Bill Scheft is a writer for The Late Show With David Letterman. His first novel is The Ringer (HarperCollins Publishers, $25). Here he lists his “six favorite books that I hope no one else has listed.”
The Poems of Catullus by Gaius Valerius Catullus (Oxford University Press, $11). The unsung lyric poet and elegist is best in Latin, but still pretty damn seminal in English. The guy who taught me the value of the word. Read poem No. 85 and get back to me.
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.
Good Times, Bad Times by James Kirkwood (out of print). The author became famous for writing the book to A Chorus Line, but this novel should be his legacy. If you went to prep school, or know somebody who did, or know somebody who looks like they did, this is required reading.
A Special Providence (Picador USA, $13); Disturbing the Peace (out of print) by Richard Yates. Can’t decide, so kill me. My favorite author and the Dean of Broken People of the 1950s. Despair, disappointment, alcoholism, courage, and all that stuff we love to get neck-deep in.
I Married a Communist by Philip Roth (Vintage Books, $14). My second-favorite Roth work, only because I was desperately afraid some poacher would list The Professor of Desire. This book is “I have to get out of the business” good. Then I realized, I ain’t in the same business as this guy.
On the Tour With Harry Sprague by Herbert Warren Wind (out of print). The only novel written by my uncle, the legendary golf writer for The New Yorker. Big-time hilarious.
Makes You Know Me, Al look like a student film. (If you get the reprint from “Classics of Golf,” don’t miss the foreword, written by my mom.)
-
Bluetoothing: the phenomenon driving HIV spike in FijiUnder the Radar ‘Blood-swapping’ between drug users fuelling growing health crisis on Pacific island
-
Marisa Silver’s 6 favorite books that capture a lifetimeFeature The author recommends works by John Williams, Ian McEwan, and more
-
Book reviews: ‘We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution’ and ‘Will There Ever Be Another You’Feature The many attempts to amend the U.S. Constitution and Patricia Lockwood’s struggle with long Covid
-
Marisa Silver’s 6 favorite books that capture a lifetime
Feature 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
-
Keith McNally's 6 favorite books that have ambitious charactersFeature The London-born restaurateur recommends works by Leo Tolstoy, John le Carré, and more
-
Garrett Graff's 6 favorite books that shine new light on World War IIFeature The author recommends works by James D. Hornfischer, Craig L. Symonds, and more
-
Helen Schulman's 6 favorite collections of short storiesFeature The award-winning author recommends works by Raymond Carver, James Baldwin, and more
