In the order that they were read and reviewed (which means you can find reviews for ALL these titles on this blog), here are our lists of The Starving Artist’s Recommended Reading. For your convenience, they are broken down into genres. Books recommended with reservations are in parenthesis, and we suggest you read the review before choosing.
LITERARY AND GENERAL FICTION
- The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien
- One hundred years of solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- White Teeth, Zadie Smith
- A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving
- Lord Malquist and Mr. Moon, Tom Stoppard
- The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
- To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
- (Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout)
- (The Turner House, Angela Flournoy)
- Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt
- (The Stranger, Albert Camus)
- The Pearl, John Steinbeck
- Animal Farm, George Orwell
- The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway
- Big Fish, Daniel Wallace
- Lincoln in the Bardo, George Saunders
CLASSICS (app. pre-1900)
- Emma, Jane Austen
- Les Miserables, Victor Hugo
- The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner
- Old Goriot, Honore de Balzac
- Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
- A Man Could Stand Up– (from the Parade’s End quartet), Ford Maddox Ford
- Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
- Shirley, Charlotte Bronte
- The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Volumes 1 and 2, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
- Villette, Charlotte Bronte
- The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Bronte
- Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton
- The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll
- Grimms’ Fairy Tales, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
CHILDRENS through MIDDLE GRADES
- The House at Pooh Corner, A. A. Milne
- Pipi Longstocking, Astrid Lindgren
- Matilda, Roald Dahl
- My Teacher is an Alien, Bruce Coville
- Tales From the Hood (from Sisters Grimm series), Michael Buckley
- Who Could That Be at This Hour?, Lemony Snicket
- Clarice Bean, (trilogy), Lauren Child
- The Magical Fruit (from the Doctor Proctor series), Jo Nesbo
- A Snicker of Magic, Natalie Lloyd
- Smile and Sisters, Raina Telgemeier, as well as the Graphix Baby-Sitters Club series
- Ruby Redfort (series), Lauren Child
- Ramona (series), Beverly Cleary
- Henry Huggins and the Clubhouse, Beverly Cleary
- Socks, Beverly Cleary
- Frog and Toad (series), Arnold Lobel
- Mouse Tales, Arnold Lobel (and Mouse Soup)
- Dear Mr. Henshaw, Beverly Cleary
- The BFG, Roald Dahl
- Holes, Louis Sachar
- The Lemonade War, Jacqueline Davies
- (Frindle, Andrew Clements)
- Half Magic, Edward Eager
- (Roscoe Riley Rules (series), Katherine Applegate)
- Homer Price, Robert McCloskey
- Ghosts, Raina Telgemeier
- Anne of Green Gables: A Graphic Novel, Mariah Marsden and Brenna Thummler
- Little Book for Boys, M.L. Stratton
- (Fablehaven (5-book series), Brandon Mull)
- How to Train Your Dragon (12-book series), Cressida Cowell
- Danny the Champion of the World, Roald Dahl
- Caddie Woodlawn, Carol Ryrie Brink
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
- George’s Marvelous Medicine, Roald Dahl
- James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
- The Enormous Crocodile, Roald Dahl
- (The Twits, Roald Dahl)
- Old Yeller, Fred Gipson
- The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate and The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate, Jacqueline Kelly
- Shiloh, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
- Inside Out and Back Again, Thanhha Lai
- One Crazy Summer, Rita Williams-Garcia
- Grimms’ Fairy Tales, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
- Wonder, R.J. Palacio
- Little House (series), Laura Ingalls Wilder
YA (starting with the tweens for some books)
- Anne of Green Gables (series), L. M. Montgomery
- Anne of Green Gables, L. M. Montgomery
- Rilla of Ingleside, L. M. Montgomery
- Harry Potter (series), J. K. Rowling
- Where the Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls
- (Miss Peregrine’s School for Peculiar Children (trilogy), Ransom Riggs)
- Miss Peregrine’s School for Peculiar Children: the Graphic Novel, Cassandra Jean
- When You Reach Me, Rebecca Stead
- (I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith)
- Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt
- Bridge to Terabithia, Katherine Paterson
- The Giver, Lois Lowry
- The Princess Bride, William Goldman
- (The Book Thief, Markus Zusak)
PICTURE BOOKS
- The Sesame Street Bedtime Storybook
- Mouse Tales, Arnold Lobel (and Mouse Soup)
- Uncle Elephant, Arnold Lobel
- Grasshopper on the Road, Arnold Lobel
- The Random House Book of Poetry for Children
- Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, Mo Willems
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
- The Jesus Storybook Bible
- Make Way for Ducklings, Robert McCloskey
- The Book with No Pictures, B.J. Novak
- Fables, Arnold Lobel
- (On Market Street, Arnold and Anita Lobel)
- Ming Ho Moves the Mountain, Arnold Lobel
- The Great Blueness and Other Predicaments, Arnold Lobel
- Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak
- Little Bear, Else Holmelund Minarik
- Alligators All Around, Maurice Sendak
- Chicken Soup with Rice, Maurice Sendak
- The X-Files: Earth Children Are Weird, Kim Smith
- The Usborne Children’s Encyclopedia, Jane Eliot and Colin King
- Almost anything Chris Van Allsburg, including but not limited to Jumanji, Zathura, The Polar Express, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, Zephyr, The Z Was Zapped, and Two Bad Ants
FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION
- The Once and Future King, T. H. White
- The Book of Merlyn, T. H. White
- Till We Have Faces, C. S. Lewis
- Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card
- The Giver, Lois Lowry
- (Stewart’s Arthur (trilogy), Mary Stewart)
- Anthem, Ayn Rand
- Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
- The Princess Bride, William Goldman
- (Brave New World, Aldous Huxley)
- (1984, George Orwell)
- The Lord of the Rings (trilogy plus the prequel, The Hobbit), J.R.R. Tolkein
WORLD LITERATURE (NON-ENGLISH-SPEAKING, MAINLY TRANSLATIONS) AND TRAVEL
- (Three Sisters, Bi Feiyu (first two sections, only)), China
- Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper, Fuschia Dunlop, China
- China Survival Guide, Larry and Qin Herzberg, China
- Point It, Dieter Graf, World
- Mandarin Phrasebook and Dictionary, Lonely Planet, China
GRAPHIC NOVELS
- Smile and Sisters, Raina Telgemeier, as well as the Graphix Baby-Sitters club series
- Ghosts, Raina Telgemeier
- Anne of Green Gables: A Graphic Novel, Mariah Marsden and Brenna Thummler
NON-FICTION, SCIENCE, AND HISTORY
- A Night to Remember, Walter Lord
- No Pretty Pictures, Anita Lobel
- The Big Bad Book of Beasts and The Big Bad Book of Botany, Michael Largo
- The Geography Coloring Book, Wynn Kapit
WRITING AND PUBLISHING
- Self-Printed, Catherine Ryan Howard
- On Writing, Stephen King
- Secrets of Ebook Publishing Success, Mark Coker
- APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur, Guy Kawasaki and Shawn Welch
SELF-HELP AND RELIGION
- The Purpose-Driven Life, Rick Warren
- Jump Off the Hormone Swing, Lorraine Pintus
- The Total Money Makeover or The Complete Guide to Money, Dave Ramsey
- 365 Journal Writing Ideas, Rossi Fox
- The Practice of the Presence of God, Brother Lawrence
- Adventures in Prayer, Catherine Marshall
PLAYS
- King Lear, William Shakespeare
- Hamlet, William Shakespeare
- Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Tom Stoppard
- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Rowling and Tiffany
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, J.K. Rowling
- The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, Paul Zindel
- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Rowling, Tiffany, and Thorne
BIOGRAPHY AND MEMOIR
- The Life of Charlotte Bronte, Elizabeth Gaskell
- The Bronte Sisters, Catherine Reef
- No Pretty Pictures, Anita Lobel
- My Life with the Chimpanzees, Jane Goodall
FOOD AND COOKBOOKS
- Japanese Soul Cooking, Tadashi Ono and Harris Salat
- A History of Food in 100 Recipes
- Kitchen Bouquets, Bert Greene
- The Grains Cookbook, Bert Greene
- Greene on Greens, Bert Greene
- Honest American Fare, Bert Greene
- Bert Greene’s Kitchen, Bert Greene
- Falling Cloudberries: A World of Family Recipes, Tessa Kiros
- Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Peppers, Fuschia Dunlop
- Deep Run Roots, Vivian Howard
HOMESCHOOL AND LEARNING
- You Can Teach Your Child Successfully, Ruth Beechick
- The Well-Trained Mind, Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise
- The First Year of Homeschooling Your Child, Linda Dobson
- The Ultimate Homeschool Planner, Debra Bell
- All About Spelling, Learning Press
- The Grammar Ace, Duane Bolin
- 24 Ready-to-Go Genre Book Reports, Susan Ludwig
- Writers Inc.: A Student Handbook for Writing and Learning
- Phonics Pathways, Dolores G. Hiskes
- Horizons Math, Horizons
- Life of Fred (Elementary Series), Stanley F. Schmidt
- The Timeline Book, Sonlight
- The Story of the World, Susan Wise Bauer
- A Child’s History of the World, Virgil M. Hillyear
- Apologia Young Explorers (series, incl. Botany and Zoology), Fulbright
- The Nature Connection: A Workbook, Clare Walker Leslie
- 202 Oozing, Bubbling, Dripping & Bouncing Experiments, Janice VanCleave
- Alfred’s Basic Piano Library, Palmer, Manus, and Lethco
- What Your ____ Grader Should Know, E.D. Hirsch, Jr.
- Dictionary for Children, McMillan
- The Usborne Science Encyclopedia
- The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History
PHILOSOPHY
- The Stranger, Albert Camus
- Anthem, Ayn Rand
OTHER
- God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian, Kurt Vonnegut
COMEDY
- Bridget Jones’ Diary, Helen Fielding
SHORT STORIES
- “Parts Unknown: Narnia,” Rachel Manija Brown
POETRY
- “The Jabberwocky,” from Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Caroll (with commentary, as well)
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May I recommend, although I haven’t read it in years, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, and, for elementary school level, Mildred Taylor’s series starting with Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (protagonist is 9).
I believe that both of those are on the best books list for young readers (which means I just haven’t gotten to them yet). I’ll have to add them to Eamon’s reading list, though.