Xochitl Gonzalez's Reading List

"I finally read Bel Canto and I just — ugh! — luxuriated in it. What a pleasure."

"Baldwin: A Love Story, by Nicholas Boggs, is just outstanding. I'm taking my time with it."

"In college my friend Indira gave me The Complete Stories of Zora Neale Hurston. It changed my way of seeing the world."

"Much to my high school boyfriend's chagrin, I resisted reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy until about two months ago. Is that a classic now?"

"Widow Basquiat, by Jennifer Clement, is beautiful and no one seems to know it when I bring it up."

"Long Island Compromise gave me a few good chuckles."

"There were moments in The Gods of New York that actually made me weep. I was moved by Jonathan Mahler's accounts of New Yorkers unafraid to make hell to fight for more."

"Turns out societal collapse is a predictable science! End Times, by Peter Turchin, was illuminating, if sobering."