public intellectual. That’s exactly how you fulfill the promise of a brilliant debut. You do the long, steady work of writing and publishing and then writing again. As Smith keeps this up, in another 30 years with another clutch of great books to her credit, we’ll gladly say her promise is fulfilled. Until then, we greedily demand more.

Les Miserables (Signet Classics)

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Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

Some novels are so big, so important, so monumental, they can’t be ignored. Such is Les Misérables, just one of the great novels by Victor Hugo, an author so popular in France that when he died more than two million people—two million!—took part in the funeral procession. The story is familiar to you, the story of a man who stole a loaf of bread to feed a child and paid a terrible price. No, it’s not enough to see the musical or watch a film or TV adaptation. It’s time to read the book, all of it. When you’re done, you’ll want to make the world a better place.

All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel

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All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Sometimes you just want a good story. Oh yes, Anthony Doerr’s Pulitzer Prize winner is beautifully written and grapples with all sorts of themes—how could any book set in part during World War II that’s worth its salt fail to do so? But let the scholars parse its greatness. You’ll simply be caught up in the tale of Marie-Laure, a little blind girl who grows up in Paris and then flees the war to reside in Saint-Malo. Her father builds his daughter a model city of their new town so she can learn her way around. Then he disappears. Marie-Laure’s story is interwoven with the story of a little German boy named Werner who is handy with electronics. If you expect their paths to cross during the war, well, you won’t be disappointed. But first, you’ll learn about the cursed diamond known as the Sea Of Flames, an old man still haunted by World War I, a maid who takes part in the Resistance and so much more. A treat.

A Wrinkle in Time: 50th Anniversary Commemorative Edition (A Wrinkle in Time Quintet, 1)

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A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

What’s not to love? You’ve got a missing father and a trio of kids determined to find him, led by 13-year-old Meg Murry. You’ve got mysterious neighbors known as Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which. They task Meg, her super-smart little brother Charles and their friend Calvin to save her father…and the world! You’ve got the ability to travel through time and space, centaurs, strange new planets and creatures, new friends and dangerous enemies and a race against time as Earth is slowly engulfed by an evil known as The Black Thing. Kids and adults have loved this novel (and its sequels) ever since, celebrating a story where a girl is the hero of a sci-fi/fantasy and Love is more powerful than Hate.

The Savage Detectives: A Novel

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The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño

If you’re Latin or simply read a lot of Latin American literature, you might roll your eyes at The Savage Detectives being on this list. There are other authors, other books from Latin America since Gabriel García Márquez, you would say. Yes, yes, but if the died-too-young Bolaño’s novel (or his equally acclaimed 2666) is always the book, the author people tout to show they’re aware of the vast body of fiction found in Latin America, well, that’s not so bad. The Savage Detectives is bohemian, rebellious and bold in structure. It covers decades of history and the romantic—if tiresome—travels of poets proudly dubbing themselves the Visceral Realists. Think On The Road, for starters. Plus, Bolaño name-checks so many other authors and works that any reader enamored of it will surely start tracking down some of those other books. Sure, many of them are imaginary, but it’s a start.

Bastard Out of Carolina: A Novel

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Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison

A novel can mean everything to a reader. But sometimes we forget that a novel can mean everything to its author as well. Writer Dorothy Allison put everything into her semi-autobiographical debut. It’s about a child repeatedly beaten and assaulted by a stepfather, while the mother tries and fails again and again to leave him behind. Allison poured in the details of her own childhood, the family she was estranged from for years, the poetry and short stories she was publishing, the sense of empowerment she felt from the feminist movement, her own awakening sexuality and more. The awards, the best-seller lists, the movie, the chance to keep writing and make a living as an author was all great, of course. But the mere fact of its existence, of being published in the first place and achieving what she set out to do, that surely meant everything to Allison. And readers responded.

Mr. Midshipman Hornblower (Hornblower Saga (Paperback))

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The Horatio Hornblower Series by C.S. Forester

Everyone should read the Aubrey-Maturin nautical novels of Patrick O’Brian. But before you read them, you’re well advised to dive into the Horatio Hornblower books by C.S. Forester. O’Brian just assumes you know as much about the Napoleonic era and seafaring as he did. Forester takes the reader by the hand, letting them learn the difference between a mainsail and a halyard right alongside our hero. By the end, you’ll feel immersed in the era and ready to take command of your own ship. Bookseller Ed Justus of Talk Story Bookstore in Hanapepe, Hawaii, agrees. “Reading these as an adult, any of the Hornblower books are completely engaging,” says Justus. “Forester’s writing style flows seamlessly, making action and interpersonal character development equally as interesting. I could smell the salt air, feel the movement of the ship, and the adrenaline at the sight of an approaching vessel. Really timeless stuff burned into my memory.”

Charming Billy: A Novel (Picador Modern Classics)

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Charming Billy by Alice McDermott

You’ll never catch Alice McDermott “writing.” Like her quiet, unassuming characters (people so “typical” that one extraordinary novel about an ordinary life is simply titled Someone), McDermott’s prose never calls attention to itself. Whether charting the course of young love (That Night); much of the 20th Century (The Ninth Hour); or simply the burial of a funny, loyal, complex and incurable drunk (Charming Billy); McDermott defty and invisibly brings to life a person, a community (Irish-American) and a world. She’s about due for another novel soon and we guarantee it will quietly, modestly capture your heart. Now that’s writing.

All Creatures Great and Small

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All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot

This really is a novel, though fans of the books (and the TV shows based upon them) do insist on assuming they’re memoirs. What higher compliment could you pay an author than to insist it’s all true? In fact, James Alfred Wight aka James Herriot did base his stories on real-life experiences as a vet in Yorkshire. And he really did have two memorable brothers for partners—one of them terribly eccentric and the other a charming ladies’ man. (You can guess which one enjoyed the books more.) But the town of Darrowby where the stories are set is made up. Many of the characters are made up. And perhaps only the animals and their ailments are based on fact. But the stories are so vivid and funny and charming that it’s better than true. Funnily enough, it took an American publisher to take the books seriously, which sold very modestly at first in the UK. The American repackaged them with grown-up art (not some silly cartoonish images that dogged the UK version), renamed them and turned the books into bestsellers. To date, they’ve sold at least 60 million copies worldwide, turned some young people into veterinarians and made many, many folk glad they’re never called out for a calving on a cold winter’s night.

The Tale of Genji: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

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The Tale Of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu

Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur is the definitive tale of Camelot and probably the first novel written in English. But 400 years earlier(!) in Japan, a lady-in-waiting at the court of the Emperor beat him to it with The Tale Of Genji. (Yes, an even earlier novel might be Kādambari which was published 400 years before that, but our Sanskrit is weak so we can’t speak to it.) Not to worry. Like Don Quixote (the first novel written in Spanish) and Le Morte d’Arthur, Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji isn’t just a historical curiosity or the answer to a trivia question. It’s an enthralling tale of the impossibly handsome Genji, the bastard son of the Emperor who is forever falling in and out of love when not dealing with court intrigue, domestic life and more affairs than any one man should have time for. Hey, if you’re driven to write the first novel, you must have a corker to tell and Murasaki sure did.

The Code of the Woosters

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The Code Of The Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse

The Brits have a gift for comic novels. Maybe primping and preening as it oversees an Empire On Which The Sun Never Set makes a nation ripe for mockery? Whatever the reason, the British love and appreciate humor, turning out witty authors by the lorry-load. For sheer silliness, none match P.G. Wodehouse. His tales of the unflappable valet Jeeves and the dim-witted but genial blueblood Wooster are especially silly. Give Wodehouse a stately home, an awkward engagement, a fulminating Lord or Earl or some such titled fool, interfering friends, a fancy dress party, incompetent or indifferent servants and by gosh he’s off to the races. (Probably Ascot.) The Code Of The Woosters is a prime example, with Wodehouse mocking British fascists and the local constabulary for good measure. Reading Wodehouse makes life worth living.

The Children of Men

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The Children Of Men by P.D. James

Baroness P.D. James is rightly remembered for her marvelously intelligent and thoughtful mysteries starring Adam Dalgleish, a police commander and poet. Any fan of mysteries should dive in. But the fourteen books she wrote about him have a cumulative power. If you’re only ready to read one book by her, we recommend the atypical dystopian novel The Children Of Men from 1991. Set in the near future, it takes place after a mass infertility event and begins with a killer opening line stating that the last person ever born has just died in a pub brawl. Things get much more complicated. James grapples with existential questions about the meaning of life and how people might react when the future becomes meaningless. But she does it with a sci-fi thriller about conspiracies and lies and the need to make some sense of the struggle to survive, rather than just doing it. And when you don’t have the knee-jerk excuse of doing it for the kids, for the next generation, well what do you have?

The Catcher in the Rye

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The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

The cool people claim to prefer J.D. Salinger’s Nine Stories or Franny and Zooey, but they’re just being phonies. Salinger’s classic novel about a rebellious teenager may be the obvious choice, but it’s also the right choice. Just ask any kid who’s read it for the first time. “There have been a couple fiction books which made a strong impact on my life,” says bookseller Ed Justus of Talk Story Bookstore in Hanapepe, Hawaii. “As a teen, it was The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. The writing style told through the eyes of the main character broke through all the established ‘rules’ of traditional storytelling we had been taught in school. It caused me to realize just how flexible fiction and writing could be.”

The Women of Brewster Place: A Novel in Seven Stories (Penguin Contemporary American Fiction Series)

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The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor

Has it been 40 years already? It seems like this marvelous book came out yesterday, with its stories that tell the lives of seven women dealing with the struggles and setbacks (and men) that dominate their existence in an inner city sanctuary known as Brewster Place. At the same time, it seems like this book has always been there, with its vivid characters popping in and out of each other’s lives, each one with a story to tell. It’s a modern Canterbury Tales, except no one is going anywhere—just staying in place is triumph enough.

[We Others: New and Selected Stories] (By: Steven Millhauser) [published: September, 2012]

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We Others: New & Selected Stories by Steven Millhauser

It’s tempting to recommend Steven Millhauser’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Martin Dressler. That’s a marvelous skewering and celebration of the American Dream, told through the fantastical story of a turn of the century businessman who concocts department stores of such elaborate design they become wonderlands of impossible complexity, all described in riveting prose. Think Ray Bradbury crossed with Jorge Luis Borges. But his 2011 collection of new and selected stories is dazzling and perhaps easier for beginners than the rabbit hole that is Martin Dressler. Many of Millhauser’s stories slip into the fantastical, the way Little Nemo of comic strip fame tumbles out of bed into a bewildering dreamscape: you feel yourself slipping, almost imperceptibly, and then—boom!—you’re on the floor in a daze, waking up from a reverie that seemed so very, very real. In the stories of Millhauser, the mundane becomes magical and the magical becomes, not mundane, but possible, just possible, somewhere just around the corner perhaps or down the street, especially late at night if you go for a stroll and don’t quite pay attention to where you’re headed.

Flight Behavior: A Novel

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Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver

Writers are tackling the climate crisis in countless ways. Science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson dives into violent, earth-shaking possibilities with The Ministry For The Future. Richard Powers puts trees at the heart of The Overstory. Author Barbara Kingsolver focuses on a poor woman in Appalachia about to start an affair when she stumbles upon an amazing, upsetting discovery. Bookseller Sharon Anderson Wright of Half Price Books in Dallas, Texas, loves Flight Behavior. “It’s about the migration of a million monarch butterflies diverted from their flight path,” says Anderson Wright, “as well as deforestation, global climate change, and the rebirth of a woman trapped in an unsatisfying life. I found the story of how they are able to adapt and find new ways to survive fascinating.”

A Boy’s Own Story: A Novel

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A Boy’s Own Story by Edmund White

Many gay novels came before this one, like Gore Vidal’s The City and the Pillar and William Maxwell’s The Folded Leaf. Long before them, Homer’s The Iliad was about how unwise it is to taunt a warrior like Achilles by killing his very good “friend” Patroclus. Nonetheless, in 1982 it was still bold and a little shocking to deliver an autobiographical novel like A Boy’s Own Story. White manages to be both romantic and dispassionate in describing his thinly veiled coming of age and coming out. It forms the first part of a trilogy, though White continues to mine his life to this day in novels and memoirs. His biography of Jean Genet may be White’s masterpiece, but for influence and beauty, few can match this one.

Mason & Dixon: A Novel

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Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon

If we were going to play it safe, we’d choose Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying Of Lot 49 or Gravity’s Rainbow to be on this list. They’re the twin pillars on which his reputation rests. We could get wacky and choose the crime novel Inherent Vice (indeed, we did choose it for our list of the Best Thrillers of All Time). But the historical novel Mason & Dixon has an unrestrained joy about it we can’t resist. It’s 1786 and the Rev. Wicks Cherrycoke is a shaky man of the cloth but an excellent storyteller. He keeps a clutch of little kids enthralled with nightly tales about the surveyors Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon. If surveying doesn’t sound like the stuff of bedtime stories, be sure the Rev. will toss in fart jokes and unlikely escapades whenever attention flags. A yarn, and how Pynchon loves to unravel it.

The Overstory: A Novel

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The Overstory by Richard Powers

When trees are a central character in a novel, either you’re in or you’re out. For many readers of this Pulitzer Prize-winning epic of eco-fiction, they are in. Powers is no stranger to unexpected topics. His novels tackle genetics, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, astrobiology and avant-garde music, among other topics. But it’s awe for the majesty of nature and trees in particular that powers The Overstory. Nine characters each discover an appreciation for trees so profound they come together to protect forests, not as a natural resource but as a good worth saving. Trees tolerate us. Trees outlive us. And trees might well outlive humanity, if we’re not careful. Powers speaks for the trees and if writing a book means cutting some down to print it, well, that’s just one more problem to be solved while we still can.

The Left Hand of Darkness: 50th Anniversary Edition (Ace Science Fiction)

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The Left Hand Of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

We’re still catching up with the vision of writer Ursula K. Le Guin. At least we can pat ourselves on the back in recent years for realizing how much catching up we had to do. By the time of her death in 2018, Le Guin had been showered with accolades and affection and enough reappraisals to last ten lifetimes. Her Earthsea fantasies center a person of color as their hero. Her Orsinia novels are historical fiction about an imaginary country, giving Guy Gavriel Kay, among others, an entire career. Poetry, essays and so much more challenge and provoke. And her key series of the Hainish—novels and stories set on the planet of Hain—do all that and more. Then there’s The Left Hand Of Darkness from 1969. It tackles gender, androgyny and other issues few were even considering at the time and does it in a novel so compelling it was an immediate sensation. Darkness is the most mind-expanding First Contact novel of them all, thanks to ambisexual aliens who raise their children communally and are simply “beyond” gender. To call it feminist science fiction would immediately limit its scope. But it was and is and will always be feminist, science fiction and immediate.

My Name Is Red (Vintage International)

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My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk

Take Umberto Eco’s The Name Of The Rose and add a dash of Jorge Luis Borges. Tell about the murder of an artist living during the Ottoman Empire. Immediately upend expectations by having the author interrupt the proceedings and make clear these are all just characters in a story. Then make it gripping, playful, fascinating and fun and you’ll start to appreciate the triumph that is My Name Is Red. Orhan Pamuk is the first Turkish writer to be awarded the Nobel Prize and it’s easy to understand why. He’s not just brave in literary matters. The author faces down lawsuits and death threats for defending freedom of speech and condemning Turkey’s genocide of Armenians. In My Name Is Red, the artists are miniaturists, specialists in tiny, precise artworks. Not Pamuk—he works on a large canvas.

Harriet the Spy

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Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

For such a beloved kids book, Harriet the Spy has a lot of sharp elbows. It tells the story of a very observant child who pays attention to everyone around her and writes down what she thinks about them in her notebook. Then she loses the notebook. Then her friends find the notebook, read it and get very, very annoyed. Our heroine falls into a depression and becomes isolated from all her pals just for yearning to be a writer! But the moral is not that Harriet was wrong to write such thoughts; it was wrong of everyone else to read them. Duh! If you read someone else’s diary, you’re bound to be hurt. Generations of mystery lovers, novelists and even real-life C.I.A. agents credit Harriet the Spy as their gateway drug.

Fight Club: A Novel

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Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

You don’t talk about fight club, but you do talk about Fight Club. Like many great books, it’s open to multiple interpretations. Is this story about a lonely man who bonds with other men via a “fight club” and is ultimately driven to reject cookie-cutter consumerism? Is it making fun of toxic masculinity? Is the movie starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton faithful to the novel? Or was the infamous, re-edited version imposed on it in China actually, weirdly more faithful to the book? Do you have to read the comic book sequels to “get it?” Rarely has a man wrestling with his own demons been dealt with so literally. Hallucinatory, incendiary and you’ll probably lose sleep over it simply because you’ll want to finish Fight Club in one go. Just…accept the insomnia, alright?

The Magic Mountain (Everyman’s Library)

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The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann

War changes everything. Mann’s comic novel about people with tuberculosis seeking a cure at a spa in Davos, Switzerland was a work in progress when World War I butted in. Suddenly, Mann wasn’t in the mood to joke around, or at least not without purpose. He reimagined The Magic Mountain, kept writing and the book deepened and grew into a sly takedown of modern society, all of it shadowed by war. It’s daunting, hard to pin down, sad and funny, and if you’re not quite sure what to make of it, you can always follow Mann’s advice: read it twice. It’s so good, you won’t mind.

The Color Purple: A Novel

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The Color Purple by Alice Walker

It’s been a novel and then a movie and then a stage musical and then a radio play and soon a movie musical. But really it’s just a series of letters to God. For a book filled with so much pain and violence, Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize winner is universally beloved. Just ask bookseller Lynette Yates of Half Price Books in Dallas. “The Color Purple grabs you from the first page and takes you on a rollercoaster ride covering so many issues and evoking so many emotions,” says Yates. “A real page-turner!” We believe it’s the forgiveness the novel embraces and embodies despite the pain and violence that keeps it so popular.

Infinite Jest

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Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

The greatest tennis novel of all time! OK, that’s a modest claim, though there are other notable novels that encompass the sport of tennis. (Try Trophy Son by Douglas Brunt or one of Agatha Christie’s personal favorites of her mysteries, Towards Zero.) Mind you, this 1000+ page behemoth is much more than a tennis novel. It’s hilariously post-modern (even its footnotes have footnotes), sprawling (obviously), sad, controversial, erudite, show-offy (which is another word for “erudite”) and a mountain worth climbing.

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie: A Novel

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The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark

Teachers change lives. How often have we heard stories about the right teacher at the right time having a profound impact on a student? The novel How Green Was My Valley. The movie Dead Poets Society. The play The Corn Is Green. Then there’s Muriel Spark’s masterpiece The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie. All the elements are in place: an inspiring teacher in 1930s Edinburgh, a group of girls singled out for promise and the reward of academic success. But what’s this? On the wall, the teacher puts up admiring images of the fascist Mussolini. And what’s that? Miss Brodie dallying with not one but two male teachers? And Miss Brodie manipulating one of the girls to perhaps dally herself with the more handsome but married of the two men? That’s a lesson in life Mr. Chips never considered. In devastating fashion, Sparks shows the danger of idolizing anyone and that the best thing a student should learn is to think for themself.

Atonement: A Novel

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Atonement by Ian McEwan

Oh, fatal misunderstanding! How much art would go differently if only people would speak clearly or explain themselves or just not jump to conclusions? Wuthering Heights. Bridget Jones’s Diary. Romeo & Juliet. Misunderstanding the situation can be the death of love, literally. So it is in Atonement, where a young girl fatally misunderstands a scene she witnesses and feels compelled to make an awful accusation, ruining the lives of those around her. Can she make it up to them, even if only in her imagination? Ian McEwan’s novels are filled with such misunderstandings. But perhaps none is so dramatic as the one in Atonement. It powers this story through the start of World War II, Dunkirk and then a final bittersweet revelation that should feel a cheat, but somehow doesn’t. Sometimes a sad ending is the right ending, no matter how much we long for things to turn out better.

Zorba the Greek

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Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis

Are you going to sit there with your dusty books and read about life? Or are you going to live your life? Eat, drink, dance, make love, live! That’s the philosophy of Zorba the Greek, the character who brushes aside those silly books to wake up a young intellectual who experiences the world only through the words of others. Not after Zorba is done with him! That’s the action in this exuberant 1946 novel by Nikos Kazantzakis, a huge bestseller made even more famous by the classic film version that gave star Anthony Quinn one of his best roles. It promises a zest for life. But, of course, you’re reading about this zest for life. You’re being inspired by a book that encourages a zest for life, which it insists can’t be found in books. Ironic? Hmm. Maybe reading books isn’t so bad after all.

Sing, Unburied, Sing: A Novel

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Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

Writer Jesmyn Ward is the only woman to win the National Book Award twice. She’s also the only African American to win the National Book Award twice. Her novel Sing, Unburied, Sing has been compared to Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, Toni Morrison’s Beloved and George Saunders’ Lincoln In The Bardo. All three of those writers are on this list too, though Faulkner is here with The Sound and the Fury. Everyone from the New York Times to the BBC to former President Barack Obama named it one of the best books of the year. The all-things-bookish website Literary Hub named this 2011 novel one of the best books of the decade. And now it’s on our list of one of the best books of all time. It tells the story of a road trip. Thirteen-year-old Jojo struggles with the demands of being a young man while caring for his little sister Kayla, wary of his mother Leonie and uncertain of the father who’s just been released from prison. If that isn’t enough, he must also help the ghost of Richie, a 12-year-old boy who can’t quite accept the fact that he’s died. It’s tough and true and—as you might expect—the prose sings.

True Grit: A Novel

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True Grit by Charles Portis

This stone-cold classic could stand in for all the great Westerns. They just aren’t usually narrated by a 14-year-old girl so distinctive in nature that you’ll never forget her. It’s so popular they made two films based on the novel, but neither can hold a candle to it. Writer Jasper Fforde insists it belongs on any list of great novels. “Mattie does not seek blood redress, she seeks justice—to see Chaney ‘hanged at Judge Parker’s convenience’ back home at Little Rock,” says Fforde, author most recently of The Constant Rabbit. “A revenge story, a manhunt, a thriller, a story of trust, love, bravery, duty and tenacity—True Grit has it all.”

The World According to Garp: A Novel

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The World According To Garp by John Irving

We stand in awe of John Irving’s fourth novel and breakthrough, The World According To Garp. In 1978, it seemed willfully odd and “out there.” An NFL quarterback who has a sex change and now goes by Roberta? A woman who wants a child but not a husband? A son who struggles to write fiction…and then watches as his strong-willed mother simply sits down, writes an autobiography she calls A Sexual Suspect, and immediately becomes a world-famous feminist icon? Radicals who cut out their tongues to protest brutal male violence? What is this madness? Well, it’s beautiful and scary and strange and above all human, somehow. In 1982, it was turned into a wonderful, perfectly edited film that captured the idiosyncratic appeal of John Irving’s worldview and proved Robin Williams was more than a funny man. Irving soon proved he was more than an offbeat eccentric with The Cider House Rules and A Prayer For Owen Meany, but his career proper began right here.

The Complete Stories (FSG Classics)

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The Complete Stories by Flannery O’Connor

It’s never too late. Flannery O’Connor’s second short story collection came out just five months after she died. And she won the National Book Award for The Complete Stories eight years later. As a devout Catholic, O’Connor surely would have appreciated this posthumous success: for her, death was only the beginning. Her father died of lupus when O’Connor was just 15 years old. The same illness would plague her for the last twelve years of her life. It was also the period when she wrote some of the most famous short stories of her day, stories that ensured her fame. “A Good Man Is Hard To Find.” “The Life You Save May Be Your Own.” “You Can’t Be Any Poorer Than Dead.” Critics saw them as bleak, gothic and grotesque. O’Connor saw them as honest and true by tackling race, faith and the daily struggle to get by in a violent, unfair world. Write about what you know? That she did.

Ministry for the Future

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The Ministry For the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

Writer Kim Stanley Robinson’s entire career led to his most recent, most remarkable novel. In book after book, Robinson tackles the challenge of the climate crisis and how humanity might survive it. The Three Californias trilogy shows its impact on that state. Red Mars kicks off the Mars trilogy, a look at the practical challenges of terraforming the Red Planet and how we are likely to bring our problems with us. The Science In The Capitol books show a ravaged D.C, New York 2140 a Venice-like Big Apple and on and on. Race may be the defining issue for America. But the climate crisis is the defining issue for the planet and Robinson tackles it admirably. With The Ministry For the Future, he swings for the fences. Robinson offers a near-future look at what is going to happen next and what might happen after that. It’s scary and shocking and so believable, it gets scarier still. But as bad as it gets, there’s hope. Oh it won’t be easy, Robinson says, but maybe just maybe we can get through this. He offers this ray of light in a novel so expansive and wide-ranging that only Moby-Dick comes to mind for sheer, all-encompassing vision. Maybe it’s a warning. Maybe it’s a how-to book. But it’s definitely great.

To The Lighthouse

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To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

You can’t go wrong with Virginia Woolf, one of the giants of literature. We figure movie buffs already know about her novel Orlando: A Biography thanks to the brilliant film version starring Tilda Swinton. And this list includes Michael Cunningham’s The Hours, which was inspired by Mrs. Dalloway and should send readers scurrying to that masterpiece as well. So we’ll include To the Lighthouse. Woolf is a “modernist,” and her stream-of-consciousness style was strange and new to readers of the 1920s. But we’re used to it now, so the impressionistic chatter of Mrs. Dalloway and the gender fluidity of Orlando and the flitting from character to character in To the Lighthouse shouldn’t put you off. In this novel, the Ramsay family is vacationing on the Isle of Skye and plans to visit a lighthouse on a nearby island the next day. Or will they? Ten years later, they try and finally make that jaunt to the lighthouse actually happen. Amidst this simple action, the complex give and take of a married couple, the lines of tension in a family, the tangled friendships and neighbors that muddy it all up (not to mention life, war, the passage of time and so on) are captured in a rush of emotions and memories and brief moments. It’s all illuminated by Woolf the way—wait for it—the shining beam of a lighthouse pierces the fog and lights the way home. Someone in the novel insists women can’t be serious painters or writers. Woolf must have had a good laugh over that.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: A Novel

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The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

A cat is missing. That’s the event kicking off writer Haruki Murakami’s mid-career masterpiece. When a writer dips into science fiction, crime novels and magical realism, not to mention nonfiction works about being a marathon runner and talking with survivors of a terrorist attack, you expect a missing cat to be just the beginning. And it is. The novel soon contains psychics, a missing wife, horror stories from World War II and much more. Murakami cranks up the story and then lets it fly, with reality always a teasingly subjective matter. His spin on 1984 titled IQ84 might be an easier way in for some. But whether you tackle his novels or short stories or nonfiction, this perennial favorite for the Nobel Prize will happily confound you.

