Open up the questions to the audience at almost any literary event, and someone, sooner or later, will ask you to name a favourite author – one who has influenced you, perhaps – or a favourite book. A question which throws my already wavering memory into shut down or something close to it. But no more. The following list of the novels and short story collections published since 1960 and that I’ve enjoyed and admired most will supply the answer. Several answers. As long as I remembered to take it with me. And please take into consideration this list is current as of July, 2019, and there are gaps I can see already. Where, for goodness sake, is the Don DeLillo? The Willy Vlautin? But don’t let’s get started – this will do for now.
John Updike
The Rabbit Quartet (1960/1971/1981/1990)
Thomas McGuane
Ninety-Two in the Shade (1973)
Nothing But Blue Skies (1992)
A. S. Byatt
The Virgin in the Garden (1978)
Still Life (1981)
William Maxwell
So Long, See You Tomorrow (1979)
Larry McMurtry
The Last Picture Show (1966)
Donald Barthelme
Sixty Stories (1981)
Toni Morrison
Beloved (1987)
Carol Shields
Mary Swann (1990)
Tim O’Brien
The Things They Carried (1990)
Denis Johnson
Jesus’ Son (1992)
Michael Cunningham
The Hours (1998)
John McGahern
That They May Face the Rising Son (2002)
Alice Munro
Runaway (2004)
Kent Haruf
Eventide (2004)
Benediction (2013)
Our Souls at Night (2015)
Marilynne Robinson
Gilead (2004)
Home (2008)
Lila (2014)
Colm Toibin
The Master (2004)
The Testament of Mary (2012)
Raymond Carver
Where I’m Calling From (1989)
Richard Ford
The Lay of the Land (2006)
Jon McGregor
So Many Ways to Begin (2007)
Even the Dogs (2010)
Maile Meloy
Both Ways Is The Only Way I Want It (2009)
Kevin Powers
The Yellow Birds (2012)
Zadie Smith
N-W (2012)
Tom Drury
The End of Vandalism (2014)
Maggie Nelson
The Arganauts (2015)
Anne Enright
The Green Road (2015)
Claire-Louise Bennett
Pond (2016)
[A separate list covering crime fiction can be found elsewhere on this blog]
Some Days You Do ... 