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One of only 13 women to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature (out of 111 total laureates), Polish poet Wisława Szymborska (pronounced vees-WAH-vah shim-BOR-ska) was awarded the world's highest literary honor in 1996. A career-spanning work that features poems from eight separate collections, Poems New and Collected offers some four decades of the poet's finest [...]

Reading Virginia Woolf is like stepping out onto a veranda, where the entire world unfurls before you in dazzling detail. Her unparalleled ability to paint a scene so exquisitely, and to inhabit her characters with such clarity and intensity, makes for an experience that is both awe-inspiring and deeply moving. To the Lighthouse, set in [...]

As sinuous a novel as Valeria Luiselli's Faces in the Crowd is, it is all the more remarkable on account of it being a debut — and a most assured one at that. The Mexican novelist and essayist's first fiction entwines multiple narratives and perspectives, shifting between them with the ease and gracefulness of a [...]

If the only book you've read by Toni Morrison is her Pulitzer Prize–winning novel Beloved, you're missing out. Known for her powerfully evocative prose, her grand mystical tales steeped in black history, her haunting (and haunted) characters, Morrison is an author whose body of work demands attention. Her third novel, Song of Solomon — Barack [...]

Sontag was good at pretty much everything related to language — she wrote novels, stories, plays, and memoirs. But the best of her efforts were her essays and critical writings. It's difficult to narrow down a single collection to represent her nonfiction work, which ranged from horror movies to encapsulating "camp" to exploring illness as [...]

Solnit is one of the most eloquent, urgent, and intelligent voices writing nonfiction today; from Men Explain Things to Me to Storming the Gates of Paradise, anything she's written is well worth reading. But her marvelous book of essays A Field Guide to Getting Lost might be her most poetic, ecstatic work. Field Guide is [...]

Highsmith is a master of stark, poetic prose, acclaimed for her relentless themes of murder and psychological torment. She is best known for her series of five Tom Ripley novels, popularly referred to as the Ripliad. Like the Ripley stories, Highsmith's debut book, Strangers on a Train, is most remembered for its adaptation to the [...]

In her short 53 years, Mary Shelley wrote novels, plays, short stories, essays, biographies, and travel books, but it's not surprising that she is best known for her novel Frankenstein. It's hard to separate the idea of Frankenstein's monster from the popular icon he's become, but everyone should read the original novel. Shelley's gothic masterpiece, [...]

Atwood is a master at conveying the inner landscape of her characters, and her novels are frequently peppered with sharp and incisive social commentary. Adored by both readers and critics, she has published over 40 works, including many books of poetry, and has won countless accolades, including the Booker Prize and the Arthur C. Clarke [...]

It can be hard to pinpoint what makes Lydia Davis's writing so magnetic. Her precise, no-nonsense language combined with her liberal definition of the short story? Her attention to the overlooked, the mundane, the clutter in our lives that holds so much meaning? Her understated sense of humor, so deeply ingrained in her observations about [...]

Pinker's book is an absolute treat for lovers of language and anyone fascinated by the human mind. You'll come away with a much greater understanding of how words form in our mouths and how language gets passed on, and altered, from generation to generation. Books mentioned in this post

Smokejumper is a fascinating look at the elite men and women who parachute into raging forest fires, risking their lives daily. Ramos provides a lively historical account of firefighting in the wilderness and takes us to the front lines, where fires can burn so fiercely they create their own weather. Books mentioned in this post

In this wickedly dark and comic thriller, Kuhn brings back professional assassin John Lago and his nemesis and now wife, Alice. Is there a mole at Human Resources, Inc., the agency that places assassins as unpaid interns to get them close to their targets? Will the agency survive under the helm of John and Alice [...]

Having sat unpublished for over half a century, the release of Harper Lee's first novel, set 20 years after To Kill a Mockingbird, is truly a literary event. Go Set a Watchman offers an illuminating look at familiar characters and places (Jean Louise Scout, Atticus, the town of Maycomb) transformed by time. Be among the [...]

In this brilliant and truly engaging sequel to The Glass Sentence, Sophia and her friend Theo are once again looking for her parents, each encountering dangers that could destroy their lives. The novel introduces a new set of fascinating characters, making it almost better than the first book. Books mentioned in this post

I could say that Between the World and Me, a piercing exploration of race in America, is a book that is timely and important. There's no doubt that it is. But it also has a purity and intensity that demands it be read. I cannot think of another book in recent memory so powerful, so [...]

Hugh Acheson's The Broad Fork is Southern cooking by way of the farmer's market. Short chapters are devoted to one fresh ingredient, like broad beans, prepared in several simple, elegant ways. These humble broad beans with tomatoes and fatback were a huge hit at our potluck and would be a worthy summer accompaniment to grilled [...]

The Broad Fork is from Southern chef Hugh Acheson — although he's actually Canadian. He followed his American wife to the South and fell in love with the food, so The Broad Fork has a touch of the American South in its recipes. Inspired by farmer's markets and community-supported agriculture boxes, he concentrates on recipes [...]

Are we ever cooking from this cookbook! Author Anna Jones presents a fine, fat cookbook (352 pages) of creative vegetarian recipes. I've already made the Gentle Brown Rice — twice. Filled with nuts and loaded with aromatic spices, I've served this to guests and family alike. The second time I made the Gentle Brown Rice, [...]

What's not to love about yummy stuff on toast? I was excited to have chosen Better on Toast as my potluck recipe cookbook because of the sheer variety of delicious and exotic ingredient combinations. It was fun to try more than one recipe and bring it in for tasting, but it also spurred on some [...]

There is nothing as satisfying as a really good sandwich. Better on Toast celebrates the sandwich cousin, the open-faced sandwich. Author Jill Donenfeld ALWAYS starts with really good bread. (This isn't a baking book; it's all about the topping. Nevertheless, she includes one bread recipe — and a gluten-free recipe at that.) Step two in [...]

It was so hard to choose a recipe from this wonderful cookbook knowing that each one comes from the best of the best. During the summer months, who better to advise on combining fresh veggies from the garden and the best way to cook them than Alice Waters. Her easy and heavenly version of ratatouille [...]

Genius Recipes is from the popular food blog Food52. Kristen Miglore heads their column of near-perfect recipes culled from various sources: well-known chefs, bloggers, and cookbook authors. Here are some reasons why you'll want this cookbook: 1. These recipes really are genius. They are tried and true; you can count on them. 2. Miglore does [...]

First off, this is a beauty of a cookbook. The fruits and flowers on the cover are gently embossed. What is a picnic without a few ants? Don't miss the tiny guests at the bottom of the cover. This attention to detail is carried along throughout the book: Deviled Eggs with Chorizo Strips, Shocking-Pink Beet [...]

The Picnic is like a hidden secret, full of wonderful summer food preparations and easy but innovative, already-familiar recipe ideas. For example, the salad on a stick is pure genius, and can be made and enjoyed anywhere — I put together the caprese variation at work in our kitchen, only moments before it was served! [...]