Bel Canto (Harper Perennial Deluxe Editions)

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Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

Singers discover new facets of their voice as they mature. Age or a new vocal coach or simply nerve open up all sorts of possibilities. Sopranos become mezzo-sopranos. Baritones evolve into tenors. The Bee Gees discover falsetto. You get the idea. Writers do the same thing. Author Ann Patchett pushed herself and found a new voice with her fourth novel Bel Canto. Inspired by a real-life terrorist act, she imagined the story of a Japanese business executive being wooed by a South American country. He’s the guest of honor at a party, an American opera singer is brought in for entertainment and it’s crashed by a terrorist group hoping to kidnap the head of the country. The result is a stand-off, with tense negotiations breaking up long dull periods of waiting, not to mention love. A translator falls for a terrorist. The businessman falls in love with the singer, though neither speaks the other’s language. And Patchett takes her writing to a whole new level of sophistication and control, winning critical acclaim and a wider audience than ever. Brava!

The Hours: A Novel (Picador Modern Classics Book 1)

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The Hours by Michael Cunningham

Moby-Dick. Jane Eyre. Great Expectations. Everything ever by Shakespeare. The list of classic works of art that inspire other classic works of art is so long and respectful that no one should blink an eye when an author says they’re writing a prequel or sequel or spin-off to a masterpiece. And yet, it took a serious amount of chutzpah for writer Michael Cunningham to not only write a novel inspired by the classic Mrs. Dalloway, but to include Virginia Woolf herself as one of the main characters. His nerve paid off. The Hours depicts one day in the life of three women separated by decades: Woolf herself, working on Mrs. Dalloway in 1923 while fighting off the black dog of depression; Mrs. Brown, planning a birthday party for her World War II veteran husband in 1949; and Clarissa, the former lover of a male poet dying of AIDS who is throwing a party with her female partner in 1999 to celebrate him. Cunningham captures Woolf’s stream-of-consciousness style. He also brings to life three people of their time who deal with society’s oppressive attitudes towards their sexual orientation and status as women. And The Hours subtly makes one now commonplace but important point for women and LGBT people: it gets better.

Tales of the City: A Novel

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Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin

If he wasn’t so darn entertaining, maybe people would realize how radical writer Armistead Maupin has been. His valentine to San Francisco began as a serialized novel featured in the San Francisco Chronicle. Wide-eyed newcomer Mary Ann Singleton visits the city and realizes this is the place for her! She finds a room to rent at 28 Barbary Lane, she finds a friend in Michael aka “Mouse” and she gains an inspiring mentor in her landlady Anna Madrigal. From a story about a wide-eyed girl, Maupin’s addictive drama quickly took readers to every corner of the city. Even a hip liberal newspaper in San Francisco was wary of the bathhouses and bisexuals and so much more in the serial. But everyone wanted to know what happened next, so what could they do? Nine novels, radio plays, a musical and four groundbreaking miniseries followed. Like Dickens or Balzac or Trollope, Maupin captured an entire fleeting era just as it happened. Start here but be warned: you can’t read just one.

Ragtime: A Novel (Modern Library 100 Best Novels)

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Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow

E.L. Doctorow changed the historical novel once and for all. Others came before, they always do. But Doctorow’s rigorous research mixed a playful combination of historical figures and imaginary characters in a manner that brought the past to light and commented on it at the same time. It’s as neat a stunt as any Harry Houdini ever pulled off. In the panoramic Ragtime, Doctorow starts with the lives of a wealthy family that sells fireworks, crosses their path with the musician Coalhouse Walker and then weaves in pretty much everything going on during the early 1900s, from agitator Emma Goldman to Robert Peary’s polar expeditions to tycoon J. P. Morgan and a depressed Houdini, to name just a few. It’s dazzling, fresh, alive, funny, tragic and the movie and musical it inspired have their fans, but can’t outshine the original.

Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant: A Novel

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Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler

Anne Tyler has written 24 novels and enough short stories to fill two collections. So it’s no surprise to find people arguing about which is her best. Tyler herself would say don’t read her first four novels, but that’s modesty for you. She could mention the National Book Award for The Accidental Tourist, turned into a delightful Oscar-winning film. Or the Pulitzer Prize won by Breathing Lessons, one of her most effervescent works. Or the Booker nomination for A Spool of Blue Thread. But diehards and Tyler point to Dinner At The Homesick Restaurant as the prototypical Tyler novel and a great place to start. It tells the story of three siblings, riven by the abandonment of their father yet entangled with old arguments, resentment, history and forgiveness, soon followed by new arguments. You know, siblings. Tyler said it comes closest to what she imagined at the start, which is to say it’s warm-hearted, clear-eyed, amusing and moving. Enjoy.

Cloud Atlas

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Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

It’s just one of those books, a work so original and fresh that everyone instantly agrees, “Oh yes, that’s a good one.” Mitchell’s third novel is daringly constructed. It begins with the journal of a man on board a ship in the 1800s, written in the style of the era. Just as you become thoroughly involved in the story, it stops mid-action. The next section is an epistolary novel set in 1930s Belgium and written by a bisexual musician to his lover. The first story was so absorbing that you’re thoroughly annoyed Mitchell jumped to something new. What is going on here? But soon enough this new story becomes equally absorbing and just as you become enthralled by this tale and forget the first story even existed, it too stops. The novel jumps forward to the 1970s, with yet another new story written in the style of a mystery. Again and again it happens. Every time Mitchell drops a tale and begins something new, you’re annoyed; the story was so good, why on earth won’t he finish it? And then he wins you over again. Then at the halfway point, the final reveal takes place and you see the entire, brilliant structure of the novel and what Mitchell has been up to all this time. You understand how ambitious and clever it is and almost sigh with pleasure. Cloud Atlas is a tour de force. The film version, which you probably didn’t see, couldn’t ever hope to recreate the pleasure of reading this book.

My Ántonia (Warbler Classics Annotated Edition)

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My Ántonia by Willa Cather

Sometimes it seems like all the best stories about America are stories about travel. Immigrants reach America in Colm Toibin’s Brooklyn, Jack Kerouac goes On the Road, Huck Finn journeys down the Mississippi and Ántonia heads out West with her Bohemian family. Willa Cather made her name for good with this finale to the Prairie Trilogy. It celebrates regular, plain-speaking people like the orphaned boy Jim and his friend Ántonia, both struggling to survive at their new homes in Nebraska. F. Scott Fitzgerald lamented that his novel The Great Gatsby was a failure compared to hers, though eventually, they’d both do just fine in the eyes of critics and readers.

The Kite Runner

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The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Some novels strike a chord. How else to explain why a story about a boy in Afghanistan would take the world by storm in 2003? Khaled Hosseini’s novel charts the country’s tragic history from the fall of the monarchy to the Soviet invasion and the rise of the Taliban by focusing on fathers and sons. It’s since been adapted into a graphic novel, a movie and a Broadway play. None of them match the novel’s emotional impact, but when something is this popular, you can’t blame them for trying.

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party

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The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves

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The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol I and II by M.T. Anderson

Some of the boldest, bravest works in recent decades are published for kids, perhaps to smuggle work into the culture without awakening the censors. Philip Pullman radically reimagines Paradise Lost with His Dark Materials. Charles M. Schulz showed little folks dealing with depression, unrequited love and the seeming futility of existence in the comic strip Peanuts. And in a young adult novel, M.T. Anderson reorients our understanding of the American Revolution, the central horror of slavery in U.S. history and how scientific studies are often influenced by the people funding them, all long before 1619. But The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing is also gripping and enthralling as we watch an enslaved boy raised by men of science who at first are determined to give him every advantage. They want to prove the African race is not inferior to Europeans, with Octavian as a test case. Later, as circumstances dictate, they’re determined to stack the deck against Octavian so somehow this bright young man fluent in several languages and an excellent violinist to boot will somehow leave white Europeans safe in the belief of their superiority. Toss in the curveball of the American Revolution and you have a work of historical fiction that stands alongside the best of them, just like Octavian Nothing.

Angle of Repose

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Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner

A historian and novelist, Wallace Stegner wrote a novel about a historian. That character writes a biography about his grandmother. To give it authenticity, Stegner drew heavily upon the letters of a real person, the notable writer Mary Hallock Foote. In a move that was controversial then and more so now, Stegner quotes extensively from the letters of Foote while only obliquely giving credit to her in his acknowledgments. And yet he wrote a novel where there never was a novel. Universally acclaimed and the winner of the Pulitzer Prize 50 years ago, Angle of Repose is a wonderfully layered combination of the brave journey of pioneers colored by the disappointments and regrets of the historian recounting them. Stegner, at least, surely had no regrets about his masterpiece.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being: A Novel (Harper Perennial Deluxe Editions)

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The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

You can feast on just the titles of novels by exiled Czech writer Milan Kundera. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting. The Festival of Insignificance. Life Is Elsewhere. And of course, his most famous work, The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Playful, philosophical, political and personal, it shows Kundera at his most thoughtful and profound. The story of a womanizing surgeon is interrupted by sharp insights into life under a totalitarian regime. (In one passage, Kundera dissects a photograph of government officials watching a parade, detailing how those who fell out of favor had to be erased from the image, one by one.) Arguments about the nature of existence (Kundera is not a fan of Nietzsche) take place alongside the promise of the Prague Spring and its collapse with the invasion of Soviet troops and others in 1968. There is some lightness, too; a dog is a major character, for example. Kundera is an original.

Cold Mountain: 20th Anniversary Edition

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Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier

Homer’s The Odyssey looms so large it would be fair to say that almost everything that followed it has been influenced by the epic. Countless works of art are directly inspired by it, from James Joyce’s Ulysses to Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad and the comic film O Brother, Where Art Thou? starring George Clooney. Still, for debut novelist Charles Frazier to combine the story of his great-granduncle with the rough outline of The Odyssey and set it all during the Civil War was an act of bravery. Readers responded, for few modern novels have been this ambitious and yet taken so to heart by such a broad audience. Maybe it’s as simple as this: everyone can identify with the powerful desire to journey home.

Endless Love: A Novel

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Endless Love by Scott Spencer

When young people fall in love, they feel like an explorer discovering a new continent. Surely no one else has ever felt like this before? Surely no love has ever been this all-consuming, this beautiful, this perfect? It happens again in Endless Love. Two young people—kids, really—fall in love and imagine Romeo and Juliet have nothing on them. What’s remarkable is that writer Scott Spencer convinces us that the love of Jade and David really is that earth-shattering. Everyone around them agrees. Their parents, their friends, literally everyone acknowledges the love those two feel really is as special as they imagine. Then Jade’s father banishes David from this earthly paradise, David hatches a cockamamie plan to win back the family’s trust, it goes horribly wrong and love becomes obsession. A huge bestseller, Endless Love has been adapted into not one but two epically bad films, movies so awful you fear they’ve kept people away from the novel ever since. Don’t make that mistake.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (SeaWolf Press Illustrated Classic): First Edition Cover

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Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Some books are so well-intentioned they forget to be good. Think Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It’s as important a novel as there ever was, but you wouldn’t want to read that potboiler today. Mark Twain’s masterpiece is another thing altogether. His classic “boy’s own” book The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer is a delight of youthful innocence. A rascalish character in that novel takes center stage in this one. Twain lost the “The” for some reason and called it Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn. But he gained immortality with a righteous condemnation of enslavement wrapped in a story so funny and gripping and raw that few can resist it. The central dilemma? Huck knows he will be literally damned to hell for helping the escaped black man Jim avoid being put back in chains. He does it anyway. And if Huck treats Jim a little poorly after that mighty choice, well, whoever expected an abandoned, beaten, dismissed kid to always behave sensibly? Huck is just a child and Twain never forgets that. It’s the adults he damns so well.

A Fine Balance

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A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

One of the worst periods in Indian history inspired one of its best novels. In 1975, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ignored the Constitution and essentially declared martial law, jailing opposition leaders and clamping down on the media. Her dictatorial reign lasted almost two years and featured all sorts of atrocities, like the forced sterilization of millions. It’s called The Emergency. Writer Rohinton Mistry tells the story of this period through the lives of four people: two tailors from a caste considered “untouchable,” a wealthy Parsi widow and a young man from the Kashmir Valley who resents being sent to college by his parents. Their paths cross and crisscross during this life-changing period, a time of upheaval akin to the Partition of India in 1947 or perhaps the American Civil War. All three of his novels are worth your time. Still, it’s been 20 years since he published Family Matters and we are politely impatient for a fourth.

The Ice at the Bottom of the World: Stories

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The Ice at the Bottom of the World by Mark Richard

“Read the story collection The Ice at the Bottom of the World at your own risk,” says Chuck Palahniuk, author most recently of The Invention Of Sound. “Mark Richard’s short stories will leave you unhappy with almost all other fiction for the rest of your life. In stories like ‘Strays’ and ‘This is Us, Excellent,’ he gives us characters in miserable circumstances, but who refuse to suffer. Thus the reader is forced to shoulder the emotional and psychological burden. Richard’s incredible sentences will stick in your head, and his plots rise to such unlikely beauty that you’ll find tears running down your cheeks.”

The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas

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The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas by Machado de Assis

In this biting, cynical novel, a man dies of pneumonia. Now dead, he’s free to say what he likes, so Brás Cubas dedicates his book to the worm that first feasted on his dead body and then tells his life story. He was a brat as a spoiled rich kid, loved often and poorly, made a mess of everything he did, wasted most of his family’s fortune, tried and failed at politics and finally dreamt up some quack medicine that could cure all diseases…but not, apparently, cure himself of pneumonia. A Brazilian classic, it’s been translated many times and is sometimes called Epitaph Of A Small Winner, which is about as much as Cubas can claim. It’s fragmented, entertaining, very modern and when you discover it was written in 1881 (not 2021 or even 1961), your astonishment and admiration is complete.

Snow Crash: Deluxe Edition

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Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

What’s cyberpunk? Just picture the future as depicted in the film Blade Runner and you’re halfway there. When corporations or computers take over the world, you end up with something like the comic book Judge Dredd or William Gibson’s Neuromancer or even John M. Ford’s proto-cyberpunk novel Web Of Angels. Or you can read Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash, a novel with his usual heady mix of technology, philosophy, religion, anarcho-capitalism, linguistics and other ideas we can barely follow. It’s all wrapped around our protagonist Hiro. You know he’s the protagonist because this pizza delivery dude’s full name is Hiro Protagonist. He joins up with Y.T. (a female skateboarder known as Yours Truly) and they’re soon caught up in one of those massive conspiracies involving technology, shadowy opponents and the fate of the (miserable) world. Snow Crash came out just thirty years ago and it’s amazing how quickly the world has caught up. Stephenson helped popularize ideas like an avatar and the Metaverse, which he definitely should have copyrighted. Bad science fiction tries to predict the future. Good science fiction like this holds up a mirror to the present and wonders where we’re headed. Take a look.

A Thousand Acres: A Novel

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A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

Some people are crazy about Jane Smiley’s academic skewering in the novel Moo. We’re partial to her trilogy of books (Some Luck, Early Warning and Golden Age) that told the story of a family over one hundred years, with one year per chapter. They were bestsellers and nicely reviewed but deserve more hoopla. But everyone admires, loves and reads her retelling of King Lear. Sometimes the consensus is right; with Smiley, this is where to start. The novel A Thousand Acres is resolute, smart and devastating. When a father decides to split control of the family farm among his three daughters, the youngest objects. Just as in Lear, she’s frozen out of the kingdom, the two older daughters turn on their father and then secrets Shakespeare never imagined come to light. You reap what you sow.

Invisible Man

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Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

Writer Ralph Ellison sped right past the “protest” novel or the “problem” novel. He ignored the conventions of social conscience or the “right” way to win over white readers and said, “Hey, what if I just write a modernist masterpiece?” That he did, in a novel about a young black man in flight from racism. “I am not complaining, nor am I protesting either,” begins Ellison who does just that but in a far more poetic, lasting and effective manner than any protest novel ever would. Ellison’s influences were broad, ranging from Kafka to Faulkner, T.S. Eliot to Dostoevsky, yet all of them were used in service to a voice enriched by oral traditions and a vivid, urban spirit. Other characters refused to see the narrator, but the book itself was simply too good to ignore. Invisible Man won the National Book Award in 1953, making Ellison the first person of color to do so. It would be 30 years before another person of color—Alice Walker, for The Color Purple in 1983—won it again.

Empire Falls (Vintage Contemporaries)

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Empire Falls by Richard Russo

Empire Falls, Maine is a crumbling town on its last legs in Richard Russo’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Miles Roby is a lot like the town. He’s running the Empire Grill and reduced to serving the new boyfriend of his ex-wife each and every day. His stoner brother is the short-order cook, his owner is the richest woman in town, his daughter in high school is a budding artist and they all know everything there is to know about each other. HBO made an excellent miniseries from this. While doing so, the production turned a pizza parlor in a small town in upstate New York into the greasy spoon Miles worked at. A few years later, the pizza parlor shut down because of course the real town was crumbling, just like Empire Falls. If that sort of irony causes a rueful laugh, Russo is the writer for you. He’s sharp, sympathetic and sadly amused by the pain of it all. You could start with The Risk Pool or Nobody’s Fool or you could just start right here.

Edisto: A Novel

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Edisto by Padgett Powell

If you want to make a name for yourself among the literati, there are rules to follow. Start out strong with an acclaimed debut. Choose one style and stick to it—everyone will know what to expect from you and can easily skip a book or two of yours without feeling they’re missing something. (Did anyone worry if they missed a John Updike novel? They did not.) Oh and don’t be funny. No one will take you seriously if you’re funny. Well, Padgett Powell got the first part right. His debut novel Edisto is a coming-of-age tale about a 12-year-old boy named Simons Manigault and yes it’s devilishly funny. But it’s also masterful enough in style to have Saul Bellow praise Powell and Southern literary éminence grise Walker Percy declare the book better than The Catcher in the Rye. Then Powell went and blew it. He started writing short stories, each one more outrageous than the next. They were wild, wooly, unmannered. The pitch-perfect Edisto Revisited was so good it deserves comparisons to The Godfather Part II, another sequel that deepened your appreciation of the original. But it was too late. Before you knew it, Powell was performing high wire acts, like a novel composed entirely of a conversation between two men sitting on a porch chewing the fat, more vaudeville than High Art. Another one called The Interrogative Mood: A Novel? contained nothing but a series of questions. (Did he pull it off? Do you have to ask?) Is this the old-fashioned, dependable writer the gatekeepers signed up for almost forty years ago? No, it is not. Does he care? No, he does not. Read Edisto but be prepared to dive into the deep end once you become a fan.

The Pillars of the Earth: A Novel (Kingsbridge Book 1)

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The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

Ken Follett broke onto the bestseller list with 1978’sEye of the Needle, a blockbuster so good we named it one of the best thrillers of all time. Six more thrillers followed, two of them nonfiction. Then Follett surprised everyone with the novel that will be his legacy: The Pillars of the Earth. It’s a historical novel about the building of a cathedral in the fictional town of Knightsbridge, England during the 12th century. The action takes place over 50 years and the house of worship is the culmination of generations of work. What could be less thrilling than the building of a church? Ask, rather, what could be more thrilling? Follett poured everything into this, spending years on research to get it right. His passion was infectious and his story so immersive readers got lost in it, finishing in a daze. The book has sold at least 26 million copies so far. Then Follett spent the next 30 years delivering three more books in the Knightsbridge series. Unlike some of the artisans in the novel, Follett has lived to see his masterwork be complete. Sure, the series has been turned into two different miniseries and even a video game. But it’s the first novel that remains the peak of his career, as impressive and awe-inspiring as the cathedral itself.

Mrs Palfrey At The Claremont: A Virago Modern Classic (Virago Modern Classics Book 2)

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Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor

No, not that Elizabeth Taylor. This Elizabeth Taylor is an English novelist who wrote polite dissections of middle and upper-class Brits, works so discreet and effortless that for a long time no one but other writers realized what a genius she was. Taylor’s short stories were a mainstay of the New Yorker magazine for about 20 years and she wrote twelve novels in all. Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont was the last published in her lifetime and that’s fitting since it deals with the end of life. Mrs. Palfrey is comfortable enough financially to move into the Claremont hotel alongside other aged residents. But she’s embarrassed her grandson never calls and frets over a marriage proposal and it’s all so amusingly depicted you almost don’t notice how sad and piercing Taylor can be. It’s the sort of book that is never in fashion but always read with pleasure.

The Things They Carried

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The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

In twenty-one short stories, writer and Vietnam War veteran Tim O’Brien tells the story of soldiers fighting in that war and probably the stories of soldiers fighting in every war that’s ever been and all the ones to come. We want our war stories told by veterans because then those stories are real, authentic and to be trusted. Except O’Brien toys with that expectation. He dedicates this book to the men of the imaginary Alpha Company. He calls his main character O’Brien and that character tells his daughter that no, he never killed anyone in the war. Then he immediately tells us about the man he did kill, only to tell us in another story that this was complete fiction. O’Brien (or maybe “O’Brien”) says he made up that incident because he wanted to help us understand the truth of what the Vietnam War was like. Moving, funny and haunting, The Things They Carried is as real as it gets, made-up stories and all.

Dracula: Deluxe Edition

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Dracula by Bram Stoker

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a work of startling originality. In contrast, Bram Stoker’s Dracula takes bits and pieces from every vampire story that came before, along with folklore, myth and legend, and seasons it with fears about newly independent women, immigrants and disease. Then he cribs from the hugely popular author Wilkie Collins and especially the page-turner The Woman in White. Finally, Stoker tosses in his own personal peccadilloes—or at least, only as much of them as this acquaintance of Walt Whitman and Oscar Wilde dared—to create a potent brew of erotic, Gothic horror. The result was a sensation, a vampire novel so bold and shocking and successful that it became the vampire novel and every vampire story that followed would steal from him. Like the vampire women feasting on poor Jonathan Harker, countless artists have fed on Dracula to inspire their own books, movies, plays, TV shows, games, comics, plays and more. Nothing, not even a stake through the heart, can erase this monster. Dracula survives and thrives in our imagination and probably always will.

Heart Is A Lonely Hunter

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The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

Physically frail but morally strong, Carson McCullers empathized with outsiders and dreamers. Her writing was labeled Southern Gothic, because she was from the South and depicted outré characters such as mutes, closeted gay men and black people. A young white woman writing about black people! Her success was immediate, with the 1940 debut The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter seen as anti-Fascist, pro-democracy, exotic (how could there be so many mute people in one small town, wondered some?) and ultimately, just human and touching and true. If a mute man seems the safest person for a string of people to share their dreams and fears with, is that really so strange? McCullers enjoyed further success with The Member Of The Wedding and The Ballad of the Sad Cafe. But McCullers remained a lonely hunter in her personal life, dying alone at age 50 after a lifetime of severe illness and unrequited love for the numerous women she pursued.

True History of the Kelly Gang: A Novel (Vintage International)

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True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey

The Western may be the most American of genres. Yet long before it joined the United States, Hawaii boasted of cowboys with enough roping skills to put the Yankees to shame at their own rodeos. And Australia’s Outback would give the Badlands a run for its money in terms of punishing danger. Besides, surely every country can boast of criminals that capture the popular imagination? So here is Aussie Peter Carey with this vulgar, violent, rollicking Western about the outlaw Ned Kelly and his gang, as told to Kelly’s fictional daughter. You know you shouldn’t be loving Kelly’s outrageous justification for his actions, but a good story overwhelms moral qualms any day. And borders! Kelly’s dad was an Irishman transported to Van Diemen’s Land aka Tasmania; the author is Australian, where most of the novel takes place; and it won the prestigious UK prize the Booker. But did that stop its US publisher from calling this a “Great American Novel”? Nope. Besides, they’re right.

The Death of Vivek Oji: A Novel

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The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

Why do we love these lists? Because we can spot books we love, point out books that should be on the list, yet aren’t, and be reminded of books we know we should read but haven’t. Yet. And—if we’re adventurous—we read these lists to discover books we haven’t even heard of but will soon become favorites. So here’s writer Chinelo Okparanta to champion a writer from Nigeria, the country where Okparanta was born. “Akwaeke Emezi is one of the most exciting voices of our time, even earning themself a cover feature in Time Magazine as one of the magazine’s 2021 Next Generation Leaders,” says Okparanta, author most recently of Harry Sylvester Bird. “The Death of Vivek Oji, set in an international community of families composed of foreign-born women married to Nigerian men, is the heart-wrenching story of Vivek, a gentle soul who, as his current stint at life would have it, has embarked on a tortured journey into a new self. It is about the family we are born into and [the] ones we choose for ourselves. The verdict on each family is not a tidy one, for the novel is also about the ways in which both kinds of families render earnest support, and how, despite their best intentions, they also disappoint. Vivek dies, but there is hope—a promise of a return after death. As an avid believer in reincarnation, I enjoyed the novel’s timeless contention that a body, though destined to die, will live again.”

On the Road

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On the Road by Jack Kerouac

Is he a rebel dancing to his own beat or an unwitting toxic male fleeing from responsibility? Jack Kerouac may not have anticipated the many ways his characters would be seen over the years. But his classic novel of escape is rich enough to bear the re-examination. And no one can deny the rhythmic, tumbling, finger-snapping prose that hurtles the story along at breakneck speed. The legend of its birth is as totemic as the novel itself—in 1951, Kerouac pounded out the tale on one long roll of paper in a three-week fever dream of inspiration. Writers have been jealous and inspired by him ever since.

The Old Forest and Other Stories

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The Old Forest and Other Stories by Peter Taylor

Peter Taylor is an old-fashioned Southern storyteller, unremarkable in every respect except for how truly good he is. He wrote three slim, marvelous novels, but it’s his short stories that astonish—they capture a world, a character, a moment with such care that every word matters and every insight hits with an intensity no novel could sustain. Late in life, Taylor had his moment. In 1985, The Old Forest and Other Stories received an unusual amount of attention for him, along with rave reviews. Chekhov was mentioned, and often. One year later, his novel A Summons to Memphis won the Pulitzer Prize. Now? Now he sits quietly in a corner, waiting to be rediscovered as surely he will. His heyday (if one can use such a vulgar term) was so long ago that none of Taylor’s work is even available as an e-book. He might be relieved to know it.

The Rings of Saturn

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The Rings of Saturn by W.G. Sebald

W.G. Sebald is unique. He is like no one else and no one is his heir because how could they be? His “novel,” The Rings of Saturn, is typical of him—it’s sort of fiction, sort of a travel book, sort of history and sort of a memoir and more, all jumbled up together. In it, the narrator (presumably Sebald) takes a walking tour in Suffolk, England. He tells you what he’s seeing and the people he meets, along with an inexhaustible stream of scientific knowledge, history, literary allusions and so on. You assume he’s (sort of) telling the truth and if you look it up you’ll discover various facts are absolutely or fairly or somewhat accurate or perhaps you can’t discover anything about a certain fact at all, though this doesn’t prove it’s not true, does it? Before you know it everything is true and fantastical and connected and it’s all so moving, so real, so unlike anything you’ve ever read before that you’ll finish it and wonder what the heck it was and how he did it. You’ll want to urge people to read The Rings of Saturn while praying no one asks you to describe it…and then you’ll eagerly track down something, anything else by Sebald.

A Gentleman in Moscow: A Novel

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A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Who doesn’t want to live in a fancy hotel? From Eloise at the Plaza to Count Rostov at the Hotel Metropol, the idea of endless room service and a parade of interesting house guests you can easily ignore—if so inclined—seems like heaven. In the case of Count Rostov, the protagonist of A Gentleman in Moscow, it’s supposed to be more like hell, or purgatory at least. As a nobleman who returns to Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution, Rostov is tried and sentenced to house arrest at the Hotel Metropol. Clearly, the last vestiges of the aristocracy hadn’t quite been swept away, though at least the Count is ordered to leave his lavish suite and take a servant’s quarters. Decades pass, all of it in charming detail and with an inventiveness that never flags. It’s no wonder Towles went from an acclaimed, best-selling debut novelist with Rules Of Civility to an absolute phenomenon thanks to this word-of-mouth sensation. It’s so entertaining, some might feel suspicious of its greatness. But we’re not. Just be prepared to fork out the bucks for a bottle of Châeauneuf-du-Pape. It’s impossible to read this without longing for a taste of that wine.

The Far Pavilions

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The Far Pavilions by M.M. Kaye

Born and raised in India, then sent to boarding school in Great Britain, writer M.M. Kaye was destined to write a novel about the British Empire. First, she spent decades writing and/or illustrating children’s books and penning a series of thrillers and stand-alone novels—none of them creating much of a stir. They weren’t nearly as dramatic as Kaye’s real life. She fell in love during World War II with a British Indian Army officer who was married and four years younger than her. Kaye had one child and was pregnant with a second before they actually got married. It was the war, she shrugged. Then, Kaye’s literary agent, Paul Scott, urged her to write about India. (He himself shot to fame with the Raj Quartet novels.) Over the next twenty years, Kaye wrote three books of historical fiction. The first was gutted by bad editing, the second did better, and in 1978, Kaye published her doorstopper of a masterpiece: The Far Pavilions. It received major acclaim as a new spin on Rudyard Kipling’s Kim, enjoyed huge sales and became HBO’s first miniseries. Kaye lived another 26 years but, except for a trilogy of memoirs, she never wrote again.

The Sympathizer: A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)

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The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

This novel’s narrator starts talking and you just can’t stop listening. His story is the confession of a political prisoner in Vietnam and it’s a doozy. Our unnamed protagonist is filled with contradictions. He’s the mixed-race son of a Vietnamese mother and a French Catholic priest father. He’s a North Vietnamese double agent living in South Vietnam. He escapes to America and continues living a double life amidst the local Vietnamese community. Then, he’s an adviser on an American war film akin to Apocalypse Now. Finally, he returns to Vietnam to fight in a guerrilla campaign against the Communist government. He’s the ultimate sympathizer—seeing all sides at once and losing track of which side he’s on. Compared to everything and everyone from Ralph Ellison to Joseph Conrad to Philip Roth and Walt Whitman, Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is one of the most acclaimed debuts in ages. And its sequel, The Committed, continues the tale with similar success.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s: A Short Novel and Three Stories (Modern Library)

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Breakfast at Tiffany’s: A Short Novel and Three Stories by Truman Capote

Truman Capote practically invented the true crime genre with his nonfiction book In Cold Blood. He also wrote remarkable magazine features, turned gossip into high art and even perfected the character of “Truman Capote” in interviews throughout his life. Yet Capote’s favorite creation was Holly Golightly, the American “geisha” at the heart of his novella Breakfast at Tiffany’s. She’s a free spirit who lives in New York City thanks to the generosity of older, wealthier men. Holly is not a prostitute but she does enjoy nice things, and how kind of men to give them to her. You can draw a straight line from Lorelei Lee of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes to Sally Bowles of Goodbye To Berlin (and later Cabaret fame) to Miss Golightly. It’s substantially different from the film version starring Audrey Hepburn. (Capote wanted Marilyn Monroe.) But the spirit of the novel is onscreen. Here, the novella is paired with three marvelous short stories, including “House Of Flowers” (turned into a fine Broadway musical), “A Diamond Guitar” and “A Christmas Memory,” itself turned into movies, plays and more. Capote could be waspish, but here he’s on his best behavior.

Ulysses (The Gabler Edition)

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Ulysses by James Joyce

The timid among us might name the short story collection Dubliners as the masterpiece of James Joyce. But cartoonist and graphic novelist Chris Ware will have none of it. He plunks for the daunting, challenging, modernist classic Ulysses. “Though apparently the Great American Novel still has yet to be published, the Great Irish Novel already was, exactly a century ago,” says Ware, author most recently of Monograph. “James Joyce’s inverted plot of the Odyssey—a husband exiling himself from his house to allow his wife her ongoing adulterous tryst—is mashed up into, amongst other things, the inside-out consciousnesses of his main characters, all of human history, and the ebb and flow of one day of life in 1904 Dublin, all written with an ever-recombined Erector set of dreamlike English that somehow, incredibly, implants sense-memories directly in the reader’s mind. And that final, 1922-outraging chapter, which so directly articulates female desire, remains Joyce’s private gift to one-half of humanity, a topic which until that point had rarely been treated as a topic worthy of consideration.”

The Outsiders

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The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

Many great novels about young people came before. (Think The Catcher in the Rye or Anne of Green Gables or Little Women or Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn, to name a few.) Judy Blume was just on the horizon, with her debut novel about to come out in 1969. But in 1967, The Outsiders was a young adult novel written by a young adult and for a young adult audience and it was so successful that it changed everything. Hinton was 15 years old when she started it, 16 when she really knuckled down and got serious about it and 18 when it came out. The novel depicts gang violence, underage drinking, smoking, absentee parents, and an awareness of class divides between the Greasers and the Socs (the Socials). People are still afraid of teens actually reading it, so The Outsiders remains one of the most challenged and banned books in the country. Hinton wrote other novels, but this debut manages to “stay gold” almost 60 years later. Kids hungry to see their lives in the stories they read still latch onto it. And writers hungry to capture authenticity still study it.

Darkness at Noon (Vintage Classics)

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Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler

Arthur Koestler’s nightmare of a novel was inspired by the 1938 purges in the Soviet Union. In it, a man is broken down after multiple interrogations and makes a false confession about betraying the state. You are trapped with this man, you understand everything he’s feeling, you accept his decision to end the torture by saying whatever they want him to say and you walk with him as he’s led away to his death, the other unseen inmates drumming on the walls of their cells in support, just as he did for others before him and they will do again when the next one falls. It’s a shivering, unshakeable work.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

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One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey

In the biker movie The Wild One, they ask Marlon Brando, “What are you rebelling against, Johnny?” He shoots back, “Whaddaya got?” Maybe rebellion is always in the air, but the counterculture movement sparked by the Beats and leading to the hippies of the 1970s found one of its key texts in Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. It’s narrated by a half-Native American patient of a mental ward who lumps all oppression into what he calls The Combine. “Chief” Bromden details the battle for power between a not-so-crazy inmate named Randle McMurphy and the controlling Nurse Ratched. Kirk Douglas loved it so much that he bought the rights, turned it into a play and triumphed on Broadway. But he couldn’t get anyone to back a film version. It took his son Michael to make that dream happen, succeeding beyond anyone’s dreams with the Oscar-winning classic starring Jack Nicholson. Kesey went on to found the Merry Pranksters, inspire the Grateful Dead and write the novel Sometimes A Great Notion, his own favorite. But it’s the short, sharp shock of Kesey’s Cuckoo’s Nest that is still banned in some schools and still inspires people to fight back against the system, the Man, or as Bromden calls it, The Combine.

So Long, See You Tomorrow

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So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell

William Maxwell was the fiction editor at The New Yorker for 40 years during its glory days of 1936 to 1975. That’s enough to make his name legendary among other writers. But he also wrote novels, short stories, letters and essays. In 1980, Maxwell published one final book, almost 20 years after his previous novel came out. That new work was, naturally, published first in The New Yorker in two parts. They weren’t being kind to a venerable figure. They were lucky to have it and the publication was a sensation. So Long, See You Tomorrow is one of those perfect books; it’s simple, direct and unforgettable. The story begins with a gunshot and features an old man like Maxwell, looking back with regret on a tragedy of violence that tore through the town of his childhood. That gunshot, that murder, also abruptly ends a friendship just when that person needed their friend the most. Maxwell lived another 20 years, but this was his last novel. He was a good enough editor to know it doesn’t get any better than this, so why try?

The Greatest Short Stories of Anton Chekhov: A Collection Of Fifty Stories

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The Greatest Short Stories of Anton Chekhov by Anton Chekhov

We’re sure you’ve been paying attention. And so again and again, you’ve seen the highest praise we give a writer—especially a writer of short stories—is “Chekhovian.” Anton Chekhov is also one of the greatest dramatists of all time and for the same reason. No one captures real life quite like Chekhov. Grab any short story collection you can. Any translation: Constance Garnett, Peavear and Volokhonsky, Miles, Dunnigan, Popkin, you name it. Everyone takes a shot at translating Chekhov into English because Chekhov is the greatest. Find out why.

American Pastoral: American Trilogy (1) (Vintage International)

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American Pastoral by Philip Roth

The perennial bridesmaid of the Nobel Prize, Philip Roth reportedly spent the days when the annual announcement approached nervously in touch with his publisher. Have they called yet? They never called but you can’t blame the award-loving Roth for expecting it. Few writers turned out acclaimed work for 50 years like Roth. Choosing just one is absurd. How about one per decade? Goodbye, Columbus (1950s). Portnoy’s Complaint (1960s). The Ghost Writer (1970s). The Counterlife (1980s). Sabbath’s Theater (1990s). The Plot Against America (2000s). And overall, American Pastoral because it’s a sprawling epic covering underground movements like the Weathermen to political corruption like Watergate. Yet it remains human-scaled and moving thanks to the travails of Seymour Levov, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Jew who realizes you never really know anyone, even your closest friends and family. Looks can be deceiving, which he should have known all along.

The Known World

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The Known World by Edward P. Jones

Some writers are shockingly prolific. Some take their time. Edward P. Jones takes his time. In his 72 years, Jones has published three books. Two are collections of short stories about African Americans working in Washington D.C. His only novel, so far, is The Known World, a work that makes the complicated horrors of slavery in the U.S. fresh again. How? By telling the story of both black and white people who enslaved others in antebellum Virginia. This historical fact—that some black people also owned other human beings prior to the Civil War—changes everything and nothing for readers ignorant of this truth. And it’s just a starting point for a rich narrative that contains stories within stories, along with the varied perspective of the owners and the owned, the rebellious and those who feel betrayed, women and men, poor whites and rich blacks and more. If Jones never publishes again, his name is assured. But we can hope.

A Man Called Ove: A Novel

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A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

Who needs critics? Most of them will politely admit that Swedish author Fredrik Backman’s debut novel has a certain charm. And yes, they laughed quite a bit, it’s true. But charm and humor and gentle wisdom are not the stuff of great reviews. Those qualities will, however, strike a chord when readers discover a book and tell a friend “you have to read this” and press a copy into their hands. That’s how this little book about a cranky old man with a sad past became a runaway bestseller. It’s charming, you’ll laugh a lot and the gentle wisdom is well worth hearing again. You can read it now or you can read it after seeing the Tom Hanks film version coming out in December. But you will buy it, love it and then tell a friend they have to read it while pressing a copy into their hands.

Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver

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Devotions by Mary Oliver

This list of the best works of fiction wasn’t meant to include poetry, but some people just can’t help themselves. Writer Garrison Keillor writes poetry, edits anthologies of poetry and celebrates poetry with a daily podcast and newsletter. In short, Keillor, author most recently of Boom Town, is crazy about poetry. And one American poet of recent years is so alive in the minds of poetry lovers that it’s hard to remember she died in 2019: Mary Oliver. Keillor immediately asked to celebrate Mary Oliver’s collection titled Devotions. Keillor calls Oliver “the poet of long walks who is cheered up by the natural world and puts it all in elegant verse that sticks with you—‘No matter who you are or how lonely, the world calls to you over and over, harsh and exciting, announcing your place in the family of things.’”

The Thin Red Line: A Novel

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The Thin Red Line by James Jones

Everyone lauds From Here to Eternity, the blockbuster novel by war veteran James Jones that climaxes with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It’s a great book and became a great movie. But since Jones is best when dealing with war and The Thin Red Line is the novel that’s actually steeped in combat, we’ll choose this one. Plus, it became an even greater movie than From Here to Eternity when Terence Malick released his movie version of the novel in 1998. (An earlier version came out in 1964.) Fellow veterans frequently laud Jones for telling it like it is and that makes his novels all the more surprising to modern readers. Loneliness, fear and brutality are all on display, along with unexpected touches like same-sex dalliances among soldiers trapped in foxholes and fearing for their lives. You won’t find any drum-beating or patriotic flag-waving either. This isn’t a rousing, go-get-’em war story by any stretch, though it’s not damning either. It’s just…true.

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

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How the García Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez

An immigrant story? Sure, if your immigrant story involves being in a family of means in the Dominican Republic but then fleeing to the US after your dad joins a plot to overthrow that country’s dictatorship and finds out he’s a better doctor than a revolutionary. Julia Alvarez’s debut novel enjoyed instant acclaim and has remained both popular and critically celebrated ever since. It opens up the world of the DR that too few know anything about, as well as shows New York City in a fresh light, as only newcomers can.

The Three Musketeers (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

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The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

After dozens of adaptations turning The Three Musketeers into movies, TV shows, comic books, video games, stage plays, radio dramas and the like, you might be forgiven if you forgot it began as a novel by Dumas. But you won’t forgive yourself if you don’t take the time to read it (or read it again, if you were the sort of kid who saw a big thick book about swashbucklers in France and dove right in). Like Charles Dickens, Dumas weaves a lot of topical issues into his grand adventures. This one is about a young man named d’Artagnan, who heads to Paris with the dream of joining the dashing Musketeers of the Guard and succeeds beyond his wildest imaginings. Grand fun. And if you’re wondering, when it comes to movies, we recommend the 1973 version starring Michael York, and when it comes to translations, we recommend the 2006 version by Richard Pevear—maybe if we all ask nicely, he’ll translate the sequels, starting with Twenty Years After and ending with The Man in the Iron Mask.

Last Days of Summer

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Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger

The epistolary novel—a story told entirely through letters or, nowadays, perhaps texts or email and the like—is a very particular treat. They range from the heart-warming innocence of 84, Charing Cross Road to the cruel darts of Les Liaison Dangereuses. Author Julia Quinn is a fan of the format in general and especially of Steve Kluger’s story about a Jewish kid in New York City in the 1930s. The boy badgers the third baseman for the New York Giants into becoming his pen pal. “I love epistolary novels, and Last Days of Summer is pure perfection” says Quinn, author most recently of Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron. “It is, at turns, side-splittingly funny and deeply sad, with characters who develop and grow with every letter, report card or Bar Mitzvah program.”

Brooklyn

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Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín

Irish writer Colm Tóibín has something for everyone. Travel books that dive into history and faith. Plays. Novels. Short stories. Essays. Journalism. Two hugely acclaimed and ambitious books bring to life two giants of literature: The Master illuminates Henry James and The Magician captures the complexity of Thomas Mann. Then there’s Brooklyn. His most popular work and the source for a lovely movie, Brooklyn tackles the Irish immigrant experience in prose so empathetic and fresh that you’d swear no one ever told the story before. Eilis Lacey can’t find work in 1950s Ireland, so she makes an impossible leap to New York City. A young and sensible woman, she then chances it all on a handsome Italian plumber because she loves him and he loves her. Tóibín lets us feel how risky and brave and scary that is and we love her—and him—for it.

Slaughterhouse-Five: A Novel (Modern Library 100 Best Novels)

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Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Any war novel worth its salt is an anti-war novel. How can you survive the hellish cruelty and uncertainty of war with dumb luck (the only thing that saves you, in the end) and not think, “Never again, no thank you!” That’s certainly true of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five. The author served in World War II and survived (including the firebombing of Dresden) and it’s all poured into the story of Billy Pilgrim. Billy’s a soldier and prisoner of war who makes it home alive but finds himself slipping through time, because isn’t time unmoored when war tears a hole in your life? Then there are aliens, humans on exhibition, philosophical musings, comedy and tragedy and it’s all a glorious mess and can you believe they tried to make a movie out of it? Vonnegut’s body of work is rich and strange and singular.

Middlemarch (Macmillan Collector’s Library)

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Middlemarch by George Eliot

We aren’t ranking the books on this list, but let us tell you a secret. If we did, Middlemarch would be at the top. Not because it is the greatest novel of all time. (No such thing exists.) But because it is inarguably one of the greatest novels of all time, for a thousand reasons. It’s the same reason Rolling Stone recently crowned Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On as the greatest album of all time and movie lists usually name Citizen Kane as the greatest film. Sure, your personal choice may be different, but you can’t say any of those choices are wrong. This masterpiece by George Eliot (aka Mary Ann Evans) is so solidly written, so engrossing, so heartbreaking and such an accomplishment it can’t be denied. It’s both a historical novel and a novel grappling with the issues of its day—like the role of women in a world where a genius like Evans had to choose a male pen name to avoid scandal and be taken seriously, for starters. Bookseller Nina Barrett of Bookends & Beginnings in Evanston, Illinois adds her approval, praising it “for the Godlike omniscience and the incredible wisdom about human love and frailty that she packs into every page.”

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

This semi-autobiographical novel shoulders many burdens. It’s “the” book that represents the Native American experience for many, even though it’s just about one kid on the Spokane Indian Reservation. So what about all the other tribes? And what about the girls? And what about kids who don’t live with a disability like Arnold Spirit Jr. or aren’t really smart or don’t choose to go to a practically all-white public school off the rez, like he does? And maybe don’t even like comics, while Arnold wants to be a cartoonist? Like all great books, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian becomes universal by being so specific about Arnold and his world of grinding poverty and friendship and family and moments of joy. Plus, it’s funny and moving and engagingly written. And who can’t identify with that?

Bridgerton: The Duke and I (Bridgertons Book 1)

The Duke and I: A Bridgerton Novel by Julia Quinn

The Bridgerton series devotes one book to each of the eight children in a family. You know it from the Netflix series, unless you’re a huge fan of Regency romances and read this when it made a stir in 2000. In The Duke And I, the story revolves around Daphne and Simon. She’s a Bridgerton and far too sensible and smart to appeal to the men of her time who prefer their women more mysterious and less outspoken. She doesn’t care, not really. Simon hates his father and vows never to marry or have children. But society can be so tiresome when matrons are pushing their eligible daughters at you. So they make a pact and pretend to be in love to get everyone off their backs. And of course, sparks fly and they fall for each other, though not without complications and confusion and a promise things will go no further. And then they go further. Sometimes a great novel is just great fun.

The Stranger

In this 1942 novel, a French settler in Algiers kills an Arab man and is sentenced to death. That brief description raises a host of complicated issues even before the Nobel Prize-winning author Camus raises the story above the “colonial novel” to a profound grappling with the meaning of existence. Along with Camus’s The Plague, it’s a rite of passage for thinkers and writers, including Tim O’Brien. “I’ve read it at least a half dozen times, probably more, both in English and in French,” says O’Brien, author most recently of Dad’s Maybe Book. “And I’m always moved, in a guilty and mysterious way, by how unmoved the book’s protagonist is in the midst of typically shattering circumstances. (Yet, by and large, don’t we all “recover” and somehow move on from lost loves and dead mothers and our own misdeeds.) The Stranger is among the four or five novels that, as a young man, made me dream about writing one of my own.”

High Fidelity

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High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

The flipside to Bridget Jones’s Diary, this laddish novel by Nick Hornby proves a tantalizing peek inside the mind of a middle-aged man-child. Rob is a 35-year-old record store owner obsessed with music but facing a mid-life crisis when his more successful lawyer girlfriend leaves him. Rob spends most of his days making up Desert Island Lists about music and pop culture. When he comes up with a Top 5 Break-ups list from his romantic travails, Rob rethinks his earlier relationships and talks to the women about where he went wrong. Rob learns to grow up without having to give up his passion for rock n roll, thank God. High Fidelity is so very, very specific to this particular man in England and that’s what makes it universal. Making a movie version and setting it in the U.S. was an absurd idea. Then it made perfect sense, but only in retrospect and only when overseen and starring John Cusack.

Middlesex: A Novel (Oprah’s Book Club)

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Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

Write what you know? If everyone did that, we would never have novels like Middlesex. Jeffrey Eugenides read a memoir by an intersex person, but felt it stopped short of revealing the emotions and reality of this rare experience. What was it like to be one of the people who have less common sex characteristics and simply don’t fit onto a male/female binary? To make it real to himself, Eugenides drew upon specific details from his own life and that of his Greek-American family to tell a sprawling, multigenerational tale of incest, love, confusion, bankruptcy and the journey of Cal/Calliope. Cal transforms from a child raised as female to a teen diagnosed as intersex and pushed towards gender reassignment surgery to make them conform to male characteristics and finally to an adult who embraces their intersex identity. The Pulitzer Prize and Oprah’s endorsement turned this into a perennial bestseller.

The Silence of the Lambs (Hannibal Lecter)

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The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris

Yes, of course, the movie. But the novel! It’s the second of four books centering on the magnetic, chilling serial killer, Dr. Hannibal Lecter. The first, Red Dragon, became an exceptionally good film called Manhunter. This one became a movie for the ages, the first horror-tinged movie to win the Best Picture Oscar. But the writing! Everyone from children’s author Roald Dahl to meta-magician David Foster Wallace have praised it to high heaven. Just don’t expect to sleep until you finish it. And then don’t expect to sleep easily.

Why Did I Ever: A Novel

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Why Did I Ever? by Mary Robison

Anyone who ran away from home to try and track down Jack Kerouac in Florida is a person worth knowing. Other writers, like Daniel Handler of Lemony Snicket fame, have known and appreciated Mary Robison’s work for years. The fractured, fraying story of a Hollywood script doctor whose life is not following a three-act story arc, Why Did I Ever? may be her masterpiece. “It’s a manic, comic novel told in 536 little sections, some scarcely longer than a few words, from the point of view of a woman who is similarly scattered, troubled and jokey,” says Handler, author most recently of Poison For Breakfast. “If you’ve ever heard the lyrics (as the heroine does) as ‘It’s a grand old flag, dunt dunt high-flying flag. Dunt dunt duh, dunt dunt duh, dunt dunt duhhh,’ this book is for you.”

Disgrace: A Novel

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Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee

What can you learn about post-apartheid South Africa from a novel about a disgraced college professor who loses his job over repeated inappropriate behavior and far worse when it comes to a student he pressures into having sex? Nothing and everything. The Nobel Prize-winning Coetzee takes a white man of some standing in South Africa who sees his place in the world slipping away, both personally and in the country at large. Coetzee really puts him through the wringer and then somehow allows you to feel for him and hope for him, just when all hope seems lost. It’s a work of empathy and grace set in a country that lacked those qualities for so many for so long. And bestowing it on a character who really doesn’t “deserve” it proves again how everyone deserves it, always.

Treasure Island (Signet Classics)

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Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

“Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!” Those words at the end of Treasure Island echo in the mind of anyone who reads it long after they’ve closed the book. Has anyone spoiled the fun of Robert Louis Stevenson’s gem by discerning some commentary on colonialism or revealed Long John Silver as an example of unfettered capitalism? Let’s hope not. Because no book is more fun than Treasure Island. Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe is a bore. R.M. Ballantyne’s now thankfully forgotten The Coral Island is a scold. But 140 years on, Treasure Island is a tale to fire the imagination. Pirates! Mutiny! Treasure maps! Gold! A brave lad caught up in it all and he lives to tell the tale! Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum, indeed.

In Search of Lost Time: Proust 6-pack (Modern Library Classics)

In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust

Of course you’re intimidated. It’s multiple volumes long and contains more than 4000 pages! And if you want to keep track of who is cheating on whom and who said what at which party, you really have to read it all at once. But the Harry Potter books run to seven volumes and so will George R.R. Martin’s A Song Of Ice And Fire. Not only are people not daunted by them, they’re angrily demanding Martin hop to it and write more. Here’s the thing—Proust’s masterwork is gossipy, scandalous, sexy, funny and deeply moving. If you’ve ever enjoyed the company of someone who tells stories about their friends (“Oh, and did you hear what happened to Y.K. last week at the cafe?”) you will enjoy Proust. Reach the end of the final volume and you’ll be rewarded with an emotion unlike anything else in literature. Yes, it’s Mount Everest: formidable, challenging and dangerous. And people line up to climb Everest every single day. You can do it.

Goodnight Moon

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Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown; Pictures by Clement Hurd

Books don’t have to be read again and again to be loved. But it sure helps. Like a favorite poem or song, a classic picture book distills a story to the essential words, casting a spell through a precise combination of text and pictures. It lulls a child to sleep and enchants the person reading it. Your parents read it to you. You read it to your child. And your child will read it to their child—or maybe already is!—and down and down through the ages. And if that doesn’t move you, nothing will. So let Margaret Wise Brown have the last, quiet word: “Goodnight stars. Goodnight air. Goodnight noises everywhere.”

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Feeling dystopian? Read these 10 books similar to ‘1984’ by George Orwell.

Remember high school English class reading assignments? Sometimes those dense classics were even enough to make the booklovers in the classroom groan.

But every now and then, an assigned reading would come along and truly stick with us. For many, “1984” by George Orwell is one of those books.

‘Station Eleven’ by Emily St. John Mandel

This dystopian sci-fi novel is about a roaming troupe of actors traversing the Great Lakes region, performing Shakespeare and music for the scattered communities that remain 15 years after a pandemic decimated most of the world’s population. But the Traveling Symphony runs into trouble when they arrive at St. Deborah by the Water and encounter a dangerous and violent prophet who threatens their existence. “Station Eleven” parallels the “before” and “after” of a pandemic-ridden society, weaving threads of fate, hope and disaster amid the apocalypse.

‘The Memory Police’ by Yōko Ogawa

This dystopian novel takes place on an island wrestling with the increasing disappearance of everyday objects and animals. Birds, hats, ribbons, roses and other items are going missing, and only some have the power to remember what’s been lost. The Memory Police, a draconian, fear-inspiring squad, ensure these items remain forever forgotten. This story follows a young novelist devising a plan to hide her editor from the clutches of the Memory Police.

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Other people can be baffling. Even in our closest relationships, loved ones frequently behave in ways that can seem inexplicable. Why can’t your friend recognize her self-destructive foibles? Why do you find your co-worker so grating? Partners insist on misinterpreting each other; voters are convinced that their political opponents are irredeemably wrong—and in these disputes, the other side’s point of view feels not just incorrect but also completely alien. In short, why are other people like this?

Middlemarch, by George Eliot

Those craving an immersive exploration of the human psyche should look no further than this towering classic novel. Although most readers wouldn’t describe Eliot’s study of a provincial 19th-century English town as a work of psychology, it dissects the interlocking lives of the residents with an astute eye toward what drives them. The characters in its sprawling cast—among them the ardent, generous Dorothea Brooke and the ambitious doctor Tertius Lydgate—make ill-advised marriages, run up against obstacles to their ambitions, allow their reputations to be besmirched, and fall into debts that they struggle to repay. Much of the novel’s drama comes from the mutual incomprehension that arises between individuals (particularly married couples), and Eliot tracks with riveting detail the feelings and thoughts on both sides of a disagreement. Even the briefest flash of emotion on a face or the intonation of a phrase can set off a chain of misunderstandings, and the reader is privy to each character’s shortcomings as they form unrealistic expectations and read their own preoccupations into their interlocutors’ words. Total understanding of others is impossible, the novel suggests. And yet, thanks to Eliot’s keen sensitivity, reading Middlemarch might just enlarge your capacity to imagine other people’s state of mind.

