Writer’s Choice: A Library of Rediscoveries, edited by Linda Sternberg Katz and Bill Katz
Reston, Virginia: Reston Publishing Company, 1983
Probably the most extensive survey of neglected books ever published, Writer’s Choice lists nearly 1,000 books. Most of the titles were submitted by hundreds of writers and reviewers solicited by the editors, but the Katzes also include titles mentioned in Rediscoveries, Antaeus, and several other similar surveys. Each title is covered in one to four paragraphs, providing just enough description to tantalize an eager reader. This page lists those titles mentioned in Writer’s Choice and not listed elsewhere on this site.
- 1848: The Revolution of the Intellectuals, Lewis Namier — selected by Joseph Kraft
- 365 Days, Ronald Glasser — selected by Robert Mazzocco
- A.J.A. Symons, Julian Symons — selected by Roy Fuller
- The Abuse of Learning: The Failure of the German University, Frederic Lilge — selected by Herbert McArthur
- The Aging Boy, Julian Clarman — selected by Larry McMurtry
- Albums of Early Life, Stanley Kauffmann — selected by Stanley Kauffmann
- Alexandria: A History and a Guide, E.M. Forster — selected by Leon Edel
- Ali & Nino, Kurban Said — selected by Barbara Howes
- All Kneeling, Anne Parrish — selected by Maxine Kumin
- All Manner of Food, Michael Field — selected by Daniel Halpern
- All Passion Spent, Victoria Sackville-West — selected by Laurie Colwin
- Allegra, Edith Konecky — selected by Jane Lazarre
- An Alphabet for Gourmets, M.F.K. Fisher — selected by W.H. Auden
- Amaryllis at the Fair, John Richard Jefferies — selected by Quentin Bell
- The American Jitters, Edmund Wilson — selected by Leon Edel
- Andreas, Hugo von Hofmannsthal — selected by Lore Segal
- Angel in the Forest: A Fairy Tale of Two Utopias, Marguerite Young — selected by Edmund Wilson
- The Animal Hotel, Jean Garrigue — selected by Barbara Howes
- Apes, Angels, and Victorians: The Story of Darwin, Huxley, and Evolution, William Irvine — selected by Alan Lelchuk
- Apostles of Revolution, Max Nomad — selected by Clancy Sigal
- Appetites, Lynda Schor — selected by Jane Lazarre
- Arabian Sands, Wilfrid Thesiger — selected by Larry McMurtry
- Are We There Yet?, Diane Vreuls — selected by Anne Tyler
- Army Without Banners, Ernie O’Malley — selected by Malcolm Cowley
- Arrow to the Heart, Albrecht Goes — selected by Christopher Fry
- As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, Laurie Lee — selected by William Rossa Cole
- Ashe of Rings, Mary Butts — selected by James Laughlin
- At the Edge of History, William Thompson — selected by Harrison Salisbury, Bill Moyers
- At Mrs. Lippincote’s, Elizabeth Taylor — selected by Keith Thomas
- At Play in the Fields of the Lord, Peter Matthiessen — selected by Martha Gellhorn
- At Swim-Two-Birds, Flann O’Brien — selected by V.S. Pritchett, James Joyce, Graham Greene, Anthony Burgess, John Updike, Dylan Thomas
- The Attack on the Leviathan, Donald Davidson — selected by John R. Milton, Russell Kirk
- The Auction Sale, C.H.B. Kitchin — selected by John Lehmann
- August is a Wicked Month, Edna O’Brien — selected by Adele Satz
- Aunt Anne, Lucy Clifford — selected by Alison Lurie
- Aurelien, Louis Aragon — selected by Piers Paul Read
- An Autobiography, Edwin Muir — selected by Donald Hall
- Autobiography, John Cowper Powys — selected by J.B. Priestley, Denis Lane
- Autobiography, Anthony Trollope — selected by Russell Baker
- The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian, Nirad Chaudhuri — selected by Paul Theroux
- Back, Henry Green — selected by Lore Segal
- A Bag of Stones, John Hampson — selected by John Lehmann
- The Balkan Trilogy, Olivia Manning — selected by Eve Auchincloss
- The Bark Tree, Raymond Queneau — selected by Linda and Bill Katz
- Because I Was Flesh, Edward Dahlberg — selected by Frank MacShane
- Bell’Antonio, Vitaliano Brancati — selected by John Simon
- The Bells of Shoreditch, James Kennaway — selected by Elizabeth Cullinan
- Belly Fulla Straw, David DeJong — selected by Peter DeVries
- Best Short Stories, Ring Lardner — selected by John Kenneth Galbraith
- Between Pacific Tides, Edward F. Ricketts and Jack Calvin — recommended by Ken Kesey
- Between Two Thieves, Richard Dehan (pseudonym of Clotilde Graves) — recommended by G.B. Harrison
- Beyond Modern Art, Carla Gottlieb — recommended by Christo
- The Big Love, Florence Aadland (with Tedd Thomey) — recommended by William Styron and W.H. Auden
- The Big Rock Candy Mountain, Wallace Stegner — recommended by Raymond Carver
- The Bird of Night, Susan Hill — recommended by Doris Grumbach
- Blood from the Sky: A Novel, Piotr Rawicz — recommended by Stanley Kauffmann
- The Blood of Paradise, Stephen Goodwin — recommended by Richard Bausch
- Bloodshed, Cynthia Ozick — recommended by Gordon Lish
- The Boat of Longing, Ole Edvart Rolvaag — recommended by Linda and Bill Katz
- The Bold Saboteurs, Chandler Brossard — recommended by Harlan Ellison
- The Bonnyclabber, George Chambers — recommended by Ronald Sukenick
- A Book About My Mother, Toby Talbot — recommended by Susan Isaacs
- Boston Adventure, Jean Stafford — recommended by Paula Fox
- Bottom of the Harbour, Joseph Mitchell — recommended by Calvin Trillin
- The Bradlaugh Case, Walter L. Arnstein — recommended by A.J.P. Taylor
- The Briar Patch, Murray Kempton — recommended by Nat Hentoff
