A Widow for One Year by John Irving

This is John Irving at his best as he chronicles the life of writer Ruth Cole. Tragedy strikes the Cole family before Ruth’s birth and this leaves her mother and father broken and shattered. As Irving often does in his novels we follow the main character throughout most of her life. There is a particularly riveting scene that has been stuck in my head since first reading this gem.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Tart’s first novel follows a group of highly intelligent and eccentric college students as they plunge into a world of drinking, drugs, and darkness. An accidental murder is at the heart of this book which is part literary fiction and part psychological thriller. The prose is absolutely wonderful and you’ll want to savor every word.

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

Ignatius J. Reilly is a bumbling 30 year old who still lives at home with his mom. He is scribing his life story on giant writing pads that he keeps hidden under his bed. A car accident by his drunk mother sends him looking for a job, and then he finds himself in some pretty ridiculous situations. In real life Ignatius would drive me crazy, but as a literary character he is hilariously memorable, so much so that I named by dog after him.

His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman

His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman is a trilogy of books that follows Lyra Belacqua as she navigates a world with many similarities but also some differences from our own. In Lyra’s world every person has a daemon, an animal that is a representation of a person’s inner being. This special connection is at risk as children are being taken and experimented on. Pullman is a master world builder and he is in the process of expanding on the original books with a second related trilogy called The Book of Dust.