[Read: Why it’s nice to know you]

Vintage

Darkness Visible, by William Styron

At 60, Styron was stricken with an episode of severe depression, one that incapacitated him and brought him to the brink of suicide. In this slim book, he attempts to put words to his experience of a disease that is “so mysteriously painful and elusive,” he writes, “as to verge close to being beyond description.” We gain an intimate sense of the illness from its beginnings, when Styron found that alcohol—a substance he had been “abusing for forty years”—suddenly triggered nausea and revulsion. His abstention kicked off a malaise that culminated in a determination to kill himself in his Connecticut farmhouse, ending only with his subsequent hospitalization and recovery. Sections about depression’s causes and treatment are woven in elegantly among meditations on suicide, an act that, Styron argues, should have “no more reproof attached than to the victims of terminal cancer.” The depths of depression are nearly incomprehensible to those who haven’t experienced it, yet Styron’s rich, precise language allows his readers to grasp his suffering—and gives us a glimpse into the workings of his particular mind.

Little Brown Spark

Connected, by Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler

To truly understand people, don’t focus on individuals or groups, the social scientists Christakis and Fowler write. What matter are the connections between people: the branching paths that extend from you and your family, friends, colleagues, and neighbors to, say, Kevin Bacon. The book sketches out the surprising ways that these social networks sway our behavior, moods, and health, and its conclusions can be mind-bending. If your best friend’s sister gains weight, for example, you’re more likely to gain weight too, they write. Who we know significantly affects whether we smoke, die by suicide, or vote, thanks to our human tendency to copy one another. Happiness and sadness also spread among groups, so that the mood of a person you don’t know can sway your own emotions—even though we often imagine that our internal states are under our personal control. “No man or woman is an island,” the authors write. Their book makes a convincing case that our tangled relationships determine nearly everything about how our life plays out—and reminds us that we can’t be meaningfully understood in isolation.

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Graywolf

Milkman, by Anna Burns

Milkman takes place in what appears to be 1970s Northern Ireland during the Troubles—hijackings, car bombs, and “renouncers-of-the-state” form its tumultuous backdrop—and it paints a chillingly sharp portrait of a community consumed by paranoia and violence. When its unnamed narrator appears in public with a menacing figure known only as Milkman, rumors begin to spread that she’s his mistress. Never mind the fact that the attentions of Milkman, a high-ranking paramilitary member who seems to follow her everywhere and utters oblique threats, are entirely unwanted. Where she lives, the narrator tells us, “you created a political statement everywhere you went, and with everything you did, even if you didn’t want to.” To protect herself from the gossip and from Milkman himself, the narrator is forced to become a “carefully constructed nothingness.” She adopts a blank expression and confides in no one—an emotional state that mirrors the hollowed-out hopelessness and self-deception of her neighbors. Burns’s dense, discursive style captures the narrator’s psyche intimately: We feel with her as she wrestles with the fear, suspicion, and longing she hides from the world, and as she observes the corrosion of an entire city under duress.

Anchor

The Personality Brokers, by Merve Emre

We often speak of “personality types” and take for granted that individuals’ inherent qualities can be categorized, predicted, and analyzed. In this intriguing book, Emre traces the development of this idea by recounting the history of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, the world’s most popular personality test. Katharine Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers, a mother-daughter duo, spent much of the 20th century developing their system’s dichotomies: introversion and extroversion, feeling and thinking, intuition and sensing, judging and perceiving. Their story is a strange, sprawling narrative marked by religious fervor and a fixation on the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, and set against the historical rise of postwar white-collar work. Emre’s account is shot through with necessary skepticism—the Myers-Briggs system isn’t substantiated by scientific research, and its creators were “desperate amateurs” relying mostly on quixotic faith, she writes. At the same time, she articulates why the framework holds such enduring appeal: It provides its adherents with language to parse the murky world of their own and others’ personalities, and many use it to arrive at a self-knowledge that can be genuinely liberating. The quest to know ourselves, this book makes clear, is an ongoing one.

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Penguin Books

Reclaiming Conversation, by Sherry Turkle

“Face-to-face conversation is the most human—and humanizing—thing we do,” the sociologist Turkle writes at the beginning of her incisive 2015 book. Our reliance on digital tools that replace such interactions erodes our ability to engage in deep, open-ended discussions, she argues. Reclaiming Conversation is full of dismaying examples of this diminishment, drawn from countless interviews with teenagers and young adults, teachers, corporate executives, and families. Parents can’t tear their eyes away from their phone at family dinners; students have trouble focusing and shy away from substantive dialogue in classrooms; professionals have meetings that barely function as meetings, because every participant is also checking their email. We’ve replaced talking with texting, emailing, and posting on social media, Turkle points out, in order to sidestep the boredom, embarrassment, and vulnerability that come with real conversation. And yet, those kinds of discomfort beget intimacy—the foundation of understanding other people, and thus of empathy. Turning to those around us, she concludes, is still the best way to comprehend one another. If you want to know why people behave the way they do, the shortest path to the answer is simply to ask them.

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The Best American Poetry of the 21st Century (So Far)

Poetry in the 21st century is both ubiquitous and oddly peripheral. Verses are displayed on subway walls, recited on momentous occasions, and served up in giant fonts on social media, but rarely do they merit a book review or a position on end-of-year reading lists. Yet the medium evolves even when it isn’t the center of attention, and over the past 25 years, its authors have pursued astonishing new forms and reinvented old ones. The Atlantic has prized and published poetry since its founding in 1857. And so, a quarter of the way into this new century of cataclysmic change, we thought it was an apt time to consider how poets fit into the broader conversation—to document an emerging canon of the most significant verse of the century so far.

No list can be comprehensive or infallible, but we did not approach this one lightly. After considering various criteria, we landed on work that felt consequential. We were looking for poetry that had struck its readers, for whatever reasons, as unforgettable, enduring, and influential: maybe because it came as an unexpected gift from a friend or loved one, or in the form of a classroom discovery; maybe because it reframed the world in such a way that culture or society felt foundationally shaken. Maybe it was just because, to paraphrase Emily Dickinson, it takes the top of your head off.

↓ Jump to the list here

To establish a consensus, we consulted with more than 450 people—poets and fiction writers, but also publishers, editors, and informed readers from a variety of fields—asking them to name 10 books apiece. Together, they cast nearly 1,000 votes and recommended more than 400 collections of verse. Finally, we limited the list to Americans: Asking 25 books to represent 25 years of artistic progress within the many traditions that feed into American poetry was difficult enough.

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“War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy

“Infinite Jest” by David Foster Wallace

“Les Misérables” by Victor Hugo

“The Stand” by Stephen King

“Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand

“A Suitable Boy” by Vikram Seth

“The Brothers Karamazov” by Fyodor Dostoevsky

“1Q84” by Haruki Murakami

“The Count of Monte Cristo” by Alexandre Dumas

“A Dance to the Music of Time” by Anthony Powell

“The Recognitions” by William Gaddis

“The Tale of Genji” by Murasaki Shikibu

“The Goldfinch” by Donna Tartt

“The Luminaries” by Eleanor Catton

“2666” by Roberto Bolañ

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The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Beloved by Toni Morrison

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

The Iliad by Homer

The Odyssey by Homer

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

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Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

1984 by George Orwell

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

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Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

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The Awakening by Kate Chopin

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Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

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In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

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Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

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Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

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Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt

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Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

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Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

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The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

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The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

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My Antonia by Willa Cather

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The Color Purple by Alice Walker

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Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

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The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams

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The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

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The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

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Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

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A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

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All 8 Thomas Pynchon Books, Ranked

All 8 Thomas Pynchon Books, Ranked© Provided by Collider

If you’re more of a movie person than a literature person, you might only be familiar with Thomas Pynchon thanks to Inherent Vice, which is, to date, the only novel of his that’s been adapted into either a movie or TV series. Pynchon’s one of those writers whose work proves hard to translate, as his style is chaotic, unique, and sometimes pretty much indecipherable. Inherent Vice, the 2014 film, was sometimes criticized for being too hard to follow, but it’s pretty much as comprehensible as Pynchon gets.

Beyond the strangeness of his work, the other thing that stands out about Thomas Pynchon is how mysterious he is. There are only a few official photos of the man (despite him being on this planet for, as of 2024, 87 years), and just as few recordings of his voice (some of them found on The Simpsons, thanks to him having a couple of odd cameos on the show). The mystique of him as an author goes hand in hand with the bizarreness of his novels, with there being a total of eight published between 1963 and 2013. Some are long, some are punchy, some are funny, some are disturbing, and some are (somehow) all of the above. With some difficulty, they’re all ranked below, starting with his solitary misfire and ending with some of the most important literary works of the past 50 years.

‘Bleeding Edge’

First published: September 17, 2013

Many Thomas Pynchon novels take place at a certain point in America’s past, with Bleeding Edge – his most recent work – taking place the closest to the present day. It’s a difficult thing to adjust to, initially, hearing Pynchon reference figures and pop culture from the (admittedly very early) 21st century, with Bleeding Edge taking place in New York City during 2001. An event you’d expect to play a role in the narrative indeed does, but it’s not the real focus.

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Instead, Bleeding Edge is kind of definable as a techno-thriller, with a narrative that’s influenced by the dot-com boom and its aftermath, with Maxine – a single mother and detective of sorts – getting caught up in a complex plot that involves fraud, corruption, conspiracies, and hacking. It’s a confusing and mind-bending odyssey like other Pynchon novels, but the confusion is less enjoyable here. Parts seem well-researched, but Pynchon tackling things inherent to the online world so head-on also has occasional “How do you do, fellow kids” energy. There is an initial thrill to seeing a Pynchon story take place post-2000, but it wears out its welcome long before the conclusion.

‘Vineland’

First published January 1, 1990

Bleeding Edge took place about a dozen years earlier than when it was published, but the gap between Vineland’s time period and year of publication was even closer. Vineland takes place in 1984, but much of it revolves around people who were young and living their best lives during the latter half of the 1960s. Things have dried up in numerous ways for the central characters here, and the novel is at its best when it follows their attempts at redemption and/or reconciliation.

It’s hard to describe beyond that. People drift in and out of the narrative and there is a lack of focus… probably deliberate, to some extent, but it’s not wholly satisfying. Pynchon’s biggest novels are arguably more head-spinning than the likes of Bleeding Edge and Vineland, but the grandiosity of such works also serves to make them more admirable and impressive. Vineland is on the cusp of scratching the same itch as Pynchon’s better novels, but it’s just lacking a little something. It’s still more satisfying than Bleeding Edge, which might be the only bad Thomas Pynchon book, but he’s got half a dozen other novels that are better still.

‘The Crying of Lot 49’

First published: April 27, 1966

The Crying of Lot 49 is easily the most approachable novel written by Thomas Pynchon, and part of that comes about because it’s easily his shortest. It’s only about 150 pages long, with his second-shortest, Inherent Vice, being more than twice that long (depending on the edition, admittedly). It’s still mind-bending and perhaps meandering, but it can only spiral off in so many directions, owing to its length.

The plot’s comparable to that of Bleeding Edge, with a female protagonist, Oedipa Maas, uncovering a conspiracy and subsequently getting lost, alongside the viewer. But her particular journey – which starts with her being made executor of an ex-lover’s estate – is more direct, funnier, and ultimately more thrilling. If anything, The Crying of Lot 49 might’ve benefited from being a little longer, because it does end somewhat abruptly. It’s probably the only Thomas Pynchon novel you could say that about, for better or worse.

‘V.’

First published: March 18, 1963

If you were to give someone a quick rundown of Thomas Pynchon’s biography, and then give them all his books to read without telling them which year each was published, it’s very unlikely that this hypothetical person (who, in this scenario, has a lot of time on their hands) would guess V. was the first one published of the lot. It’s hugely complex, sprawling, and thematically ambitious for a debut novel, and it’s remarkable that Pynchon was only 26 the year it was published.

has a lot going on structurally, and is perhaps more interesting to analyze on that front than it is to enjoy narratively. Like some other Pynchon novels, it’s about an ultimately fruitless search for something, in this case being the – or a – titular “V.” You can come away understanding just a fraction of what’s happening and still find it rewarding in its own strange way, though. It’s also notable for potentially influencing partsof The Master, which starred Joaquin Phoenix and was directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Speaking of Phoenix and Anderson…

‘Inherent Vice’

First published: August 4, 2009

As far as movies go, Inherent Vice is something of a challenging watch, but Inherent Vice, the novel, is a pretty easy read by Thomas Pynchon standards. Part of that comes from how funny it is on a pretty consistent basis, and because there’s a clear central character. Said character is a private detective named Doc Sportello, and he’s completely out of his depths – and usually under the influence of something – after he’s roped into a complex series of events by an ex-girlfriend.

The confusion is kind of the point, and it’s often played for laughs in a way that’s a bit reminiscent of The Big Lebowski, for a cinematic comparison. As for the film version of Inherent Vice, it captures a similar vibe and chaotic energy to the source material, all the while not proving able to fully translate it to the screen; even at his most approachable, Pynchon’s still enigmatic. It hasn’t deterred Paul Thomas Anderson from potentially adapting another Pynchon novel, though, as his mysterious next film – still untitled, as of 2024 – might be an adaptation of Vineland.

‘Mason & Dixon’

First published: April 30, 1997

It might be a cop-out to say that the most epic three novels by Thomas Pynchon are his three best, but they are undeniably impressive and his most distinctive works. No one else can sustain such madness for such a long time, with his three longest (and, again, best) novels all spanning more than 750 pages each. Stylistically, Mason & Dixon is the boldest of the three, as it’s written in a way that mirrors literature from the time it was set… and it’s set the furthest back of any Pynchon novel, with most of the action taking place during the 1760s.

Historical accuracy is not the name of the game here, but Mason & Dixon is also a story within a story, so the embellishment of certain events and people is more than justified. Even if it wasn’t, the breaks from reality are generally fun, and it’s more interesting than reading a dry biographical story about Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon as they establish the Mason–Dixon line. Highlights include one character being pursued by a mechanical duck, and a chapter where someone transforms into not a werewolf, but a were-beaver. You can’t make this stuff up, or maybe you can, if you’re Thomas Pynchon.

‘Against the Day’

First published: November 21, 2006

As Thomas Pynchon’s longest novel by far, it’s fitting that Against the Day also covers the longest amount of time narratively. It begins in 1893, with the Chicago World’s Fair, and moves along steadily until it concludes a little after the end of World War I. It also goes to the most different locations of any Pynchon novel, and might contain the largest number of characters, to the point where it’s not just impossible to single out a protagonist, but it’s even difficult to establish a “main cast,” so to speak.

There are a handful of families important to the plot, and also a group known as The Chums of Chance, who fly around – and in and out of the main storyline – seemingly at random. The Chums of Chance also have a team dog they can all communicate with. Some parts of Against the Day are entirely silly, much of it’s incomprehensible, and parts are strikingly emotional. It will probably never get a movie adaptation. If you have the time to read something about 1100 pages long, or listen to an audiobook that’s 50+ hours in duration, it’s worth it. It’s frustrating, weird, and wonderful in all the best ways.

‘Gravity’s Rainbow’

First published: March 14, 1973

Though Gravity’s Rainbow is the most well-known – and probably the best – novel Pynchon ever wrote, it’s not an ideal starting point for newcomers to the author’s body of work. Again, the brevity of The Crying of Lot 49, plus its relative closeness to the start of his writing career, makes that a better starting point. Inherent Vice, maybe, too. Gravity’s Rainbow is one of his longest and is certainly his most bizarre and grotesque, with it being beautifully written and also obscene/disgusting all at once.

It’s about World War II and its aftermath, largely focused on technology, atrocities, outlandish sexual escapades, and paranoia. Gravity’s Rainbow captures the madness of war better than most other works of fiction, meaning that all the shocking moments within do ultimately work in service of what the novel’s going for. It’s an exploration of so many different things all at once, with very little by way of a discernible plot, or even “plots.” that way for over 50 years, But the experience of reading it is unmatched and wholly unique. It’s been and such a statement will likely still be true in another 500.Note: I am a big Pynchon fan read all of these except Bleeding Edge My favorite is Inherit Vice

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The 14 best fantasy book series of all time

Let’s make one thing very clear. I’m going to list the 14 best fantasy series of all time. There are some operative words in this statement that it will be worth underlining before I dive in.

Fantasy: I will be interpreting this genre as I see fit, but the key distinction here is that I’ve chosen to leave sci-fi for another piece. So all you Vorkosigan stans and Asimov junkies, I see you. Yours is coming soon.

Series: This means that I will only focus on chronicles that span more than one volume. While there are some absolutely whip-smart, flooring fantasy standalone novels out there, I won’t be highlighting them here.

Best: The word that’s always the bane of interrogating any kind of popular art form. There are so many ways to get at “best” that it has nearly lost its meaning. All I want it to mean in this context is that fans of fantasy will be entranced by the following entries. And though some have their blemishes, as we’ll get into, the following series have helped define fiction as we know it. Full stop.

Organization

I’ve chosen to break the following list of 14 fantasy series into two categories: unfinished and finished. The Song of Ice and Fire and Kingkiller Chronicle series are two of the most impactful reading experiences I’ve had in my entire life. And yet there’s no guarantee that they will ever be finished. So if you don’t want to start a series that doesn’t yet have an ending, you can skip to the “Finished” section of this article.

Within each category, I’ve ranked the series based on my level of enjoyment with each one. However, I’ve chosen not to format them in the numbered, list-like style that would accompany a more formal ranking. That way, you can’t get mad at me when your favorite series ends up toward the bottom of the list.

Still, to be on here at all means a series is nearly the stuff of legend, if not already so. They’re worthwhile reads, regardless of how you feel about their authors (cough, cough J.K. Rowling).

I’ve gabbed enough. It’s about time I let these books do the talking. Without further ado, here are the 14 best fantasy book series of all time, starting with those series that are still UNFINISHED.

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin | Game of Thrones books | A Song of Ice and Fire | Image: George R.R. Martin — Not A Blog© Image: George R.R. Martin — Not A Blog

A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin

A Song of Ice and Fire is an epic fantasy series set on the fictional continents of Westeros and Essos, where noble families vie for power and control. It’s also the namesake of this very website. “Winter is Coming” is the mantra of House Stark, a dire warning of trouble to come.

The story is told through the perspectives of multiple characters, many of them with vasly different perspectives on life, which lends the series a lot of depth. Through this lens, Martin explores themes of power, betrayal, honor, and the brutal realities of war.

Meanwhile, his world-building is rich and complex, drawing heavily on real-world history, particularly that of medieval Europe. Known for its unpredictable and morally ambiguous characters, A Song of Ice and Fire has been acclaimed for its intricate plot, deep character development, and gritty realism.

The series began with A Game of Thrones (1996). Martin has yet to complete the saga, with five of the planned seven books now published. Now you know what all the articles complaining about The Winds of Winter delays are about.

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (The Kingkiller Chronicle #1). | Image: DAW.© Image: DAW.

The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss

The Kingkiller Chronicle is a high fantasy series that follows the life of Kvothe, a legendary figure who becomes the subject of a story he narrates over the course of the trilogy. The narrative is framed as a memoir recounting Kvothe’s rise from an orphaned child to a renowned musician, wizard, and adventurer. The series is known for its lyrical prose, deep character development, and exploration of the nature of storytelling itself.

In the first book, The Name of the Wind (2007), Kvothe tells the story of his childhood in a traveling troupe, his time at the University where he learns magic, and the mysteries surrounding his family’s history with mythical beings called the Chandrian. The second book, The Wise Man’s Fear (2011), continues Kvothe’s journey as he faces trials both magical and personal, including his pursuit of knowledge, his complex relationships, and his struggle with his own identity.

Kingkiller weaves together themes of love, loss, ambition, and the cost of fame. Rothfuss’s world-building is intricate, with a unique magic system and rich lore. The series’ third and final core book, The Doors of Stone, has yet to be published, and it’s been nearly 14 years since The Wise Man’s Fear hit store shelves, leaving fans to wonder if the series will ever be completed. That said, it’s far more likely to receive an ending than A Song of Ice and Fire, which has more than one book left to go.

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive #1). | Image: Tor Books.© Image: Tor Books.

The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson

Though this series finds itself at the bottom of the “Unfinished” category, it’s up against some of the most meaningful fantasy fiction to have ever been written. Also, given author Brandon Sanderson’s reputation as a mind-bogglingly prolific author, Stormlight is the only series in this section that is nearly guaranteed to receive an ending from its original author, in spite of the fact that Sanderson intends for the series to be told in two sets of five books. Sanderson’s reliability – and, of course, his reputation as one of the greatest storytellers of all time – should earn him and Stormlight some points, especially if you’re an endings person.

This is an epic high fantasy series set in the world of Roshar, a land plagued by destructive, magical storms and home to diverse cultures and mystical powers. The series is centered on multiple main characters, each of whom plays a crucial role in the unfolding events. The primary protagonists include Kaladin Stormblessed, a former slave turned soldier who struggles with depression and leadership; Shallan Davar, a noblewoman with a hidden past and the ability to create illusions through a magical power called “Lightweaving”; and Dalinar Kholin, a high-ranking military commander who begins experiencing strange visions that suggest he is destined to unite the fractured nations of Roshar. At the heart of the story is the ancient and powerful conflict between the Knights Radiant — an order of magic-wielding warriors — and the Voidbringers, mysterious entities bent on destruction. As characters uncover forgotten history and the true nature of their world, they must navigate political intrigue, ancient prophecies, and the looming threat of an apocalyptic war.

The series’ first book, The Way of Kings (2010), introduces readers to the world and its characters. It’s where you should start if you’re looking for a way into Sanderson’s epic. For all the Mistborn stans out there concerned about Stormlight making this list over it, I have the following rationale: The unique magic system that Sanderson creates and brings to life in Stormlight is second to none. Stormlight’s character development is deeper. The characters feel more visceral. Stormlight’s mythology gives the series a deeper and more interconnected sense of purpose than Mistborn. If you still disagree, I celebrate you. Most all of Sanderson’s stuff is a treat.

Now let’s move onto the great FINISHED fantasy book series!

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. | Image: William Morrow.© Image: William Morrow.

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

The big kahuna. The fantasy series to rule all fantasy series (sorry George R.R.). The Lord of the Rings is the cornerstone of modern fantasy literature, set in the richly detailed world of Middle-earth. The epic trilogy follows the journey of Frodo Baggins, a humble hobbit who is entrusted with the task of destroying the One Ring, a powerful and malevolent artifact created by the Dark Lord Sauron to dominate all of Middle-earth.

The story begins with The Fellowship of the Ring (1954), continues with The Two Towers (also 1954) and concludes with The Return of the King (1955), released back to back to back. If only some of the other fantasy titans working together could put out books with such regularly, although to be fair, Tolkien finished the whole thing before his publisher split it into three books for release.

Tolkien weaves themes of friendship, bravery, sacrifice, and the corrupting influence of power throughout his narrative. The Lord of the Rings influences pretty much everything in the genre to this day. If you haven’t read the books, you’ve likely seen the films. There’s no need to say more.

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin. | Image: Clarion Books.© Image: Clarion Books.

Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin

The Earthsea Cycle is a renowned series of fantasy novels set in the archipelago of Earthsea, a world where magic is a natural and central force. The series follows the life of Ged, a powerful wizard who initially appears in A Wizard of Earthsea (1968), the series’ first book. In subsequent novels — The Tombs of Atuan (1971), The Farthest Shore (1972), Tehanu (1990), and Tales from Earthsea (2001) — Le Guin explores themes of identity, mortality, and the complexities of good and evil while further expanding on the history, cultures, and magic of Earthsea.

Throughout her career in sci-fi and fantasy, Le Guin became known for weaving themes of diversity and environmentalism into her writing. Those themes are on full display here. The Earthsea Cycle has become a seminal work in the fantasy genre, distinguished by its intellectual depth, lyrical prose, and profound moral insights. It’s also unusual among fantasy epics in that it doesn’t focus on war, which was intentional on Le Guin’s part.

The Broken Earth trilogy deluxe edition by N.K. Jemisin. | Image courtesy of Orbit.© Image courtesy of Orbit.

Broken Earth by N.K. Jemisin

N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy is a groundbreaking series set in a world plagued by constant geological instability. It’s a future Earth where people known as “orogenes” have the ability to control seismic energy, but are feared and oppressed for their destructive powers.

The trilogy begins with The Fifth Season (2015), where Jemisin weaves together multiple timelines. We follow Essun, a woman whose family is wiped out by a catastrophic event, as well as two young orogenes, Damaya and Syenite.

Broken Earth is notable for its innovative narrative structure (including second-person narration) and exploration of themes such as trauma, power, survival, and social injustice. The trilogy challenges traditional notions of heroism, offering a lens through which readers can examine the consequences of systemic oppression, environmental degradation, and the cyclical nature of violence. It’s the best completed fantasy series the world has seen in recent years. Go read it right now if you haven’t. It’s the kind of story that will help you escape from the real world while teaching you invaluable things about it.

People taking photos in front of the Tribute to Akira… | Fotoholica Press/GettyImages© Fotoholica Press/GettyImages

Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama

While some folks might be surprised to see Dragon Ball on a list of epic fantasy series, it belongs in this rarified air. In spite of the fact that its format and cultural heritage diverges from the rest of the titles on the list, it’s one of the most well-loved fantasy stories of all time. That can’t go unnoticed.

Dragon Ball is a Japanese manga and anime series that follows the adventures of Son Goku, a powerful martial artist with a mysterious past, as he embarks on a quest to find the seven magical Dragon Balls, which can grant any wish when gathered together. The story all began with Dragon Ball (1984) and has captured countless hearts and minds since then, becoming one of the best-selling manga series of all time.

In Dragon Ball Z (the second part of the series, starting in 1989), Goku’s battles intensify, as he defends Earth from alien invaders like the ruthless Frieza, fights intergalactic threats like the androids, and engages in fierce martial arts tournaments. The series at large is known for its distinctive art style, humor, and iconic action scenes.

Dragon Ball remains one of the most successful and beloved franchises in the world to this day, continuing to inspire new generations of fans. Arika Toriyama was involved in its further development right up until his death in March of 2024.

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang. | Image: Harper Voyager.© Image: Harper Voyager.

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

The Poppy War is a grimdark military fantasy series set in a world inspired by 20th-century Chinese history, particularly the Second Sino-Japanese War and the opium trade. The story follows Rin, a poor, orphaned girl from the south of the fictional empire of Nikan, who dreams of escaping her abusive, impoverished life. The trilogy blends elements of dark fantasy, military strategy, and historical fiction.

Kuang’s world-building is deeply influenced by Chinese culture and history, from the political intrigue to the social hierarchies and mythologies that shape her characters’ lives. Her writing is both brutal and poetic, tackling difficult issues such as the trauma of war, colonialism, and the consequences of seeking vengeance. If there’s one word I would use to describe The Poppy War series, it’s “unrelenting.” It’s the sort of book series you stay up thinking about long after you’ve closed the cover.

