Let the editors and avid readers at the Kenyon Review — one of the world’s most respected literary magazines — share what's on their bookshelves. Then tell us which titles have you turning the pages, and we'll share your response below.
A
"Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Richard B., Takoradi, Western Ghana
"Bastard Out of Carolina" by Dorothy Allison
Charlotte J., Cincinnati, Ohio
"Antes de Ser Libres" by Julia Alvarez
Margaret F., Cincinnati, Ohio
B
“Going to Meet the Man" by James Baldwin
Paige D., Darien, Connecticut
"Ten Days in a Mad-House" Nellie Bly
Page P., Placida, Florida
"Ficciones" by Jorge Luis Borges
Paige D., Darien, Connecticut
C
"The Awakening" by Kate Chopin
Caecilia S., Fairfield, Connecticut
"The Club" by Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg
Milan C., Merion Station, Pennsylvania
"Open City" by Teju Cole
Natalie M., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
"The Hunger Games: Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
Isabella E., Tervuren, Belgium
"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey
Richard O., Kumasi; Ashanti, Ghana
"The Extinction of Irena Rey" by Jennifer Croft
Nomulin K., Ulaanbaatar; Baganuur, Mongolia
D
“In Search of Us" by Ava Dellaira
Madeline A., White Salmon, Washington
"Evicted" by Matthew Desmond
Kaden T., Lexington, Massachusetts
E
"The Name of the Rose" by Umberto Eco
Kevin C., San Diego, California
G
"The Wild Iris" by Louise Glück
Paige D., Darien, Connecticut
H
"The Anxious Generation" by Jonathan Haidt
Leonardo C., Ottawa, Illinois
"The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story" by Nikole Hannah-Jones
Miriam H., Alburquerque, New Mexico
Cooper Z., Dublin, Ohio
"Peter Camenzind" by Hermann Hesse
Paige D., Darien, Connecticut
"Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman" by Miriam Horn
Elin S., Montclair, New Jersey
"Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Hurston
Aria B., Oshkosh, Wisconsin
J
"The Haunting Of Hill House" by Shirley Jackson
Jack R., Los Angeles, California
"Dubliners" by James Joyce
Jane V., San Francisco, California
K
"The Sun and Her Flowers" by Rupi Kaur
Ariyana D., New Haven, Connecticut
"Everything We Never Were" by Alice Kellen
Emilia G., Bethesda, Maryland
"Demon Copperhead" by Barbara Kingsolver
Colin M., Lake Oswego, Oregon
"Sátántangó" by Lázsló Krasznahorkai
Evan H., Wentzville, Missouri
L
"Paul" by Daisy Lafarge
Travis J., Malvern, Pennsylvania
"Last Night at the Telegraph Club" by Malinda Lo
Ieleen L., Salinas, California
M
"Buddenbrooks" by Thomas Mann
Flavia C., Goiania; Goias, Brazil
"A Song of Ice and Fire: A Dance of Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
Ryleigh L., Carlisle, Pennsylvania
"Moby Dick" by Herman Melville
Kyle C., League City, Texas
"Circe" by Madeline Miller
Franck Ryan C., Austin, Texas
"Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller
Crystal Z., Livingston, New Jersey
"Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?" by Lorrie Moore
Elizabeth Y., Naperville, Illinois
"After the Quake" by Haruki Murakami
Jane V., San Francisco, California
N
"Invitation to Beheading" by Vladimir Nabokov
Paige D., Darien, Connecticut
"World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments" by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Olivia K., Austin, Texas
O
"Island of the Blue Dolphins" by Scott O'Dell
Ravin M., Annawan, Illinois
"Memory Police" by Yoko Ogawa
Sofia S., Coconut Creek, Florida
Q
"Night at the Fiestas" by Kirstin Valdez Quade
Jane V., San Francisco, California
R
"I'm Thinking of Ending Things" Iain Reid
Maria A., Concord, North Carolina
"The Creative Act" by Rick Rubin
Maxwell F., Libertyville, Illinois
S
"Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley
Olivia S., Gallatin, Tennessee
"Peak" by Roland Smith
Jenna G., Onalaska, Wisconsin
"On Beauty" by Zadie Smith
Mya G., Northbrook, Illinois
"Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone" by Benjamin Stevenson
Joseph P., San Francisco, California
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Oluwabori F., Dallas, Texas
T
"The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
Maryella W., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
"War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy
Cordelia L., Warren, New Jersey
"The Brothers Karamazov" by Leo Tolstoy
Jared R., Asheville, North Carolina
"Smile at Fear" by Chögyam Trungpa
James E., Groton, Massachusetts
W
"The Rage of Dragons" by Evan Winter
Kamauria K., Chicago, Illinois
"The Waves" by Virginia Woolf
Zuberi S., Boonton, New Jersey
Y
"A Little Life" by Hanya Yanagihara
Lilah D., New Orleans, Louisiana
"Fable" by Adrienne Young
Zoe B., Lafayette, Indiana
Z
"Crying in H-Mart" by Michelle Zauner
Miriam H., Alburquerque, New Mexico
Previous Recommendations
A
