As recommended by readers of Jane Friedman’s Electric Speed newsletter.

• Catcher in the Rye. Read it in my sixties. —Carol Painter
• I regret not having earlier read Tom Lake, by Ann Patchett, for its gentle and subtle rendition of a powerful story both highly personal yet contained within a stable world and loving family. —Sam Goldberg
• Just read The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck for the first time. A true masterpiece. After that, I read Travels with Charley. I’m in my late 60’s and I told my husband that I want to be John Steinbeck when I grow up. —Carol White
• It would be The Grapes of Wrath. Long after having seen and admired John Ford’s movie version, I picked up the book and was blown away by the poignant, powerful ending which, for understandable reasons, was not included in the movie. —Patrick Henry
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, or really anything by Hunter S. Thompson. The dialogue from the Terry Gilliam film, as well as the brilliant dialogue in films by the Coen Brothers and Wes Anderson, are the greatest inspiration for my writing. (Although I write creative nonfiction, I almost exclusively read history and other academic nonfiction that is nothing like what I like to write). Until I read Fear and Loathing, I did not realize how faithful the film was to Thompson’s book—the rhythm, pacing, and precision of the dialogue; the absurdity of the characters and their inner lives; and how the plot is built around such absurdity. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (and Hell’s Angels and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72) opened my eyes to how stories can be told, how to blend comedy with gravitas and self-reflection. Thompson’s books are my creative Rosetta Stones, and I rip off his style remorselessly. —Rob Rogers
• I only got around to reading Bonnie Garmus’s Lessons in Chemistry last year. I flew through it and when I was finished, I was sad about every day that this book had been in the world and I hadn’t read it. I’ve never had that feeling before. —Natalie Poulson
• Moby-Dick by Herman Melville: As an English major in college, I purposely arranged my classes to avoid this boring behemoth (though I happily took on Ulysses). I finally read MD, bowing to my own writerly embarrassment at not having done so. I was in my late 40s, insomniac, reading this majestic, mysterious, hilarious, post-modern book in 4 a.m. stillness, pondering greatness, whales, the sea, ambition, the foolishness of youth. —Leslie Pietrzyk
• News of the World by Paulette Jiles. When I read it in August, I was so moved I looked for her website and found there that she’d died the month before. Incredible book and not a bad movie. Starred Tom Hanks, but went nowhere as it came out during the pandemic. —Ryan Petty
• It’s hard to pick between Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow and Hannah Arendt’s The Human Condition, but the former edges it out because of its emphasis on a fact that very few people know, and it’s very difficult to consider without source material discussing it in detail: We have no conscious access to our beliefs. One of the biggest takeaways is that our decisions driven by beliefs (Thinking Fast) we have no conscious access to. We think we do, and we think rationality comes from there… but nope. The book is notionally about economics by way of how people assess risk and the mental processes of decision making, but really it’s about the body (i.e. processes cognitive, emotional, vascular, memory, etc.) and posits we largely have no idea what decision we’re making or why (but think we do!). —Damien Dabrowski
• Louise Hay’s classic, You Can Heal Your Life. Instantly changed my life for the better. Though, honestly, if I’d read it when I was younger, I’m not sure I would have “gotten” it. —Valerie Bowman
• For years, my husband tried to convince me to read The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet. Not wanting to get bogged down with looking up all of the historical context, I kept putting it off. When I finally read it via audio book, I wished I’d read it years ago. There’s something for everyone in this novel: action, adventure, romance… and, of course, a satisfying revenge plot. No Google needed. —Elia Sheldon
• I regret not reading Make It Stick sooner. Written by a team of scientists and published by Harvard University, it explains the science of how people learn. My credentialing program didn’t cover these principles, and the book sat on my TBR list for too long. I would have approached teaching differently had I read it sooner. —Nikita Kostyuk
• I wish I had read this book when I was 13 and became a Christian: How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth by Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart. —Cherie Kropp
• For any of us who follow “Book Influencers” on social media—and there are several excellent ones—Larry McMurtry’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Lonesome Dove has made the rounds of must-reads. I wasn’t quite ready to dip my toes in until a friend gave me her qualified thumbs up. (Qualified in that this is not a book that concerns itself with political correctness.) Even though I’m just a few chapters in, I’m hitting myself upside the head and wondering why I’ve waited this long to join the Lonesome Dove fan club. “Masterpiece” is a word that shouldn’t be doled out like candy on Halloween, but in this case it fits. Caveat: While I’m not entirely convinced listening to Lonesome Dove is the best way to go—this is a book that deserves to have eyes on the page—I do think a combination of listening and reading might be the perfect mix, because the narration is A+++. It’s like listening to an “old-timey” radio show. Hearing the characters “voices” brings them to life in your mind’s eye. Next up… I guess I’ll have to finally watch the critically acclaimed TV adaptation starring Robert Duval. —Diana Wilson
• I’m discovering the Emily books by L.M. Montgomery which I never read. I re-read the Anne of Green Gables books during the pandemic…these seemed the next best step. So much wisdom, especially about writing! I’ve underlined and dog-eared a bunch. —Jody Collins
• Matilda by Roald Dahl. I read it for the first time about three years ago. Loved it! It would have been amazing to read in grade school. —Joan Kessler
• Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. I happened upon it in 2015 (at the ripe age of 49) as a result of the publicity for its 500-year anniversary. If anyone had told me how hilarious it was, I would have read it far earlier. Its spoof on the maudlin descriptions of the moon/sun rising, as captured in the literature of the period, are priceless. I have never heard the moon described in so many satirical ways. Also, the modern lessons within the book are prescient. Don Quixote goes a little bonkers from reading the popular literature of the time, and becomes fixated on becoming an erstwhile and doomed knight errant. Parallels to modern day “influencers” abound. That it’s so accessible and relevant in this day speaks to the timelessness of great literature. This is a classic worth keeping. I wish it were required reading in more places. —Jodi Fitzpatrick
• The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan. It's the book that made me realise I want to write professionally, which was a turning point in my career. —Karmen Špiljak
• I was having marriage problems and did what I always do: looked up books on the subject. Two of them considerably expanded my understanding of my partner and deepened my insight into communication and marriage. The first is You Just Don’t Understand, by linguist Deborah Tannen. She documents the patterns of communication beginning from a very early age through adulthood. Every few pages I found myself either saying “Aha!” or immediately telling someone I knew about what I had just read. While Tannen’s book was a best seller, the other one that I read was less so. Married People: Staying Together in the Age of Divorce by Francine Klagsbrun. She interviews ca. 50 married couples of all ages, backgrounds, social strata, and marriage situations (some recently married, some in their third or fourth marriage). Most of us are familiar only with our parents’ marriage, and this book offers deep insights into that most intimate and difficult relationship and how many other couples have dealt with the many issues that crop up in a marriage. It’s a real eye-opener and helpful to read about other people’s problems and how they resolved them. These books should be required reading for anyone contemplating getting married, or for that matter, anyone in a long-term relationship. So basically, required reading! 😊 —Brenda Arnold