Judy Blume's Reading List

"I just finished Still Pictures, by Janet Malcolm."

"Yesterday afternoon I read a graphic memoir, Gender Queer, by Maia Kobabe, the most banned book in the country right now. I found it moving and enlightening."

"My husband read it first and told me it was brilliant and that I'd enjoy it. It was and I did."

"Beasts of No Nation, a sliver of a book by Uzodinma Iweala. The kind of book you never forget."

"The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank."

"Nine Stories, by J.D. Salinger, to understand what makes a good short story."

"My sixth-grade civics teacher read Animal Farm aloud to our class. I still think of that and how I looked forward to her readings."

"Curtis Sittenfeld's Prep."

"Long Way Down, by Jason Reynolds. When I finished that book I read it again."

"When he laughs while reading, I'm curious. The Netanyahus is a recent example."

"Ms. Demeanor, by Elinor Lipman, because I never miss one of her funny, delightful novels."

"The first book I fell in love with at the Elizabeth (NJ) public library. I found it on my own, memorized it (I must have been around four and couldn’t read yet). I loved it so much I hid it so my mother would not be able to return it to the library. I thought it was the only copy in the world. To this day I feel guilty. It was the first book I bought for my daughter’s library when she was born."

"I had two small children. They were playing in the backyard sandbox. It was summer. Bath time came and went, suppertime came and went. But I could not put down this book. It was unlike anything I’d ever read. When my then husband came home and found me reading and the children still playing outside, he was not happy. But I was."

"One of my go-to novels for inspiration as a writer. It never fails to amaze me."