“The Good Soldier” by Ford Madox Ford. The combination of complexities and emotionally intense timbre is an inspiration.
“Dubliners” by James Joyce. A granting of lyricism to lives which, to the outside, would not suggest that they are worthy of it.
“Howards End” by E. M. Forster. It manages to speak about immensely serious issues with a delightful lightness of tone.
“In Search of Lost Time” by Marcel Proust. It forces one to ponder again and again: what is it to be alive?
“To The Lighthouse” by Virginia Woolf. As close to poetry as a novel can get.
A book that, upon rereading, was disappointing: “The Catcher in the Rye” by J. D. Salinger. As a teenager, I thought it was the most profound text imaginable. As an adult, it seemed easy and slick.
A book you care most about sharing with your children: “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen. So that they can understand a witty woman is the most desirable, and so that we could have conversations about the Bennets in the way we might about the people down the block.
