Adam Gopnik recommends 6 classic books for literature fans
The longtime New Yorker staff writer suggests works from J.D. Salinger, Marcel Proust, and more

Critic and essayist Adam Gopnik is a longtime staff writer for The New Yorker. In his latest book, The Real Work, he examines how artists, athletes, and others achieve mastery, and what the pursuit does for any of us who undertake it.
When you make a purchase through links on our site, we may earn a commission
Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell (1791)
The best and most entertaining biography ever written in English — addictive for its prescient, informal, racy prose and Johnson's epigrammatic precision and enduring decency. The dinner party at which suspicious Tory Sam meets the lefty-libertine but welcoming John Wilkes is still one of the funniest and most humane things in literature. Buy it here.
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 Most of Liebling by A.J. Liebling (1963)
The best reporter on Paris, boxing, and war, with the widest range of knowledge and the slyest gift for horizontal allusion. A writer of pleasures — eating and drinking — Liebling is equally good on battles and has a moral point to make: Defending pleasure is a good enough reason to resist tyrants.
The Early Stories by John Updike (2003)
Miracles of observation, evocation, and poignant emotion. Though Updike is not a writer of happy subjects — the pains of marriage, the loss of time — he makes readers happy by the sheer perfection of his craft and his deep delight in the sensual surface of the world. He sings, and we harmonize. Buy it here.
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction by J.D. Salinger (1955)
Salinger was the key influence on two generations of writers. What other New York City tales manage to be both hilarious in their detailing and profoundly, genuinely religious in their purpose? Still the most soulful comic writer we've ever had, and simultaneously the greatest comic writer of the search for soulfulness. Buy it here.
Swann's Way by Marcel Proust (1913)
A terribly conventional pick. But the Swann and Odette sections are the most beautiful thing in writing. When they mirror the Marcel and Gilberte childhood sections, they become better than writing. Buy it here.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Voltaire in Love by Nancy Mitford (1957)
The most exuberant, erotic history of the French Enlightenment. Mitford is disapproved of by sterner academics, though she has the most instinctive grasp of the crazily competitive French intellectual life. Her voice is so communicable, charming, and independent that I was able to use an imaginary version of Mitford as the heroine of my own Parisian fable, The King in the Window. Buy it here.
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.
-
October 4 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Saturday's political cartoons include the Einstein files, defunding the police, and an odd tribute to Jane Goodall
-
Mustardy beans and hazelnuts recipe
The Week Recommends Nod to French classic offers zingy, fresh taste
-
Under siege: Argentina’s president drops his chainsaw
Talking Point The self-proclaimed ‘first anarcho-capitalist president in world history’ faces mounting troubles
-
Lou Berney’s 6 favorite books with powerful storytelling
Feature The award-winning author recommends works by Dorothy B. Hughes, James McBride, and more
-
Elizabeth Gilbert’s favorite books about women overcoming difficulties
Feature The author recommends works by Tove Jansson, Lauren Groff, and more
-
Fannie Flagg’s 6 favorite books that sparked her imagination
Feature The author recommends works by Johanna Spyri, John Steinbeck, and more
-
Jessica Francis Kane's 6 favorite books that prove less is more
Feature The author recommends works by Penelope Fitzgerald, Marie-Helene Bertino, and more
-
Keith McNally's 6 favorite books that have ambitious characters
Feature 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 II
Feature The author recommends works by James D. Hornfischer, Craig L. Symonds, and more
-
Helen Schulman's 6 favorite collections of short stories
Feature The award-winning author recommends works by Raymond Carver, James Baldwin, and more
-
Beatriz Williams' 6 timeless books about history and human relationships
Feature The best-selling author recommends works by Jane Austen, Zora Neale Hurston, and more