Don DeLillo's Reading List

"I’ve just re-read State of Grace by Joy Williams. Published in 1986, this novel kept me turning pages at high speed from the very first sentence: ‘There is no warning of daylight here.’ This is the American novel at its height of biblical longing."

"Apeirogon , 2020, Colum McCann’s ambitious and compelling journey into the lives of Palestinians and Israelis. Strong work, and intriguing surprise on every page, the kind of current American novel that reminds us that fiction continues to renew itself."

"Another instance of pleasurable re-reading. William Gaddis’ first novel, mid-1950s, The Recognitions , and I remember walking into a bookstore in Manhattan and being intrigued by the striking cover design, from a 15th-century Italian altarpiece. The first paragraph knocked me out and I’ve been reading and re-reading Gaddis ever since."

"New novel, 2020, The Index of Self-Destructive Acts , ranging from politics to baseball to mortality and sexuality, and what else is there? Family life, and this is also there, a work that gains momentum as it sweeps along, with an eloquent final page."