Literature

A Strangeness in My Mind by Orhan Pamuk

A Strangeness in My Mind by Orhan Pamuk is one of the Top 5 best novels I’ve ever read.
100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

I picked this one up at the library with a pretty specific checklist in mind: I wanted a long novel, a Latin American novel, and something with a thread of magical realism running through it. I already love the way magical realism shows up in Haruki Murakami, and I’ve always had a soft spot for Southern Gothic — so a book that pulls both of those threads into a sweeping multigenerational epic seemed like it would check every box.
Notes On The Death of Culture by Mario Vargas Llosa

I pulled Notes on the Death of Culture by Mario Vargas Llosa off a library shelf somewhat serendipitously after reading…
The Complete Stories by Flannery O’Connor

The Complete Stories is the only collection that includes every short story Flannery O’Connor ever wrote — including “The Geranium,” which she submitted as part of her master’s thesis at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. If you’re going to read her, this is the one to get.
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

I picked up As I Lay Dying from Standard Ebooks — a great free source for public domain classics —…
Cup of Gold by John Steinbeck

Welsh farm boy Henry Morgan becomes notorious Caribbean pirate, only to find achieving his wildest dreams brings cruel disappointment. Excellent novel!