Context
Reading Guides
We
asked our advisors at bookstores across the country to respond to a
number of questions. The following lists were compiled from their
answers.
Overlooked Works of Fiction
Chromos, Felipe Alfau
Locos, Felipe Alfau
Another Country, James Baldwin
Giovanni’s Room, James Baldwin
Silk, Allessandro Baricco
Revenge of the Lawn/The Abortion/So the Wind Won’t Blow It All Away: 3 Books in 1 Volume, Richard Brautigan
The Moonstone, Wilkie Collins
62: A Model Kit, Julio Cortazar
The Gift of Stones, Jim Crace
Days between Stations, Steve Erickson
A Man’s Place, Annie Ernaux
Simple Passion, Annie Ernaux
A Woman’s Story, Annie Ernaux
Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me, Richard Fariña
Under the Frog, Tibor Fischer
Kalimantaan, C. S. Godshalk
Dream Boy, Jim Grimsley
Winter Birds, Jim Grimsley
Let’s Fall in Love, Carol De Chellis Hill
Corregidora, Gayl Jones
Blood Lake and Other Stories, Jim Krusoe
Okla Hannali, R.A. Lafferty
The Star Rover, Jack London
The Age of Wire and String, Ben Marcus
The Conversions, Harry Mathews
Canone Inverso, Paolo Maurensig
Diana of the Crossways, George Meredith
The Last Life, Claire Messud
Lost in Translation, Nicole Mones
The Octopus: A Story of California, Frank Norris
A Prayer for the Dying, Stewart O’Nan
The Journal of Albion Moonlight, Kenneth Patchen
Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
Titus Alone, Mervyn Peake
Titus Groan, Mervyn Peake
Aliens of Affection, Padget Powell
Edisto Revisited, Padget Powell
Typical, Padget Powell
The Radetzsky March, Joseph Roth
Perfume, Patrick Suskind
The Insult, Rupert Thompson
Only Twice I’ve Wished for Heaven, Dawn Turner Trice
Kristin Lavransdatter, Sigrid Undset
The Temple of My Familiar, Alice Walker
A Hard Time To Be a Father, Fay Weldon
The Passion, Jeanette Winterson
Terraplane, Jack Womack
All Patrick Chamoiseau
All William H. Gass
All Jean Giono
All Milan Kundera
All Cormac McCarthy that is not the Border Trilogy (esp. Suttree)
All Iris Murdoch
All Anna Maria Ortese
All Richard Powers
All Christina Stead
All Robert Stone except Damascus Gate
All Alexander Theroux
All Robert Walser
Out-of-Print Works of Fiction That Should Be Reissued
The Ark Sakura, Kobo Abe
Droll Stories, Honore de Balzac
Rates of Exchange, Malcolm Bradbury
A Meditation, Juan Benet
The Ballad of Habit and Accident, Rock Brynner
The Worm and the Ring, Anthony Burgess
And The Ass Saw The Angel, Nick Cave
Little, Big, John Crowley
Lunatics, Bradley Denton
All about H. Hatterr, G.V. Desani
Big as Life, E. L. Doctorow
The Passion of Sacco and Venzetti, Howard Fast
Flying to Nowhere, John Fuller
The Empire City, Paul Goodman
The Bay of Noon, Shirley Hazzard
Gentleman’s Agreement, Laura Z. Hobson
The Money, Honey, Linda U. Howard
The Sundial, Shirley Jackson
Honor, Power, Riches, Fame and the Love of Women, Ward S. Just
The Case Worker, George Konrad
The City Builder, George Konrad
The Loser, George Konrad
The Apple in the Dark, Clarice Lispector
Foolscap, Michael Malone
Conversations in the Cathedral, Mario Vargas Llosa
Call and Response, T. R. Pearson
Gospel Hour, T. R. Pearson
Three Farmers on Their Way to A Dance, Richard Powers
Our Beautiful Heroine, Jacques Roubaud
Grimus, Salman Rushdie
Isaac and the Undertaker’s Daughter, Steve Stern
The Storm, George Stewart
The Pigeon, Patrick Suskind
Limbo, Bernard Wolfe
All of Ruth Chew’s children’s books
The Most Important Works of Fiction Published within the Last Year
The Plato Papers, Peter Ackroyd
Heavy Water, Martin Amis
The Verificationist, Donald Antrim
England, England, Julian Barnes
The Testament of Yves Gundron, Emily Barton
The Book of Happiness, Nina Berberova
Girl in Hyacinth Blue, Susan Vreeland
Disgrace, J.M. Coetzee
Final Exam, Julio Cortazar
The Hours, Michael Cunningham
Sister of My Heart, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
City of God, E. L. Doctorow
The Fan-Maker’s Inquisition, Rikki Ducornet
Glamorama, Bret Easton Ellis
Juneteenth, Ralph Ellison
The Sea Came in at Midnight, Steve Erickson
Night of Amber, Sylvie Germain
Bogeywoman, Jaimy Gordon
The Marx Family Saga, Juan Goytisolo
Plainsong, Kent Haruf
Everything You Know, Zoë Heller
PU-239 and Other Russian Fantasies, Ken Kalfus
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Gregory Maguire
South of the Border, West of the Sun, Haruki Marukami
Enchanted Night, Steven Milhauser
Close Range, E. Annie Proulx
The Ground beneath Her Feet, Salman Rushdie
An Equal Music, Vikram Seth
Never to Return, Esther Tusquets
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, David Foster Wallace
The World and Other Places, Jeanette Winterson