Jane Smiley's reading list

Earlier on the blog I ran a series of items based on the Guardian's excerpts from Jane Smiley's Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel: see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Now she has worked up a short list of engaging books for The Week magazine.

Here is half of her list:

Arthur and George by Julian Barnes

A substantial, readable, and often graceful account of an incident in the life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in which the creator of Sherlock Holmes put his own deductive powers to the test.

Tennyson’s Gift by Lynne Truss (a novella included in The Lynne Truss Treasury)

Truss is a truly hilarious writer. This evocation of Tennyson, Lewis Carroll, and other late Victorians is smart, funny, and wicked. Reading the collected works of Lynne Truss actually promotes mental health, physical well-being, and the development of a good sense of humor.

Moral Disorder by Margaret Atwood

There’s no science fiction—and much wisdom—in this superbly written new collection of stories.

Click here to read about the other three titles.

Jane Smiley is the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of A Thousand Acres and Good Faith. Ten Days in the Hills, her 12th novel, will be published in February.

--Marshal Zeringue