Fareed Zakaria's Reading List

"W. H. Auden's "Collected Poems" — wonderfully written, and I can put it down after 15 minutes, sated and ready for bed."

"A total pleasure, full of joy and vigor. I didn't want it to end."

"I tried it and was captivated. It really is the Great American Novel, beginning on the East Coast and moving to the West, spanning America's rise from an agricultural nation to an industrial powerhouse."

"It's a wickedly funny satire, sparing no one, not even Mahatma Gandhi. The structure is complicated, filled with all kinds of clever historical and literary allusions, and yet it's a rollicking narrative. Just thinking about it makes me want to go back and reread it."

"Kazuo Ishiguro, whose first three books are works of genius."

"Vikram Seth, whose most astonishing work is a novel in verse, "The Golden Gate." As you read it, you are charmed by the story while still aware and in awe of Seth's talent."

"Someone I was dating gave me a copy of Norman Rush's clever, funny novel "Mating," and we bonded over it, reading passages out loud to each other."

"Ezra Klein's "Why We're Polarized," which gets at the state of our politics."

"Colin Woodard's "American Nations," which gets at the cultural divides."

"Alexis de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America," because it is still the best book ever written about this country."

"A family friend gave me a copy of Isaiah Berlin's "Four Essays on Liberty." It has profoundly shaped my political views and sensibilities."

"Raskolnikov in "Crime and Punishment," surely one of the most compelling characters ever invented."