Recommendations of things: BOOKS
Feeling stuck? Perhaps the right book is what you need for some sweet inspo
Below are some books I recommend for anyone who needs inspiration. This is a very-not-exhausted list.
Novel
Martyr! Kaveh Akbar (Jan ‘24)
The Friend, Sigrid Nunez
What Are You Going Through? Sigrid Nunez
The Rabbit Hutch, Tess Gunty
Outline, Rachel Cusk
Independence Day, Richard Ford
White Noise, Don Delillo
….Lots of others, etc.
Novel - Subgenre: Dark, Sweet Wit
Eileen, Ottessa Moshfegh
The Idiot, Elif Batuman
Novel - Subgenre: Really fucking beautiful writing
On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous, Ocean Vuong
In the Skin of a Lion, Michael Ondaatje
Veronica, Mary Gaitskill
The Days of Abandonment, Elena Ferrante
Novel - Subgenre: Sensual-sexual
Normal People, Sally Rooney
Veronica, Mary Gaitskill
Novel - Subgenre: California
Divisadero, Michael Ondaatje
The Mars Room, Rachel Kushner
Memoir
I Would Meet You Anywhere, Susan Kiyo Ito
Crying in H Mart, Michelle Zauner
This Body I Wore, Diana Goetsch
Running in the Family, Michael Ondaatje
Burning the Days, James Salter
The Liars’ Club, Mary Karr
Lit, Mary Karr
The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls
My Broken Language, Quiara Alegría Hudes
Chelsea Girls, Eileen Myles (“a novel”)
A Few Seconds of Radiant Filmstrip, Kevin Brockmeier
Motherhood, Sheila Heti (memoir-adjacent)
The Country of the Blind, Andrew Leland
The Chronology of Water, Lidia Yuknavich
Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain
Short Stories
Rock Springs, Richard Ford
Bliss Montage, Ling Ma
Liberation Day, George Saunders
Homesick for Another World, Ottessa Moshfegh
No One Belongs Here More Than You, Miranda July
Fresh Complaint, Jeffrey Eugenides
Too Much Happiness, Alice Munro (or anything else by her)
Fortune Smiles, Adam Johnson
That Thing Around Your Neck, Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
Unaccustomed Earth, Jhumpa Lahiri
Hunger, Lan Samantha Chang
Essays
Slouching Toward Bethlehem, Joan Didion
The Hard Crowd, Rachel Kushner
The Braindead Megaphone, George Saunders
This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, Ann Patchett
(Anything by) Annie Dillard
Books About Writing
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, George Saunders
The Art of Memoir, Mary Karr
On Writing, Stephen King
Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott
Body Work, Melissa Febos
Books About Life and Other Things that Made Me Cry
Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor E. Frankl
Thoughts, etc.
Sometimes I really need to talk about an author and have no patience to do the whole “submit my work” to “publications” thing so here are my thoughts and recommendations, sans middle (wo)man.