Table of Contents
Introduction Erin McCarthy 9
1984 George Orwell + The Origins of Famous Authors' Pen Names 10
A Came of Thrones George R.R. Martin + Ways the Show is Different From the Novel 14
A Prayer for Owen Meany John Irving + Writing Advice from Novelists 18
Americanah Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 22
As I Lay Dying William Faulkner + Books That Have Been Banned 25
Beloved Toni Morrison + Amazing Books by Black Writers 30
Brave New World Aldous Huxley 34
Catch-22 Joseph Heller + Classic Novels Most Often Abandoned by Readers 38
Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevsky + Famous Novels Penned in Less Than a Month 42
Don Quixote Miguel De Cervantes + The Best-Selling Books In History Minus Religious Texts 47
Dune Frank Herbert + Books That Have Won Both the Hugo and Nebula Awards 52
Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury + Famous Authors' Favorite Books 56
Frankenstein Mary Shelley + Her Dead Husband's Heart 61
Giovanni's Room James Baldwin 64
House Made of Dawn N. Scott Momaday + Native American Novels You Shouldn't Miss 67
In Search of Lost Time Marcel Proust + What Writers Would Have Bought to a Literary Potluck 71
Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace 74
Invisible Mao Ralph Ellison + Authors on Overcoming Writer's Block 77
Jane Eyre Charlotte Brontë + Cat-Loving Writers 82
Kindred Octavia Butler + Novelists Who Won the MacArthur "Genius Grant" 86
Little Women Louisa May Alcott + Ruthless Rejection Letters 90
Lolita Vladimir Nabokov + When Nabokov Met Dr. Seuss 96
Lord of the Flies William Golding + Harsh Early Reviews of Classic Novels 100
Midnight's Children Salman Rushdie + Famous Author Feuds 104
Moby-Dick Herman Melville + Inspirations for Five Famous Literary Animals 108
Murder on the Orient Express Agatha Christie + The Agatha Christie Book Linked to Real Murders 113
My Brilliant Friend Elena Ferrante + Book Series to Binge Read 117
Never Let Me Co Kazuo Ishiguro + Nobel Prize-Winning Authors + What's the Difference Between a Novella and a Short Story? 120
On the Road Jack Kerouac + Young Kerouac's Reading List 125
One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel García Márquez + Magical Realism Books You Need to Read 128
Outlander Diana Gabaldon + Other Great Love Stones in Novels 132
Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen + The Real Mr. Darcy + Pride and Prejudice's Greatest Critics 136
Salvage the Bones Jesmyn Ward + National Book Award Winners 142
Slaughterhouse-Five Kurt Vonnegut + Vonnegut Quotes 146
Sons and Lovers D.H. Lawrence + Lawrence Quotes 151
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain + Things Twain Didn't Really Say 154
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle 159
The Alchemist Paulo Coelho 162
The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath + Important Novels About Mental Illness 166
The Call of the Wild Jack London + Homes of Famous Novelists You Can Visit 171
The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger + Authors Who Hated Movie Versions of Their Books 175
The Color Purple Alice Walker + Quotes From The Color Purple 180
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson 184
The God of Small Things Arundhati Roy + Why Do We Love Old Book Smell? 187
The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck + Steinbeck's Template for Dumping a Bad Friend 190
The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald 194
The Handmaid's Tale Margaret Atwood + Atwood Quotes 198
The Haunting of Hill House Shirley Jackson + Women Horror Writers You Need to Read 202
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams + Literary Characters Based on Real People 208
The Joy Luck Club Amy Tan + More Famous Authors' Favorite Books 212
The Jungle Upton Sinclair + Reader-in-Chief + Books You Didn't Know Were Originally Self-Published 216
The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini 221
The Lord of the Rings J.R.R. Tolkien + Facts About the Elves of Middle Earth 223
The Lowland Jhumpa Lahiri + Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novelists 226
The Metamorphosis Franz Kafka + Famous Authors' Unfinished Manuscripts 230
The Old Man and the Sea Ernest Hemingway + Hemingway's Guide to Life in Quotes 234
The Road Cormac McCarthy + Punctuation Marks Disliked by Famous Authors 242
The Stand Stephen King + Books that Will (Probably) Never Be Printed Again 245
Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe 249
To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee + Amazing Things Lee Did After Mockingbird 252
To the Lighthouse Virginia Woolf + Woolf Quotes 256
Ulysses James Joyce + Literary Fart Jokes 260
Uncle Tom's Cabin Harriet Beecher Stowe 266
Waiting Ha Jin 270
War and Peace Leo Tolstoy + Terms Every Book Lover Should Know 273
Our Favorite Novels that Didn't Make the Cut 278
