Colson Whitehead's Reading List

The author of “The Noble Hustle: Poker, Beef Jerky, and Death” would like to host Flannery O’Connor, “because I don’t think she knew a lot of black people, or got out of the house that much.”

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By the Book: Colson Whitehead (2014)

NYT By the Book column (2014-05-15).

Source: www.nytimes.com

Book of Hours

Kevin Young · Buy on Amazon

"His new book is a wrenching investigation of what it is to be a father — to lose one's own, to raise a child in turn — and it's superb, as usual."

The Road

Cormac McCarthy · 2006 · Buy on Amazon

"My most memorable book-related weeping occurred early in Cormac McCarthy's 'The Road.'"

Drinking Coffee Elsewhere

ZZ Packer · Buy on Amazon

"One favorite is 'Drinking Coffee Elsewhere,' by ZZ Packer... She's nearing completion of her first novel, which is very exciting."

Autobiography of Red

Anne Carson · Buy on Amazon

"'Autobiography of Red,' by Anne Carson, even if it has no relation whatsoever to what the class is about. Especially if."

Favorite books (2023)

Favorite books recommended by Colson Whitehead, as compiled by radicalreads.com. Source article: https://radicalreads.com/colson-whitehead-favorite-books/.

Source: radicalreads.com

One Hundred Years of Solitude

Gabriel García Márquez (also rec’d by Irvine Welsh , Joan Didion , Lin-Manuel Miranda & Richard Branson ) · Buy on Amazon

"Perhaps my favorite novel? Re-read it after 25 years and was stunned by its incandescent power. Helped immensely with rethinking how to calibrate fantastic effects, which came in handy with The Underground Railroad ."

H is for Hawk

Helen Macdonald (also rec’d by Susan Orlean ) · Buy on Amazon

"A new addition to my gallery of favorites, this nimble memoir is an eccentric masterpiece. Birds! More birds! Macdonald’s relentless pursuit of personal and universal truth will leave you mesmerized."

A Manual for Cleaning Women

Lucia Berlin (also rec’d by Elena Ferrante & Emily Ratajkowski ) · Buy on Amazon

"A posthumous collection that gathers 40-plus stories from this overlooked writer and gives them a worthy showcase. Autobiographical fiction like an intimate conversation in the wee hours, Pall Mall smoke filling the air."

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