Columbia University writing professor Binnie Kirshenbaum is the acclaimed author of four novels, including An Almost Perfect Moment and Hester Among the Ruins.
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (Bantam Classics, $4). It’s as if Hawthorne wrote with mirrors instead of words: You can read this book a dozen times (as I have) and still not quite figure out who is guilty and of what exactly.
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Shadows on the Hudson by Isaac Bashevis Singer (Plume, $16). Set on the Upper West Side of Manhattan (as opposed to the Polish landscape of most of Singer’s work), this novel, a discourse on the fickle state of love, introduces us to one of the most charming rogues in literature. Favorite line: “There’s something that’s stronger than love.…Laziness. The fear of moving from a fixed place.”
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (Vintage, $14). The linguistic pyrotechnics are enough to recommend this, perhaps the greatest American novel. It’s side-splittingly funny, the passion sticks to the pages, and it renders sympathy for a pedophile.
The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy (Bantam, $6). If this novel doesn’t make you search for what is valuable in life, if it doesn’t urge you to pursue happiness, then nothing will. This story of a dying man’s realization that his perfectly admirable bourgeois life has been a waste is, or ought to be, a wake-up call.
Death in Venice
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Voting Rights Act: SCOTUS’s pivotal decisionFeature A Supreme Court ruling against the Voting Rights Act could allow Republicans to redraw districts and solidify control of the House
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No Kings rally: What did it achieve?Feature The latest ‘No Kings’ march has become the largest protest in U.S. history
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Gilbert King’s 6 favorite books about the search for justiceFeature The journalist recommends works by Bryan Stevenson, David Grann, and more
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Nathan Harris’ 6 favorite books that turn adventures into revelationsFeature The author recommends works by Kazuo Ishiguro, Ian McGuire, and more
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Marisa Silver’s 6 favorite books that capture a lifetimeFeature The author recommends works by John Williams, Ian McEwan, and more
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Lou Berney’s 6 favorite books with powerful storytellingFeature The award-winning author recommends works by Dorothy B. Hughes, James McBride, and more
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Elizabeth Gilbert’s favorite books about women overcoming difficultiesFeature The author recommends works by Tove Jansson, Lauren Groff, and more
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Fannie Flagg’s 6 favorite books that sparked her imaginationFeature The author recommends works by Johanna Spyri, John Steinbeck, and more
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Jessica Francis Kane's 6 favorite books that prove less is moreFeature The author recommends works by Penelope Fitzgerald, Marie-Helene Bertino, and more
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Keith McNally's 6 favorite books that have ambitious charactersFeature The London-born restaurateur recommends works by Leo Tolstoy, John le Carré, and more
