Book List
Best books ... chosen by Lev Grossman
Lev Grossman is Time magazine’s book critic and the author of The Magicians, a novel about a secret college for students of magic. Below, he lists his choices for ‘the six greatest fantasy books of all time.’
Best books ... chosen by Harold Evans
The Week’s editor-at-large and author of The American Century names six favorite biographies and memoirs. His autobiography, My Paper Chase, is published Nov. 5.
Best books ... chosen by Tracy Kidder
Tracy Kidder is the Pulitzer–winning author of The Soul of a New Machine and House. His latest best-seller, Strength in What Remains, follows a war refugee who returns to Burundi to open a medical clinic.
Best books ... from the Freakonomics guys
Journalist Stephen J. Dubner and economist Steven D. Levitt are the co-authors of Freakonomics. Superfreakonomics, their follow-up to that genre-creating best-seller, will be published Oct. 20.
Best books ... chosen by John Krasinski
Actor John Krasinski, of NBC’s The Office, recently made his film-directing debut with Brief Interviews With Hideous Men, an adaptation of a short-story collection by David Foster Wallace.
Best books ... chosen by Drew Barrymore
A film star since age 7, Drew Barrymore began producing films a decade ago. Her directorial debut, Whip It, starring Ellen Page as a roller-derby star, is in theaters.
Best books ... chosen by Jim James
The frontman of My Morning Jacket recently released a George Harrison tribute album. He is currently on the road with Monsters of Folk, his side project with M. Ward and Conor Oberst. That band’s eponymous debut album is out now.
Best books ... chosen by Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono is a musician and performance-art pioneer. For her new album, Between My Head and the Sky, she has created a 21st-century version of the Plastic Ono Band, the group that she and John Lennon founded in 1969.
Best books … chosen by Dan Brown
Dan Brown is the author of The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons. His new novel, The Lost Symbol, was published on Tuesday.
Best books ... chosen by Maile Meloy
Maile Meloy is the award-winning author of Liars and Saints, Half in Love, and the new story collection Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It. Below, she names six books that have changed her idea of ‘what’s possible in fiction.’
Best books ... chosen by David Rabe
David Rabe is the award-winning author of the plays Streamers, Sticks and Bones, and HurlyBurly. His novel Dinosaurs on the Roof and his recent plays The Black Monk and The Dog Problem have just been released in paperback.
Best books ... chosen by James Patterson
Patterson, one of the world’s best-selling novelists, touts six children’s books he’s featured on his website ReadKiddoRead.com. His Daniel X: Watch the Skies is currently The New York Times’ No. 1 best-selling children’s chapter book.
Best books … chosen by Kate Walbert
Kate Walbert is the author of the new novel A Short History of Women. Below, the 2004 National Book Award nominee recommends six books featuring some of her favorite (unlikely) heroines.
Best books … chosen by Paul McGeough
Award-winning journalist Paul McGeough covers the Middle East for The Sydney Morning Herald. Kill Khalid, his new book, revisits a botched Israeli assassination and the resurgence of Hamas.
Best books … chosen by Jason Kottke
Blogging pioneer Jason Kottke curates the popular website Kottke.org. He began blogging in 1998.
Best books … chosen by Tyler Cowen
George Mason University professor Tyler Cowen co-writes the popular economics blog MarginalRevolution.com. His latest book, Create Your Own Economy, has just been published.
Best books … chosen by Poppy Adams
British author and documentary filmmaker Poppy Adams is the author of The Sister, an acclaimed 2008 debut novel that has just been published here in paperback.
Best books … chosen by David Hewson
British writer David Hewson is the author of an acclaimed series of crime novels featuring Italian detective Nic Costa. Dante’s Numbers, the seventh in the series, is now available in paperback.
Best books … chosen by Geoff Dyer
Geoff Dyer’s latest novel, Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi, won the Wodehouse Prize for comic fiction. Below, the author of The Missing of the Somme chooses his favorite books of war reportage.
Best books … chosen by Monica Ali
Monica Ali’s new novel, In the Kitchen, is set in a five-star London hotel. Below, the author of Brick Lane and Alentejo Blue names six favorite earlier works that made the most of similar settings.
