Below you’ll find a list of books/poems that have deeply touched me as a writer and highly recommend. For some books, you’ll find an affiliate link, meaning if you buy them I get a small commission at no extra cost to you.
I hope you enjoy!
For Improving Your Craft
These are the books that have helped me when I’m feel stuck in a rut, or just down on my luck as a writer. They’re sure to clarify a lot of my unspoken questions, as well as open my eyes to looking at storytelling in a new way.
“Creating Character Arcs” by K.M. Weiland
Fiction Books
Below is a list of my favorite books all time. I love them all for different reasons, whether the craft is pure perfection, or the book just simply touched me at that time in my life.
“White Oleander” by Janet Finch
“The Secret History” by Donna Tartt
“City of Bones” by Cassandra Clare
“The Kite Runner” by Khaled Housseini
“Le Petit Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupery (French version)
The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordon
“Giovanni’s Room” by James Baldwin
“Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger
“Reading for Patrick” by Michelle Kuo
“Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises” by Ernest Hemingway
Poems
I don’t read too much poetry. As a writer who is mostly sticks to prose, poetry is an art form that both daunts me and keeps me in awe. With that being said, below is a list of poems that have helped me be poetically inclined over the years.
Degrees of Gray in Philipsburg by Richard Hugo
Washing the Corpse by Rilke
For My Daughter by Weldon Kees
Warm Days in January by Donald Reveal
Ode to Fat by Ellen Bass
At Least a Dozen Bluets by Alison C. Rollins
Legacies by Nikki Giovani
We Would Never Sleep by David Hernandez