Former Arrested Development writer and producer Maria Semple is the author of This One Is Mine, a new novel about broken couples in L.A. It has just been published by Little, Brown.
Last Night by James Salter (Vintage, $13). I start every writing day by copying a few pages from Salter, one of the masters. Sometimes, I get to a sentence in this story collection that’s so gorgeous and devastating and short that I have to put my pen down and do what I feel is more my destiny, like troll the mall for sales.
American Pastoral by Philip Roth (Vintage, $15). My favorite book from my favorite writer. His sentences are so simple and his style so conversational, still, every book tears me apart. What can I say, other than, Philip Roth, Philip Roth ... aaaaghhh, I don’t care what Claire Bloom says, I love you, Philip Roth!
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie (Random House, $15). And here I only thought of Rushdie as a lady’s hound with a fatwa. This, his second novel, is screaming with confidence and life. I used to write in the reading room at the Beverly Hills library and would occasionally see him there. Lucky for him, it was before I read Midnight’s Children or I would have yammered the poor knight’s ear off.
The Travelling Horn Player by Barbara Trapido (out of print). Why don’t people know about her? I stumbled across this novel at another library. Its wonderful characters zip along with feather-light wit in a marvelously complex and moving plot. Trapido has written a ton of books, many out of print in the U.S. If I can do nothing else for you, let me be the one who turns you onto Barbara Trapido.
The Dog of the South by Charles Portis (Penguin, $16). How do you not love a charming first-person novel that’s full of exclamation points?
The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White (Prentice Hall, $10). I have read Strunk & White a dozen times and still have so much to learn. There are four copies tucked around my apartment in various states of highlightedness and dog-eareditude. (Ooch, see how much I still have to learn?
-
The dazzling coral gardens of Raja AmpatThe Week Recommends Region of Indonesia is home to perhaps the planet’s most photogenic archipelago.
-
Trump’s White House ballroom: a threat to the republic?Talking Point Trump be far from the first US president to leave his mark on the Executive Mansion, but to critics his remodel is yet more overreach
-
‘Never more precarious’: the UN turns 80The Explainer It’s an unhappy birthday for the United Nations, which enters its ninth decade in crisis
-
Beth Macy’s 6 favorite books about living in a divided nationFeature The journalist recommends works by Nicholas Buccola, Matthew Desmond, and more
-
Gilbert King’s 6 favorite books about the search for justiceFeature The journalist recommends works by Bryan Stevenson, David Grann, and more
-
Nathan Harris’ 6 favorite books that turn adventures into revelationsFeature The author recommends works by Kazuo Ishiguro, Ian McGuire, and more
-
Marisa Silver’s 6 favorite books that capture a lifetimeFeature The author recommends works by John Williams, Ian McEwan, and more
-
Lou Berney’s 6 favorite books with powerful storytellingFeature The award-winning author recommends works by Dorothy B. Hughes, James McBride, and more
-
Elizabeth Gilbert’s favorite books about women overcoming difficultiesFeature The author recommends works by Tove Jansson, Lauren Groff, and more
-
Fannie Flagg’s 6 favorite books that sparked her imaginationFeature The author recommends works by Johanna Spyri, John Steinbeck, and more
-
Jessica Francis Kane's 6 favorite books that prove less is moreFeature The author recommends works by Penelope Fitzgerald, Marie-Helene Bertino, and more
