Novelists' Inspiration
Last updated: April 24, 2025
Here, well-known novelists talk about their books and inspirations. Hermione Hoby talks about the literary influence of New York on her and others. Yiyun Li discusses anti-memoir and why she thinks it’s more authentic than the real thing. Ian McEwan and William Boyd talk about the authors that inspired them. Will Self discusses his literary influences and explains why he doesn’t read much fiction.
Elsewhere Tracy Chevalier discusses trees in literature and Deborah Levy talks about motherhood in literature. T C Boyle contemplates man and nature and Geoff Dyer talks about unusual histories.
Hermione Hoby on New York Novels
The writer and journalist Hermione Hoby’s highly acclaimed first novel is set during a New York heatwave. Here she picks five books inspired by this capacious, overstated, indomitable city and discusses how it shaped her as a writer.
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1
La Bibliothèque invisible
by Stéphane Mahieu -
2
Mirabiblia: Catalogo ragionato di libri introvabili
by Paolo Albani & Paolo della Bella -
3
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
by Laurence Sterne -
4
Nueva Enciclopedia
by Alberto Savinio -
5
The Afternoon of Mr. Andesmas
by Marguerite Duras
Enrique Vila-Matas on Books that Shaped Him
Enrique Vila-Matas on Books that Shaped Him
‘I like to show some restraint when it comes to making things up…’ The Spanish novelist Enrique Vila-Matas discusses the role of risk in writing, the ‘crisis of the novel’, and five books that have shaped his own work. (You can also read this interview in the original Spanish.)
Ian McEwan on the Books That Shaped His Novels
Novelist Ian McEwan talks about five of the books that have helped shape his own, from the biography of a scientific genius to a treatise on the end of time, and discusses the importance of finding “mental freedom”
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1
Tevye the Dairyman and Motl the Cantor’s Son
by Sholem Aleichem -
2
The Street of Crocodiles and Other Stories
by Bruno Schultz and Celina Wieniewska (translator) -
3
Dubliners
by James Joyce -
4
Mario and the Magician and Other Stories
by Thomas Mann -
5
History: A Novel
by Elsa Morante and William Weaver (translator)
David Grossman on the Books That Shaped Him
David Grossman on the Books That Shaped Him
David Grossman, renowned Israeli author and winner of the 2017 Man Booker International Prize, shares the books that have shaped his writing, from Sholem Aleichem to James Joyce and Elsa Morante
The Best ‘Anti-Memoirs’, recommended by Yiyun Li
Yiyun Li, author of Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life, on the sheer messiness of life, the irrelevance of ‘I’, and why brutal honesty is often the truest way to capture the people we love the most
Max Porter on the Books That Shaped Him
Max Porter, author of Grief is the Thing with Feathers, on the books that have taken him from childhood to adulthood, the deepening shadow of nuclear war, and why he’ll always be on his knees in front of Emily Dickinson
Tracy Chevalier on Trees in Literature
Books are made of trees and sometimes they’re also about trees. Best-selling author Tracy Chevalier picks the five best trees in fiction.
Deborah Levy on Motherhood in Literature
Aristotle tells us that all politics starts in the family, and nowhere is that more obvious than in the infamously fraught relationship between mother and daughter. Here, the novelist, playwright and poet Deborah Levy chooses five books – or rather, four books and one film – that explore motherhood.
Will Self on Literary Influences
Conventional prose fiction falls short of the mark, says English author Will Self. He tells us about his modernist novel Umbrella, what the real character of London is, and why he can’t stand the Olympics
Unusual Histories, recommended by Geoff Dyer
The author of But Beautiful and Zona tells us about different ways of writing history, and gives us five examples where innovative or experimental approaches have paid off.
