Best books … chosen by Chandra Prasad
Chandra Prasad’s widely praised first novel, On Borrowed Wings, is now available in paperback. She is also the editor of Mixed, a Norton anthology of short fiction by multiracial authors.
A Separate Peace by John Knowles (Scribner, $11). In this poignant classic, every sentence counts. Cast as a simple story about a boy on the brink of manhood, the novel is really about a nation about to be torn apart by war.
Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang by Joyce Carol Oates (Penguin, $15). I go back and study this novel all the time because of its unusual style. Foxfire reads like rock music: sonic and thunderous in places; a slow, lingering ballad in others. The sentences almost literally harmonize with one another.
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind (Knopf, $14). As Foxfire works the aural potential of prose, Perfume relies on a sense of smell. While reading, I caught a whiff of the squalid streets of 18th-century France.
Subscribe to 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.
Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich (HarperCollins, $14). This is probably the most beautiful and bittersweet modern novel I’ve ever encountered. Erdrich has a gift for infusing her characters with uncommon depth and pathos. I love the magical realism and Native American folklore woven throughout.
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides (Grand Central, $14). I read the author’s second novel, Middlesex, and then, stunned by his talent, backtracked to his debut effort. This slim, searing novel captures all the fierce fleeting glory of adolescence. When it ends, in shocking carnage, the teenage mind briefly and improbably makes perfect sense.
Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery (Penguin, $5). This selection might seem to stand out as unsophisticated or outmoded, but I truly believe it deserves a place in the pantheon of best coming-of-age works, alongside The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain himself called Anne “the dearest and most lovable child in fiction since the immortal Alice.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Garsington Opera opens its summer festival with two 'very different productions'
The Week Recommends A 'fabulous' new staging of Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades and Donizetti's fake-love-potion comedy L'elisir d'amore
-
The Rehearsal series two: Nathan Fielder's docu-comedy is 'laugh-out-loud funny'
The Week Recommends Television's 'great illusionist' has turned his attention to commercial airline safety
-
The Ballad of Wallis Island: bittersweet British comedy is a 'delight'
The Week Recommends A reclusive millionaire lures his favourite folk duo to an island for an 'awkward reunion'
-
Bryan Burrough's 6 favorite books about Old West gunfighters
Feature The Texas-raised author recommends works by T.J. Stiles, John Boessenecker, and more
-
Tash Aw's 6 favorite books about forbidden love
Feature The Malaysian novelist recommends works by James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and more
-
Richard Bausch's 6 favorite books that are worth rereading
Feature The award-winning author recommends works by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and more
-
Marya E. Gates' 6 favorite books about women filmmakers
Feature The film writer recommends works by Julie Dash, Sofia Coppola, and more
-
Laurence Leamer's 6 favorite books that took courage to write
Feature The author recommends works by George Orwell, Truman Capote and more
-
Amor Towles' 6 favorite books from the 1950s
Feature The author recommends works by Vladimir Nabokov, Jack Kerouac, and more
-
Susan Page's 6 favorite books about historical figures who stood up to authority
Feature The USA Today's Washington bureau chief recommends works by Catherine Clinton, Alexei Navalny, and more
-
Ione Skye's 6 favorite books about love and loss
Feature The actress recommends works by James Baldwin, Nora Ephron, and more