Reading List

Since Jobie could literally list hundreds of his favorite novels here, he has attempted to include those that have somehow made an impression upon his own writing.  By no means is this a complete list. Nor are these authors/titles listed in any specific order.


Ernest Hemingway
    A Farewell to Arms
    The Sun Also Rises
    For Whom the Bell Tolls
    The Old Man and the Sea
    A Moveable Feast
    In Our Time
    The Garden of Eden


Cormac McCarthy
    The Road
    No Country for Old Men
    Blood Meridian
    Suttree
    All the Pretty Horses
    The Crossing
    Child of God


Richard Russo
    The Risk Pool
    Nobody's Fool
    Straight Man
    Empire Falls
    Bridge of Sighs
    That Old Cape Magic



Frederick Exley
    A Fan's Notes
    Pages from a Cold Island
    Last Notes from Home


F. Scott Fitzgerald
    The Great Gatsby
    Tender is the Night


Jack Kerouac
    On the Road
    The Dharma Bums
    Big Sur



John Steinbeck
    East of Eden
    Cannery Row
    The Grapes of Wrath
    Travels with Charley in Search
       of America

    The Winter of Our Discontent
    Of Mice and Men


John Irving
    The World According to Garp
    The Hotel New Hampshire
    The Water Method Man
    A Son of the Circus
    Last Night in Twisted River
    The Imaginary Girlfriend


Charles Bukowski
    Women
    Factotum
    Hollywood
    Post Office



William Kennedy
    Ironweed


Jonathan Franzen
    The Corrections
    Freedom


Milan Kundera
    The Unbearable Lightness of Being



Vladamir Nabokov
    Lolita


John Fante
    Ask the Dust


D. H. Lawrence
    Lady Chatterly's Lover



J. M. Coetzee
    Disgrace


Philip Roth
    Portnoy's Complaint


Susanna Clarke
    Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell



Graham Greene
    The Quiet American


Kingsley Amis
    Lucky Jim


William Gay
    Twilight


For aspiring writers he suggests the following:
•  On Writing by Stephen King
•  The Writer's Book of Wisdom: 101 Rules by Steven Taylor Goldsberry
•  Reading like a Writer by Francine Prose
•  The First Five Pages… by Noah Lukeman

The above works come highly recommended, but again, by no means is it an exhaustive list.  Jobie recommends finding particular writers you enjoy and then reading their entire canon of work, paying close attention to their development over time.