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The Reading List: Contemporary Fiction: A Critical Guide to the Complete Works of 125 Authors
Perfect for reading groups and all book lovers
Here, at last, is the book to which the more than a quarter-million reading groups and book clubs in this country can turn for the answer to that pressing What should we read next?
The Reading List illuminates the work of current novelists who have captured the imagination of the modern reader. Each entry includes critical commentary on the author's published fiction by prominent reviewers, as well as thematic and plot synopses, and a short biography.
The Reading List features a broad spectrum of writers from our shores and abroad whose works are available in English. Stylistically, the authors run the gamut from Cormac McCarthy to Cristina Garcia, from Naguib Mahfouz to Barbara Kingsolver, from Jane Smiley to Salman Rushdie. Now reading groups and independent bookworms alike have a comprehensive, discriminating resource to guide them through their next literary foray.
Here, at last, is the book to which the more than a quarter-million reading groups and book clubs in this country can turn for the answer to that pressing What should we read next?
The Reading List illuminates the work of current novelists who have captured the imagination of the modern reader. Each entry includes critical commentary on the author's published fiction by prominent reviewers, as well as thematic and plot synopses, and a short biography.
The Reading List features a broad spectrum of writers from our shores and abroad whose works are available in English. Stylistically, the authors run the gamut from Cormac McCarthy to Cristina Garcia, from Naguib Mahfouz to Barbara Kingsolver, from Jane Smiley to Salman Rushdie. Now reading groups and independent bookworms alike have a comprehensive, discriminating resource to guide them through their next literary foray.
368 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1998
1 person is currently reading
64 people want to read
About the author
David Rubel
43 books4 followersDavid Rubel has made a career of bringing history alive for readers of all ages.
Recognized nationally as an author, speaker, and historian, David has written fifteen books and edited a dozen more during his twenty-five years in publishing. Most of these titles focus on making American history accessible to a broad audience. Working with many of the country’s finest historians—including Pulitzer Prize–winners Joseph J. Ellis and James M. McPherson and Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein—David has created enduring books that make first-rate scholarship understandable and compelling.
David’s most recent book, If I Had a Hammer: Building Homes and Hope with Habitat for Humanity, features a collaboration with President Jimmy Carter. Folk legend Pete Seeger, whose classic song gave the book its title, calls If I Had a Hammer “an inspiring book, telling how ideas starting on a little farm in Georgia have grown to a worldwide movement.”
Adults and children alike have embraced David’s work. The Indianapolis Star has called The Coming Free: The Struggle for African-American Equality “a magnificent accounting of the civil rights activism of blacks” with a visual presentation that is “stunning and memorable.” His children’s books The Scholastic Encyclopedia of the Presidents and Their Times and The Scholastic Atlas of the United States have both become grade-school standards, selling more than half a million copies each in multiple editions.
As the president of Agincourt Press, a book production company in Chatham, New York, David works with his wife and partner, Julia Rubel, to conceive and develop projects for numerous publishers. Some of these he writes himself; others, he edits. For all, he coordinates the text, image research, and graphic design so that the narratives leap off the page.
A 1983 graduate of Columbia University, where he was sports editor of the Columbia Daily Spectator, David began his career as a correspondent for the Pacific News Service, covering everything from rock music to street gangs. He then worked as an editorial assistant at HarperCollins before becoming a freelance writer and editor. In 1990, David founded Agincourt Press in New York City. From 1994 until 2001, he served as president of the American Book Producers Association. In 1996, he moved his company from Manhattan to Chatham, a rural community in New York’s Hudson River Valley, where he now lives with his wife and two children.
David appears regularly on television and radio to discuss his work, especially as it relates to the American presidents. Concise biographies of the presidents that he recorded to support the publication of To the Best of My Ability: The American Presidents were syndicated to public radio stations nationwide and ran several times daily during the six weeks leading up to the 2000 election.
David speaks widely on history and presidential politics. He has lectured at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., the Carter Center in Atlanta and at numerous schools and institutions.
Recognized nationally as an author, speaker, and historian, David has written fifteen books and edited a dozen more during his twenty-five years in publishing. Most of these titles focus on making American history accessible to a broad audience. Working with many of the country’s finest historians—including Pulitzer Prize–winners Joseph J. Ellis and James M. McPherson and Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein—David has created enduring books that make first-rate scholarship understandable and compelling.
David’s most recent book, If I Had a Hammer: Building Homes and Hope with Habitat for Humanity, features a collaboration with President Jimmy Carter. Folk legend Pete Seeger, whose classic song gave the book its title, calls If I Had a Hammer “an inspiring book, telling how ideas starting on a little farm in Georgia have grown to a worldwide movement.”
Adults and children alike have embraced David’s work. The Indianapolis Star has called The Coming Free: The Struggle for African-American Equality “a magnificent accounting of the civil rights activism of blacks” with a visual presentation that is “stunning and memorable.” His children’s books The Scholastic Encyclopedia of the Presidents and Their Times and The Scholastic Atlas of the United States have both become grade-school standards, selling more than half a million copies each in multiple editions.
As the president of Agincourt Press, a book production company in Chatham, New York, David works with his wife and partner, Julia Rubel, to conceive and develop projects for numerous publishers. Some of these he writes himself; others, he edits. For all, he coordinates the text, image research, and graphic design so that the narratives leap off the page.
A 1983 graduate of Columbia University, where he was sports editor of the Columbia Daily Spectator, David began his career as a correspondent for the Pacific News Service, covering everything from rock music to street gangs. He then worked as an editorial assistant at HarperCollins before becoming a freelance writer and editor. In 1990, David founded Agincourt Press in New York City. From 1994 until 2001, he served as president of the American Book Producers Association. In 1996, he moved his company from Manhattan to Chatham, a rural community in New York’s Hudson River Valley, where he now lives with his wife and two children.
David appears regularly on television and radio to discuss his work, especially as it relates to the American presidents. Concise biographies of the presidents that he recorded to support the publication of To the Best of My Ability: The American Presidents were syndicated to public radio stations nationwide and ran several times daily during the six weeks leading up to the 2000 election.
David speaks widely on history and presidential politics. He has lectured at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., the Carter Center in Atlanta and at numerous schools and institutions.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 20, 2011
This book is a little dated now that it's 10+ years old but it's still a valuable resource. There are brief (around one page) biographical entries on the selected 125 authors (Grace Paley, Ann Beattie, Russell Banks, Naguib Mahfouz, etc.) with capsule reviews of their novels thru 1998. And there are selections for further reading. Curious where to start with Joyce Carol Oates? You might want to pick one of her short story collections and stay clear of the likes of Zombie. Should you read the whole Rabbit quartet from Updike or is there a weaker entry you can skip if you must? (yup, Rabbit Redux.) Like Doris Lessing and looking for further reading suggestions? Try Amos Oz, Muriel Spark or Iris Murdoch, to name a few.
Sure, you can also look it up on great sites like this one-and I do-but flipping through a book that cites sources like the NYT Book Review is still easier. There is a nice mix of some world writers but the emphasis is definitely on North America. I found this at a library sale table and I still use it as a reference and aide in the eternal question: what do I read next?
Sure, you can also look it up on great sites like this one-and I do-but flipping through a book that cites sources like the NYT Book Review is still easier. There is a nice mix of some world writers but the emphasis is definitely on North America. I found this at a library sale table and I still use it as a reference and aide in the eternal question: what do I read next?
November 20, 2020
This man is a very decent writer and he summarizes whole books in 2 paragraphs.
July 27, 2022
This was a fun read, revisiting authors I read 20-30 years ago in college and afterwards. There's nothing after 1998. The biographies are brief and interesting. Worth a browse.
October 1, 2025
Touching story of loss, making personal connections and value of reading to provide comfort during a time of grief.
September 8, 2013
This is a guide to 110 leading authors of literary fiction--ones that were still living in 1998. So if not, or no longer a guide to "contemporary fiction" it's a decent one to late 20th Century fiction. I've read 35 of the 110 authors here. A few, such as Isabel Allende, Sandra Cisneros, E. L. Doctorow, Don DeLillo and Cormac McCarthy I so loathed I'd never read something else from them again. In some cases, such as that of T. Corraghessan Boyle, I hated what I read (The Tortilla Curtain) by them, but saw enough in their writing I might take a chance on them again. But there are also authors here who wrote books I loved, and want to read more of: Margaret Atwood, A. S. Byatt, Pat Conroy, Louis de Bernieres, Umberto Eco, Alice Hoffman, Milan Kundera, Larry McMurtry, Salman Rushdie, Mario Vargas Llosa.
So more hits than misses, enough I'd read more of the authors listed. And I think the above indicates that whatever your tastes, though no doubt you'll turn up your noses as some of the authors here (no doubt including some of my favorites) you'll find a lot to love if you like literary fiction. That's why I'm keeping it on my bookshelves. Although truth to tell, I probably wouldn't buy it now--there are just too many such lists on the internet you can access about as rich, and it doesn't give you much value added beyond that list.
So more hits than misses, enough I'd read more of the authors listed. And I think the above indicates that whatever your tastes, though no doubt you'll turn up your noses as some of the authors here (no doubt including some of my favorites) you'll find a lot to love if you like literary fiction. That's why I'm keeping it on my bookshelves. Although truth to tell, I probably wouldn't buy it now--there are just too many such lists on the internet you can access about as rich, and it doesn't give you much value added beyond that list.
March 31, 2008
I took next to nothing from this book. In all its length and quantity of authors there's also an unfortunate lack of qualitative reviews. Book reviews might average a couple sentences plus one short snippet of a review from the Times or Christian Science Monitor. The selection of authors seems a bit arbitrary, as are the suggested reading lists. All in all I think my time would've been more effectively spent browsing this website.
February 9, 2014
Readers, every 2-3 years, must go to compendia of literature such as works by David Rubel to refresh their overview of what to read next. Just picking up titles plied by the media is a sucker's lot and leads to inefficiency in using one's planned reading time.
March 10, 2010
I was glad to have stumbled upon this book in the library. It has helped me add many books to my to-read list that I wouldn't otherwise have known about.
Read
March 14, 2016Quite interesting
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews