Jonathan Franzen's Reading List

"I loved Rachel Kushner’s “Flamethrowers.”"

"I also have to mention Mario Vargas Llosa’s “War of the End of the World” and Milan Kundera’s “Unbearable Lightness of Being.”"

"I picked up “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” more or less to make sure that it was as overrated as I suspected... But they’re still great dreams, and the character who has them, Tereza, is rendered with gorgeous sympathy. I wouldn’t have guessed that a love story so well analyzed philosophically could be so moving in the end."

"I’d carefully saved “The Custom of the Country,” and it kept me engrossed the entire way. I finished it in the taxi line at J.F.K., feeling bottomlessly grateful to Edith Wharton."

"And yet some of my all-time favorite novels are historical — “The Greenlanders” (Jane Smiley), “The Blue Flower” (Penelope Fitzgerald) and “War and Peace.”"

"And yet some of my all-time favorite novels are historical — “The Greenlanders” (Jane Smiley), “The Blue Flower” (Penelope Fitzgerald) and “War and Peace.”"

"And yet some of my all-time favorite novels are historical — “The Greenlanders” (Jane Smiley), “The Blue Flower” (Penelope Fitzgerald) and “War and Peace.”"

"I also remember feeling helped, at least momentarily, by Harriet Lerner’s “Dance of Anger” at a dark moment in my early 30s. It’s the rare self-help book that acknowledges the true difficulty of helping the self."

"A copy of “Libra,” with a nice inscription, that Don DeLillo sent me in 1989. ... after spending my 20s working in near-total isolation and revering DeLillo from afar, I couldn’t believe that I had something signed to me in his own human hand."

"As with a lot of writers of my generation, it’s “Harriet the Spy.” My recollection is that her creator, Louise Fitzhugh, died in her 40s. Did she have any idea how many young people decided to be writers after reading her two books about Harriet?"

"I wish I could have been present when Kafka read “The Metamorphosis” aloud to his friends, who couldn’t stop laughing. The humor is still there in the text, but I would love to know what he did with his voice."

"For the past 20 years or so I’ve been planning to read the final four volumes of “In Search of Lost Time” next."

"For the past 20 years or so I’ve been planning to read the final four volumes of “In Search of Lost Time” next."