Vicki's Favorite

Books

I'm sure I'm forgetting some important ones, but these are a few of my favorite books and authors.

Index

Fiction

Mysteries

Nonfiction

Fiction

• Kenneth Abel - Cold Steel Rain, The Burying Field
• Dorothy Allison - Bastard Out of Carolina, Trash
• Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale
• Pat Barker - Blow Your House Down, Union Street, The Century's Daughter
• Ann Benson - The Plague Tales
• Elizabeth Berg - Talk Before Sleep, Pull of the Moon
• Martha Bergland - A Farm Under a Lake, Idle Curiosity
• Geraldine Brooks - Year of Wonders
• Nancy Bartholomew - Strip Poker
• Robert Olen Butler - A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
• Pat Conroy - The Prince of Tides
• Kate Chopin - The Awakening
• Anita Diamant - The Red Tent
• Leif Enger - Peace Like a River
• Tom Franklin - Poachers
• Charles Frazier - Cold Mountain
• Marilyn French - The Women's Room
• Kaye Gibbons - Ellen Foster, Charms for the Easy Life*
• Jim Grimsley - Dream Boy, Winter Birds
• Kent Haruf - Plainsong
• Zora Neale Hurston - Their Eyes Were Watching God
• Rachel Ingalls - Mrs. Caliban, The Pearlkillers, I See a Long Journey, The End of Tragedy
• John Irving - Cider House Rules, The World According to Garp
• Gayl Jones - Corregidora, Eva's Man
• Terry Kay - To Dance with the White Dog
• Susanna Kaysen - Far Afield
• Barbara Kingsolver - Animal Dreams, The Bean Trees, Prodigal Summer*
• Mary LaChapelle - House of Heroes
• Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
• Lorna Landvik - Patty Jane's House of Curl
• Gary Larson - There's a Hair in My Dirt!
• Billie Letts - Where the Heart Is*, The Honk and Holler Opening Soon
• Alison Lurie - Imaginary Friends
• Elizabeth McCracken - The Giant's House
• Terry McMillan - Mama
• Rosalind Miles - I, Elizabeth
• Toni Morrison - Beloved, The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon
• Walter Mosley - Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, Walkin' the Dog
• Michael Nava - Goldenboy, How Town, The Hidden Law, The Death of Friends, The Burning Plain, Rag and Bone
• Sara Jeter Naslund - Ahab's Wife, or the Star-Gazer*
• Gloria Naylor - The Women of Brewster Place
• Chris Offutt - Kentucky Straight
• Tillie Olsen - Tell Me a Riddle, Yonnondio: From the Thirties
• Eliot Pattison - The Skull Mantra, Water Touching Stone, Bone Mountain
• George Pelecanos - Shame the Devil
• Lewis Perdue - Daughter of God
• Ann Petry - The Street
• Jodi Picoult - Keeping Faith, Mercy, The Pact, Plain Truth, Salen Falls, Perfect Match
• J. D. Salinger - Franny and Zooey; Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour, an Introduction
• Dori Sanders - Clover
• Sapphire - Push
• Diane Scheomperlin - Our Lady of the Lost and Found
• Jennie Siler - Easy Money
• Paullina Simons - Tully, Eleven Hours
• Jane Smiley - A Thousand Acres
• Lee Smith - The Christmas Letters
• Peter Moore Smith - Raveling*
• Lalita Tademy - Cane River*
• Amy Tan - The Kitchen God's Wife
• Lawrence Thornton - Naming the Spirits
• Nancy E. Turner - These is My Words, The Water and the Blood
• Judy Van der Veer - November Grass
• Alice Walker - Meridian, The Color Purple, Possessing the Secret of Joy
• Elie Wiesel - The Town Beyond the Wall, Night, Dawn, The Accident
• Christine Wiltz - The Glass House

Mysteries

• Linda Barnes - Carlotta Carlyle (private detective) series, set in Boston
• Nevada Barr - Anna Pigeon (National Park Service ranger) series, set in various national parks
• Lawrence Block - Matthew Scudder (private detective) series, Bernard Rhodenbarr (burglar) series, both set in New York
• James Lee Burke - Dave Robicheaux (police detective) series set in Louisiana, and Billy Bob Holland (lawyer) series set in Texas
• James Colbert - Skinny (police detective) series, set in New Orleans
• Liza Cody - Anna Lee (private detective) series, set in London
• Patricia Cornwell - Kay Scarpetta (medical examiner) series, set in Virginia
• James Crumley - Montana mysteries
• Barbara D'Amato - Cat Marsala (journalist) series, set in Chicago
• John Dunning - Cliff Janeway (policeman turned bookseller) series, set in Denver
• Janet Evanovich - Stephanie Plum (bounty hunter) series, set in New Jersey*
• Tony Fennelly - Matt Sinclair and Margo Fortier (amateur detective) series, both set in New Orleans
• Hal Glatzer - Too Dead to Swing*
• Charlaine Harris - two VERY different amateur detectives, Aurora Teagarden (librarian) and Lily Bard (cleaning woman)
• Lee Harris - Christine Bennett (former nun) series, set in New York
• Joan Hess - Claire Malloy (bookstore owner) series, set in Arkansas
• Carl Hiaasen - Florida mysteries
• J. A. Jance - Joanna Brady (police detective) series, set in Arizona
• Diane Johnson - The Shadow Knows, Lying Low
• Karen Kijewski - Kat Colorado (private detective) series, set in Sacramento
• Laura Lippman - Tess Monaghan (private detective) series, set in Baltimore
• Lee Martin - Deb Ralston (police detective) series, set in Fort Worth
• Sujata Massey - Rei Shimura (antiques dealer) series, set in Japan
• Dennis Lehane - Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro (private detectives) series, set in Boston
• Lia Matera - Willa Jansson (lawyer) series, set in San Francisco
• Margaret Maron - Deborah Knott (lawyer) series, set in North Carolina
• Marcia Muller - Sharon McCone (private detective) series, set in San Francisco
• Michael Nava - Henry Rios (gay lawyer) series, set in San Francisco/Los Angeles
• Carol O'Connell - Kathleen Mallory (police detective) series, set in New York
• A. J. Orde (Sheri Tepper) - Jason Lynx (antique dealer) series, set in Denver
• Abigail Padgett - Bo Bradley (child protection worker) series, set in San Diego
• Sara Paretsky - V. I. Warshawski (private detective) series, set in Chicago
• Peter Robinson - Alan Banks (police detective) series, set in England
• Jane Smiley - Duplicate Keys (written long before A Thousand Acres won the Pulitzer, this one's got a wonderfully scary scene set in the basement of the New York Public Library!)
• Minette Walters - not your average British cozy
• John Wessel - Harding (private investigator) series, set in Chicago

Nonfiction

• Rick Bass - Colter: The True Story of the Best Dog I Ever Had
• Esme Raji Codell - Educating Esme*
• Barbara Ehrenreich - Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
• Laurie Garrett - The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance
• Melissa Fay Greene - Praying for Sheetrock
• Katie Hafner/Matthew Lyon - Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet
• Teri Hein - Atomic Farmgirl
• Gene Hill - Tears and Laughter
• Laura Hillenbrand - Seabiscuit: An American Legend
• Willetta Heising - Detecting Women 2
• Lucy Jago - The Northern Lights*
• Jon Katz - A Dog Year: 12 Months, 4 Dogs and Me
• Alex Kotlowitz - There are No Children Here
• Jonathan Kozol - Rachel and Her Children
• Anne Lamott - Traveling Mercies*
• Eric Larson - Isaac's Storm
• Gerder Lerner - The Creation of Patriarchy
• David Lamb - Stolen Season
• Sarah Nesbeitt/Rachel Singer Gordon - The Information Professional's Guide to Career Development Online
• Tillie Olsen - Silences
• David Savageau and Richard Boyer - Places Rated Almanac
• Karen G. Schneider - A Practical Guide to Internet Filters
• Randy Shilts - And the Band Played On
• Mark L. Smith, ed. - Managing the Internet Controversy
• Jean Swanson and Dean James - By a Woman's Hand
• Paco Underhill - Why We Buy
• Virginia Woolf - A Room of One's Own

* = Excellent audiobooks

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If you're interested in learning more about some of these authors, you might want to look at Yahoo's Authors on the Web.

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This page was last updated February 1, 2003