- Buried Alive, Arnold Bennett — recommended by Russell Hoban
- Business as a System of Power, Robert Brady — recommended by Noam Chomsky
- The Cabala, Thornton Wilder — recommended by Gore Vidal
- Cadenza, Ralph Cusack — recommended by Gilbert Sorrentino
- Cain’s Book, Alexander Trocchi — recommended by Edwin Morgan
- Call It Sleep, Henry Roth — recommended by Erich Segal, Robert S. Fogerty
- Call Home the Heart, Olive T. Dargan — recommended by Ray Olson
- The Canon in Residence, Victor L. Whitechurch — recommended by Linda and Bill Katz
- A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller — recommended by Walker Percy and Harry Levin
- Capricornia, Xavier Herbert — recommended by Robert Roper
- The Captive and the Free, Joyce Cary — recommended by Mervyn Jones
- Car, Harry Crews — recommended by Doris Grumbach
- The Case of Mr. Crump, Ludwig Lewisohn — recommended by Robert Boyers
- The Case Worker, Gyorgy Konrad — recommended by Susan Sontag
- Castle Richmond, Anthony Trollope — recommended by Quentin Bell
- Castle Rackrent, Maria Edgeworth — recommended by Eva Figes
- Casuals of the Sea, William McFee — recommended by James Michener
- Caving: Episodes of Underground Exploration, Ernest Baker — recommended by W.A. Munford
- Changing Places, David Lodge — recommended by A.N. Wilson
- A Childhood, Harry Crews — recommended by Sam Shepard
- Children is All, James Purdy — recommended by Edith Sitwell, Gordon Lish
- Children of the Wind, Matthew P. Shiel — recommended by Paul Bowles
- Chinaman’s Chance, Ross Thomas — recommended by John D. MacDonald
- The Circle Home, Edward Hoagland — recommended by Bill Ott
- The City and the Mountains, Jose Eca de Queiros — recommended by Eve Auchincloss
- The Civilizing Process, Norbert Elias — recommended by Linda and Bill Katz
- Close Quarters, Larry Heinemann — recommended by Lucian Truscott III
- The Closed Harbour, James Hanley — recommended by John Lehmann
- Cocteau, Francis Steegmuller — recommended by Julia Child
- Cold: The Record of an Antarctic Sledge Journey, Laurence Gould — recommended by Paul B. Sears
- Collected Impressions, Elizabeth Bowen — recommended by Howard Moss
- Collected Stories, Mary Lavin — recommended by Elizabeth Cullinan
- Company K, William March — recommended by Robert Mazzocco
- The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, Aleister Crowley — recommended by Paul Theroux
- Conventional Weapons, Jocelyn Brooke — recommended by Linda and Bill Katz
- Conversation with the Earth, Hans Cloos — recommended by Sherman A. Wengerd
- Conversions: Literature and the Modernist Deviation, George P. Elliott — recommended by Lore Segal
- The Cool World, Warren Miller — recommended by Doris Grumbach
- Cork Street Next to the Hatter’s: A Novel in Bad Taste, Pamela Hansford Johnson — recommended by Nancy Loughridge
- Coronado’s Children: Tales of Lost Mines and Buried Treasure in the Southwest, J. Frank Dobie — recommended by Bob Carmack
- The Cowards, Josef Svorecky — recommended by Milos Forman
- Cranford, Elizabeth Gaskell — recommended by James Michener
- Creative Evolution, Henri Bergson — recommended by Alden Nowlan
- Criers and Kibitzers, Kibitzers and Criers, Stanley Elkin — recommended by Gordon Lish
- The Dawn of Conscience, James Breasted — recommended by Karl Heilecher
- A Day No Pigs Would Die, Robert N. Peck — recommended by Frederick Forsyth
- Days, Mary Robison — recommended by Gordon Lish
- Dead Man Leading, V.S. Pritchett — recommended by Paul Theroux
- Death of My Aunt, C.H.B. Kitchin — recommended by John Lehmann
- The Decline and Fall of the British Empire, Robert Briffault — recommended by Morton Sobell
- DeFord, David Shetzline — recommended by Ken Kesey
- Desert Love, Henry de Montherlant — recommended by Daniel Halpern
- The Devil to Pay in the Backlands, Joao Guimaraes Rosa — recommended by Alastair Reid
- The Diary of George Templeton Strong, ed. Allan Nevins and Milton Thomas — recommended by Paul Horgan
- The Diary of Helena Morley, Helena Morley — recommended by Barbara Howe
- The Diary of a Provincial Lady, E.M. Delafield — recommended by Jilly Cooper
- Disappearances, H.F. Mosher — recommended by Ken Kesey
- The Disinherited, Benito Perez-Galdos — recommended by Pamela Hansford Johnson
- Doctor Kerkhoven, Jacob Wassermann — recommended by Morton Sobel
- The Dog of the South, Charles Portis — recommended by Sam Shepard
- Dom Casmurro, Machado de Assis — recommended by Michael Ivens
- The Double, Fyodor Dostoyevsky — recommended by Vladimir Nabokov
- The Duel, Alexander Kuprin — recommended by Jerzy Kosinski
- Dust Falls on Eugene Schlumburger, Shena Mackey — recommended by Brigid Brophy
- Dusty Answer, Rosamond Lehmann — recommended by John Simon
- The Dying Self, Charles Fair — recommended by Robert Bly
- The Ecology of Imagination in Childhood, Edith Cobb — recommended by Ashley Montagu
- Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage, Alfred Lansing — recommended by Annie Dillard, David Peele
- The Egoist, George Meredith — recommended by Betty Comden
- Eight Men Out, Eliot Asinof — recommended by Vance Bourjaily
- Eleven Kinds of Loneliness, Richard Yates — recommended by Gordon Lish
- End Zone, Don DeLillo — recommended by Gordon Lish
- Enemies of Promise, Cyril Connolly — recommended by James Atlas
- English Monks and the Suppression of the Monasteries, Geoffrey Baskerville — recommended by A.J.P. Taylor
