Michael Ondaatje's Reading List

"I have been rereading some old wonders such as Georges Simenon's “The Train.”"

"I have been rereading some old wonders such as…J. L. Carr’s “A Month in the Country.”"

"I have been rereading some old wonders such as…Janet Lewis’s “The Wife of Martin Guerre.”"

"Actually I am still reading it. Gilbert White’s “The Natural History of Selborne”…it has the atmosphere and many of the qualities of a great English novel. The book is a classic and has never been out of print since its first publication."

"My favorite contemporaries are too many to mention, but some of their books include: Graham Swift’s “Waterland.”"

"David Malouf’s “An Imaginary Life.”"

"“Fat City,” by Leonard Gardner."

"“The Round House,” by Louise Erdrich."

"“Train Dreams,” by Denis Johnson."

"Alice Oswald’s “Memorial,” a remarkable book-length poem about the unknown dead in the Trojan War."

"I love memoirs that include the usually uncaught world around the writer, such as C. L. R. James’s “Beyond a Boundary.”"

"I love memoirs that include the usually uncaught world around the writer, such as…Mikhail Bulgakov’s “A Country Doctor’s Notebook.”"

"I love memoirs that include the usually uncaught world around the writer, such as…Raja Shehadeh’s “Palestinian Walks.”"

"Amitav Ghosh’s “In an Antique Land,” with its mixture of memoir and unearthed history, that was written in 1992, still feels an essential book of our time."

"I like those characters who hover awkwardly on the periphery of the plot, like Ezra Jennings in Wilkie Collins’s “The Moonstone.”"