Sofia Coppola, photographer, designer, and director of The Virgin Suicides, lists her six favorite books.
Music for Torching by A.M. Homes (Harperperennial Library, $14). Really hilarious and mean—a marriage in crisis, lots of unhinged characters, everyone’s out to lunch. A couple mired in their suburban life burns their house down to try to make it all go away, to start again—only to end up stuck repairing the building instead.
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Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham (Bantam Classic and Loveswept, $6). His masterpiece, set in pre-World War I Europe. A young man’s heartbreaking and epic obsession with an average-seeming woman. Her character was supposedly based on a man Maugham loved—but couldn’t be with.
The Hawkline Monster by Richard Brautigan (Mariner Books, $17; a compilation of three books). My brother’s the one who got me into Brautigan’s Gothic western. This story of cowboy hitmen assigned to kill a monster is crazy, weird, and funny.
Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima (Vintage Books, $14). This novel, the first of Mishima’s four-part Sea of Fertility series, takes place in turn-of-the-century Japan, and explores the clash between the old Japanese aristocracy and a new, rising class of elites. The son and daughter of two prominent families won’t admit they love each other until it’s too late, and she’s engaged to the emporer. It’s super-romantic, especially when the doomed lovers kiss in the snow.
They Called Her Styrene by Ed Ruscha (Phaidon Press Inc., $20). This is a collection of Ruscha’s word paintings from L.A. They crack me up: “We’re this, we’re that, aren’t we?” and “Little Malibu love nest” and “Did anyone say dreamboat?”
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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
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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
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Helen Schulman's 6 favorite collections of short storiesFeature The award-winning author recommends works by Raymond Carver, James Baldwin, and more