- Enid Bagnold’s Autobiography, Enid Bagnold — recommended by Donald Hall, William Rossa Cole
- Eothen, Alexander Kinglake — recommended by Jan Morris
- Epidemiology in Country Practice, William Norman Pickles — recommended by Berton Roueche
- Essays and Adventures, John Burnet — recommended by David Daiches
- Essays in the Theory of Economic Fluctuations, Michal Kalecki — recommended by Thomas Balogh
- The Ethics of Redistribution, Bertrand de Jouvenal — recommended by Nathan Glazer
- The Ex-Magician and Other Stories, Murilo Rubaio — recommended by Alastair Reid
- The Exaggerations of Peter Prince, Steve Katz — recommended by Ronald Sukenick
- The Experience , Cecil Hemley — recommended by Ann Stanford
- Experiment in Autobiography, H.G. Wells — recommended by Alex Colville
- The Exquisite Corpse, Alfred Chester — recommended by Ned Rorem
- The Family, David Plante — recommended by Anne Tyler
- The Family That Was, Ernest Raymond — recommended by John Betjeman
- Fancy Strut, Lee Smith — recommended by Annie Dillard
- Far From the Madding War, Gerald H. Berners — recommended by A.J.P. Taylor
- Fashion is Spinach, Elizabeth Hawes — recommended by Clancy Sigals
- Father’s Day, William Goldman — recommended by Harlan Ellison
- A Favourite of the Gods, Sybille Bedford — recommended by Liz Smith
- Fiction and the Reading Public, Queenie Leavis — recommended by Linda and Bill Katz
- The First Hundred Thousand, Ian Hay — recommended by G.B. Harrison
- Five Stages of Greek Religion, George Gilbert Murray — recommended by Sanford Friedman
- The Flanders Road, Claude Simon — recommended by Gilbert Sorrentino
- Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, Edwin Abbott — recommended by Quentin Bell
- The Flock, Mary Austin — recommended by Donald Davie
- The Fly and the Fly-Bottle: Encounters with British Intellectuals, Ved Mehta — recommended by Linda and Bill Katz
- The Folded Leaf, William Maxwell — recommended by John Unterecker
- Following the Plough, John S. Collis — recommended by Bernard Levin
- The Foot of Pride, Malcolm Hay — recommended by Frederic Raphael
- For the Heathen Are Wrong: an Impersonal Autobiography, Eugene Bagger — recommended by R.F. Delaney
- Force of Circumstance, Simone de Beauvoir — recommended by Joseph Chaikin
- Force and Freedom: Reflections on History, Jakob Burckhardt — recommended by Dennis Barnes
- A Fortunate Madness, Susan Richards Shreve — recommended by Richard Bausch
- The Forty Days of Musa Dagh, Franz Werfel — recommended by D.J. Enright
- Four Frightened People, E. Arnot Robertson — recommended by Linda and Bill Katz
- The Four Minute Mile, Roger Banister — recommended by Herbert Warren Wind
- The Fourth Forger: William Ireland and the Shakespeare Papers, John Mair — recommended by Linda and Bill Katz
- Frank Harris, Hugh Kingsmill — recommended by Michael Holroyd
- French Provincial Cooking, Elizabeth David — recommended by Julia Child
- From a View to a Death, Anthony Powell — recommended by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
- Frost in May, Antonia White — recommended by Maureen Cleave
- The Frying Pan: A Prison and Its Prisoners, Tony Parker — recommended by Eve Auchincloss
- The Gadfly, Ethel Voynich — recommended by Jerzy Kosinski
- The Gallery, John Horne Burns — recommended by Edmund Keeley, Paula Fox, Daniel Halpern, Doris Grumbach, and Derek Mahon
- Gascoyne, Stanley Crawford — recommended by Frederic Raphael
- Genoa: A Telling of Wonders, Paul Metcalf — recommended by John O’Brien
- Geoffrey Chaucer of England, Marchette G. Chute — recommended by Isaac Bashevis Singer
- Get Home Free, John Clellon Holmes — recommended by Raymond Carver
- The Ghost Dance: Origins of Religion, Weston La Barre — recommended by Ashley Montagu
- The Ghost of Monsieur Scarron, Janet Lewis — recommended by Evan S. Connell, Jr.
- The Girls, Henry de Montherlant — recommended by John Simon
- The Glass House, Allan Seager — recommended by Donald Hall
- A Glastonbury Romance, John Cowper Powys — recommended by Annie Dillard
- The Go-Between, L.P. Hartley — recommended by Linda and Bill Katz
- Going Away, Clancy Sigal — recommended by Larry McMurtry
- Going Nowhere, Alvin Greenburg — recommended by Linda and Bill Katz
- Gold on the Desert, Olda Smith — recommended by Maye Keith
- The Golden Warrior, Hope Muntz — recommended by Orville Prescott
- The Golden Age, Kenneth Grahame — recommended by Maxine Kumin
- Goodbye to a River, John Graves — recommended by Nell Surface
- The Goodbye Land, Rafael Yglesias — recommended by Gerald Brenan
- The Goose Chase, Jocelyn Brooke — recommended by Anthony Powell
- The Great Transformation, Karl Polanyi — recommended by Charles P. Kindleberger, Ashley Montagu, Robert MacIver
- The Great American Novel, Clyde Brion Davis — recommended by James Michener
- Green Memories: The Story of Geddes Mumford, Lewis Mumford — recommended by Elmer Newman
- Green Tea and Other Ghost Stories, Joseph Sheridan LeFanu — recommended by William Trevor
- Guard of Honor, James Gould Cozzens — recommended by George Steiner
- A Handbook for Travellers in Spain, Richard Ford — recommended by V.S. Pritchett, Keith Thomas
- Hanger Stout, Awake!, Jack Matthews — recommended by William Stafford
- Hangsaman, Shirley Jackson — recommended by Roy Fuller
- The Hate Merchant, Niven Busch — recommended by Niven Busch
- Hear Us O Lord From Heaven Thy Dwelling Place, Malcolm Lowry — recommended by William Gass
- The Hearth and the Strangeness, N. Martin Kramer — recommended by Joseph Chaikin
- A Heart for the Gods of Mexico, Conrad Aiken — recommended by Hayden Carruth
- Hebdomeros, Giorgio de Chirico — recommended by John Ashbery
- Hermanos!, William Herrick — recommended by Thomas Berger
- Hester Lilly and Twelve Short Stories, Elizabeth Taylor — recommended by Elizabeth Cullinan
- Heyday, W.M. Spackman — recommended by Christopher Cox
- Hide Fox, and All After, Rafael Yglesias — recommended by Linda and Bill Katz
- Hindoo Holiday: An Indian Journal, J.R. Ackerley — recommended by V.S. Pritchett, Patricia Abercrombie
- Historical Consciousness, John Lukacs — recommended by Jacques Barzun
- History: A Novel, Elsa Morante — recommended by Doris Grumbach
- A History of Pi, Peter Beckmann — recommended by Mike Benedict
- A History of Women in Medicine, Kate Campbell Mead — recommended by Mary Beard, Judy Chicago
- Homage to Blenholt, Daniel Fuchs — recommended by Mordecai Richler
- The Home Place, Wright Morris — recommended by Martin Marty
- The Honorable Picnic, Thomas Raucat — recommended by Paul Bowles
- Hope Against Hope, Nadezhda Mandelstam — recommended by Guy Davenport, Diana Trilling, Joseph Alsop
- The Horse’s Mouth, Joyce Cary — recommended by Kelly Cherry
- House of All Nations, Christina Stead — recommended by Saul Bellow
- A House for Mr. Biswas, V.S. Naipaul — recommended by Paul Theroux
- A House in Bryanston Square, Algernon Cecil — recommended by G.B. Harrison
- The House by the Canal, Georges Simenon — recommended by Shirley Ann Grau
- The House of Elrig, Gavin Maxwell — recommended by V.S. Pritchett, Raymond Elgin
- The House in Paris, Elizabeth Bowen — recommended by Daniel Halpern
- The House of Children, Joyce Cary — recommended by Mary Ann Hoberman
- How Natives Think, Lucien Levy-Bruhl — recommended by Rodney Needham
- Hugh Wynne, Free Quaker, Silas Weir Mitchell — recommended by Frederick Buechner
- Human Destiny, Pierre Lecomte Du Nuoy — recommended by James Fixx
- The Human Situation, William Macnelle Dixon — recommended by Ashley Montagu
- The Hungry Grass, Richard Power — recommended by Elizbeth Cullinan
- The Ides of March, Thornton Wilder — recommended by Gore Vidal
- Identity and Reality, Emile Meyerson — recommended by Howard Nemerov
- Identity Card: A Novel, Fereidoun M. Esfandiary — recommended by Anne Tyler
- Idle Days in Patagonia, W.H. Hudson — recommended by Paul Theroux
- The Illusionist, Francoise Mallet — recommended by Henri Payre
- I’m Not Stiller, Max Frisch — recommended by Lore Segal
- The Image of the Future: Enlightening the Past, Orienting the Present, Forecasting the Future, Frederick Polak — recommended by Kenneth Boulding
- Impossible Object, Nicholas Mosley — recommended by John O’Brien
- Impressions that Remained, Eric Sackheim — recommended by Alfred A. Knopf
- In Hazard, Richard Hughes — recommended by Paul Bowles
- In Hiding: The Life of Manuel Cortes, Ronald Fraser — recommended by Philip Levine
- In Job’s Balance, Lev Shestov — recommended by R.D. Laing
- In My Tower, Lady Paget Walburga — recommended by Quentin Bell
- In Parenthesis, David Jones — recommended by George Steiner
- In Place of Fear, Aneurin Bevan — recommended by Desmond Morton
- In the Reign of Peace, Hugh Nissenson — recommended by Cynthia Ozick
- In Solitary Witness: The Life and Death of Franz Jagerstatter, Gordon Zahn — recommended by Pyke Johnson, Theodore Roszak
- In a Summer Season, Elizabeth Taylor — recommended by Elizabeth Cullinan
- In the Days of Simon Stern, Arthur A. Cohen — recommended by Cynthia Ozick
- In the Time of Greenbloom, Gabriel Fielding — recommended by Laurie Colwin
- The Inheritors, William Golding — recommended by Arthur Koestler
- The Ink Truck, William Kennedy — recommended by Linda and Bill Katz
- Inspector Ghote Breaks an Egg, H.R.F. Keating — recommended by Linda and Bill Katz
- The Invasion, Janet Lewis — recommended by Donald Davie
- Island Between, Margaret Murie — recommended by Ted Ryberg
- It Is Time, Lord, Fred Chappell — recommended by Annie Dillard
- Ivory Apes and Peacocks, James G. Huneker — recommended by Arno Karlen
- Jakob von Gunten: A Novel, Robert Walser — recommended by Susan Sontag
- Jane and Prudence, Barbara Pym — recommended by Jilly Cooper
- Jean Barois, Roger Martin du Gard — recommended by Henri Peyre
- John Herring: A West of England Romance, Sabine Baring-Gould — recommended by D.M. Thomas
- Joseph Conrad and the Fiction of Autobiography, Edward Said — recommended by Christo
- Joseph Vance, William DeMorgan — recommended by G.B. Harrison
- The Journal of Jules Renard, Jules Renard — recommended by Louis Bogan
- Journal from Ellipsia, Hortense Calisher — recommended by John Hollander
- Journey from the North, Storm Jameson — recommended by Naomi Mitchison
- Journey Into Fire, Patricia Wright — recommended by Sybille Bedford
- The Judas Gospel, Peter Van Greenaway — recommended by Shirley Ann Grau
- Kilvert’s Diary, Robert Francis Kilvert — recommended by William Rossa Cole
- A Kind of Survivor: The Autobiography of Guy Chapman, Guy Chapman — recommended by Storm Jameson
- The King and the Corpse, Heinrich Zimmer — recommended by Richard Wilbur
- King Lear’s Wife, Gordon Bottomley — recommended by Naomi Mitchison
- The Lake, George Moore — recommended by Kay Boyle
- The Land Breakers, John Ehle — recommended by Olivia Cole
- The Landsmen, Peter Martin — recommended by Linda and Bill Katz
- Language as Gesture, R.P. Blackmur — recommended by Edmund Keeley
- The Last of the Just, Andre Schwarz-Bart — recommended by Martha Gellhorn
- The Last Carousel, Nelson Algren — recommended by Clancy Sigal
- Law and the Modern mind, Jerome Frank — recommended by Bruce Ackerman
- Lawd Today, Richard Wright — recommended by Olivia Cole
- The Legionnaires, Per Olov Enquist — recommended by Linda and Bill Katz
- The Letters of Mozart and His Family, Wolfgang Mozart — recommended by Emanual Ax, Maurice Sendak
- The Liar, Thomas Savage — recommended by Laurie Colwin
- Libyan Sands, Ralph Bagnold — recommended by Carolyn Michaels
- The Life of Sir Aglovale de Galis, Clemence Housman — recommended by Edith Pargeter
- The Life of Captain Alonso de Contreras, Alonso de Contreras — recommended by Geoffrey Household
- The Life of John Clare, Frederick Martin — recommended by C.H. Sisson
- Lighter than a Feather, David Westheimer — recommended by Linda and Bill Katz
- Like Father, David Black — recommended by Anne Tyler
- Lindmann, Frederic Raphael — recommended by Linda and Bill Katz
- Lion Country, Frederick Buechner — recommended by Laurie Colwin
- The Little Disturbances of Man, Grace Paley — recommended by Gordon Lish
- Lives, Gustav Eckstein — recommended by Tom Zimoski
- Living Alone, Stella Benson — recommended by Naomi Mitchison
- The Locusts Have No King, Dawn Powell — recommended by Gore Vidal
- Log of the S.S. The Mrs. Unguentine, Stanley Crawford — recommended by Gordon Lish
- Looking Backward, Edward Bellamy — recommended by Edwin Morgan
- Lord Byron’s Marriage: The Evidence of Asterisks, G. Wilson Knight — recommended by Frederic Raphael
- The Lost Library: The Autobiography of a Culture, Walter Mehring — recommended by Bernard Levin
- Lost Worlds, Clark Ashton Smith — recommended by Harlan Ellison
- Love in a Cold Climate, Nancy Mitford — recommended by Lucy T. Vecera
- Love Letters on Blue Paper, Arnold Wesker — recommended by Linda and Bill Katz
- Love of Seven Dolls, Paul Gallico — recommended by Mary Allen Johnson
- Low Company, Daniel Fuchs — recommended by Mordecai Richler
- Lucinella, Lore Segal — recommended by Cynthia Ozick
- Lucky Eyes & a High Heart: The Life of Maud Gonne, Nancy Cardozo — recommended by Eugene Rachlis
- Madame Toussaint’s Wedding Day, Thaddeus St. Martin — recommended by Shirley Ann Grau
- Man and Boy, Wright Morris — recommended by Richard Wilbur
- Man and Crisis, Jose Ortega y Gasset — recommended by Robert Bly
- The Man on the Pier, Julia Strachey — recommended by Eva Figes
- Man, Play, and Games, Roger Caillois — recommended by Alison Lurie
- The Man Who Cried I Am, John A. Williams — recommended by Eric and Ilse Moon
- The Man Who Loved Children, Christina Stead — recommended by Lillian Hellman
- The Man Who Rode Ampersand, Ferdinand Mount — recommended by A.N. Wilson
- The Man With the Golden Arm, Nelson Algren — recommended by Sol Yurick
- A Man’s Place, Ramon Sender — recommended by George P. Elliott
- Mara, Tova Reich — recommended by Aaron Asher
- March to Caobaland, B. Traven — recommended by Robert Roper
- The March of Literature, Ford Madox Ford — recommended by Gilbert Sorrentino
- Marching Men, Sherwood Anderson — recommended by Linda and Bill Katz
- The Martyrdom of Man, Winwood Reade — recommended by Marie Seton
- Maurice Guest, Henry Handel Richardson (Ethel Lindesay) — recommended by George P. Elliott
- Mawrdew Czgowvhwz, James McCourt — recommended by Aaron Asher
- Mayo Sergeant, James B. Hall — recommended by James B. Hall
- Memoirs of a Fox-Huntin Man, Siegfried Sassoon — recommended by Betty Comden
- The Memory of Old Jack, Wendell Berry — recommended by Ken Kesey
- Michael Kohlhass, Heinrich von Kleist — recommended by Russell Hoban
- Midaq Alley, Naguib Mahfouz — recommended by Daniel Halpern
- The Middleman, Mark Smith — recommended by John Irving
- The Midnight Bell, Bob, Patrick Hamilton — recommended by Keith Waterhouse
- The Military Orchid, Jocelyn Brooke — recommended by Anthony Powell
- Mimesis, Erich Auerbach — recommended by James Michener
- A Mine of Serpents, Jocelyn Brooke — recommended by Roald Dahl
- Miss Mole, Emily Hilda Young — recommended by Virginia Clark
- Mistress Masham’s Repose, T.H. White — recommended by Patricia Abercrombie
- The Mistress and Other Stories, Gina Berriault — recommended by Raymond Carver
- Moira, Julian Green — recommended by Henri Peyre
- Monday Night, Kay Boyle — recommended by Doris Grumbach and James Laughlin
- The Monkey Watcher, Robert Towers — recommended by William Weaver
- The Monument, Mark Strand — recommended by Daniel Halpern
- Mother Ireland, Edna O’Brien — recommended by Edna O’Brien
- Mrs. Munck, Ella Leffland — recommended by Raymond Carver
- The Murder of Aziz Khan, Zulfikar Ghose — recommended by Thomas Berger
- My Father and Myself, J.R. Ackerley — recommended by Grove Koger
- Mystery and Manners, Flannery O’Connor — recommended by Aaron Asher
- The Naked Year, Boris Pilnyak — recommended by Linda and Bill Katz
- Narcissus, Evelyn Scott — recommended by David Madden
- The Narrow Lyre, Janice Warnke — recommended by Sybille Bedford
- The Naturalist on the Amazons, Henry W. Bates — recommended by George Woodcock, V.S. Pritchett
- Nature’s Year, John Hay — recommended by Annie Dillard “the best nature writing since Thoreau.”
- Never Come Morning, Nelson Algren — recommended by J.F. Powers
- The New Life Hotel, Edward Hower — recommended by William Kennedy
- The New Word, Allen Upward — recommended by Donald Davie
- New Grub Street, George Gissing — recommended by Alan Lelchuk
- The Night of Trees, Thomas Williams — recommended by John Irving
- Nightwood, Djuna Barnes — recommended by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
- A Nest of Ninnies, John Ashbery and James Schuyler — recommended by W.H. Auden
- No Name in the Streets, Kay Cicellis — recommended by Edmund Keeley
- No Name, Wilkie Collins — recommended by H.R.F. Keating
- North of Jamaica, Louis Simpson — recommended by Donald Hall
- Northern Lights, Tim O’Brien — recommended by Bill Ott
- Novel on Yellow Paper, Stevie Smith — recommended by Mary Gordon
- The Odd Women, George Gissing — recommended by Alison Lurie
- Of Love and Hunger, Julian Maclaren-Ross — recommended by Richard Cobb
- The Old House and Other Stories, Fyodor Sologub — recommended by Sanford Friedman
- Olivia, Dorothy Strachey Bussy — recommended by Sybille Bedford
- On Growth and Form, D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson — recommended by John Hollander, Alastair Reid
- On the Iliad, Rachel Bespaloff — recommended by Robert Fitzgerald
- On Loving Men, Jane Lazarre — recommended by Jane Lazarre
- On the Marble Cliffs, Ernst Junger — recommended by Donald L. Poroda
- On Not Being Able to Paint, Joanna Field — recommended by Robert Motherwell
- The Open Mind, J. Robert Oppenheimer — recommended by Kelly Cherry
- Open Heart, Frederick Buechner — recommended by Laurie Colwin
- The Opening of a Door, George Davis — recommended by Doris Grumbach and Marguerite Young
- The Orchard Keeper, Cormac McCarthy — recommended by Daniel Halpern
- The Ordeal of Civility, John Murray Cuddihy — recommended by Edgar Z. Friedenberg
- Oriental Magic, Idries Shah — recommended by Doris Lessing
- The Orphic Voice, Elizabeth Sewell — recommended by George Steiner
- Other People’s Houses, Lore Segal — recommended by Cynthia Ozick
- Other People’s Lives, Johanna Kaplan — recommended by Cynthia Ozick
- The Outer Dark, Cormac McCarthy — recommended by William Kennedy
- An Owl on Every Post, Sanora Babb — recommended by Ann Stanford
- The Oysters of Locmariaquer, Eleanor Clark — recommended by Roald Dahl
- Pan, Knut Hamsun — recommended by Shirley Ann Grau
- The Papers of A.J. Wentworth B.A., Humphry F. Ellis — recommended by Helen Muir
- Parnassus on Wheels, Christopher Morley — recommended by Mary Allen Johnson
- The Party Dress, Joseph Hergesheimer — recommended by William Haggard
- Passage from Home, Isaac Rosenfeld — recommended by James Atlas
- The Passionate Friends, H.G. Wells — recommended by Vladimir Nabokov
- Patriarchal Attitudes, Eva Figes — recommended by Alison Lurie
- Pattern of a Man, James Still — recommended by Jane Mayhall
- The Pegnitz Junction, Mavis Gallant — recommended by Laurie Colwin
- Pelican in the Wilderness: A Naturalist’s Odyssey in North America, Frank Fraser Darling — recommended by Paul B. Sears
- Petersburg, Andrei Bely — recommended by Vladimir Nabokov
- Phantoms: A Collection of Stories, Barton Midwood — recommended by Gordon Lish
- The Pillar of Cloud, Francis Stuart — recommended by Derek Mahon
- The Plains of Cement, Ella, Patrick Hamilton — recommended by J.B. Priestley
- The Plant, the Well, the Angel: A Trilogy, Vassilis Vassilikos — recommended by Edmund Keeley
- Plastic Senses, Malcolm de Chazal — recommended by Anthony Hecht
- Poetic Diction: A Study in Meaning, Owen Barfield — recommended by Richard Wilbur
- Porius: A Romance of the Dark Ages, John Cowper Powys — recommended by Angus Wilson, George Steiner
- Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog, Dylan Thomas — recommended by Keith Waterhouse
- Portrait of Zelide, Geoffrey Scott — recommended by Francis Steegmuller
- Portraits, Desmond MacCarthy — recommended by Evan S. Connell, Jr.
- The Prevalence of People, Marston Bates — recommended by Donald Poroda
- The Prevalence of Witches, Aubrey Menen — recommended by Doris Grumbach
- Primitive Man as Philosopher, Paul Radin — recommended by Ashley Montagu
- The Private Wound, Nicholas Blake (pseudonym of Cecil Day Lewis) — recommended by H.R.F. Keating
- Prophets Without Honor, Fred Grunfeld — recommended by Edgar Z. Friedenberg
- Provence: From Minstrels to the Machine, Ford Madox Ford — recommended by Daniel Halpern
- Psychopaths, Alan Harrington — recommended by Herbert Gold
- The Puppet Show of Memory, Maurice Baring — recommended by Roy Fuller
- The Pursuit of Love, Nancy Mitford — recommended by Lucy T. Vecera
- Queen Victoria’s Little Wars, Byron Farwell — recommended by James Rettig
- Quiet Cities, Joseph Hergesheimer — recommended by William Haggard
- Rabelais: A Study of Comic Courage, Thomas Greene — recommended by Donald Frame
- The Radetzsky March, Joseph Roth — recommended by Mavis Gallant
- The Radical Right, ed. Daniel Bell — recommended by Frances Fitzgerald
- The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressall — recommended by Eric and Ilse Moon
- Rain on the Pavements, Roland Camberton — recommended by John Lehmann
- The Raj Quartet (The Jewel in the Crown; The Day of the Scorpion; Towers of Silence; A Division of the Spoils), Paul Scott — recommended by A.R. Frewen
- Reading the Landscape: An Adventure in Ecology, May Watts — recommended by Virginia L. Wilson
- Reading Myself and Others, Philip Roth — recommended by Aaron Asher
- The Real Charlotte, Edith Somerville and Martin Ross — recommended by William Trevor
- The Relic, Jose Eca de Queiros — recommended by Eve Auchincloss
- Reminiscences, Thomas Carlyle — recommended by Roy Fuller
- Report from the Heart, Consuelo Sarah Baehr — recommended by Susan Isaacs
- Resurrection, William Gerhardie — recommended by Michael Ivens
- Reunion, Fred Uhlman — recommended by Sybille Bedford
- The Revenge for Love, Wyndham Lewis — recommended by Arts Council of Great Britain
- Revolutionary Road, Richard Yates — recommended by William Styron
- Riceyman Steps, Arnold Bennett — recommended by John Hollander
- Richer By Asia, Edmond Taylor — recommended by S.I. Hayakawa, Margaret Mead
- The Road to Oxiana, Robert Byron — recommended by Bruce Chatwin, Paul Fussell
- Rockspring, R.G. Vliet — recommended by Paula Deitz
- Romantic Exiles: A Nineteenth Century Portrait Gallery, E.H. Carr — recommended by Francis Steegmuller
- The Root and the Flower Trilogy (The Near and the Far; Prince Jali; Rajah Amar), Leopold Myers — recommended by Ursula LeGuin, Michael Ivens, Orville Prescott
- Rosa at Ten O’Clock, Marco Denevi — recommended by Barbara Howes
- The Running of the Tide, Esther Forbes — recommended by Janet Lewis
- Salt of the Earth, Josef Wittlin — recommended by Mavis Gallant
- Salvation, Sholem Asch — recommended by Robert Roper
- Samson the Nazarite, Vladimir Zhabotinsky — recommended by S.J. Goldsmith
- Sanatorium Under the Hour Glass, Bruno Schulz — recommended by John Updike
- Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold — recommended by Paul B. Sears
- Sardinian Brigade, Emilion Lussu — recommended by Saul Bellow
- Saturday Night at the Greyhound, John Hampson — recommended by John Lehmann
- Scarred, Bruce Lowery — recommended by Paula Deitz
- Science, the False Messiah, Clarence E. Ayers — recommended by Howard Nemerov
- Sea Whispers, W.W. Jacobs — recommended by Graham Greene
- My Second Twenty Years, Richard Brickner — recommended by Cynthia Ozick
- The Secret Sayings of Jesus, Robert M. Grant — recommended by Robert Bly
- Selected Letters, Eugene Delacroix — recommended by John Russell
- Selected Tales, Nikolai Leskov — recommended by Linda and Bill Katz
- Sentimental Tommy, James Barrie — recommended by Alison Lurie
- Set in Motion, Valerie Martin — recommended by Aaron Asher
- The Seven Who Fled, Frederic Prokosch — recommended by Harlan Ellison
- Several Occasions, Mary Butts — recommended by John Ashbery
- The Shadow of My Hand, Holger Cahill — recommended by John R. Milton
- Shadows Move Among Them, Edgar Mittelholzer — recommended by Doris Grumbach
- The Siege of Krishnapur, J.G. Farrell — recommended by Mary McCarthy
- The Siege of Pleasure, Patrick Hamilton — recommended by Keith Waterhouse
- The Singapore Grip, J.G. Farrell — recommended by Mary McCarthy
- Skyblue the Badass, Dallas Wiebe — recommended by X.J. Kennedy
- Skyscrapers and Other Essays, Lewis Namier — recommended by Joseph Kraft
- Slaves of Solitude, Patrick Hamilton — recommended by Clancy Sigal
- Sleep It Off Lady, Jean Rhys — recommended by A. Alvarez
- Slowly Down the Ganges: A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush, Eric Newby — recommended by Larry McMurtry
- Smith’s Gazelle, Lionel Davidson — recommended by Patricia Abercrombie
- A Smuggler’s Bible, Joseph McElroy — recommended by Linda and Bill Katz
- Snug Harbour, W.W. Jacobs — recommended by Jan Morris
- Society in the Mind, Charles Madge — recommended by Donald MacRae
- Solal, Albert Cohen — recommended by Edouard Roditi
- Solitaria, Vasily Rozanov — recommended by Vladimir Nabokov
- Solitary Confinement, Christopher Burney — recommended by Rollo May, Francis Steegmuller
- Some People, Harold Nicholson — recommended by Virginia Woolf, Henry Cabot Lodge, Jilly Cooper
- Some Reflections Upon Marriage, Mary Astell — recommended by Ruth Perry
- Something of a Hero, Israel Kapstein — recommended by J.H. Plumb
- The Soul of Kindness, Elizabeth Taylor — recommended by Elizabeth Cullinan
- The Sound of Fury: an Account of the Indian Mutiny, Richard Collier — recommended by Marie Seton
- South from Granada, Gerald Brenan — recommended by Leon Edel
- Space and Sight, Marius von Senden — recommended by Annie Dillard
- The Spanish Farm Trilogy (The Spanish Farm; Sixty Four, Ninety Four; The Crime at Vanderlynden’s), R.H. Mottram — recommended by John Lehmann
- Spanish Gold, George Birmingham — recommended by Graham Greene
- Spiks, Pedro Juan Soto — recommended by William Kennedy
- A Sport and a Pastime, James Salter — recommended by Raymond Carver
- The Springs, Anne Goodwin Winslow — recommended by Jacques Barzun
- The Spy Who Sat and Waited, R. Wright Campbell — recommended by Linda and Bill Katz
- St. Joan of Arc, Vita Sackville-West — recommended by Raymond Elgin
- The Star Rover, Jack London — recommended by Leslie Fiedler
- State of Grace, Joy Williams — recommended by William Gaddis
- Stop-Time, Frank Conroy — recommended by Mary McCarthy, Stanley Kauffmann
- Storm of Steel, Ernst Junger — recommended by Linda and Bill Katz
- Strange Meeting, Susan Hill — recommended by Doris Grumbach
- Stranger to Town, L.P. Davies — recommended by Ira Levin
- The Sufis, Idries Shah — recommended by Doris Lessing
- The Suicide’s Wife, David Madden — recommended by Eugene Rachlis
- Summer in Williamsburg, Daniel Fuchs — recommended by Mordecai Richler
- Sundials: Their Theory and Construction, Albert E. Waugh — recommended by Richard Wilbur
- The Sunflowers, Kurt Kusenberg — recommended by Shirley Ann Grau
- Teitlebaum’s Window, Wallace Markfield — recommended by Gilbert Sorrentino
- Tell Me a Riddle, Tillie Olsen — recommended by Gordon Lish
- Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone, James Baldwin — recommended by Nikki Giovanni
- Temptation, John Pen — recommended by Clancy Sigal
- Tent Life in Siberia, George Kennan — recommended by Larry McMurtry
- Themis: A Study of the Social Origins of Greek Religion, Jane Harrison — recommended by Sanford Friedman
- Things As They Are, Gertrude Stein — recommended by Jane Mayhall
- The Thinking Reed, Rebecca West — recommended by Liz Smith
- The Third Pillar, Soma Morgenstern — recommended by Gary Giddins
- This Simian World, Clarence Day — recommended by Alfred A. Knopf
- This My Hand, Christopher Caudwell — recommended by Roy Fuller
- Thomas the Impostor, Jean Cocteau — recommended by Susan Sontag
- Thoughts in a Dry Season, Gerald Brenan — recommended by George Core
- Tickets, Richard Brickner — recommended by Cynthia Ozick
- The Time of Man, Elizabeth Madox Roberts — recommended by Janet Lewis
- The Tin Men, Michael Frayn — recommended by Virginia Clark
- Tinker’s Leave, Maurice Baring — recommended by Isaiah Berlin
- Titus Groan, Mervyn Peake — recommended by Mervyn Jones
- To Be a Man: a Novel, William Decker — recommended by Linda and Bill Katz
- To Smithereens, Rosalyn Drexler — recommended by Linda and Bill Katz
- Tobit Transplanted, Stella Benson — recommended by D.J. Enright
- Toddler on the Run, Shena Mackay — recommended by Brigid Brophy
- Tom Barber Trilogy (Uncle Stephen; The Retreat; Young Tom), Forrest Reid — recommended by John Lehmann
- Tommy and Grizel, James Barrie — recommended by Alison Lurie
- Touching Evil, Norma Rosen — recommended by Cynthia Ozick
- Towards a Better Life, Kenneth Burke — recommended by Howard Nemerov
- Toyland, Mark Smith — recommended by John Irving
- The Tragedy of the Lollards’ Tower, Arthur Ogle — recommended by Christopher Hill
- The Trapper’s Last Shot, John Yount — recommended by George P. Elliott and Vance Bourjaily
- Travels in the Congo, Andre Gide — recommended by Daniel Halpern
- The Trial of Dr. Sacheverell, Geoffrey Holmes — recommended by A.J.P. Taylor
- Trilogy (The Trees; The Fields; The Town), Conrad Richter — recommended by Isaac Bashevis Singer, Carlos Baker
- The Trouble I’ve Seen, Martha Gellhorn — recommended by Linda and Bill Katz
- The Trouble of One House, Brendan Gill — recommended by Elizabeth Cullinan
- Trust, Cynthia Ozick — recommended by Cynthia Ozick
- Twelve Against the Gods, William Bolitho — recommended by Liz Smith
- Twiddledum Twaddledum, Peter Spielberg — recommended by Ronald Sukenick
- Uncle Hilary, Olivia Shakespear — recommended by O.S.P.
- Uncle Tom’s Children, Richard Wright — recommended by Clancy Sigal
- Underdogs, Mariano Azuela — recommended by Robert Roper
- The Unnatural Enemy, Vance Bourjaily — recommended by Linda and Bill Katz
- The Upas Tree, Eva Hanagan — recommended by Barbara H. Lord
- Us He Devours, James B. Hall — recommended by James B. Hall
- Ushant: An Essay, Conrad Aiken — recommended by Malcolm Cowley
- Victoria, Knut Hamsun — recommended by Robert Roper
- The Village in the Jungle, Leonard Woolf — recommended by Arthur C. Clark, Paul Theroux, Leon Edel
- The Vision of Glory, John S. Collis — recommended by Bernard Levin
- A Voice Through a Cloud, Maurice Denton Welch — recommended by Laurie Colwin
- Voices in the Evening, Natalia Ginzburg — recommended by William Trevor
- A Voyage to Arcturus, David Lindsay — recommended by Colin Wilson
- The Walled Parrot, John Weston — recommended by David Westheimer
- The War of the Guns, Aubrey Wade — recommended by David Jones
- The Warriors: Reflections on Men in Battle, J. Glenn Gray — recommended by Evan S. Connell, Jr.
- The Wars of Love, Mark Schorer — recommended by Linda and Bill Katz
- The Watch That Ends the Night, Hugh MacLennan — recommended by John R. Milton
- We the Accused, Ernest Raymond — recommended by John Betjeman
- Weymouth Sands, John Cowper Powys — recommended by Anthony Bailey
- When Rain Clouds Gather, Bessie Head — recommended by Nikki Giovanni
- When Ghost Meets Ghost, William DeMorgan — recommended by G.B. Harrison
- When the War is Over, Stephen Becker — recommended by John Irving and Vance Bourjaily
- Where Is My Wandering Boy Tonight?, David Wagoner — recommended by Bill Ott
- The White Deer, James Thurber — recommended by John Unterecker
- The White Room, L.P. Davies — recommended by Ira Levin
- Why Are We In Vietnam?, Norman Mailer — recommended by Marilyn French
- The Wicked Pavilion, Dawn Powell — recommended by Gore Vidal
- Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys — recommended by Shirley Ann Grau
- A Walk on the Wild Side, Nelson Algren — recommended by Ken Kesey
- Will You Be Quiet, Please?, Raymond Carver — recommended by Gordon Lish
- Willard Gibbs, Muriel Rukeyser — recommended by Marchette Chute
- Winter Sonata, Dorothy Edwards — recommended by Gerald Brenan
- Without Music, George Fox — recommended by X.J. Kennedy
- Witness to the Truth, Edith Hamilton — recommended by Brooks Atkinson
- Wobbly, Ralph Chaplin — recommended by Ray Olson
- Woman a Force in History: A Study in Traditions and Realities, Mary Beard — recommended by Carl Degler
- Women in the Wall, Julia O’Faolain — recommended by Doris Grumbach
- The World is a Wedding, Delmore Schwartz — recommended by Mary Gordon
- The Worm Ouroboros, Eric R. Eddison — recommended by Orville Prescott