Anna Della Subin recommends 6 metaphysical books
The author picks books by Anne Carson, Thomas Merton, and more

Anna Della Subin is the author of Accidental Gods, a study of the many men, from Julius Caesar to Gandhi, who have been deified by contemporaries. Below, Subin recommends the books on religion, myth, and history that have most inspired her.
Eros the Bittersweet by Anne Carson (1986).
I often revisit Carson's lyrical meditation on love, language, and loss, which weaves together deep readings of Sappho, Plato, and other ancient Greek authors to reflect on desire, sacred and profane. This book opened up new perspectives for me as to what literature could do. Buy it here.
The Geography of the Imagination by Guy Davenport (1981).
Reading Davenport taught me how to write. In this inimitable essay collection, he roves across literatures and cultures, from prehistoric cave paintings to modernist poetry, teasing out surprising connections and bringing us right up to the mysteries of being human. There is an entire universe inside this book. Buy it here.
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.
The Birth-mark by Susan Howe (1993).
Howe has called herself "a library cormorant" — a creature that stalks the bookshelves and that I can relate to. Here, the poet takes us to the wilderness landscapes of early America, where Puritans and female prophets, Melville, Dickinson, and Howe's own ancestors haunt the archives. These experimental essays pose questions of law, freedom, and the wildness of the mind. Buy it here.
Alone of All Her Sex by Marina Warner (1976).
This is a powerful study of the Virgin Mary — the textual fragments, icons, and relics that constructed our ideas of her and of the feminine, from the Gospels to today. Many of Warner's books, which range across mythology, criticism, and memoir, have been scriptures for me. Buy it here.
New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton (1949).
It's hard to know where to begin with Thomas Merton, the poet-monk who was perhaps the 20th century's greatest mystical mind and also profoundly engaged in the politics of his time. One starting point is this classic set of reflections on solitude, spiritual searching, and the strange state of being alive. Buy it here.
Dreams, Illusion, and Other Realities by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty (1984).
Is what we see around us real, or is it all an illusion? Wendy Doniger, a former professor of mine, illuminates a constellation of myths from ancient India — accounts of collective dreaming, ephemeral cities, a girl who lives inside a stone—in a book that blends immense erudition with mischievous wit and is impossible to forget. Buy it here.
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
This article was first published in the latest issue of The Week magazine. If you want to read more like it, you can try six risk-free issues of the magazine here.
-
Today's political cartoons - March 30, 2025
Cartoons Sunday's cartoons - strawberry fields forever, secret files, and more
By The Week US Published
-
5 hilariously sparse cartoons about further DOGE cuts
Cartoons Artists take on free audits, report cards, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Following the Tea Horse Road in China
The Week Recommends This network of roads and trails served as vital trading routes
By The Week UK Published
-
John McWhorter’s 6 favorite books that are rooted in history
Feature The Columbia University professor recommends works by Lyla Sage, Sally Thorne, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Abdulrazak Gurnah's 6 favorite books about war and colonialism
Feature The Nobel Prize winner recommends works by Michael Ondaatje, Toni Morrison, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Elliot Ackerman’s 6 favorite books on war and duty
Feature The Marine veteran recommends works by Robert A. Heinlein, John le Carré, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Xochitl Gonzalez’s 6 favorite books that shaped her storytelling
Feature The best-selling author recommends works by Stephen King, Julian Barnes, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Jason Isaacs's 6 favorite books that changed his perception on life
Feature The British actor recommends works by George Orwell, C.S. Lewis, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Tessa Bailey's 6 favorite books for hopeless romantics
Feature The best-selling author recommends works by Lyla Sage, Sally Thorne, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Pagan Kennedy's 6 favorite books that inspire resistance
Feature The author recommends works by Patrick Radden Keefe, Margaret Atwood, and more
By The Week US Published
-
John Sayles' 6 favorite works that left a lasting impression
Feature The Oscar-nominated screenwriter recommends works by William Faulkner, Carson McCullers, and more
By The Week US Published