Marlon James's Reading List

The author, most recently, of "Black Leopard, Red Wolf" admires fantasy fiction that feels "wonderfully strange and alarmingly familiar at the same time. That and a woman or man who can wield two swords."

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By the Book: Marlon James (2019)

NYT By the Book column (2019-01-31).

Source: www.nytimes.com

Skippy Dies

Paul Murray · Buy on Amazon

"I've never read anything like it... it's one of the few true masterpieces of this young century."

As Meat Loves Salt

Maria McCann · Buy on Amazon

"This was the rare book that had me waking at nights, in a sweat and fretting over a character."

Song of Solomon

Toni Morrison · 1977 · Buy on Amazon

"A sense of sweep... as it is in "Song of Solomon," by Toni Morrison, or "My Name Is Red," by Orhan Pamuk."

My Name Is Red

Orhan Pamuk · 1998 · Buy on Amazon

Palomar

Gilbert Hernandez · Buy on Amazon

""Palomar" is the best American novel of the past 35 years."

We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Shirley Jackson · Buy on Amazon

"Jackson's novel is so wonderfully creepy that students usually feel subversive just for reading it."

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Anne Brontë · Buy on Amazon

"everybody knows "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" is the finest Brontë novel."

Favorite books (2023)

Favorite books recommended by Marlon James, as compiled by radicalreads.com. Source article: https://radicalreads.com/marlon-james-favorite-books/.

Source: radicalreads.com

Black Leopard, Red Wolf

Michael B. Jordan prior to even being published. · Buy on Amazon

Summer Lightning

Olive Senior · Buy on Amazon

"Because she taught me everything about matching devastation with economy. The entire future of Caribbean prose is mapped out in this collection of stories, and I don’t know a single Caribbean writer who doesn’t reread it often."

Shame

Salman Rushdie · Buy on Amazon

"What Kafka gave Marquez – permission to write – Shame did for me. And like all electrifying experiences, at first it was just the shock that such things could be done with novels, that got to me."

Song of Solomon

Toni Morrison (also rec’d by Kamala Harris ) · Buy on Amazon

"Three-quarters of the way in, and Song of Solomon is merely one of the three best books I’ve ever read. But the last 60 pages are one of the most astonishing feats of writing I’ve ever read. I remember reading it standing up, almost in this fever, and so thoroughly believing the ending that I almost jumped off my balcony."

Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen (also rec’d by Norman Mailer & Nora Ephron ) · Buy on Amazon

"Because nobody has ever been slyer with characters than Austen. It still blows my mind that her unsavory, and unfortunate characters (Mrs. Bennett, Lady Catherine, Charlotte), are the only ones who truly know what time it is."

Tom Jones

Henry Fielding · Buy on Amazon

"First book I ever read for school that I was sad to see end. Best plot of all time? Maybe, but too close to the top to merit serious argument."

Dogeaters

Jessica Hagedorn · Buy on Amazon

"Possible the most brutally, hilariously accurate portrait of post-colonial Jamaica I’ve ever read. And it’s a novel about the Philippines."

The Autumn of the Patriarch

Gabriel García Márquez · Buy on Amazon

"Picking a Marquez novel is a near-impossible task. It’s too easy to just go with the obvious choice(s). But this is his most daring novel, and the labyrinthine twists and turns of each sentence demand undivided attention—so perfect for a desert island, then."

Palomar

Gilbert Hernandez · Buy on Amazon

"I sometimes wonder if I’m the only person to realize that the collected Palomar stories, from one half of Los Bros Hernandez, adds up to the finest American novel of the past 30 years?"

Epic Traditions of Africa

Stephen Belcher · Buy on Amazon

"Grimm’s Fairytales are great, the Icelandic sagas are essential, and I’m always here for Grendel. But sometimes you want to read about the Cannibal Witch, Unborn children who leave the womb at night to hunt for food, and Son Jara, the original Lion King."

The Master And Margarita

Mikhail Bulgakov (also rec’d by David Bowie , Johnny Depp , Patti Smith & Salman Rushdie ) · Buy on Amazon

"Nude vampires, a gun-toting talking black cat, and devil as ultimate party starter aside, the miracle of this novel is that every time you read it, it’s a different book."

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