As I engage with other authors and aspiring authors, I realize that one of my favorite things is to talk about our favorite books. I love a good book recommendation (don’t we all?), so here is a list of some of my favorite and/or most impactful reads, sorted by category.

Travel

• In a Sunburned Country – Bill Bryson
• Wild – Cheryl Strayed
• Interstate – Julian Sayarer
• Between the Woods and the Water – Patrick Leigh Fermor
• Blue Highways – William Least Heat-Moon

History

• A Short History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson
• At Home – Bill Bryson
• American Nations – Colin Woodard
• Bad Land – Jonathan Raban

Science Fiction

• To Your Scattered Bodies Go – Philip Jose Farmer
• Replay – Ken Grimwood
• Seveneves – Neal Stephenson
• Snowcrash – Neal Stephenson
• Ender’s GameEnder’s GameEnder’s Game – Orson Scott Card
• The Time Machine – H.G. Wells
• The War of the Worlds – H.G. Wells
• The Island of Dr. Moreau – H.G. Wells

Fantasy

• The Black Jewels Trilogy – Anne Bishop
• The Incarnations of Immorality – Piers Anthony (series)
• A Spell for Chameleon – Piers Anthony
• Books of the Hollows – Kim Harrison
• The Laundry Files – Charles Stross
• The Mercy Thompson Novels – Patricia Briggs
• The Kate Daniels Series – Ilona Andrews
• The Broken Earth Trilogy – N.K. Jesimin
• The Kingkiller Chronicles – Patrick Rothfuss
• American Gods – Neil Gaiman
• Anansi Boys – Neil Gaiman
• Neverwhere – Neil Gaiman
• Good Omens – Neil Gaiman & Terry Prachett

Horror

• I Am Legend – Richard Mathieson
• The Changeling – Victor Lavalle
• Lovecraft Country – Matt Ruff
• The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon – Stephen King
• H.P. Lovecraft (no title here because they’re all amazing)

Classics/General Literature

• Jonathan Livingston Seagull –  Richard Bach
• White Fang – Jack London
• Call of the Wild – Jack London
• Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
• Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
• Johnny Got His Gun – Dalton Trumbo
• Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
• Tarzan of the Apes – Edgar Rice Burroughs
• Something Wicked This Way Comes – Ray Bradbury
• October Country – Ray Bradbury
• The Legend of Sleepy Hollow – Washington Irving
• Nine Stories – J.D. Salinger
• Franny and Zooey – J.D. Salinger
• The Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
• Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie

Crime/Noir

• L.A. Confidential – James Ellroy
• Joyland – Stephen King
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents: A Hangman’s Dozen – Alfred Hitchcock

Miscellaneous Nonfiction

• Sex at Dawn – Christopher Ryan & Cacilda Jetha
• A Field Guide to Getting Lost – Rebecca Solnit

Graphic Novels

• Regalia – Eliza Fry
• ReMind – Jason Brubaker
• Gunnerkrigg Court – Thomas Siddell
• Watchmen – Allen Moore
• The Wicked + The Divine – Kireon Gillen & Jamie Mckelvie
• Preacher – Garth Ennis & Steve Dillon

Young Adult/Child

• Wrinkle in Time – Madeleine L’Engel
• Many Waters – Maeleine L’Engel
• Salamandastron – Brian Jacques (this whole series, really)
• The Missing Piece Meets the Big O – Shel Silverstein
• Blood and Chocolate – Annette Curtis Klaus
• The Forbidden Game Trilogy – L.J. Smith
• Where the Red Fern Grows – Wilson Rawls
• Black Beauty – Anna Sewell
• Anne of Green Gables – L.M. Montgomery
• The Halloween Tree – Ray Bradbury
• The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman
• The Ocean at the End of the Lane – Neil Gaiman

Poetry

• Live for a Living – Buddy Wakefield
• Sleepyhead Assassins – Mindy Netifee
• Scandalabra – Derrick C. Brown
• Pole Dancing to Gospel Hymns – Andrea Gibson
• In the Hands of Strangers – Janice N. Harrington

Writing (General)

• On Writing – Stephen King
• Danse Macabre – Stephen King
• The View From the Cheap Seats – Neil Gaiman
• Style – Joseph M. Williams & Joseph Bizup
• On Writing Well – William Zissner
• The Editor’s Companion – Steve Dunham
• The Elements of Style – Strunk & White
• What We See When We Read – Peter Mendelsund