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time #1). | Image: Tor Books.© Image: Tor Books.

The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

Sanderson sickos rejoice! The Wheel of Time is an epic high fantasy series originally created by Robert Jordan and later completed by Brandon Sanderson after Jordan’s death in 2007. The series spans 14 books, starting with The Eye of the World (1990) and concluding with A Memory of Light (2013), and is set in a place where time is cyclical, the past, present, and future are intertwined, and the forces of Light and Shadow are in constant conflict.

At the heart of the story is Rand al’Thor, a young man from the small village of Emond’s Field who is revealed to be the prophesied Dragon Reborn, the savior destined to battle the Dark One and prevent the world’s ultimate destruction…or maybe cause it. The Wheel of Time has everything you would expect from a classic fantasy series, but it is most well-known for its exceedingly vast scope. It’s had a profound impact on the fantasy genre, influencing many subsequent writers and inspiring a global fan base.

Amazon is currently adapting The Wheel of Time as a TV series. The third season is due out in 2025.

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

The Harry Potter series is a beloved seven-book saga that chronicles the life of Harry Potter, a young wizard who discovers on his eleventh birthday that he is famous for surviving an attack by the dark Lord Voldemort when he was a baby. But you know all this already if you’re here. Hogwarts and all that jazz. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone kicked off the party in 1997, and you know how J.K. can be when she gets on a roll. By the time the book series concluded with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in 2007, she’d ridden the series to record-breaking success.

Harry Potter has become a central part of modern pop culture, inspiring readers of all ages. That said, the entire franchise is marred by Rowling’s staunch anti-trans stances that have fractured her fanbase. This is a particular shame because the escape offered by Harry Potter and his wonderful wizarding world has helped countless LGBTQ+ folks find joy and community in a real-life society full of hateful muggles.

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. | Image: HarperCollins Narnia.© Image: HarperCollins Narnia.

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

Narnia will always be so gosh-darn Narnia, but that’s what people love about it, I suppose. It’s a classic series of seven fantasy novels that transport readers to the magical land of Narnia, a world populated by talking animals, mythical creatures, and ruled by the great lion Aslan. The series begins with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (1950), in which four British siblings — Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy — discover a wardrobe that leads to a land cursed by the White Witch, where it is always winter but never Christmas. Six other books follow, ending with 1956’s The Last Battle. C.S. Lewis also wrote a prequel book, The Magician’s Nephew, which came out in 1955.

Each subsequent book can be read independently, but the series as a whole is united by its overarching narrative of redemption and the ultimate triumph of good over evil. Very original, I know.

The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu. | Image: S&S/Saga Press.© Image: S&S/Saga Press.

The Dandelion Dynasty by Ken Liu

The Dandelion Dynasty is an epic fantasy series that blends elements of Chinese history, political intrigue, and high fantasy. The series, beginning with The Grace of Kings (2015), takes place in the archipelago of Dara, a fictional empire inspired by ancient China. The story is set in a world where technology, magic, and war intersect. It follows the rise and fall of empires, focusing on the complex relationships between rulers, warriors, and the people they govern.

The series is notable not only for its rich storytelling but also for Liu’s thoughtful examination of social and cultural dynamics, as well as his unique approach to fantasy. As a Chinese-American author, Liu draws upon his heritage to create a world that is both familiar and distinct from Western fantasy traditions, offering a fresh perspective on themes of power, identity, and revolution.

The Gunslinger by Stephen King (The Dark Tower #1). | Image: Scribner.© Image: Scribner.

The Dark Tower by Stephen King

The Dark Tower is a genre-blending series that spans seven books, combining elements of fantasy, horror, westerns, science fiction, and psychological drama. Oh, and King does the Kingiest thing ever in this series by – for some reason – reintroducing characters from The Stand (1978) along an alternate timeline.

At the heart of the story is Roland Deschain, the last gunslinger, a lone and determined hero on a quest to reach the enigmatic Dark Tower, a mystical structure that is said to hold the key to the fate of all worlds. The series opens with the aptly titled novel The Gunslinger (1982). The story goes on to weave through a complex multiverse, where different realities intersect and characters grapple with themes of destiny, free will, and the cyclical nature of time.

If you like King or have ever wanted to understand what “liking King” means, try this. It’s about as weird and King-y as it gets.

Riddle-Master by Patricia A. McKillip. | Image: Ace.© Image: Ace.

Riddle-Master by Patricia A. McKillip

The Riddle-Master trilogy is a high fantasy series that blends mystery, mythology, and lyrical prose. The trilogy consists of The Riddle-Master of Hed (1976), Heir of Sea and Fire (1977), and Harpist in the Wind (1979). The story is set in a world of ancient magic, riddles, and long-forgotten truths, where the characters are bound by destiny and the search for knowledge.

The central protagonist is Morgon, the Prince of Hed, who is drawn into a quest that is as much about unraveling the mysteries of his own identity as it is about saving the world. The trilogy is often hailed as a classic of the genre, especially for its emphasis on language and the power of storytelling. McKillip’s ability to take her tone from dream-like one moment to completely earthy and grounded the next stands out even among the modern stories that have drawn inspiration from her original tale.

Finale

And there you have it. Fourteen of the most meaningful and thrilling series in literature. Sitting down with a cup of coffee and any of these titles will never fail to be one of life’s great pleasures. The words and worlds you find therein, in fact, might just stay with you, shining their light in all the darkest places, and showing you the way.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and Twitter account, sign up for our exclusive newsletter and check out our YouTube channel.

This article was originally published on winteriscoming.com as The 14 best fantasy book series of all time.

13 Modern Classics in the Making: Recent Novels Destined for Timeless Status

`Goals: 100 Books, 2,000 poems etc total 3,000 to 4,000 books/poems/stories listed numerically and chronologically by month

Read Classics finish reading books. You Must read series

One Thriller Per Month

One history/politics book per month

Read A Lot More Poetry

Read At Least One Book A Year in Spanish.

Read At Least One Book A Year in Korean

While in the States, get books from Little River Turnpike library and from the Medford library using the following criteria

One classic book

One poetry book

One Sci-fi book

One history/politics book

One current event book

One thriller

Buy the 2024 best SciFi read in the fall

Buy the 2024 Best Poetry read in the fall

Re-do Mod Po following Mod Po plus poems

Start a different poetry course on Coursea

Start and complete All poetry poetry courses

Alternate between reading Kindle classics, poetry and other books

I will try to finish reading classic books. I have a collection from Kindle of 50 books to read before you die, in three volumes – 15O books in total. See the list below. I have read many of them already which I have noted by bolding. As I read them, I will add them to the chronological listing below, and also have the Harvard classic. I had a hard copy set, but donated it, I have to read it on Kindle. I will also continue to read lots of poetry from the Mod Po class, will do the slo-mo courses then re-do it in September, focusing on reading the additional poems I did not last time in Mod Po Plus.

I will alternate between reading Kindle and other books poetry and thrillers etc while in US will read a lot of books from the library but still read things on my Kindle classic list goal is to finish the classic list by next year !

Numerical Listing

Note: after reading each book, write a review for Bach’s Reading List and for Goodreads copy to my blog entry and cc Suback, Medium, Wattpad, Fan Story, and Writing.com.

Then save under Review when posting on the blog post, Zamzar audio clip into the blog piece, and do Spotify and Substack podcasts, later Threads and YouTube vblog starting in the fall

Before reading ask Co-pilot the following questions

Please provide a synopsis, list of characters, author bio, quotes, and list of books by the author, plus literary reputation. please do not format to make it easier to cut and paste

The List

Fiction

Cather, Willa: My Ántonia From 50 Books Volume One
Chopin, Kate: The Awakening From 50 Books Volume One
Cummings, E. E.: The Enormous Room. From 50 Books Volume One
Dreiser, Theodore: Sister Carrie in progress From 50 Books Volume One
Janet Evanovich Plum Lucky Camp H library In Progress
Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg, the Job – Camp H Library
Sharon Bolton, the Pact, Canal street library TBC
Lisa Gardner One Step Too Far Canal Street Library TBC
Stephannie Merritt, the Storm TBC
Bobby Palmer Isaac and the Egg in progress
Fielding, Henry: Tom Jones TBC
Flaubert, Gustave: Madame Bovary TBC From 50 Books Volume One
Flaubert, Gustave: Sentimental Education TBC From 50 Books Volume One
Ford, Ford Madox: The Good Soldier TBC From 50 Books Volume One
Gogol, Nikolai: Dead Souls TBC From 50 Books Volume One
Gorky, Maxim: The Mother TBC From 50 Books Volume One
Huxley, Aldous: Crome Yellow TBC From 50 Books Volume One
James, Henry: The Portrait of a Lady TBC From 50 Books Volume One
JM Baarre Peter Pan (Peter and Wendy) TBC From 50 Books Volume Two
BM Bower – Cabin Fever TBC TBC From 50 Books Volume Two
Frances Hodgson Burnett The Secret Garden TBC TBC From 50 Books Volume Two
– Hodgson Burnett A Little Princess TBC TBC From 50 Books Volume Two
-Robert William Chambers The King in Yellow TBC TBC From 50 Books Volume Two
Wilkie Collins The Woman in White TBC TBC From 50 Books Volume Two
Richard Connell The Most Dangerous Game TBC TBC From 50 Books Volume Two
Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species, 6th Edition. TBC TBC From 50 Books Volume Two
Margaret Deland The Iron Woman TBC TBC From 50 Books Volume Two
Andrew Lang The Arabian Nights TBC TBC From 50 Books Volume Two
Michael Proust- Swann’s Way TBC TBC From 50 Books Volume Two
Emerson American Civilization (1862)

Once I finish the above, I will finish the Harvard Classic list.

Next Up Bacon TBC

Thomas Browne TBC

Poetry

Bianca Boonstra

Writer’s Cramp

Anne Frank

Anne Frank’s Tree
Anne Frank’s Tree

Entou

Thunder and Lightning
Almost Dead

Lawrencealot

Throw Away Jay’s Way

Linda Varsell Smith

Pathway

Robert Brewer Writers Digest

Robert Lee Brewer – Give Me a Reason Zejel
An Old Hymn Still Singing Zejel

Elegy

David Romano’s “When Tomorrow Starts With Me”
H. Auden’s “Funeral Blues”
John Milton’s “Lycidas”
Mary Oliver’s “In Blackwater Woods”
Ocean Vuong’s “Someday I’ll Love Ocean Vuong”
Walt Whitman’s “O Captain! My Captain”

Haiku

Gypsy Blue Rose – Cows Wander at Night
Zebras Zeal Gallop

Penguin Anthology of Twentieth Century Poetry

Edward Lee Masters – The Hill
Fiddler Jones
Petite The Poet

Edwin Arlington Robinson

Edwin Arlington Robinson
Miniver Cheevy
Flood’s Party

James Weldon Johnson

James Weldon Johnson
The Creation

Paul Laurence Dunbar

The Poet
Life
Life’s Tragedy

Robert Frost – Mod Po Selection

The Death of the Hired Man
Mending Wall
Birches
Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening
Tree in My Window
Directive

Amy Lowell

Patterns

Gertrude Stein – Mod Po Selections

Susie Asado
From Tender Buttons – A Box
From Tender Buttons – A Plate

Alice Moore Dunbar Nelson

I Sit and Sew

Carl Sandburg

Grass
Cahoots

Wallace Stevens – Mod Po Selections

Peter Quince at the Clavier
Disillusionment of 10:00
Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird
The Emperor of Ice Cream
A Mere Being

Angelina Weld Grimke

Angelina Weld Grimke
Fragment

William Carlos Williams – Mod Po Selections

Tact
Dance Ruse
The Yachts
From Apostle that Greeny Flower Book 1, Lines 1 to 92

Sara Teasdale

Moonlight
There Will Come Soft Rains

Ezra Pound

The Jewel Stairs’ Grievance
The River Merchant’s Wife: A Letter
In a Station of the Metro
Hugh Selwyn Mauberley
From Cantos: 56 Libretto – Yet Ere This Season Died A Cold

Hilda Doolittle (H.D.) – Mod Po Selections

Sea Rose
Helen
From The Walls Do Not Fall – An Incident Here and There
From Hermeneutic Definition Red Rose and A Beggar – Why Did You Come?
Take Me Anywhere
Venus

Robinson Jeffers

Gala in April
Shine, Perishing Republic
Clouds at Evening
Credo

Marianne Moore

Fish
Poetry

T.S. Eliot

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
The Wasteland

Claude McKay

If We Must Die
The Harlem Dancer

Archibald MacLeish

Ars Poetica

Edna St. Vincent Millay

First Fig
Recuerdo
E. Cummings
In Just-
Buffalo Bill
The Cambridge Ladies Who Lived in Furnished Souls
Next to, Of Course, God, America
Somewhere I’ve Never Travelled, Gladly Beyond
Rpophessagr

Jean Toomer

Reapers
November Cotton Flower
Portrait in Georgia

Louise Bogan

Medusa
New Moon

Melvin B. Tolson

Dark Symphony
From Harlem Gallery: Psi – Black Boys, Let Me Get Up From The White Man’s Table

Hart Crane

From The Bridge
Poem: To Brooklyn Bridge
From The Bridge – Section XI: Powhatan’s Daughter – The River

Robert Francis

Silent Poem

Langston Hughes

The Negro Speaks of Rivers
I, Too, Sing America
Dream Boogie
Harlem

Countee Cullen

Incident
To John Keats, Poet, At Spring Time
Yet Do I Marvel
From The Dark Tower

Stanley Kunitz

Father and Son
The Portrait
Touch Me
H. Auden
Musée des Beaux Arts
Epitaph on a Tyrant

Theodore Roethke

My Papa’s Waltz
The Waking
In a Dark Time

Charles Olson

From The Maximus Poems: One – Maximus of Gloucester, To You
The Distances

Elizabeth Bishop

The Fish
Sestina
First Death in Nova Scotia
Visit to St. Elizabeths
One Art

Robert Hayden

Middle Passage
Those Winter Sundays
Frederick Douglass

Muriel Rukeyser

Effort at Speech Between Two People
Then I Saw What the Calling Was
The Poem as Mask

Delmore Schwartz

The Heavy Bear Who Goes With Me

John Berryman

From The Dream Songs
Feeling Your Compact and Delicious Body
Life, Friends, Is Boring. We Must Not Say So
There Shut Down Once
This World is Gradually Becoming a Place
Henry’s Understanding

Randall Jarrell

90 North
The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner
The Woman at the Washington Zoo
Next Day

Weldon Kees

To My Daughter

Dudley Randall

A Different Image

William Stafford

Traveling through the Dark
At the Bomb Testing Site

Ruth Stone

Scars

Margaret Walker

For My People

Gwendolyn Brooks – Mod Po Selection

The Mother
A Song in the Front Yard
The Bean Eaters
The Lovers of the Poor
We Real Cool
The Blackstone Rangers

Robert Lowell

To Speak of Woe That Is in Marriage
Skunk Hour
For the Union Dead

Robert Duncan

Often I Am Permitted to Return to a Meadow
My Mother Would Be a Falconress

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Populist Manifesto

William Meredith

Parents

Howard Nemerov

Because You Asked About the Line Between Prose and Poetry

Hayden Carruth

The Hyacinth Gardens in Brooklyn
August 1945

Richard Wilbur

Love Calls Us to the Things of This World
Cottage Street
The Writer

James Dickey

The Sheep Child

Allen Ginsberg

Howl

Richard Hugo

Degrees of Gray in Phillipsburg
The Freaks at Spurgin Road Field
The Poem Unwritten
Cademon
Swan in Falling Snow
Who Is Simpson?
American Poetry

Carolyn Kizer

A Muse of Water

Kenneth Koch

Fresh Air

Maxine Kumin

Morning Swim

Gerald Stern

Behaving Like a Jew
The Dancing
Another Insane Devotion
R. Ammons
The City Limits
Corsons Inlet

Robert Bly

Snowfall in the Afternoon
Driving into Town to Mail a Letter
Walking from Sleep

Robert Creeley

The Flower
I Know a Man
The Language
The Rain
Bresson’s Movies

John Merrill

Victor Dog
Steps

Frank O’Hara – New York School

Lana Turner Has Collapsed
The Day Lady Died

John Ashbery – New York School

Some Trees
Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror
What Is Poetry?

Galway Kinnell

The Bear
After Making Love We Hear Footsteps
Saint Francis and the Sow
S. Merwin
Air
For the Anniversary of My Death
Yesterday
Chord

James Wright

A Blessing
Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio
Lying in a Hammock at

Wes Merwin

Air
For the Anniversary of My Death

Yesterday
Chord
A Blessing

Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, OH
Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island, MN
In Response to the Rumor That Otis Warehouse in Wheeling, WV Has Been Condemned
My Son, My Executioner
Digging
Rowing

Orion Planetarium
A Valedictorian Forbidding Mourning
From 21 Love Poems 13 The Rules of Break Like a Thermometer

Gregory Corsa

Gregory Corso
Marriage

Gary Snyder

Gary Snyder
Hay for the Horses
Riprap
Mid-August at Sourdough Mountain Lookout

Derek Walcott

A Far Cry from Africa
Sea Grapes
Find the Schooner Flight Part 11 After the Storm. There’s a Fresh Light That Follows
The Light of the World
From Omeros Book. 7. 44 I Sing of Quiet, Achilles, Afrolabe’s Son

Miller Williams

Let Me Tell You

Etheridge Knight

Idea of Ancestry

Amira Baraka, Leroy Jones

Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note
Agony As Now
SOS
Black Art

Ted Berrigan

Wrong Rain
A Final Sonnet

Audre Lorde

Power

Sonia Sanchez

Poetry at 30

Mark Strand

The Prediction
The Night, The Porch

Russell Edson

A Stone Is Nobody’s

Mary Oliver

Singapore
The Summer Day

Charles Wright

Reunion
Dead Color
California Dreaming

Lucille Clifton

Homage to My Hips
At Least at Last We Killed the Roaches
The Death of Fry, Alfred Clifton

June Jordan

Home About My Rights

Frederick Seidel

1968
K. Williams
Find My Window
Blades

Tony Hoagland

The Mechanic

Michael S. Harper

Dear John, Dear Coltrane
Last Affair. Bessie’s Blues Song
Grandfather
Nightmare Begins Responsibility

Charles Simic

Stone
Fork
Classic Ballroom Dances

Paula Gunn Allen

Grandmother

Frank Bidart

Ellen West

Carl Dennis

Spring Letter
Two or Three Wishes

Stephen Dunn

Allegory of the Cave
Tucson

Robert Pinsky

History of My Heart
The Questions
Samurai Song

James Welch

Christmas Comes to Moccasin Flat

Billy Collins

Introduction to Poetry
The Dead

Toi Derricotte

The Weakness

Stephen Dobyns

How to Like It?
Lullaby

Robert Hass

Song
That Photographer?
Return of Robinson Jeffers

Lyn Hejinian

From My Life: Trim with Colored Ribbons
H. Fairchild
The Machinist Teaching His Daughter to Play the Piano

Haki R. Madhubuti (Don L. Lee)

But He Was Cool or Even Stopped for Green Lights
Upon To Compliment Other Poems

William Matthews

In Memory of the Utah Stars
The Accompanist

Sharon Olds

The Language of the Brag
The Lifting

Henry Taylor

Barbed Wire

Tess Gallagher

Black, Silver
Under Stars

Michael Palmer

I Do Not

James Tate

The Lost Pilot

Norman Dubie

Elizabeth’s War with the Christmas Bear
The Funeral

Carol Muske Dukes

August, Los Angeles Lullaby

Kay Ryan

Turtle
Bestiary

Larry Levis

Childhood Ideogram
Winter Stars

Adrian C. Louis

Looking for Judas
How Much Lux?
The People of the Other Village

Marilyn Nelson

The Ballad of Aunt Geneva
Star Fix

Ai

Cuba 1963
The Kid
Finished

Yusef Komunyakaa

Thanks
To Do Street
Facing It
Nude Interrogation

Nathaniel Mackey

Song of the Andoumboulou

Gregory Orr

Gathering the Bones Together
Two Lines from the Brother Grimm
Origin of the Marble Forest

Robert Hill Long

Reaching Yellow River

Albert Goldbarth

Away

Heather McHugh

Language Lesson 1976
What He Thought

Leslie Marmon Silko

In Cold Storm Light

Olga Broumas

Calypso

Victor Hernández Cruz

Latin & Soul

Jane Miller

Miami Heart

David St. John

Iris
D. Wright
Why Ralph Refuses to Dance
Girlfriend Poem #3
Crescent

Carolyn Forché

Taking Off My Clothes

Jorie Graham

San Sepolcro

Marie Howe

What the Living Do

Joy Harjo

She Had Some Horses
My House Is the Red Earth

Garrett Hongo

The Legend

Andrew Hudgins

Begotten
We Were Simply Talking

Brigit Pegeen Kelly

Imaging Their Own Hymns
Song

Paul Muldoon

Meeting the British
Errata
The Throwback

Judith Ortiz Cofer

Quinceanera

Rita Dove

Parsley
Daystar
After Reading Mickey in the Night Kitchen for the Third Time Before Bed

Alice Fulton

Our Calling

Barbara Hamby

Thinking of Galileo
Hatred

Mark Jarman

Unholy Sonnet

Naomi Shihab Nye

The Traveling Onion
Arabic
Wedding Cake

Alberto Ríos

Nani
England Finally Like My Mother Always Said We Would

Laurie Sheck

Nocturne Blue Waves
The Unfinished

Gary Soto

Field Poem
Oranges
Black Hair

Susan Stewart

Yellow Star and Ice
The Forest

Mark Doty

Brilliance
Esta Noche
Bill’s Story

Harryette Mullen

Black Nikes

Franz Wright

Alcohol

Lorna Dee Cervantes

To My Brother
Love of My Flesh, Living Death

Sandra Cisneros

My Wicked, Wicked Ways
Little Clowns, My Heart

Cornelius Eady

Jack Johnson Does the Eagle Rock
Crows in a Strong Wind
I’m a Fool to Love You

Louise Erdrich

Indian Boarding School: The Runaways

David Mason

Spooning

Marilyn Chin

How I Got That Name
Compose Near the Bay Bridge
The Survivor

Cathy Song

The Youngest Daughter

Annie Finch

Another Reluctance
Insert

Li-Young Lee

The Gift
Eating Together

Carl Phillips

Our Lady
As from a Quiver of Arrows

Nick Flynn

Bag of Mice
Cartoon Physics

Elizabeth Alexander

The Venus Hottentot

Reetika Vazirani

From White Elephants
A Million Balconies
Train Windows

Sherman Alexie

What the Orphan Inherits
The Powwow at the End of the World

Natasha Trethewey

Hot Combs
Amateur Fighter
Flounder
E. Stallings
The Tantrum

Joana Klink

Spare

Brenda Shaughnessy

Postfeminism
Your One Good Dress

Kevin Young

Quivira City Limits
Everywhere is Out of Town
Whatever You Want

Terrance Hayes

At Pegasus
Lady Sings the Blues

Terrance Hayes

At Pegasus
Lady Sings the Blues

Pablo Neruda

Viente Poemas De Amor Poems of Love 1924
Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening
Cuerpo De Mujer (Body of a Woman)
Ah Vastness of Pines
Leaning Into the Afternoon
Every Day You Play
Thinking, Tingling Shadows
Tonight I Write
Pablo Neruda, “Tonight I Can Write the Saddest Lines”

Gypsy Blue Rose

Gypsy Blue Rose Light of the Bright Moon
Gypsy Blue Rose Love Birds
Gypsy Blue Rose I see you dance across life’s stage
Gypsy Blue Rose Adrift Cherita

Jejeu

Gypsey Blue Rose Over Green Hills a limpid brook flows
Pillow Woman
Steady Breathing warms my Neck
Brian Compton Might I Interject AHD

Judi Van Godner

Sioux

Mask

429. Angel’s Dilemma

430. Where Frogs Are

431. Garland Seox

Quin Jejeu Chinese Form

432. Ishikawa Jozan Mount Fuji

433. Cheng Hao Autumn Moon

434. Gyspy Rose BLue

Waka

Gyspy Rose blue Geologist

435.

Free Verse

436. Sierra Scribbler BLISS

437. Crookston 2 Daffodil

438. Noland Reflections

Bragi

439. Judi Van Gorder Persimmon

440. Linda Versa Smith The snowplow heaves snow banks so high

Lune

441. Robert Brewster Trees Never Wander Lune

Rondel

442. Lady And Louis Two Silver Rings Rondel

443. Mountainwriter49 Forever In My Heart Rondel

Abhanga

444. Judi Can Gorder Incomplete Abhanga

445. Judi Can Gorder Magic Moment abhanga

446. Rachael the Library is Wwhere Abhanga

447. Astrologically Speaking Aghanga

448. Tukaram, Words Are The Only Jewels I possess Ahanga

Writing Com reviews

449. Dean Koontz Dragon Tears

450. Harlan Ellison“A Boy And His Dog.”

451. Fritz Leiber“Spacetime For Springers,”

452. Matt Griffin “Schrodinger’s Cat”

453. Larry Niven, Rescue Party,

454. Azimuth R. Daneel Olivaw

455. Roger Zelazny For A Breath I Tarry

456. Genesis

457. Goethe’s Faust

458. E. Housman A Shropshire Lad

459. Keith Laumer“Combat Unit”

460. Eregon Proofreading Hell

461. Christine B Demonstration of Proof

462. Allen Charles A Love Beyond Pain

463. Professor Moriatty’s True Confession

464. Bobby Lou Steveson Vanwolf

465. Beholden Seven

466. WD Wilcox Valkyrie

467. Kare Enga Pasta Alfredo Please

468. Gervic A Hawk’s Gift

469. Sumojo Vexatious Valentine

470. Cubby on the Road Again, Clinging Hearts

471. Peris Throckmortorf Hearts and Darts

472. Fye a Simple Blue Note Book

Manardina

473. Lawrencealot – Do All Deceive (Form: Manardina)

Free Verse

474. Kafka The Metamorpousis

475. John Gardner Grendel Old English Beowulf

476. John Gardner, The Art Of Fiction

477. Walt Whitman“Song of Myself.”

478. William Carlos Williams’ “The Red Wheelbarrow”

479. William Carlos Williams’“This Is Just to Say”

480. Gwendoly Brooks’ “We Real Cool.”

481. TS Elliot the Waste Land

482. Sylvia Plath Daddy

483. Wallace Stevens Disissluionment of Ten O Clock

484. Allen Ginsberg America

485. David Ryan Do Not Resuscitate

Etheree

486. Judi Van Gorder Etheree

487. Andrea Dietrich Your Wild Awakening

488. Andrea Dietrich Anonymous Solitude

489. Andrea Dietrich The Lair

490. Marie Summer Red Poppy

491. Marie Summer Blurred Vision (Double Reversed Etheree)

492. Marie Summer Ashen Despair (Double Reversed Etheree)

Zen Haiku

493. ]

494. Gypsy Blue Rose at night zen haiku

495. Gypsy Blue Rose at the Bay zen Haiku

Japanese Love Poems

496. Gypsy Blue Rose When I am Gone Japanese Love Poem

knitelvers

497. Judi Van Gorder How Many Times Knitelvers

498. Larencealot Riskless Investment (Knittelvers)

499. EE Cummings 24 Xaipe One Day a Nigger Caught in his Hand

500. EE Cummings 48 Xiaipe A kite is the Most Dangerous Machine

TH Palmer

501. TH Palmer Try Again

Clerihew

502. E Clerihew Bentley Sir Humphrey Davy

503. Dan, I Am Taylor Swift

504. Alan Mc Alpine Douglas The Road Runner

505. James Dean Chase Diana Dalton

506. James Dean Chase Corporal Klinger

507. Judi Van Gorder The King Of Pop

508. Judi Van Gorder Ms. Amber Heard

509. Frank Gibbard Royal

510. Jay O Toole Clerihew Bob Denver

511. James And Marie Summers Garfield The Cat

512. Linda Varsell Smith Supreme Wordster

513. Linda Varsell Smith Electrifying Inventor

Tanka

514. Princess Nukada I wait for you

515. Takuboku I Shut My Eyes

516. Judi Van Gordner Chill of Soundless Night

517. Dendrobia A cool wind blows in

518. Can Sonmez Subtle hints of spring

519. Cheri L. Ahner Peaceful solitude

520. Ono no Komachi (825-900) Tanka –

521. Ono No Komachi See how the blossoms

522. Tada Chimako

523. A Spray of Water: Tanka

524. June Jordan On Time Tanka

525. Ono No Komachi The Ink Dark Moon Tanaka

526. Mrs. KT Early Spring Rains Thrum

Other famous poems

527. John Donne, “The Sun Rising”

528. Emily Dickinson, “I Felt a Funeral in My Brain

529. Richard Brautigan Gee You’r So Beautiful That is starting to rain

530. Chief Seattle Man Does not weave this web of life he is merely a strand of it What he does to the web, he does to himself

531. Anita Shreve A house with any kind of age will have dozens of stories to tell. I suppose if a novelist could live long enough, one could base an entire oeuvre on the lives that weave in and out of an antique house.

532. Anita Shreve A house with any kind of age will have dozens of stories to tell. I suppose if a novelist could live long enough, one could base an entire oeuvre on the lives that weave in and out of an antique house.

533. Benjamin Franklin You may delay, but time will not

534. Bill Keane Yesterday’s the past, tomorrow’s the future, but today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present

535. Geoffrey Chaucer Time and tide wait for no man.

536. Horrace Mann Lost – yesterday, somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered, for they are gone forever.

537. Nora Robert’s Three Fates The past is but a thread in the tapestry of our future

Mad Cow Pastoral Poem

538. Lawrencealot (December 18, 2014) Waiting for Us

539. John Keats’s Odes to a Nightingale

540. Joyce Kilmer Trees

541. Anonymous They Learn What We Live

542. Edward Lear’s the Owl and the Pussy Cat

TS Elliot

543. T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock “

Allen Ginsberg

544. Allen Ginsberg Howl

Lune

545. Robert Brewster Trees Never Wander Kelly Lune

546. Robert Brewster An Envelope Labeled Collum Lune

Pantoum

547. John Ashberry Hotel Lautréamont

548. Natalie Diaz My Brother At 3 A.M

549. Denrobia Osprey

550. Natalie E Illum Curious George Can’t Swim: A Pantoum

551. Blass Falconer A Ride in the Rain

552. Judi Van Gorder the Wanderer’s Return

553. Judi Van Gorder Seamrog

554. Judi Van Gorder Hello Goodbye

555. Maria Hummel Station

556. Kiandra Jimenez Halcyon Kitchen

557. Donald Justice Pantoum of the Great Depression

558. Chip Liningston Punta Del Este Pantoum

559. Hailey Leithauser O, She Says

560. Randal Mann Politics

561. Randal Mann Pantoum

562. Sally Ann Roberts It All Started with a Packet of Seeds

563. Clinton Scollard In The Sultan’s Garden

564. David Scheider Pins and Needles

565. Evie Shockley Pantoum Landing, 1975

566. Linda Vsrsell Smith Our Changing Cosmic Fabric

567. Linda Varsell Smith Grandchildren are Rainbow-light

568. Linda Varsell Smith an Eccentric Grandma

569. Linda Varsell Smith Mole Hole Mode

570. Linda Varsell Smith When Saturn Returned

571. Linda Varsell Smith In Gardens of Earthly Delights

572. Linda Varsell Smith Pantoum: Western version of a Malaysian

573. E Stallings Another Lullaby For Insomniacs

574. Marie Summers Celestial Dreams

575. Marie Summers Seasonal Whispers

576. Sasha Steensen Pantoum

577. Chellie Wood Dance In The Rain

578. Robert Lukeman Life – A Marriane Poem

579. Gypsy Rose Blue Billowing Clouds Chain Haiku’

580. Yamanoue no Okura When I eat Mellons Choka

581. anonymous They Learn What We Live

Acrostic

582. Gabriella 2 Masqueraders

583. .Dportwood Rejoice in Life

584. .Dportwood Boots and Spur

Funny Poems

585. Anne Scott Missing

586. Shel Silverstein Messy Room

587. My One-Eyed Love” by Andrew Jefferson

588. Larry Huggins Doggy Heaven

589. Cynthia C. Naspinksi Our Imperfect Dog”

590. Shelby Greer “The Life of a Cupcake”

591. Joanna Fuchs Yes! No!”

592. Cecilia L. Goodbody “Tinkle, Tinkle, Little Car”

593. Robert Lewis Stevenson My Shadow”

594. “I Atte a Chili Pepper” by Barbara Vance

595. Snap, Crackle, Pop” by Catherine Pulsifer

596. Ogden Nash “The People Upstairs”

597. Spike Milligan “Granny”

598. Julie Hebert ” Dessert Last”

599. Richard Leavesley “Belly Button Magic”

600. Anonymous “Have You Ever Seen”

601. Laura Elizabeth Richards “Ele telephony”

602. Anonymous “Do You Carrot All For Me?”

603. Darren Sardelli “My Doggy Ate My Essay”

604. Jack Prelutsky “Be Glad Your Nose is On Your Face”

605. Gelett Burgess “My Feet”

606. Inna Renko “Home Alone”

607. Nandita Shailesh Shanbhag Not Smart Enough For a Smart Phone”

LImericks

608. Edwar Lear Sit variorum megrim evacuation

609. Unknown There was a young lady of Niger

610. Judi Van Gorder The parrot was messy and loud.

611. Judi Van Gorder An Irishman came to my city

612. Judi Van Gorder In the flick of an eye she went down.

613. Judi Van Gorder There once was a poet called Tinker

614. Limericks I cannot compose,

615. There was a young woman named Bright,

616. There was an odd fellow named Gus,

617. There once was a fly on the wall

618. There once was a man from Tibet,

619. There was a young woman named Bright,

620. I need a front door for my hall,

621. There once was a boy named Dan,

622. A newspaperman named Fling,

623. I know an old owl named Boo,

624. I once fell in love with a blonde,

625. I’d rather have Fingers than Toes,

626. There was a Young Lady whose chin

627. Hickory Dickory Dock,

628. There was a faith healer of Deal

629. My dog is really quite hip,

630. A painter, who lived in Great Britain,

631. There is a young schoolboy named Mason,

632. There was a young schoolboy of Rye,

633. An elderly man called Keith

634. There was an old man of Peru,

635. The Incredible Wizard of Oz,

636. Once I visited France,

637. It goes quickly, you know,

638. Is it me or the nature of money,

639. There once was a farmer from Leeds

640. A fellow jumped off a high wall,

641. A man and his lady-love, Min,

642. There was a young lady of Cork,

643. There once was a Martian called Zed

644. There once was a girl named Sam

645. Said the man with a wink of his eye

646. A wonderful bird is the Pelican.

647. There was once a great man in Japan

648. There was a young man so benighted

649. There was an old man from Sudan,

650. A maiden at college, Miss Breeze,

651. A canner, exceedingly canny,

652. A mouse in her room woke Miss Dowd

653. There was a young woman named Kite,

654. A flea and a fly in a flue,

655. A major, with wonderful force,

656. A nifty young flapper named Jane

657. “There’s a train at 4:04,” said Miss Jenny.

658. A canny young fisher named Fisher

659. Here’s to the chigger,

660. A cheerful old bear at the Zoo

661. The bottle of perfume that Willie sent

662. I bought a new Hoover today,

663. A crossword compiler named Moss

664. I’m papering walls in the loo

665. There once was an old man of Esser,

666. To compose a sonata today,

667. There was a young lady named Perkins,

668. There was an old man of Nantucket

669. There was a young lady of Kent,

670. There was a young lady named Hannah

671. There was a dear lady of Eden,

672. A certain young fellow named Bee-Bee

673. Remember when nearly sixteen

674. There was an old person of Fratto

675. There was a young man from Dealing

676. As 007 walked by

677. A tutor who tooted the flute

678. No woodsman would cut a wood, would he

679. There once was a man from the sticks

680. A poet whose friends called him Steve

681. If you catch a chinchilla in Chile

682. There once was a man named Mauvette

683. There once was a beautiful nurse

684. There was a young girl from Flynn

685. There once was a man from Gorem

686. Dylan Thomas

687. The Hand that Signed the Paper

688.

689. W. H. Auden

690.

691. 2

866666

692. 8Political Poetry

Dylan Thomas, ‘The Hand That Signed the Paper’

W. H. Auden, ‘Epitaph on a Tyrant’

Audre Lorde, ‘Power’

Maxine Kumin, ‘Woodchucks’

“Bloody Halos and Porcelain Chains” from “The Lie Within The Line” [18+] by Jeremy (704)
“Hidden Bruises” [E] by Sumojo (759)”Run From the Devil” [18+] by Jayne (1,493)”Death’s Spell” [E] by DMCarroll (66)”Light’s Labor Lost” [E] by ChristineB (99)

“Motherhood, Lost ” [13+] by Robin:TheRhymeMaven (211)

Monotetra

Linda Newman Paper Dreams

Michael Walker An Angel Spoke To Me Today

Allan J Wight A Poet On The Launching Pad

Robert Brewster No Chance

Other

Robert Lee Brewer “Waiting for April Showers,”

Jan Turner Spring Eternal

The Senses of Spring Jan Turner

SP Quill Magazine Spring 2006, Vol. #10

Andrea Ditrich A Summer Alouette

Judi Can Gorder Month of August

Linda Varsell Smith Future Possibilities

Linda Varsell Smith Fourth Dimensional Blueprint

Lune

Robert Brewster Trees Never Wander Kelly Lune

Robert Brewster An Envelope Labeled Collum Lune

David Schneider Adrift WC Poets Place

Herman Melville Art

693. Occhtfochlach

(author unknown) The Ochtfochlach
Fochlach It (Ochtfochlach)
© Lawrencealot – December 4, 2013
Pen Allen of allpoetry Sixteen Thirty-four Door — Double Ochtfochlach

Note due to copy and paste errors the formating and numbering is SNAFU screwed up beyond repair will try to repair it latter will start numbering from this section onward

Political Poetry

1. Dylan Thomas, ‘The Hand That Signed the Paper

2. W. H. Auden, ‘Epitaph on a Tyrant’

3. Audre Lorde, ‘Power

4. Maxine Kumin, ‘Woodchucks’

5.
“Bloody Halos and Porcelain Chains”  from “The Lie Within The Line”   [18+] by Jeremy (704)6.
“Hidden Bruises”   [E] by Sumojo (759)7.
“Run From the Devil”   [18+] by Jayne (1,493)8.
“Death’s Spell”   [E] by DMCarroll (66)

9.
“Light’s Labor Lost” [E] by ChristineB (99)

10.
“Motherhood, Lost ” [13+] by Robin:TheRhymeMaven (211)

Monotetra

11. Linda Newman Paper Dreams

12. Michael Walker An Angel Spoke To Me Today

13. Allan J Wight A Poet On The Launching Pad

Aloulette

14. Jan Turner Spring Eternal

15. The Senses of Spring Jan Turner

16. SP Quill Magazine Spring 2006, Vol. #10

17. Andrea Ditrich A Summer Alouette

18. Judi Can Gorder Month of August

19. Linda Varsell Smith Future Possibilities

20. Linda Varsell Smith Fourth Dimensional Blueprint

-Anne Sexton Love Song

Robert Brewer

Robert Brewer Miss Shadorma

Robert Brewer Terminal Triolet

Robert Brewser “Terminal Triolet,”

Robert Brewer “Forget sleeping”

Robert Brewer “Semantically Speaking,”

Robert Brewer Full Throated
Robert Brewster No Chance

Robert Lee Brewer “Waiting for April Showers,”

Robert Brewer Give Me a Reason

Bianca Boonstra Thunder and Lightening Entou

Bianca Boonstra Almost Dead Entou

Zejel Spanish Verse

Linda Varsell Smith Pathway

Judi Van Gardner

An Old Hymn Still Singing Zejel

Lune

1. Robert Brewster Trees Never Wander Kelly Lune

2. Robert Brewster An Envelope Labeled Collum Lune

Jay’s Way

Lawrencealot Throw-a-way (Form: Jay’s Way)

Sonnet

William Shakesphere Sonnet 18

Bianca Boonstra Writer’s Com

Binaca Boonstra Writer’s Cramp Anne Frank’s Tree

Lawrencealot

Throw a Way Jay’s Way

Shakesphere

William Shakesphere Sonnet 18

Robert Brewer

Robert Lee Brewer Exchanging Words

PSH

Sheilye Anne Debo Whispering Junkyard Mountain

Quotes to Ponder

If we go down the rabbit hole of our unconsciousness and try to unravel the knotty points of our life story we may encounter a bunch of hidden niceties or emotional stowaways. Forgotten details in the windmill of our mind may daintily reveal, where things might have gone wrong. (I wonder what went wrong.)~~Erik PevernagieI love the rabbit hole. I spend a lot of time looking at images, Google mapping, etc. I also love to read court transcripts, FBI files, stuff like that. You go through vast, boring stretches, but the voices are always so fascinating and slowly a story begins to emerge. It’s very much like playing detective.~~Zachary Lazar

Cassandra always hid when she read, though she never quite knew why. It was as if she couldn’t shake the guilty suspicion that she was being lazy, that surrendering herself so completely to something so enjoyable must surely be wrong. But surrender she did. Let herself drop through the rabbit hole and into a tale of magic and mystery.~~Kate Morton

Dr. Seuss provided “ingenious and uniquely witty solutions to the standing problem of the juvenile fantasy writer: how to find, not another Alice, but another rabbit hole.~~Clifton Fadiman

Rabbit holes are my specialty. I live and breathe in them.~~Kara McDowell, One Way or Another

Charles Baudelaire I must be dead.”

Annymous Worms Crawl In

Edgar Allen Poe Annabel Lee

Kai Carlson Wei Nomad Palindrome

Writer’s Digest

Lee Ellis Big Old Clap Clap,

Nicki Fitz-Gerald Long Walk Home,

Darin Rogers Abstract with Twirling Sparklers,

Martin Klein Unwavering,

Yinka Shonibare Resolution Kid,

Writng com

Capuchine Safety Dance

Solang Bring Be Careful Out There

Solang Bring Bermudagrass

Donald Justice“There is a gold light in certain old paintings,”

Shelly Kaye singular oddquains Fall

Shelly Kaye singular oddquains Hope

Shelly Kaye singular oddquains Cards

Shelly Kaye Mirror OddquainMirror Oddquain Breeze

Shelly Kaye Butterfly Oddquain
Shelly Kaye Crown Oddquain

Other

Famous Prose Poetry Examples (I Told You I Wasn’t Making This Up!)
There are plenty of prose poetry examples out there, but here’s a few to get you started:

“Be Drunk” by Charles Baudelaire—The ultimate call to live passionately Read it here.

“The Colonel” by Carolyn Forché—A searing piece of political witness that reads like a nightmare you can’t shake. Read it here (18+)

“A Story About the Body” by Robert Hass—Rejection and desire with stark, unexpected imagery. Read it here.

“The Prose Poem” by Campbell McGrath—A winding journey with perfectly poetic language (I admit the title is a little less than poetic). Read it here.

The Ziggurat

Judi Van Gorder Appetite A Ziggurat

Jonathan Caswell Inspired

Paul Szlose Anti-Abstraction

Paul Szlose Depressive

Paul Szlose Funereal

Paul Szlose Recital

Paul Szlose Thaumaturgy

Robert Lee Brewer “Supernatural,”

Wallace Stevens “Peter Quince at the Clavier.”

Solang Bing Writing com

Rain and Drought”
“Never Explained”
“Not Funny”
“Wins-Day!”
“Over and Down”
“Death Cafe ”
“Serious, Lengthy, Russian”
“TGIF”
“The Big Game”

Capuchine Swizzle Stick

Elegy

David Romano’s “When Tomorrow Starts With Me”

W. H. Auden’s “Funeral Blues,”
John Milton’s “Lycidas”

Mary Oliver’s “In Blackwater Woods”
Ocean Vuong’s “Someday I’ll Love Ocean Vuong”

Walt Whitman’s “O Captain! My Captain”

Triquint

Bianca Simple Chinquapin

Fan Story Haiku

Gypsy Blue Rose Cows Wander At Night

Gypsy Blue Rose zebra’s zeal gallops

Writer’s Digest

Robert Lee Brewer “If I had Not,”

Binaca Boonstra Writer’s Cramp Anne Frank’s Tree

Lawrencealot

Throw a Way Jay’s Way

Shakesphere

William Shakesphere Sonnet 18

Robert Brewer

Robert Lee Brewer Exchanging Words

Fan Story Review

Judi Van Gorder

Morning Newscast
Maskr

Linda Varsell Smith

Angel’s Dilemma

JHE All Poetry

Where Frogs Are

Selma Martin

Garland Seox

Fan Story review

Other

Dean Koontz Dragon Tears

Harlan Ellison“A Boy And His Dog.”

Fritz Leiber“Spacetime For Springers,”

Matt Griffin “Schrodinger’s Cat” .
Larry Niven, Rescue Party,”

Azimoth R. Daneel Olivaw

Roger Zelazny For A Breath I Tarry

Genesis

Goethe’s Faust

Housman A Shropshire Lad.
Keith Laumer“Combat Unit”

Kafka “The Metamorphosis”

John Gardner’grendel I

Old English Beowulf

— John Gardner, The Art Of Fiction

Fan Story Review

Anonymous Wildfire Naani

Anonymous – A Tick A Tock

Anonymous – To Shelter Feathered Songs

Anonymous Even the Odds contest Carl Sanberg

Anonymous Nonesense

Anonymous Female Strength in Nature

Anonymous Loon

Anonymous – Owl on the Hunt

Anonymous the Wild Side

Patrick Bernady Her Rage

Jamison Brown Before the Wind Calls

lJbutterfly Prayer for Debbie Pick Marquette

Debbie D’Arcy Anne Frank

Debie D’arcy James Baldwin

Debbie D’Arcy – Jimmy Carter

Harry Craft I Was a Spy

Harry Craft What Happened to the Word Groovy

Harry Craft What Does Freedom Mean to You?

Harry Craft – Peace

John Crawford Rudyard Kipling

Donald Saacca Forever friends

Donaldandvicki – Tender Trap

Rick Gardner the Sun, the Desert, the One

Douglas Goff – Perspective

Dolly Poems Granite Island

Elias Noor The Whispher of Time

Finback Never

Finback When Shadows Creep

Gypsey Rose Blue Gardens of Delight

Cecilia a Heikary Bobcat

Cecila Heiskary – Brown Bear

Cecilia A Hiskary Horses

Ceclia A Heiskary The Magic

Cecilia A Heiskary – Night Life

Cecila Heiskary – Snow

Christy 710 – Happy New Year from Aus

Marylyn Hamilton Darkness Descends

Marylyn Hamilton He Waits

Marylyn Hamilton Winging It

Tom Hormoz A Griever’s Prayer

Tom Horonzy Rumpelstilskin Unleashed

Kaput howling at Moon Haiku

Mrs. Kt Silent Dancers

KT Shades of Blue –

Mrs KTEnding Pain’s Servitude

5 fish JM Jenca

Debbie Pick Marquette Believe in Miracles

Debi Pick Marquette My Cornea Disease

Debbie Pick Marquette – Keeping Gypsy in Prayers

Debbie Pick Marquette – My Lifetime

Debbie Pick Marquette Romance on the Beach

Me and Erin G – Long Gone Away

Lana Marie Hairy Nipple

Paul McFarland January

JUMBO 1 Shame

Pam (respa) Black History Month

Tea for Two Eclectic Wordsmiths

Ean Black I Write

Richard Frohm Dreams

KiwiSteveh Sudden Tears

Lana Marie The Dash Between

Pamusart – The Kirby Part 1

Pamusart – The Kirby Part 2

Pamusart – The Kirby Part 3

Pamusart – The Kirby Part 4

Pamusart – The Kirby Case Part 5

Pamusart – The Kirby Case Part 6

Pamusart – The Kirby Case Part 7

Pamusart – The Kirby Case Part 8

Pamusart Rembering the Past

Pamusart Old Man at the River

Pamusart The Great Apes

Pamusart cooing doves

Pamusart Exploding Star

Pamusart Purple Flowers Wake

Pamusart the Search

Pamusart On Finding Peace

Pamusart Jean Marie Lane

Pamusart the cavesweet

Pamusart Independence

Pamusart the Broken Man

Lea Tonin – Famitree Flames

Lea Tonin1 – Humiston

Lea Toni1 – Mansion

Lea Toni1 – The Meet

Alexandra Trovato A Monster Schemes Under Your Bed

Alexandra Trovato A Timely Trump Limerick

Willie P Smith – Sleigh Ride

Willie P Smith – Walk with Me

Teafor2 – Last Night of the Year

Jessica Wheller – Waking Daisy

Jessica Wheller – January Wind

Nicki Nance Emotional Support

Cecilia A Heiskary Daffodils

Cecila A Heiskary Jaguaurs

Cecila A Heiskary Insane

Cecilia A Heiskary Insane

Anonymous Ode to My Scrunchies

Annoymous Golden Years

Annoymous AI Future

Annoymous Tiny Puppy

D’Arcy Rest

Cecilia Heikkary Daffodils

Cecilia A Heiskary Jagaurs

Cecilia A Heiskary Insane

Gyspy Rose blue Geologist Waka

Annoymous Golden Years

Annoymous AI Future

Annoymous Tiny Puppy

D’Arcy Rest

Cecilia Heikkary Daffodils

Cecilia A Heiskary Jagaurs

Cecilia A Heiskary Insane

Gyspy Rose blue Geologist Waka

Rick Gardner Innocent of Guilty

Harry Craft A Kangaroo from Baraboo

Nancyjam Love in the winter

Debbie Pick Marquette Finding the Bright Side

Debbie Pick Marquette March

Pamusart The Sword

Pamusart The Planet Earth

Barry Penfold Slow Dance with You

YM Roger Always For Now

Arabellesom Mom Truest Love Ever Known

Debbie D’Arcy Lord Bryon

Nicki B Robin Williams

Harry Craft the Cell Phone

Estory in this Autumn Time

Mrs Anna Howard Difficult Decisions

Debbie Pick Marquette Thelma and Louise

Pamusart Your Golden Aura

Rachell Allen Public Face/Private Face

Anonymous Today

Rachael Allen Exceptional Teacher

Debbie D’Arcy Voldymyr Zelensky

Kentucky Sweet Pea My Dogma

Pamusart The Kidnapping

Pamusart the Kidnapping Chapter Two

Pam Respa Rennoved Violinst

Rachael Allen Proud to Be His Daugther

Rick Gardner Wishes to Have

Cecilia A Heiskary Sumatran Orangutan

Cecilia A Heiskary Guiana Red-Face Monkey

Dolly’s Poems the Witching Hour

Kapot Swimming in Pain

Debbie Pick Marquette Men are from Mars, Women from Venus

Miss Merrie This Love

Nancyjam the Meadow

Gypsy Blue Rose Billowing Clouds

Pamusart the Kidnapping Chapter 3

Pamusart Colorful world

Pamusart the World Around Lavenders

Annoymous Maladorous

Tea for Two It Was the Shoes

Tea for Two Wordsmith with Big Faces

Iraven Prayers for Eva

Sally Law Blood Moon and Blood Rain

Jaquelyn Poop Living the Dream, No Thank You

Debi Pick Marquette My Bedroom Window

Debi Pick Marquette Happy St Patrick’s Birthday

Debi Pick Marquette My Bedroom Window

Debi Pick Marquette Happy St Patrick’s Birthday

Rven Prayers for Eva

Jennifer Secret Rendezvous

Sally Law’s Blood Moon and Blood Rain

Jaquelyn Poop Living the Dream, No Thank You

Sanku A New Day

Aiona I Am Photine

Annyomous Too Many Boyfriends For This Is Serious

Annyomous Cary Hope

Annyomous Cicada Watch

Annyomous Ned the Postman

Brad Bennett I Saw A Man Walking Crying

Carasdreams Betrayal

Cullen Bob I Just Want To Leave Things Be

Chris Davies Irish

Iza Dealeanu The Wandering Queen

Dolly’s Poems Graveyard Shift

Cecilia A Heiskary Fun Time

Rick Gardner April Is Today And The Next Day

Brenda Strauser Early Signs Of Spring

Alexandra Trovato Real Love

Fan Story Review

Annoymous Golden Years

Annoymous AI Future

Annoymous Tiny Puppy

Annyomous A Tick a Tock

Annyomous TO Shelter feathered Songs

Debbie D’Arcy Jimmy Carter

Harry Craft Peace

KT Shades of Blue

Cecilia A Heiskary Beat of My Drum

Debbie Pick Marquette Instead of 2025 Resolutions

Debbie Pick Marquette Patch and Ruby, Catching Things

Lea Tonin1 Infanterei

Lea Tonin1 Miristone

Pam Respa Stylish Statues

D’Arcy Rest

Cecilia Heiskary Daffodils

Cecilia A Heiskary Jaguars

Cecilia A Heiskary Insane

Gypsey Rose blue Geologist Waka

Jamison Brown Before the Wind Calls

J Butterfly Prayer for Debbie Pick Marquette

Debbie D’Arcy Anne Frank

Rick Gardner, the Sun, the Desert, the One

Cecilia, a Heikary Bobcat

JUMBO 1 Shame

Debi Pick, Marquette, My Cornea Disease

Pam (respa) Black History Month

Nancyjam Love in the w

Pamusart The Sword

Barry Penfold Slow Dance with You

Tea for Two Eclectic Wordsmiths

Mark Bibbins “At the End of the Endless Decade,

Annoymous dogsessive

Crystie Cookie 999

Trust Jessie James Doty

Debbie Pick Marque

Tim Margetts Four Paws, No Pause

Bianca Boonstra 2002 Septet

Anonymous Owl On the Hunt

Christy 710 Happy New Years from Aus

DonaldandVicki Tender Trap

Douglas Goff Perspective

Me and Erin G Long Gone Away

Cecilia A Heiskary Night Life

Lea Tonin1 Humiston

Lea Toni1 Mansione

Lea Toni1 The Meet

Willie P Smith Sleight Ride

Willie P Smith Walk With Me

Teafor2 Last Night of the Year

Jessica Wheller Waking Daisy

Binaca Boonstra Writer’s Cramp Anne Frank’s Tree
Annyomous TO Shelter feathered Songs

Debbie D’Arcy Jimmy Carter

Cecila Heiskary Brown Bear

Cecila Heiskary Snow

Harry Craft Peace

KT Shades of Blue

Debbie Pick Marquette Keeping Gypsy in Prayers

Debbie Pick Marquette My Lifetime

Lea Tonin Famitree Flames

Jessica Wheller Janaury Wind

Anonymous They Learn What We Live

Pamusart Rembering the Past

Pamusart Old Man at the River

Lana Marie Hairy Nipple

Paul McFarland January

End Poetry

Begin Harvard Classics

Harvard Classics

The volumes are:

Bolded read

(1) Franklin, Woolman, Penn

(2) Plato, Epictetus,

Marcus, Aurelius Meditations

(3) Bacon,

Milton’s Prose,

Thomas Browne

(4) Complete Poems in English: Milton

(5) Essays and English Traits: Emerson (

6) Poems and Songs: Burns (7)

Confessions of St. Augustine. Imitation of Christ

(8) Nine Greek Dramas (9)

Letters and Treatises of Cicero

Pliny

(10) Wealth of Nations: Adam Smith

(11) Origin of Species: Darwin

(12) Plutarch’s Lives (13)

Aeneid Virgil (14)

Don Quixote Part 1: Cervantes

(15) Pilgrim’s Progress. Donne

Herbert. Bunyan, Walton

(16) The Thousand and One Night

(17) Folk-Lore and Fable. Aesop, Grimm,

Andersen

Hans Christian Anderson’s Fairy Tales

(18) Modern English Drama

(19) Faust,

Egmont Etc.

Doctor Faustus,

Goethe,

Marlowe

(20) The Divine Comedy: Dante

(21) I Promessi

Sposi,

Manzoni

(22) The Odyssey: Homer

(23) Two Years Before Mast. Dana

(24) On the Sublime French Revolution Etc. Burke

(25) Autobiography Etc. Essays and Addresses: J.S. Mill,

Carlyle

(26) Continental Drama

(27) English Essays: Sidney to Macaulay

(28) Essays. English and American

(29) Voyage of the Beagle: Darwin (

30) Faraday,

Helmholtz,

Kelvin,

Newcomb,

Geikie

(31) Autobiography: Benvenuto, Cellini

(32) Literary and Philosophical Essays:

Montaigne,

Sainte Beuve,

Renan,

Lessing,

Schiller,

Kant,

Mazzini

(33) Voyages and Travels

(34) Descartes,

Voltaire,

Rousseau,

Hobbes

(35) Chronicle and Romance:

Froissart,

Malory,

Holinshed (36)

Machiavelli, the Prince

More,

Luther

(37) Locke,

Berkeley,

Hume

(38) Harvey,

Jenner,

Lister,

Pasteur

(39) Famous Prefaces

(40) English Poetry 1: Chaucer to Gray

(41) English Poetry 2: Collins to Fitzgerald

(42) English Poetry 3: Tennyson to Whitman

(43) American Historical Documents

Federalist Papers

Constitution

Bill of Rights

Declaration of Indepedence

(44) Sacred Writings 1

(45) Sacred Writings 2

The Bible

The Quaran

The Analect of Confucius

Mencius

Buddist Writing

Bhaga Vita

Lao Tzo The Tao

(46) Elizabethan Drama 1

(47) Elizabethan Drama 2

(48) Thoughts and Minor Works: Pascal

(49) Epic and Saga (

50) Introduction, Readers Guide,

50 Books to Read Before You Die

Vol 1 starts with Volume One

Alcott, Louisa May: Little Women
Austen, Jane: Pride and Prejudice
Austen, Jane: Emma
Balzac, Honoré de: Father Goriot
Barbusse, Henri: The Inferno
Brontë, Anne: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Brontë, Charlotte: Jane Eyre
Brontë, Emily: Wuthering Heights
Burroughs, Edgar Rice: Tarzan of the Apes
Butler, Samuel: The Way of All Flesh
Carroll, Lewis: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Cather, Willa: My Ántonia
Cervantes, Miguel de: Don Quixote
Chopin, Kate: The Awakening
Cleland, John: Fanny Hill
Collins, Wilkie: The Moonstone
Conrad, Joseph: Heart of Darkness
Conrad, Joseph: Nostromo
Cooper, James Fenimore: The Last of the Mohicans
Crane, Stephen: The Red Badge of Courage
Cummings, E. E.: The Enormous Room
Defoe, Daniel: Robinson Crusoe
Defoe, Daniel: Moll Flanders
Dickens, Charles: Bleak House
Dickens, Charles: Great Expectations
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor: Crime and Punishment
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor: The Idiot
Doyle, Arthur Conan: The Hound of the Baskervilles
Dreiser, Theodore: Sister Carrie
Dumas, Alexandre: The Three Musketeers
Dumas, Alexandre: The Count of Monte Cristo
Eliot, George: Middlemarch
Fielding, Henry: Tom Jones
Flaubert, Gustave: Madame Bovary
Flaubert, Gustave: Sentimental Education
Ford, Ford Madox: The Good Soldier
Forster, E. M.: A Room With a View
Forster, E. M.: Howard End
Gaskell, Elizabeth: North and South
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von: The Sorrows of Young Werther
Gogol, Nikolai: Dead Souls
Gorky, Maxim: The Mother
Haggard, H. Rider: King Solomon’s Mines
Hardy, Thomas: Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Hawthorne, Nathaniel: The Scarlet Letter
Homer: The Odyssey
Hugo, Victor: The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Hugo, Victor: Les Misérables
Huxley, Aldous: Crome Yellow
James, Henry: The Portrait of a Lady

Volume 2

– Little Women [Louisa May Alcott]
– Sense and Sensibility [Jane Austen]
– Peter Pan (Peter and Wendy) [J.M. Barrie]
– Cabin Fever [ B. M. Bower]
– The Secret Garden [Frances Hodgson Burnett]
– A Little Princess [Frances Hodgson Burnett]
– Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland [Lewis Carroll]
– The King in Yellow [Robert William Chambers]
– The Man Who Knew Too Much [Gilbert Keith Chesterton]
– The Woman in White [Wilkie Collins]
– The Most Dangerous Game [Richard Connell]
– Robinson Crusoe [Daniel Defoe]
– On the Origin of Species, 6th Edition [Charles Darwin]
– The Iron Woman [Margaret Deland]
– David Copperfield [Charles Dickens]
– Oliver Twist [Charles Dickens]
– A Tale of Two Cities [Charles Dickens]
– The Double [Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky]
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes [Arthur Conan Doyle]
– The Curious Case of Benjamin Button [Francis Scott Fitzgerald]
– A Room with a View [E. M. Forster]
– Dream Psychology [Sigmund Freud]
– Tess of the d’Urbervilles [Thomas Hardy]
– Siddhartha [Hermann Hesse]
– Dubliners [James Joyce]
– The Fall of the House of Usher [Edgar Allan Poe]
– The Arabian Nights [Andrew Lang]
– The Sea Wolf [Jack London]
– The Call of Cthulhu [Howard Phillips Lovecraft]
– Anne of Green Gables [Lucy Maud Montgomery]
– Beyond Good and Evil [Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche]
– The Murders in the Rue Morgue [Edgar Allan Poe]
– The Black Cat [Edgar Allan Poe]
– The Raven [Edgar Allan Poe]
– Swann’s Way [Marcel Proust]
– Romeo and Juliet [William Shakespeare]
– Treasure Island [Robert Louis Stevenson]
– The Elements of Style [William Strunk Jr.

Vol 3 finished keeping for the historical record

This book contains the following works arranged alphabetically by authors’ last names.

Starting with volume 3 then will go back and do volumes one, two, and the Harvard classics. The goal is to finish all of these by the end of next year. I almost finished Volume One. Will do some of the WC reading books as well.

– What’s Bred in the Bone [Grant Allen]
– The Golden Ass [Lucius Apuleius]
– Meditations [Marcus Aurelius]
– Northanger Abbey [Jane Austen]
– Lady Susan [Jane Austen]
– The Wonderful Wizard of Oz [Lyman Frank Baum]
– The Art of Public Speaking [Dale Breckenridge Carnegie]
– The Blazing World [Margaret Cavendish]
– The Wisdom of Father Brown [Gilbert Keith Chesterton]
– Heretics [Gilbert Keith Chesterton]
– The Donnington Affair [Gilbert Keith Chesterton]
– The Innocence of Father Brown [Gilbert Keith Chesterton]
– Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [John Cleland]
– The Moonstone [Wilkie Collins]
– Lord Jim [Joseph Conrad]
– The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe [Daniel Defoe]
– The Pickwick Papers [Charles Dickens]
– A Christmas Carol [Charles Dickens]
– Notes From The Underground [Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky]
– The Gambler par Fyodor [Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky]
– The Lost World [Arthur Conan Doyle]
– The Hound of the Baskervilles [Arthur Conan Doyle]
– The Sign of the Four [Arthur Conan Doyle]
– The Man in the Iron Mask [Alexandre Dumas]
– The Three Musketeers [Alexandre Dumas]
– This Side of Paradise [Francis Scott Fitzgerald]
– Curious, If True: Strange Tales [Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell]
– King Solomon’s Mines [Henry Rider Haggard]
– The Hunchback of Notre Dame [Victor Hugo]
– Kim [Rudyard Kipling]
– Captain Courageous [Rudyard Kipling]
– The Jungle Book [Rudyard Kipling]
– Lady Chatterley’s Lover [David Herbert Lawrence]
– The Son of the Wolf [Jack London]
– The Einstein Theory of Relativity [Hendrik Antoon Lorentz]
– The Dunwich Horror [Howard Phillips Lovecraft]
– At the Mountains of Madness [Howard Phillips Lovecraft]
– The Prince [Niccolò Machiavelli]
– The Story Girl [Lucy Maud Montgomery]
– The Antichrist [Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche]
– The Republic [Plato]
– The Last Man [Mary Shelley]
– Life On The Mississippi [Mark Twain]
– The Kama Sutra [Vatsyayana]
– In the Year 2889 [Jules Verne]
– Around the World in Eighty Days [Jules Verne]
– Four Just Men [Edgar Wallace]
– Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ [Lewis Wallace]
– Jacob’s Room [Virginia Woolf]

Sci-Fi short stories

The Big Book of Science Fiction is a massive anthology of science fiction stories edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer. It covers the history and evolution of the genre from the early 20th century to the end of the millennium, featuring works from over 30 countries and many languages. The book contains 105 stories, ranging from classics by H.G. Wells, Arthur C. Clarke, and Ursula K. Le Guin, to lesser-known gems by W.E.B. Du Bois, David R. Bunch, and Liu Cixin. The book also includes comments from the editors and the authors, offering insights into their creative process and vision. The book is divided into 11 sections, each with a thematic focus and chronological order.

Here is the table of contents for the book1:

Goal read one to five per week alternating with Kindle classics and reading poetry collections finish by end of the year

Introduction: Ann and Jeff VanderMeer

The Lens of Time: Science Fiction as a Way of Seeing

H.G. Wells: “The Star” (1897)

Lu Xun: “The New Overworld” (1902)

Sultana’s Dream: Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1905)

Albert Robida: “The Triumph of Mechanics” (1908)

Miguel de Unamuno: “Mechanopolis” (1913)

W.E.B. Du Bois: “The Comet” (1920)

Claude Farrère: “The Fate of the Poseidonia” (1923)

Edmond Hamilton: “The Star Stealers” (1929)

David H. Keller: “The Lost Language” (1934)

Stanislaw Lem: “Solaris” (1961) excerpt

Jorge Luis Borges: “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” (1940)

Cixin Liu: “The Poetry Cloud” (1997)

Invasions

Edgar Rice Burroughs: “A Princess of Mars” (1912) excerpt

Leslie F. Stone: “The Conquest of Gola” (1931)

Stanley G. Weinbaum: “A Martian Odyssey” (1934)

John W. Campbell Jr.: “Who Goes There?” (1938)

Ray Bradbury: “Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed” (1949)

Katherine MacLean: “Pictures Don’t Lie” (1951)

William Tenn: “The Liberation of Earth” (1953)

J.G. Ballard: “The Voices of Time” (1960)

Dino Buzzati: “Catastrophe” (1966)

James Tiptree Jr.: “And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill’s Side” (1972)

Joanna Russ: “When It Changed” (1972)

Arkady & Boris Strugatsky: “The Spontaneous Reflex” (1973) excerpt

Octavia Butler: “Bloodchild” (1984)

James Patrick Kelly: “Think Like a Dinosaur” (1995)

Monsters

H.P. Lovecraft: “The Dunwich Horror” (1929)

Ray Bradbury: “The Foghorn” (1951)

Jerome Bixby: “It’s a Good Life” (1953)

Julio Cortázar: “Axolotl” (1956)

J.G. Ballard: “The Drowned Giant” (1964)

R.A. Lafferty: “Nine Hundred Grandmothers” (1966)

Terry Carr: “The Dance of the Changer and the Three” (1968)

Harlan Ellison®: “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” (1967)

Lisa Tuttle & George R.R. Martin: “The Storms of Windhaven” (1975)

John Varley: “Air Raid” (1977)

William Gibson: “New Rose Hotel” (1984)

Ted Chiang: “Story of Your Life” (1998)

Experiments

Alfred Jarry: “Elements of Pataphysics” (1911)

Karel Čapek: “R.U.R.” (1920) excerpt

Stanisław Lem: “How Erg the Self-Inducting Slew a Paleface” (1955)

William S. Burroughs: “Excerpt from Naked Lunch” (1959)

J.G. Ballard: “Chronopolis” (1960)

Philip K. Dick: “Beyond Lies the Wub” (1952)

Boris Vian: “Froth on the Daydream” (1947) excerpt

Joanna Russ: “Useful Phrases for the Tourist” (1970)

George Alec Effinger: “Two Sadnesses” (1973)

John Sladek: “Solar Shoe Salesman” (1974)

Dafydd ab Hugh: “The Coon Rolled Down and Ruptured His Larinks, A Squeezed Novel by Mr. Skunk” (1986)

Generation Ships

Don Wilcox: “The Voyage That Lasted 600 Years” (1940)

Judith Merril: “Daughters of Earth” (1952)

Brian W. Aldiss: “Non-Stop” (1958) excerpt

Robert Silverberg: “Sundance” (1969)

Pamela Zoline: “The Heat Death of the Universe” (1967)

Gene Wolfe: “A Cabin on the Coast” (1984)

Bruce Sterling: “Swarm” (1982)

Geoff Ryman: “The Unconquered Country” (1984)

New Worlds

Cordwainer Smith: “Alpha Ralpha Boulevard” (1961)

Samuel R. Delany: “Aye, and Gomorrah …” (1967)

Ursula K. Le Guin: “Vaster Than Empires and Slower” (1971)

James Tiptree Jr.: “Houston, Houston, Do You Read?” (1976)

Frederik Pohl: “The Gold at the Starbow’s End” (1972)

Angélica Gorodischer: “Of Navigators and Traitors” (1973) excerpt

John Crowley: “Snow” (1985)

Iain M. Banks: “A Gift from the Culture” (1987)

Greg Egan: “Learning to Be Me” (1990)

Future War

Jack London: “The Unparalleled Invasion” (1910)

Edward Bulwer-Lytton: “The Coming Race” (1871) excerpt

George Griffith: “The War of the Viruses” (1895)

Philip Francis Nowlan: “Armageddon 2419 A.D.” (1928)

E.E. “Doc” Smith: “The Skylark of Space” (1928) excerpt

Olaf Stapledon: “Star Maker” (1937) excerpt

Robert A. Heinlein: “Solution Unsatisfactory” (1941)

C.M. Kornbluth: “Two Dooms” (1958)

Joe Haldeman: “Hero” (1972)

Harry Harrison: “The Streets of Ashkelon” (1962)

David R. Bunch: “Moderan” (1967)

Harlan Ellison®: “A Boy and His Dog” (1969)

James S.A. Corey: “Rates of Change” (2011)

Virtual Reality

Stanisław Lem: “The Seventh Sally or How Trurl’s Own Perfection Led to No Good” (1965)

Philip K. Dick: “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” (1966)

John Brunner: “The Vitanuls” (1967)

Roger Zelazny: “For a Breath I Tarry” (1966)

Robert Silverberg: “Passengers” (1968)

Rudy Rucker: “Software” (1982) excerpt

William Gibson: “Burning Chrome” (1982)

Pat Cadigan: “Pretty Boy Crossover” (1986)

Neal Stephenson: “Snow Crash” (1992) excerpt

Humanity 2.0

Olaf Stapledon: “Odd John” (1935) excerpt

C.L. Moore: “No Woman Born” (1944)

Cordwainer Smith: “Scanners Live in Vain” (1950)

Algis Budrys: “Who?” (1955)

James Blish: “Surface Tension” (1952)

Gregory Benford: “Blood Music” (1983)

Bruce Sterling: “Mozart in Mirrorshades” (1985)

Vernor Vinge: “True Names” (1981)

Ted Chiang: “Understand” (1991)

Alien Minds

Arthur C. Clarke: “The Sentinel” (1951)

Isaac Asimov: “The Last Question” (1956)

Clifford D. Simak: “Desertion” (1944)

James H. Schmitz: “Grandpa” (1955)

Frank Herbert: “Try to Remember!” (1961)

Philip José Farmer: “Sail On! Sail On!” (1952)

Stanisław Lem: “Solaris” (1961) excerpt

Arkady & Boris Strugatsky: “Roadside Picnic” (1972) excerpt

Karen Joy Fowler & Pat Murphy: “Rachel in Love” (1987)

Ian McDonald: “The Tear” (2008)

After the End

Walter M. Miller Jr.

Penguin Anthology of Twentieth Century Poetry

BOLD read

Edward Lee Masters.

The Hil

Fiddler. Jones,

Petite the Poet

Edwin Arlington Robinson

Miniver Cheevy

Mr. Flood’s Party.

James Weldon Johnson

The Creation

Paul Laurence Dunbar.

The Poet

Life

Life’s Trajedy

Robert Frost.

The Death Of The Hired Man.

Mending Wall.

Birches

Stopping By The Woods On A Snowy Evening.

Tree In My Window.

Directive.

Amy Lowell

Patterns.

Getrude Stein

Susie Asado.

From Tender Buttons A Box.

From Tender Buttons, A Plate.

Alice Moore Dunbar Nelson

I sit and sew .

Carl Sandburg.

Grass.

Cahoots.

Wallace Stevens.

Peter Quince at the Clavier.

Disillusionment of 10:00.

13 Ways Of Looking At A Blackbird.

Emperor Of Ice Cream.

A Mere Being.

Angelina Weld Grimke

Fragment.

William Carlos Williams.

Tact.

Dance Ruse

The Yachts.

From Apostlethat Greeny Flower Book 1, Lines 1 To 92.

Sarah Teasdale.

Moonlight.

There Will Come Soft Rains.

Erza Pound

The Jewel Stairs Grievance.

The River Merchants Wife Letter.

In A Station At The Metro.

Hugh Selwyn Mulberry.

From Conto. 56 Libretto Yet Ere This Season Died A Cold

Hilda Doolittle, HD.

Sea Rose.

The Helen.

From The Walls Do Not Fall An Incident Here And There.

From Hermeneutic Definition Red Rose And A Beggar. Why Did You Come?

Take Me Anywhere.

Venicc. Venus.

Robinson, Jeffers.

Gala in April.

Shine, Perishing Republic.

Cloudss at Evening.

Credo

Mararane Moore

Fish.

Poetry.

TS, Elliott.

Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock

The Wasteland.

Claude McKay.

If We Must Die.

Harlem Dancer.

Archibald MacLeash,

Arts Poetica

Edna, Saint Vincent Millay.

First Fig

Recuerdo

E E Cummings.

In Just.

Buffalo Bill

The Cambridge Ladies Have Lived In Furnished Souls.

Next To, Of Course, God, America.

Somewhere I’ve Never Travelled Gladly Beyond.

Rpophessagr

Gene Toomor.

Reapers.

November Cotton Flowers.

Portrait in Georgia.

Louise Bogan

Medusa.

New moon.

Melvin B Tolson

Dark Symphony.

From Harlem Gallery PSI Black Boys, Let Me Get Up From The White Man’s Table.

Hart Crane

From the Bridge

Poem to Brooklyn Bridge

From 11 Powhatan’s Daughter the River.

Robert Francis.

Silent Poem

Langston Hughes

Nego speaks of rivers.

I, Too.

Dreams Boogie.

Harlem

Countee Cullan

Incident

To John Keats Poet at Springtime

Yes I Do Marvel

From the Dark Tower

Stanley Kutitz

Father and Son

The Protrait

Touch Me

WH Auden

Mussee Des Beaux Arts

Epitah on a Tryant

Theordore Roethke

My Papa’s Waltz

The Waking

In a Dark Time

Charles Olson.

From The Maximum Poems One Maximum Of Gloucester To You.

The Distances.

Elizabeth Bishop.

The Fish

Sestina

First Death In Nova Scotia.

Visit To Saint Elizabeths.

One Art.

Robert Hayden.

Morning Poem For The Queen Of Sunday.

Those Winter Sundays.

Frederick Douglass.

Middle Passage.

Muriel Rukeyser?

Effort At Speech Between Two People. ‘

Then I Saw What The Calling Was.

The Poem as Mask

Delmore Swartz.

The Heavy Bear Who Goes With Me.

John Barryman.

From Dream Songs.

Feeling Your Compact And Delicious Body. ‘

Life, Friends, Is Boring. We Must Not Say So.

There Shut Down Once. ‘

This World Is Gradually Becoming A Place.

Henry’sUnderstanding

Randall, Jarell.

90 North.

The Death Of The Bell Turret Gunner.

The Woman At The Washington Zoo.

Next Day.

Weldon Kees.

To My Daughter?

Dudley Randall

A Different Image

William Stafford.

Traveling Through The Dark.

At The Bomb Testing Site.

Ruth Stone.

Scars.

Margaret Walker.

For My People

Gwendolyn Brooks.

The Mother.

A Song In The Front Yard. ‘

The Bean Eaters

The Lovers Of The Poor.

We Real Cool. ‘

The Blackstone Rangers.

Robert Lowell.

To Speak Of Woe That Is In Marriage.

Skunk Hour .

For The Union Dead.

Robert Duncan.

Often I’m Permitted To Return To A Medow.

My Mother Would Be A Falconress

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Populist Manifesto.

William Meredith.

Parents. Howard Nemeroff.

Because You Asked About The Line Between Prose And Poetry.

Hayden Caruth.

The Hyacinth Gardens In Brooklyn.

August 1945.

Richard Wilber

Love Calls Us to the Things of This World

Cottage Street

The Writer

James Dickey

The Sheep Child

Alan Duncan.

Love song I And Thou

Anthony Act.

More light, More light.

Richard Hugo.

The Degrees of Gray in Phillipsburg.

The Freaks at Spring General Rd. Field.

Dennis Levertov.

The Unwritten Poem

Cademon.

Swan in Falling snow.

Who is Simpson?

American Poetry.

Carolyn Kaiser.

A Muse of water.

Kenneth Koch.

Fresh air.

Permanently.

Maxine Coleman.

Morning Swim.

How Is It?

Gerald Stern.

Behaving Like A Jew.

The Dancing.

Another Insane Devotion.

AR Ammons.

The City Limits.

Corson Inlet.

Robert Blye.

Snowfall In The Afternoon.

Driving Into Town Late To Mail A Letter.

Walking From Sleep.

Robert Creeley.

The Flower.

I Know A Man.

The Language.

The Rain.

Bresson’s Movies.

James Merrill.

Victor Dog.

Frank O’Hara New York School.

Steps.

Poem Lana Turner Has Collapsed.

The Day Lady Died.

John Ashberry. New York School

Some Trees.

Self-Portrait In A Convex Mirror.

What Is Poetry?

Galway, Kennel.

The Bear.`

After Making Love, We Hear Footsteps.

Saint Francis And The Soul.

Ws Merwin.

Air.

For The Anniversary Of My Death.

Yesterday.

Chord .

James Wright.

A Blessing.

Autumn Begins In Martins Ferry, Oh.

Lying In A Hammock At William Duffy’s Farm In Pine Island, Mn.

In Response To The Rumor That Otis Warehouse In Wheeling, Wv Has Been Condemned.

Donald Hall.

My Son, My Executioner.

Digging.

Philip Levine.

Animals Are Passing From Our Lives.

They Feed They Lion.

You Can Have It.

The Simple Truth.

Anne Sexton.

Her Kind

Adoption.

Waiting To Die.

In Celebration Of My Uterus.

Rowing

Adrienne Rich.

Orion

Planetarium.

A Valedictorian Forbidding Mourning.

From 21 Love Poems 13 The Rules Of Break Like A Thermometer.

Gregory Corso.

Marriage

Gary Snyder.

Hay, For The Horses.

Riprap.

Mid August As Sourdough Mountain Lookout.

Dereck Walcott.

A Far Cry From Africa.

Sea Grapes.

Find The Schooner Flight Part 11 After The Storm. There’s A Fresh Light That Follows.

The Light Of The World.

From Omeros Book. 7. 44 I Sing Of Quiet,Achiles, Afrolabe’s Son.

Miller Williams.

Let Me tell you.

Etheridge Knight

Idea Of Ancestry.

Amira Baraka, Leroy Jones.

Preface To A 20 Volume Suicide Note.

Agony As Now.

SOS.

Black Art.

Ted Berrigon .

Wrong Rain.

A Final Sonnet

Andre Lorde.

Power.

Sonia Sanchez.

Poetry at 30.

Mark Strand.

The Prediction.

The Night, The Porch.

Russell Edson.

A Stone Is Nobody’s.

Mary Oliver.

Singapore.

The Summer’s Day.

Charles Wright.

Reunion.

Dead Color.

California Dreaming.

Lucile Clifton.

Homage To My Hips.

At Least At Last We Killed The Roaches.

The Death Of Fry, Alfred Clifton.

To My Last.

June, Jordan.

Home About My Rights.

Frederick Seidel.

1968.

CK Williams.

Find My Window.

Blades

Tynan Wilkowski.’

The Mechanic.

Michael S Harper.

Dear John. Dear Coltrane.

Last Affair. Bessies Blues Song.

Grandfather.

Nightmare Begins Responsibility.

Charles Simik .

Stone.

Fork.

Classic Ballroom Dances.

Paula Gunn Allen.

Grandmother.

Frank Bidart.

Ellen West.

Carl Dennis.

Spring Letter.

Two Or Three Wishes.

Stephen Dunn.

Allegory Of The Cave.

Tucson.

Robert Pensky.

History Of My Heart.

The Questions.

Samurai Song.

James Welch.

Christmas Comes To Moccasin Flat.

Billy Collins.

Introduction To Poetry.

The Dead.

Toi Derricote .

Allen Ginsberg.

The Weakness.

Stephen Dobyns.

How To Like It?

Lullaby.

Robert Hass.

Song.

That Photographer?

Return Of Robinson Jeffers.

Lyn Hejinian

From My Life trim With Colored Ribbons.

BH Fairchild.

The Machinist Teaching His Daughter To Play The Piano.

Haik R Madhubuti Don L Lee.

But He Was Cool Or Even Stopped For Green Lights.

Upon To Compliment Other Poems.

William Matthews.

In Memory Of The Utah Stars.

The Accompanist

. Sharon Olds

The Language Of The Brag.

The Lifting.

Henry Taylor.

Barbed Wire.

Tess Gallagher.

Black, Silver.

Under Stars.

Michael Palmer.

I Do Not.

James Tate.

The Lost Pilot.

Norman Dubie.

Elizabeth War With The Christmas Bear.

The Funeral.

Carol Muske Dukes,.

August, Los Angeles Lullaby.

Kay Ryan.

Turtle

Bestiary

Larry Levis.

Childhood Ideogram

Winter Stars

Adrian C Lousis

Looking For Judas

How much lux?

The People of the Other Village.

Marilyn Nelson.

The Ballad of Aunt Geneva.

Star Fix.

Run Stilleman

Albany

AI

Cuba 1963

The Kid

Finished

Yusef Komunyakaa

Thanks

To Do Street

Facing It

Nude Interogation

Nathaniel Mc Kay

Song of the Aduumboulou

Gregory Orr

Gathering the Bones Together

Two Lines From the Brother Grimm

Origin of the Marble Forrest

Robert Hill Whiteman

Reaching Yellow River

Albert Goldbarth

Away

Heather Mc Hugh

Language Lesson 1976

What He Thought

Leslie Marmon Silko

In Cold Storm Light

Olga Boumas

Calypso

Victor Hernadez Soul

Latin and Soul

Jane Miller

Miami Heart

David St. James

Iris

CD Wright

Why Ralph Refuses to Dance

Girl Friend Poe # 3

Crescent

Carolyn Forche

Taking Off My Clothes

Jorie Graham

San Sepolcro

Marie Howe

What the Living Do

Joy Harjo

She Had Some Horses

My House is Red Earth

Garret Honjo

The Legend

Andrew Hugins

Beggoten

We Were Simply Talking

Brigit Peggen Kelly

Imaging Their Own Hyms

Song

Paul Muldoon

Meeting the British

Errata

The Throwback

Judith Orez Coffer

Quinceanera

Rita Dove

Parsley

Day Star

After Reading Mikey in the Night Kitchen for the Third Time Before Bed

Alice Fulton

Our Calling

Barbara Hamby

Thinking of Galileo

Hatred

Mark Jarman

Unholy Sonnet

Naomi Shihab Nye

The Traveling Onion

Arabic

Wedding Cake

Alberto Rios

Nani

England Finally like My Mother Always Said We Would

Laurie Sheck

Nocturne Blue Waves

The Unfinished

Gary Sotto

Field Poem

Oranges

Black Hair

Susan Stewart

Yellow Star and Ice

The Forrest

Mark Dotty

Brillance

Esta Noche

Bill’s Story

Harryette Mullen

Black Nikes

Franz Wright

Alcohol

Lorna Dee Cervantes

To My Brother

Love of My Flesh, Living Death

Sandra Cisneros.

My Wicked, Wicked Ways.

Little Clowns, My Heart.

Cornelius, Eady.

Jack Johnson Does The Eagle Rock.

Crows In A Strong Wind.

I’m A Fool To Love You.

Louise Eldritch

. Indian Boarding School. The Runaways.

David Mason.

Spooning.

Marilyn Chin.

How I Got That Name?

Compose Near The Bay Bridge

The Survivor

Cathy Song .

The Youngest Daughter.

Ann Finch.

Another Reluctance.

Insert

Lee Young Lee.

The Gift

Eating Together.

Carl Phillips

Our Lady

As From a Quiver of Arrows

Nick Flynn

Bag of Mice

Cartoon Physics

Elizabeth Alexander

The Viena Hott not

Reetika Vazirani

From White Elephants

A million Balconies

Train Windows

Sherman Alexie

What the Orphan Inherits

The Pow Wow at the End of the World

Natasha Trethewey

Hot Combs

Amateur Fighter

Flounder

A E Stallings

The Tantrum

Joana Klink

Spare

Brenda Shaughnessy

Post feminism

Your One Good Dress

Kevin Young

Quivira City Limits

Everywhere is Out of Town

Whatever You Want

Terrance Hayes

At Pegasus

Lady Sings the Blues

Sci-Fi short stories

The Big Book of Science Fiction is a massive anthology of science fiction stories edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer. It covers the history and evolution of the genre from the early 20th century to the end of the millennium, featuring works from over 30 countries and many languages. The book contains 105 stories, ranging from classics by H.G. Wells, Arthur C. Clarke, and Ursula K. Le Guin, to lesser-known gems by W.E.B. Du Bois, David R. Bunch, and Liu Cixin. The book also includes comments from the editors and the authors, offering insights into their creative process and vision. The book is divided into 11 sections, each with a thematic focus and a chronological order.

Here is the table of contents for the book1:

Introduction: Ann and Jeff VanderMeer

The Lens of Time: Science Fiction as a Way of Seeing

H.G. Wells: “The Star” (1897)

Lu Xun: “The New Overworld” (1902)

Sultana’s Dream: Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1905)

Albert Robida: “The Triumph of Mechanics” (1908)

Miguel de Unamuno: “Mechanopolis” (1913)

W.E.B. Du Bois: “The Comet” (1920)

Claude Farrère: “The Fate of the Poseidonia” (1923)

Edmond Hamilton: “The Star Stealers” (1929)

David H. Keller: “The Lost Language” (1934)

Stanislaw Lem: “Solaris” (1961) excerpt

Jorge Luis Borges: “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” (1940)

Cixin Liu: “The Poetry Cloud” (1997)

Invasions

Edgar Rice Burroughs: “A Princess of Mars” (1912) excerpt

Leslie F. Stone: “The Conquest of Gola” (1931)

Stanley G. Weinbaum: “A Martian Odyssey” (1934)

John W. Campbell Jr.: “Who Goes There?” (1938)

Ray Bradbury: “Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed” (1949)

Katherine MacLean: “Pictures Don’t Lie” (1951)

William Tenn: “The Liberation of Earth” (1953)

J.G. Ballard: “The Voices of Time” (1960)

Dino Buzzati: “Catastrophe” (1966)

James Tiptree Jr.: “And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill’s Side” (1972)

Joanna Russ: “When It Changed” (1972)

Arkady & Boris Strugatsky: “The Spontaneous Reflex” (1973) excerpt

Octavia Butler: “Bloodchild” (1984)

James Patrick Kelly: “Think Like a Dinosaur” (1995)

Monsters

H.P. Lovecraft: “The Dunwich Horror” (1929)

Ray Bradbury: “The Foghorn” (1951)

Jerome Bixby: “It’s a Good Life” (1953)

Julio Cortázar: “Axolotl” (1956)

J.G. Ballard: “The Drowned Giant” (1964)

R.A. Lafferty: “Nine Hundred Grandmothers” (1966)

Terry Carr: “The Dance of the Changer and the Three” (1968)

Harlan Ellison®: “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” (1967)

Lisa Tuttle & George R.R. Martin: “The Storms of Windhaven” (1975)

John Varley: “Air Raid” (1977)

William Gibson: “New Rose Hotel” (1984)

Ted Chiang: “Story of Your Life” (1998)

Experiments

Alfred Jarry: “Elements of Pataphysics” (1911)

Karel Čapek: “R.U.R.” (1920) excerpt

Stanisław Lem: “How Erg the Self-Inducting Slew a Paleface” (1955)

William S. Burroughs: “Excerpt from Naked Lunch” (1959)

J.G. Ballard: “Chronopolis” (1960)

Philip K. Dick: “Beyond Lies the Wub” (1952)

Boris Vian: “Froth on the Daydream” (1947) excerpt

Joanna Russ: “Useful Phrases for the Tourist” (1970)

George Alec Effinger: “Two Sadnesses” (1973)

John Sladek: “Solar Shoe Salesman” (1974)

Dafydd ab Hugh: “The Coon Rolled Down and Ruptured His Larinks, A Squeezed Novel by Mr. Skunk” (1986)

Generation Ships

Don Wilcox: “The Voyage That Lasted 600 Years” (1940)

Judith Merril: “Daughters of Earth” (1952)

Brian W. Aldiss: “Non-Stop” (1958) excerpt

Robert Silverberg: “Sundance” (1969)

Pamela Zoline: “The Heat Death of the Universe” (1967)

Gene Wolfe: “A Cabin on the Coast” (1984)

Bruce Sterling: “Swarm” (1982)

Geoff Ryman: “The Unconquered Country” (1984)

New Worlds

Cordwainer Smith: “Alpha Ralpha Boulevard” (1961)

Samuel R. Delany: “Aye, and Gomorrah …” (1967)

Ursula K. Le Guin: “Vaster Than Empires and Slower” (1971)

James Tiptree Jr.: “Houston, Houston, Do You Read?” (1976)

Frederik Pohl: “The Gold at the Starbow’s End” (1972)

Angélica Gorodischer: “Of Navigators and Traitors” (1973) excerpt

John Crowley: “Snow” (1985)

Iain M. Banks: “A Gift from the Culture” (1987)

Greg Egan: “Learning to Be Me” (1990)

Future War

Jack London: “The Unparalleled Invasion” (1910)

Edward Bulwer-Lytton: “The Coming Race” (1871) excerpt

George Griffith: “The War of the Viruses” (1895)

Philip Francis Nowlan: “Armageddon 2419 A.D.” (1928)

E.E. “Doc” Smith: “The Skylark of Space” (1928) excerpt

Olaf Stapledon: “Star Maker” (1937) excerpt

Robert A. Heinlein: “Solution Unsatisfactory” (1941)

C.M. Kornbluth: “Two Dooms” (1958)

Joe Haldeman: “Hero” (1972)

Harry Harrison: “The Streets of Ashkelon” (1962)

David R. Bunch: “Moderan” (1967)

Harlan Ellison®: “A Boy and His Dog” (1969)

James S.A. Corey: “Rates of Change” (2011)

Virtual Reality

Stanisław Lem: “The Seventh Sally or How Trurl’s Own Perfection Led to No Good” (1965)

Philip K. Dick: “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” (1966)

John Brunner: “The Vitanuls” (1967)

Roger Zelazny: “For a Breath I Tarry” (1966)

Robert Silverberg: “Passengers” (1968)

Rudy Rucker: “Software” (1982) excerpt

William Gibson: “Burning Chrome” (1982)

Pat Cadigan: “Pretty Boy Crossover” (1986)

Neal Stephenson: “Snow Crash” (1992) excerpt

Humanity 2.0

Olaf Stapledon: “Odd John” (1935) excerpt

C.L. Moore: “No Woman Born” (1944)

Cordwainer Smith: “Scanners Live in Vain” (1950)

Algis Budrys: “Who?” (1955)

James Blish: “Surface Tension” (1952)

Gregory Benford: “Blood Music” (1983)

Bruce Sterling: “Mozart in Mirrorshades” (1985)

Vernor Vinge: “True Names” (1981)

Ted Chiang: “Understand” (1991)

Alien Minds

Arthur C. Clarke: “The Sentinel” (1951)

Isaac Asimov: “The Last Question” (1956)

Clifford D. Simak: “Desertion” (1944)

James H. Schmitz: “Grandpa” (1955)

Frank Herbert: “Try to Remember!” (1961)

Philip José Farmer: “Sail On! Sail On!” (1952)

Stanisław Lem: “Solaris” (1961) excerpt

Arkady & Boris Strugatsky: “Roadside Picnic” (1972) excerpt

Karen Joy Fowler & Pat Murphy: “Rachel in Love” (1987)

Ian McDonald: “The Tear” (2008)

After the End

Walter M. Miller Jr.: “The Darfsteller” (1955) J.G. Ballard: “The Terminal Beach” (1964) John Wyndham: ”

Penguin Anthology of Twentieth Century Poetry

BOLD read

Edward Lee Masters.

The Hil

Fiddler. Jones,

Petite the Poet

Edwin Arlington Robinson

Miniver Cheevy

Mr. Flood’s Party.

James Weldon Johnson

The Creation

Paul Laurence Dunbar.

The Poet

Life

Life’s Trajedy

Robert Frost.

The Death Of The Hired Man.

Mending Wall.

Birches

Stopping By The Woods On A Snowy Evening.

Tree In My Window.

Directive.

Amy Lowell

Patterns.

Getrude Stein

Susie Asado.

From Tender Buttons A Box.

From Tender Buttons, A Plate.

Alice Moore Dunbar Nelson

I sit and sew .

Carl Sandburg.

Grass.

Cahoots.

Wallace Stevens.

Peter Quince at the Clavier.

Disillusionment of 10:00.

13 Ways Of Looking At A Blackbird.

Emperor Of Ice Cream.

A Mere Being.

Angelina Weld Grimke

Fragment.

William Carlos Williams.

Tact.

Dance Ruse

The Yachts.

From Apostlethat Greeny Flower Book 1, Lines 1 To 92.

Sarah Teasdale.

Moonlight.

There Will Come Soft Rains.

Erza Pound

The Jewel Stairs Grievance.

The River Merchants Wife Letter.

In A Station At The Metro.

Hugh Selwyn Mulberry.

From Conto. 56 Libretto Yet Ere This Season Died A Cold

Hilda Doolittle, HD.

Sea Rose.

The Helen.

From The Walls Do Not Fall An Incident Here And There.

From Hermeneutic Definition Red Rose And A Beggar. Why Did You Come?

Take Me Anywhere.

Venicc. Venus.

Robinson, Jeffers.

Gala in April.

Shine, Perishing Republic.

Cloudss at Evening.

Credo

Mararane Moore

Fish.

Poetry.

TS, Elliott.

Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock

The Wasteland.

Claude McKay.

If We Must Die.

Harlem Dancer.

Archibald MacLeash,

Arts Poetica

Edna, Saint Vincent Millay.

First Fig

Recuerdo

E E Cummings.

In Just.

Buffalo Bill

The Cambridge Ladies Have Lived In Furnished Souls.

Next To, Of Course, God, America.

Somewhere I’ve Never Travelled Gladly Beyond.

Rpophessagr

Gene Toomor.

Reapers.

November Cotton Flowers.

Portrait in Georgia.

Louise Bogan

Medusa.

New moon.

Melvin B Tolson

Dark Symphony.

From Harlem Gallery PSI Black Boys, Let Me Get Up From The White Man’s Table.

Hart Crane

From the Bridge

Poem to Brooklyn Bridge

From 11 Powhatan’s Daughter the River.

Robert Francis.

Silent Poem

Langston Hughes

Nego speaks of rivers.

I, Too.

Dreams Boogie.

Harlem

Countee Cullan

Incident

To John Keats Poet at Spring Time

Yes I Do Marvel

From the Dark Tower

Stanley Kutitz

Father and Son

The Protrait

Touch Me

WH Auden

Mussee Des Beaux Arts

Epitah on a Tryant

Theordore Roethke

My Papa’s Waltz

The Waking

In a Dark Time

Charles Olson.

From The Maximum Poems One Maximum Of Gloucester To You.

The Distances.

Elizabeth Bishop.

The Fish

Sestina

First Death In Nova Scotia.

Visit To Saint Elizabeths.

One Art.

Robert Hayden.

Morning Poem For The Queen Of Sunday.

Those Winter Sundays.

Frederick Douglass.

Middle Passage.

Muriel Rukeyser?

Effort At Speech Between Two People. ‘

Then I Saw What The Calling Was.

The Poem as Mask

Delmore Swartz.

The Heavy Bear Who Goes With Me.

John Barryman.

From The Dream Songs.

Feeling Your Compact And Delicious Body. ‘

Life, Friends, Is Boring. We Must Not Say So.

There Shut Down Once. ‘

This World Is Gradually Becoming A Place.

Henry’sUnderstanding

Randall, Jarell.

90 North.

The Death Of The Bell Turret Gunner.

The Woman At The Washington Zoo.

Next Day.

Weldon Kees.

To My Daughter?

Dudley Randall

A Different Image

William Stafford.

Traveling Through The Dark.

At The Bomb Testing Site.

Ruth Stone.

Scars.

Margaret Walker.

For My People

Gwendolyn Brooks.

The Mother.

A Song In The Front Yard. ‘

The Bean Eaters

The Lovers Of The Poor.

We Real Cool. ‘

The Blackstone Rangers.

Robert Lowell.

To Speak Of Woe That Is In Marriage.

Skunk Hour .

For The Union Dead.

Robert Duncan.

Often I’m Permitted To Return To A Medow.

My Mother Would Be A Falconress

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Populist Manifesto.

William Meredith.

Parents. Howard Nemeroff.

Because You Asked About The Line Between Prose And Poetry.

Hayden Caruth.

The Hyacinth Gardens In Brooklyn.

August 1945.

Richard Wilber

Love Calls Us to the Things of This World

Cottage Street

The Writer

James Dickey

The Sheep Child

Alan Duncan.

Love song I And Thou

Anthony Act.

More light, More light.

Richard Hugo.

The Degrees of Gray in Phillipsburg.

The Freaks at Spring General Rd. Field.

Dennis Levertov.

The Poem Unwritten

Cademon.

Swan in Falling snow.

Who is Simpson?

American Poetry.

Carolyn Kaiser.

A Muse of water.

Kenneth Koch.

Fresh air.

Permanently.

Maxine Coleman.

Morning Swim.

How It Is?

Gerald Stern.

Behaving Like A Jew.

The Dancing.

Another Insane Devotion.

AR Ammons.

The City Limits.

Corson Inlet.

Robert Blye.

Snowfall In The Afternoon.

Driving Into Town Late To Mail A Letter.

Walking From Sleep.

Robert Creeley.

The Flower.

I Know A Man.

The Language.

The Rain.

Bresson’s Movies.

James Merrill.

Victor Dog.

Frank O’Hara New York School.

Steps.

Poem Lana Turner Has Collapsed.

The Day Lady Died.

John Ashberry. New York School

Some Trees.

Self-Portrait In A Convex Mirror.

What Is Poetry?

Galway, Kennel.

The Bear.`

After Making Love, We Hear Footsteps.

Saint Francis And The Soul.

Ws Merwin.

Air.

For The Anniversary Of My Death.

Yesterday.

Chord .

James Wright.

A Blessing.

Autumn Begins In Martins Ferry, Oh.

Lying In A Hammock At William Duffy’s Farm In Pine Island, Mn.

In Response To The Rumor That Otis Warehouse In Wheeling, Wv Has Been Condemned.

Donald Hall.

My Son, My Executioner.

Digging.

Philip Levine.

Animals Are Passing From Our Lives.

They Feed They Lion.

You Can Have It.

The Simple Truth.

Anne Sexton.

Her Kind

Adoption.

Waiting To Die.

In Celebration Of My Uterus.

Rowing

Adrienne Rich.

Orion

Planetarium.

A Valedictorian Forbidding Mourning.

From 21 Love Poems 13 The Rules Of Break Like A Thermometer.

Gregory Corso.

Marriage

Gary Snyder.

Hay, For The Horses.

Riprap.

Mid August As Sourdough Mountain Lookout.

Dereck Walcott.

A Far Cry From Africa.

Sea Grapes.

Find The Schooner Flight Part 11 After The Storm. There’s A Fresh Light That Follows.

The Light Of The World.

From Omeros Book. 7. 44 I Sing Of Quiet,Achiles, Afrolabe’s Son.

Miller Williams.

Let Me tell you.

Etheridge Knight

Idea Of Ancestry.

Amira Baraka, Leroy Jones.

Preface To A 20 Volume Suicide Note.

Agony As Now.

SOS.

Black Art.

Ted Berrigon .

Wrong Rain.

A Final Sonnet

Andre Lorde.

Power.

Sonia Sanchez.

Poetry at 30.

Mark Strand.

The Prediction.

The Night, The Porch.

Russell Edson.

A Stone Is Nobody’s.

Mary Oliver.

Singapore.

The Summer’s Day.

Charles Wright.

Reunion.

Dead Color.

California Dreaming.

Lucile Clifton.

Homage To My Hips.

At Least At Last We Killed The Roaches.

The Death Of Fry, Alfred Clifton.

To My Last.

June, Jordan.

Home About My Rights.

Frederick Seidel.

1968.

CK Williams.

Find My Window.

Blades

Tynan Wilkowski.’

The Mechanic.

Michael S Harper.

Dear John. Dear Coltrane.

Last Affair. Bessies Blues Song.

Grandfather.

Nightmare Begins Responsibility.

Charles Simik .

Stone.

Fork.

Classic Ballroom Dances.

Paula Gunn Allen.

Grandmother.

Frank Bidart.

Ellen West.

Carl Dennis.

Spring Letter.

Two Or Three Wishes.

Stephen Dunn.

Allegory Of The Cave.

Tucson.

Robert Pensky.

History Of My Heart.

The Questions.

Samurai Song.

James Welch.

Christmas Comes To Moccasin Flat.

Billy Collins.

Introduction To Poetry.

The Dead.

Toi Derricote .

Allen Ginsberg.

The Weakness.

Stephen Dobyns.

How To Like It?

Lullaby.

Robert Hass.

Song.

That Photographer?

Return Of Robinson Jeffers.

Lyn Hejinian

From My Life trim With Colored Ribbons.

BH Fairchild.

The Machinist Teaching His Daughter To Play The Piano.

Haki R Madhubuti Don L Lee.

But He Was Cool Or Even Stopped For Green Lights.

Upon To Compliment Other Poems.

William Matthews.

In Memory Of The Utah Stars.

The Accompanist

. Sharon Olds

The Language Of The Brag.

The Lifting.

Henry Taylor.

Barbed Wire.

Tess Gallagher.

Black, Silver.

Under Stars.

Michael Palmer.

I Do Not.

James Tate.

The Lost Pilot.

Norman Dubie.

Elizabeth War With The Christmas Bear.

The Funeral.

Carol Muske Dukes,.

August, Los Angeles Lullaby.

Kay Ryan.

Turtle

Bestiary

Larry Levis.

Childhood Ideogram

Winter Stars

Adrian C Lousis

Looking For Judas

How much lux?

The People of the Other Village.

Marilyn Nelson.

The Ballad of Aunt Geneva.

Star Fix.

Run Stilleman

Albany

AI

Cuba 1963

The Kid

Finished

Yusef Komunyakaa

Thanks

To Do Street

Facing It

Nude Interogation

Nathaniel Mc Kay

Song of the Aduumboulou

Gregory Orr

Gathering the Bones Together

Two Lines From the Brother Grimm

Origin of the Marble Forrest

Robert Hill Whiteman

Reaching Yellow River

Albert Goldbarth

Away

Heather Mc Hugh

Language Lesson 1976

What He Thought

Leslie Marmon Silko

In Cold Storm Light

Olga Boumas

Calypso

Victor Hernadez Soul

Latin and Soul

Jane Miller

Miami Heart

David St. James

Iris

CD Wright

Why Ralph Refuses to Dance

Girl Friend Poe # 3

Crescent

Carolyn Forche

Taking Off My Clothes

Jorie Graham

San Sepolcro

Marie Howe

What the Living Do

Joy Harjo

She Had Some Horses

My House is the Red Earth

Garret Honjo

The Legend

Andrew Hugins

Beggoten

We Were Simply Talking

Brigit Peggen Kelly

Imaging Their Own Hyms

Song

Paul Muldoon

Meeting the British

Errata

The Throwback

Judith Orez Coffer

Quinceanera

Rita Dove

Parsely

Day Star

After Reading Mikey in the Night Kitchen for the Third Time Before Bed

Alice Fulton

Our Calling

Brbar Hamby

Thinking of Galieo

Hatred

Mark Jarman

Unholly Sonnet

Naomi Shibab Nye

The Traveling Onion

Arabic

Wedding Cake

Alberto Rios

Nani

Enland Finally like My Mother Always Said We Would

Laurie Sheck

Nocturne Blue Waves

The Unfinished

Gary Sotto

Field Poem

Oranges

Black Hair

Susan Stewart

Yellow Star and Ice

The Forrest

Mark Dotty

Brillance

Esta Noche

Bill’s Story

Harryette Mullen

Black Nikes

Franz Wright

Alcohol

Lorna Dee Cervantes

To My Brother

Love of My Flesh, Living Death

Sandra Cisneros.

My Wicked, Wicked Ways.

Little Clowns, My Heart.

Cornelius, Eady.

Jack Johnson Does The Eagle Rock.

Crows In A Strong Wind.

I’m A Fool To Love You.

Louise Eldritch

. Indian Boarding School. The Runaways.

David Mason.

Spooning.

Marilyn Chin.

How I Got That Name?

Compose Near The Bay Bridge

The Survivor

Cathysong .

The Youngest Daughter.

Ann Finch.

Another Reluctance.

Insert

Lee Young Lee.

The Gift

Eating Together.

Carl Philiphs

Our Lady

As From a Quiver of Arrows

Nick Flynn

Bag of Mice

Cartoon Physics

Elizabeth Alexander

The Viena Hottenot

Reetivka Vazisrani

From White Elephants

A million Balconies

Train Windows

Sherman Alexie

What the Orphan Inherits

The Pow Wow at the End of the World

Natasha Trethevey

Hot Combs

Amateur Fighter

Flounder

A E Stallings

The Tantrum

Joana Klink

Spare

Brenda Shaughnessy

Postfeminism

Your One Good Dress

Kevin Young

Quivra City Limits

Everywhere is Out of Town

Whaatever You Want

Terrance Hayes

At Pegasus

Lady Sings the Blues

Monthly Themes enter one review per month

January

Cather, Willa: My Ántonia
Chopin, Kate: The Awakening

Read

#1: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

#2: The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

#4: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

#5: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

#6: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

#7: Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

#8: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

#9: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

10: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

#11: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

#12: The Stranger by Albert Camus

#13: The Road by Cormac McCarthy

#14: Animal Farm by George Orwell

#15: Watership Down by Richard Adams

#16: Lord of the Flies by William Golding

#17: Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

#18: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

#19: 1984 by George Orwell

#20: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

#24: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

#26: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Not read

#3: Night by Elie Wiesel

#21: East of Eden by John Steinbeck

#22: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

#23: Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges#25: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

16 Famous Books Everyone Pretends They’ve Read (But Haven’t)

Read

Moby-Dickby Herman Melville

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

1984 by George Orwell

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

F Scott Fitsgerald the Great Gatsby

F Scott Fitsgerald This Side of Paradise

Yet to Read

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

F Scott Fitsgerald Tender is the Night

F Scott Fitsgerald The Last Tycoon

25 Classic Books You Have to Read in 2025

Read

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

1984 by George Orwell

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

The Awakening by Kate Chopin

The Odyssey by Homer

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

CS Lewis Prince Caspian

CS Lewis the Voyage of the Dawn Begal

CS Lewis the Horse and His Boy

CS Lewis the the Magican’s Newphew

CS Lewis the Silver Chair

CS Lewis The Final Battle

Willa Cather My Antonio

Alice Walker The Color Purple

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

The classic books everyone should read at least once before they die

Read

#35. The Old Man and the Sea

– Author: Ernest Hemingway

The Canterbury Tales