What to Read
By Mark Flanagan, About.com Guide to Contemporary Literature
This is where we step out of the genre categories to give you our take on literary must-reads, nonfiction essentials funny books, and more.
This Century's Best Literature (so far)
Looking for a good book? Here is our list of this century's best literary novels yet. Enjoy.
- The Accidental by Ali Smith
- The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst
- Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
- The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
- Europe Central by William T. Vollmann
- Freddy and Fredericka by Mark Helprin
- The Known World by Edward P. Jones
- The March by E.L. Doctorow
- Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
- On Beauty by Zadie Smith
Nonfiction Essentials
For the nonfiction readers, here are ten recommendations for nonfiction written in the past five years.
- A Man Without A Country by Kurt Vonnegut
- Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
- Freakonomics by Steven Levitt
- Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
- Rats by Robert Sullivan
- The Long Emergency by James Howard Kunstler
- The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
- The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
- Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer
- Yoga For People Who Can't Be Bothered To Do It by Geoff Dyer
Funny Books
If you're like me, you're often looking for something with a bit of humor to it, whether that's a novel or a collection of humorous essays. Here are ten funny books to keep you entertained.
