My One-Woman Book Club:

Belle fell in love with the Beast after she saw his library. #facts

“HOW ANGELS SLEEP:
Unsoundly. They toss and turn, trying to understand the mystery of the Living. They know so little about what it’s like to fill a new prescription for glasses and suddenly see the world again, with a mixture of disappointment and gratitude. Also, they don’t dream. For this reason, they have one less thing to talk about. In a backward way, when they wake up they feel as if there is something they are forgetting to tell each other. There is disagreement among the angels as to whether this is a result of something vestigial, or whether it is the result of the empathy they feel for the Living, so powerful it sometimes makes them weep. In general, they fall into these two camps on the subject of dreams. Even among the angels, there is the sadness of division.”

— Nicole Krauss, The History of Love

Kurt Vonnegut

Science Fiction Hall of Fame member Kurt Vonnegut has an established cult-like following—not only because of his excellent writing, but also by virtue of his devil-may-care cynicism and cosmic je ne sais quoi. Sirens of Titan, Slaughterhouse-Five, and Cat’s Cradle are particularly excellent.

Hermann Hesse

1946 Nobel Prize in Literature recipient Hermann Hesse is one of my favorite novelists and definitely my favorite German. He wrote Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, and Demian—all of which every human should read.

Jonathan Safran Foer

American novelist and author of Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer has written breathtaking novels which I have read several times over and never cease to be deeply moved by.

Nicole Krauss

Nicole Krauss wrote The History of Love, which I frequently assert to be the most beautiful novel I have ever read. This is another book that I couldn’t help myself from reading multiple times, and there is a heartbreaking artistry alive in its pages that never ages.

Elizabeth Gilbert

World famous for her book Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth GIlbert also authored Big Magic and The Signature of All Things, all three of which—particularly Big Magic—have been goldmines of wisdom and inspiration in my own creative endeavors.

Queued on my bookshelf:

Come As You Are, Emily Nagoski
The Brothers Karamazov, Fydor Dostoyevsky
One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Maquez
The Flounder, Gunter Grass
The Island, Aldous Huxley
Lolita, Vladimir Nabakov
Prodigal Summer, Barbara Kingsolver
Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Friedrich Neitzsche