"This small novel may have been written for young readers but we can all learn and feel as we read about a trans girl yearning to take center stage as Charlotte in her class’ production of ‘Charlotte’s Web.'"

"Bulgakov’s suffering under censorship yielded this sparkling novel in which Pontius Pilate shares space with a giant floating black cat, and elsewhere a man confined to a mental hospital for political reasons probably dreamed up the whole thing."

"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."

"Take the longer route the next time you get the hankering to watch the ‘72 Coppola classic; it is every bit as rewarding. The central and abiding lesson in the novel is about friendship. It’ll stick with you."

"Read this book in every one of my adult decades and got something different from it each time. “Ulysses” isn’t a novel, it’s a life project, and like life itself, we embark upon it striving towards understanding it."

"A delicious novel told from both perspectives of a marriage and all its nooks and crannies we tend to keep to ourselves. The book spans 24 years and the reader is along for this layered roller coaster ride."

"Published in 1942, this marvellously mordant account of the first years of World War II, less known than the wonderful Decline and Fall and A Handful of Dust, is perhaps Waugh's most flawless comic novel. Every word tells."

"Apeirogon, 2020, Colum McCann’s ambitious and compelling journey into the lives of Palestinians and Israelis. Strong work, and intriguing surprise on every page, the kind of current American novel that reminds us that fiction continues to renew itself."