"The Bloodstained Throne: Struggles for Power in Nepal, 1775–1914” by Baburam Acharya; translated by Madhav Acharya
"There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra" by Chinua Achebe
"Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe
"The Restaurant at the End of the Universe" by Douglas Adams
"Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Adichie
"Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom
"Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
"The Future Lasts Forever: A Memoir" by Louis Althusser, Olivier Corpet, and Yann Moulier Boutang
"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
"Rhetoric" by Aristotle
“The Testaments” by Margaret Atwood
“Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austin
B
“Sultan Salohiddin” by Yavuz Bahodirogli
“Seams Deadly” by Maggie Bailey
"Good Economics for Hard Times" by Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo
“The Six of Crows Duology: Six of Crows and the Crooked Kingdom” by Leigh Bardugo
“The Fright Before Christmas: Surviving Krampus and Other Yuletide Monsters, Witches, and Ghosts” by Jeff Belanger
“Blasphemy: A Memoir: Sentenced to Death Over a Cup of Water” by Asia Bibi and Anne-Isabelle Tollet
“2666” by Roberto Bolaño
“The Master and Margarita” by Mikhail Bulgakov
C
“Myth of Sisyphus” by Albert Camus
“The Stranger” by Albert Camus
"Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
“What Storm, What Thunder” by Myriam J. A. Chancy
"The Awakening" by Kate Chopin
“The Six-Day War” by Randolph S. Churchill and Winston S. Churchill
"Clockwork Angel" by Cassandra Clare
"Penance" by Eliza Clark
"The Alchemist" By Paulo Coelho
“The Law of Innocence” by Michael Connelly
D
“A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens
"Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoevsky
"Poor Folk" by Fyodor Dostoevsky
“Untame” by Glennon Doyle
E
"A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" by Dave Eggers
“Second Class Citizen” by Buchi Emecheta
F
"The 4-Hour Workweek" by Tim Ferriss
“Crossroads” by Jonathan Franzen
G
"Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life" by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles
H
“Sapiens” by Yuval Noah Harari
"Girl in the Blue Coat" by Monica Hesse
"Trust Me I'm Lying" by Ryan Holiday
"The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
“A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini
K
"When Breath Becomes Air" by Paul Kalanithi
"The Soul of a New Machine" by Tracy Kidder
"11/22/63" by Stephen King
"Writers & Lovers" by Lily King
“Salem’s Lot” by Stephen King
“Blossoms of the Savanna” by Henry R. Ole Kulet
“The Leftover Women” by Jean Kwok
L
"The Ride of Her Life" by Elizabeth Letts
"The Gentleman Bastards" by Scott Lynch
M
"Bliss Montage" by Ling Ma
"In the Chest of a Woman" by Kojo Mawugbe
"The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother” by James McBride
"Please Kill Me" by Gillian McCain and Legs McNeil
"Song of Achilles" by Madeline Miller
"Wordslut" by Amanda Montell
"The Starless Sea" by Erin Morgenstern
"Kafka on the Shore" by Haruki Murakami
"The Bee Sting" by Paul Murray
N
"Speak, Memory" by Vladimir Nabokov
O
"The Complete Stories" by Flannery O'Connor
"The Precipice" by Toby Ord
"The Thursday Murder Club" series by Richard Osman
P
"The Art of Living a Meaningless Existence: Ideas from Philosophy That Change the Way You Think" by Robert Pantano
“The Dutch House” by Ann Patchett
"The Overstory" by Richard Powers
"Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch" by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
R
“The Young Warriors” by V.S. Reid
“How Rich Countries Get Rich, and Why Poor Countries Stay Poor” by Erik S. Reinert
“Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets” by J.K. Rowling
"The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
S
"Contact" by Carl Sagan
"The Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger
“Way of Kings” by Brandon Sanderson
"Fantasmas, espectros y otros trapos sucios" by Jaime Alfonso Sandoval
“Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi
"A Suitable Boy" by Vikram Seth
"Every Last Word" by Tamara Ireland Stone
T
“The Goldfinch” by Donna Tartt
“The Lord of the Rings” by J.R.R. Tolkien
V
"Slaughterhouse-5" by Kurt Vonnegut
W
“This is Water” by David Foster Wallace
"The House of Mirth" by Edith Wharton
"Town Beyond the Wall" by Elie Wiesel
"Baby, You're Gonna Be Mine: Stories" by Kevin Wilson
"A Room of One's Own" by Virginia Woolf
X
"Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation" by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
Y
“The Shadow of Kyoshi” by F.C. Yee
Z
“The Shadow of the Wind” by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
“Crying in H Mart” by Michelle Zauner
"The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak