Famous authors and their books

One of the most popular interview questions for writers is “what are you reading right now, ” or for the more adventurous, “what are your own favorite books of all time?” The idea is, of course, twofold — that you can get a good suggestion and peek into that writer’s mind at the same time. We recently came across a list of David Foster Wallace’s favorite books, and aside from some very sensical choices (obviously he’d love The Screwtape Letters), we were kind of surprised — there was much more suspense and horror fiction than we would have expected from the giant of post-modernism. Curious, we decided to investigate the favorite books of some of our other favorite authors, to get a little reading-list inspiration and possible insight into their own internal workings. Predictable or not-so predictable, their choices are all pretty interesting — and we have now reading material for a month. Click through to get some reading advice from the best sources around, and let us know whose list most inspires you (or most matches your own) in the comments.

David Foster Wallace

The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis
The Stand, Stephen King
Red Dragon, Thomas Harris
The Thin Red Line, James Jones
Fear of Flying, Erica Jong
The Silence of the Lambs, Thomas Harris
Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein