Chosen Books

Invited designers and commentators have chosen these as the books that inspire them and that have shaped their worldview or their ideas about design.
329 books
Ada, or Ardor Nabokov, Vladimir Comments:
Against Nature (A Rebours) Huysmans, Joris-Karl
The Age of Innocence Wharton, Edith
Akhenaten Mahfouz, Naguib
The Aleph Borges, Jorge Luis
All the King’s Men Warren, Robert Penn
American Pastoral Roth, Philip
Amsterdam McEwan, Ian
Angle of Repose Stegner, Wallace
Anna Karenina Tolstoy, Leo
Annals of the Former World McPhee, John
Answered Prayers Capote, Truman
As I Lay Dying Faulkner, William
At Last St. Aubyn, Edward
Atonement McEwan, Ian
The Atrocity Exhibition Ballard, J. G.
Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter Vargas Llosa, Mario
Austerlitz Sebald, W. G.
The Aviator (L’Aviateur) Saint-Exupéry, Antoine de
Barcelona Hughes, Robert
Bartleby, the Scrivener Melville, Herman
A Beggar in Jerusalem Wiesel, Elie
Being There Kosinski, Jerzy
The Bell Jar Plath, Sylvia
The Belly of Paris Zola, Émile
Beloved Morrison, Toni
Berlin Alexanderplatz Döblin, Alfred
Billy Budd Melville, Herman
The Black Book Pamuk, Orhan et al.
Bleak House Dickens, Charles
Blindness Saramago, José
The Bluest Eye Morrison, Toni
The Book of Daniel Doctorow, E. L.
The Book of Dave Self, Will
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting Kundera, Milan
Brave New World Huxley, Aldous
The Bridge of San Luis Rey Wilder, Thornton
The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Díaz, Junot
The Brothers Karamazov Dostoyevsky, Fyodor
Buddenbrooks Mann, Thomas et al.
The Canterbury Tales Chaucer, Geoffrey
Carrie King, Stephen
The Case for the Burial of Ancestors, Book 3: The History of the Tabernacle Zelevansky, Paul
The Castle Kafka, Franz
Cathedral Carver, Raymond
The Charterhouse of Parma Stendhal,
Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules Sedaris, David
China Court Godden, Rumer
China Lover Buruma, Ian
City of Night Rechy, John
A Clockwork Orange Burgess, Anthony
Cloud Atlas Mitchell, David
The Collected Short Stories of Jean Rhys Rhys, Jean
The Collected Stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer Singer, Isaac Bashevis
The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel Hempel, Amy
The Collected Works of Jules Verne: 36 Novels and Short Stories Verne, Jules
The Complete Fables of Jean de La Fontaine La Fontaine, Jean de
The Complete Short Stories of J. G. Ballard Ballard, J. G. et al.
Concrete Island Ballard, J. G.
Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man Mann, Thomas
Contempt Moravia, Alberto et al.
The Corrections Franzen, Jonathan
The Count of Monte Cristo Dumas, Alexandre
Crash Ballard, J. G.
Crime and Punishment Dostoyevsky, Fyodor
Dans ma chambre (In My Room) Dustan, Guillaume
Darkness at Noon Koestler, Arthur
The Day Khrushchev Panicked Mair, George B.
Death in the Afternoon Hemingway, Ernest
Death in Venice Mann, Thomas et al.
Decameron Boccaccio, Giovanni
Demian Hesse, Hermann
Demons Dostoyevsky, Fyodor
The Diamond Age Stephenson, Neal
Diary of a Madman and Other Stories Gogol, Nicolai
Dombey and Son Dickens, Charles
Don Quixote Cervantes, Miguel de
Don Quixote Long, Gareth
Dora Bruder (The Search Warrant) Modiano, Patrick
The Dream of the Red Chamber Xueqin, Cao
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim Sedaris, David
Dune Herbert, Frank
East of Eden Steinbeck, John
Einstein’s Dreams Lightman, Alan
Elective Affinities Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
The Elegance of the Hedgehog Barbery, Muriel
The Elementary Particles Houellebecq, Michel
The Emigrants Sebald, W. G.
Emma Austen, Jane
The Empty Canvas Moravia, Alberto et al.
Ender’s Game Card, Orson Scott
Eva Luna Allende, Isabel
Everything Is Illuminated Foer, Jonathan Safran
Evil Under the Sun Christie, Agatha
Exodus Uris, Leon
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Foer, Jonathan Safran
Fahrenheit 451 Bradbury, Ray
The Fall Camus, Albert
Favorite Greek Myths Osborne, Mary Pope et al.
Ficciones Borges, Jorge Luis
A Fine Balance Mistry, Rohinton
Finnegans Wake Joyce, James
Flatland Abbott, Edwin A.
Flaubert’s Parrot Barnes, Julian
Foucault’s Pendulum Eco, Umberto
The Fountainhead Rand, Ayn
Frankenstein Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft
The Front Runner Warren, Patricia Nell
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis Bassani, Giorgio
Germinal Zola, Émile
The Ginger Man Donleavy, J. P.
The Glass Bead Game (Magister Ludi) Hesse, Hermann
The Golden Bowl James, Henry
Goodbye, Columbus Roth, Philip
The Grapes of Wrath Steinbeck, John
Gravity’s Rainbow Pynchon, Thomas
The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald, F. (Francis) Scott
The Guermantes Way Proust, Marcel
Gulliver’s Travels Swift, Jonathan
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World Murakami, Haruki
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Rowling, J. K.
A Hero of Our Time Lermontov, Mikhail
Herzog Bellow, Saul
High Fidelity Hornby, Nick
High-Rise Ballard, J. G.
Hollywood Bukowski, Charles
House of Leaves Danielewski, Mark
The House of Spirits Allende, Isabel
Howards End Forster, E. M.
The Human Stain Roth, Philip
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame Hugo, Victor
Hunger Hamsun, Knut
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Angelou, Maya
i mean you know Lehrer, Warren
The Idiot Dostoyevsky, Fyodor
If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler Calvino, Italo
The Immoralist Gide, André
The Impossible Dead Rankin, Ian
Impressions of Africa Roussel, Raymond
In Our Time Hemingway, Ernest
In Search of Lost Time (A la recherche du temps perdu) Proust, Marcel
In the Skin of a Lion Ondaatje, Michael
The Information Amis, Martin
Inter Ice Age 4 Abe, Kōbō
The Invention of Morel Bioy Casares, Adolfo
Invisible Cities Calvino, Italo
Ishmael Quinn, Daniel
Ivanhoe Scott, Sir Walter
Jane Eyre Brontë, Charlotte
Jazz Morrison, Toni
Je me souviens Perec, Georges
John Dollar Wiggins, Marianne
The Jungle Book Kipling, Rudyard
Killing Floor Child, Lee
Killshot Leonard, Elmore
The Kindly Ones Littell, Jonathan
Kissing in Manhattan Schickler, David
La Comédie Humaine (The Human Comedy) Balzac, Honoré de
The Labyrinth of Solitude (El Laberinto de la Soledad) Paz, Octavio
Labyrinths Borges, Jorge Luis
The Ladies’ Paradise (Au Bonheur des Dames) Zola, Émile
Le rivage des Syrtes (The Opposing Shore) Gracq, Julien
The Leopard (Il gattopardo) Tomasi Di Lampedusa, Giuseppe et al.
Les choses: Une histoire des années soixante (Things: A Story of the Sixties) Perec, Georges
Let the Great World Spin McCann, Colum
Life: A User’s Manual Perec, Georges
Light in August Faulkner, William
Little Novels of Sicily Verga, Giovanni
The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince) Saint-Exupéry, Antoine de
The Living Dillard, Annie
Lolita Nabokov, Vladimir
London Fields Amis, Martin
Look Homeward, Angel Wolfe, Thomas
Lord Byron’s Doctor West, Paul
Lord Peter Sayers, Dorothy
Love in the Time of Cholera García Márquez, Gabriel
Love Trouble Is My Business Geng, Veronica
Madame Bovary Flaubert, Gustave
The Magic Mountain Mann, Thomas
A Maigret Trio Simenon, Georges
The Maltese Falcon Hammett, Dashiell
The Man Who Laughs Hugo, Victor
The Man Who Would Be King Kipling, Rudyard
The Man Without Qualities Musil, Robert
The Man Without Qualities (German edition, Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften) Musil, Robert
The Map and the Territory (La Carte et le Territoire) Houellebecq, Michel
The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony Calasso, Roberto
The Martian Chronicles Bradbury, Ray
The Master and Margarita Bulgakov, Mikhail
The Matisse Stories Byatt, A. S.
The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories Burton, Tim
The Member of the Wedding McCullers, Carson
Memoirs of Hadrian Yourcenar, Marguerite
The Mezzanine Baker, Nicholson
Microscripts Walser, Robert
Middlesex Eugenides, Jeffrey
Miramar Mahfouz, Naguib
Moby Dick Melville, Herman
The Mother’s Recompense Wharton, Edith
The Moviegoer Percy, Walker
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House Hodgins, Eric
Mrs. Dalloway Woolf, Virginia
The Museum of Innocence Pamuk, Orhan
My Antonia Cather, Willa
The Naked and the Dead Mailer, Norman
The Name of the Rose Eco, Umberto
Nana Zola, Émile
Narcissus and Goldmund Hesse, Hermann
Neuromancer Gibson, William
Night Flight Saint-Exupéry, Antoine de
1984 Orwell, George
The Nonexistent Knight and The Cloven Viscount Calvino, Italo
Notes from Underground Dostoyevsky, Fyodor
Notes of a Son and Brother James, Henry
Novelle Meravigliose delle Mille e Una Notte (Tales from the Thousand and One Nights) Oddone, Flora et al.
Oblomov Goncharov, Ivan
Obras Completas (Complete Works) Borges, Jorges Luis
Old Yeller Gipson, Fred
On Beauty Smith, Zadie
On the Road Kerouac, Jack
One Arm Williams, Tennessee
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Kesey, Ken
One Hundred Years of Solitude García Márquez, Gabriel
Orlando Woolf, Virginia
Oryx and Crake Atwood, Margaret
The Painted Veil Maugham, W. Somerset
Pale Fire Nabokov, Vladimir
Pedro Páramo Rulfo, Juan
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer Suskind, Patrick
Petersburg Bely, Andrei
The Pickup Gordimer, Nadine
The Picture of Dorian Gray Wilde, Oscar
The Plague Camus, Albert
The Portable Dorothy Parker Parker, Dorothy
Portnoy’s Complaint Roth, Philip
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Joyce, James
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (German edition, Ein Porträt des Künstlers als junger Mann) Joyce, James
Positron Atwood, Margaret
A Prayer for Owen Meany Irving, John
Pride and Prejudice Austen, Jane
The Prince of Tides Conroy, Pat
Putkinotko Lehtonen, Joel
The Rachel Papers Amis, Martin
Ragtime Doctorow, E. L.
Rashomon and Other Stories Akutagawa, Ryunosuke
Rayuela (Hopscotch) Cortázar, Julio
The Recognitions Gaddis, William
The Red and the Black Stendhal,
The Red Badge of Courage Crane, Stephen
Remembrance of Things Past Proust, Marcel
The Rings of Saturn Sebald, W. G.
The Road McCarthy, Cormac
Road Dogs Leonard, Elmore
A Romance of the Equator Aldiss, Brian Wilson
A Room of One’s Own Woolf, Virginia
Rosa Rabb, Jonathan
The Royal Game Zweig, Stefan
Ryoma ga Yuku (Ryoma Goes) Shiba, Ryotaro
Saka no ue no kumo (Clouds on the Slope) Shiba, Ryotaro
Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass Schulz, Bruno
Sarum Rutherfurd, Edward
The Scarlet Letter Hawthorne, Nathaniel
Scruples Krantz, Judith
The Sea Wall Duras, Marguerite
Selected Short Stories Tagore, Rabindranath
The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet Larsen, Reif
Selected Writings of Gertrude Stein Stein, Gertrude
The Shining King, Stephen
Sicilian Carousel Durrell, Lawrence
Sister Carrie Dreiser, Theodore
Slaughterhouse-Five Vonnegut, Kurt
Slowness Kundera, Milan
Smoke Turgenev, Ivan
Snow Crash Stephenson, Neal
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan See, Lisa
Song of the Lark Cather, Willa
The Sorrows of Young Werther Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
The Sound and the Fury Faulkner, William
Speak, Memory Nabokov, Vladimir
Steppenwolf Hesse, Hermann
Stick Leonard, Elmore
Story of O Réage, Pauline
Strait is the Gate Gide, André
Super-Cannes Ballard, J. G.
The Tain Kinsella, Thomas
The Tale of Genji Murasaki, Shikibu
Tales of Mystery and Imagination Poe, Edgar Allan
Tales of the Unexpected Dahl, Roald
The Tanners Walser, Robert
Tarzan of the Apes Burroughs, Edgar Rice
Tender Is the Night Fitzgerald, F. (Francis) Scott
The Sixth Day and Other Tales Levi, Primo
Things Fall Apart Achebe, Chinua
The Things They Carried O’Brien, Tim
Things You Should Know Homes, A. M.
The Three Musketeers Dumas, Alexandre
A Time to Be Born Powell, Dawn
A Time to Love and a Time to Die Remarque, Erich Maria
To the Lighthouse Woolf, Virginia
Tonio Kröger Mann, Thomas
Tree of Smoke Johnson, Denis
Tristram Shandy Sterne, Laurence
The Troubled Man Mankell, Henning
Two Under the Indian Sun Godden, Jon et al.
Ulysses Joyce, James
The Underpainter Urquhart, Jane
Valley of the Dolls Susann, Jacqueline
The Vampire Lestat Rice, Anne
Vanity Fair Thackeray, William Makepeace
Vas: An Opera in Flatland Tomasula, Steve et al.
Vendredi ou les Limbes du Pacifique (Friday) Tournier, Michel
Vermilion Sands Ballard, J. G.
versations Lehrer, Warren
Villa Triste Modiano, Patrick
Vindication: A Novel Sherwood, Frances
A Visit from the Goon Squad Egan, Jennifer
War and Peace Tolstoy, Leo
Washington Square James, Henry
Watt Beckett, Samuel
What a Carve Up! Coe, Jonathan
White Noise DeLillo, Don
The White Tiger Adiga, Aravind
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Murakami, Haruki
The Wine-Dark Sea Sciascia, Leonardo
Winter’s Tale Helprin, Mark
The Woman in the Dunes Abe, Kōbō
Woman’s World: A Novel Rawle, Graham
The Year of the Flood Artwood, Margaret
You Can’t Go Home Again Wolfe, Thomas