"This book is magical. It is so densely packed with the most astute, illuminating, and thought-provoking prose, but so beautifully woven together that you have no choice but to savor each message."

"The clarity of prose which Ishiguro achieves in this novel is the treat here. He is a master of the sentence, a sorcerer of language; the writing here is quiet, calm, and mesmerizing."

"A darkly epic, grisly, beguiling journey set amid the frozen tundra of wartime Russia. Delicious prose. Once its dirty claws break skin, that icy death grip won’t be letting go anytime soon. Unforgettable."

"Because she taught me everything about matching devastation with economy. The entire future of Caribbean prose is mapped out in this collection of stories, and I don’t know a single Caribbean writer who doesn’t reread it often."

"Only a few works of fiction can reasonably be called “perfect,” and this is one of them. There’s a crystalline purity to the prose, and a wintry sadness in the story. It gets deep in your bones."

"Perhaps the best display of expository scientific prose of the twentieth century. It gave me the idea to try my hand at the genre in “The Language Instinct,” and had a strong influence on my own writing."

"Steinbeck is my favorite author. I own first editions of this book, as well as everything on this list. East of Eden has some of the finest prose and also op-eds buried deep in this beautiful novel."