"A young woman suffers a breakdown while pursuing her dream of being a magazine editor. Plath made it possible for women to confront our anger and make literature out of it. She made it acceptable to declare our rage."

"Homer’s epic isn’t just a foundational text in Western literature, it also makes me feel connected to my Mediterranean (Maltese) roots. The Maltese island of Gozo, where my people probably originated, claims to be the locale of Calypso’s cave."

"This is the book that every searching twenty-something needs. The sense of humor is spot on, and the book turned me on to Norwegian literature as a whole, though unfortunately not much of Erlend Loe’s work has been translated."

"I'm so drawn to Salinger's view of society back then, and to his sarcasm. I read Catcher in the Rye first, then [Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour]. I don't think there's ever been anything like these characters in American literature."

"I'm so drawn to Salinger's view of society back then, and to his sarcasm. I read Catcher in the Rye first, then [Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour]. I don't think there's ever been anything like these characters in American literature."

"Its bathroom-reading title belies this astonishing, hilarious analysis of reading, memory, shame and the everyday fraud of shared experience — the illusion of consensus that is the glue of our conversational social contract. Written by a drolly self-effacing French professor of literature."

"Miller is the writer who gave me the initial stimulus to write. When I read Miller, I said to myself, ‘Okay, this is literature.’ He was a rebellious writer whose books were censored for years, and that in itself was meaningful for me."