J.K. Rowling may be an acclaimed author, the queen of taking down trolls on Twitter, a screenwriter, and a philanthropist, but she’s also (unsurprisingly) an avid reader.
Over the years, Rowling has recommended many a novel in interviews or on social media. From childhood favorites to all-time classics, the Harry Potter author’s reading list is as varied as a box of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans. (We just hope there isn’t an earwax-flavor novel equivalent.)
So why not pluck one of her recommendations from the shelf at your next bookstore visit? We can’t guarantee characters as complex and charismatic as Harry, Ron, and Hermione will stroll into your head fully formed as a result, but at the very least it’ll make for impressive conversation.
Check out the list below:
1. The Girl With the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer
2. Poverty Safari: Understanding the Anger of Britain’s Underclass by Darren McGarvey
3. The Little Big Things: A young man’s belief that every day can be a good day by Henry Fraser
4.The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge
5. The Story of the Treasure Seekers by E. Nesbit
6. The Woman Who Walked Into Doors by Roddy Doyle
7. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
8. The Diaries of Auberon Waugh by Auberon Waugh
9. The Iliad by Homer
10. Emma by Jane Austen
11. Chéri by Colette
12. The Collected Stories of Colette by Colette
13. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
14. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
15. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
16. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
17. Manxmouse: The Mouse Who Knew No Fear by Paul Gallico
18. Hons and Rebels by Jessica Mitford
19. Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
20. The Story of the Treasure Seekers by E. Nesbit
21. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
22. Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman
23. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
24. Macbeth by William Shakespeare
25. Grimble by Clement Freud
26. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
27. Secrets of the Flesh by Judith Thurman
28. JFK Playboy of the Western World by Nigel Hamilton
29. JFK: Reckless Youth by Nigel Hamilton
30. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
31. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
32. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
33. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
34. Animal Farm by George Orwell
35. The Vanishing Point by Val McDermid
36. Hons and Rebels by Jessica Mitford
37. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
38. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
39. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
40. The Song Of Achilles by Madeline Miller
41. Decca: the Letters of Jessica Mitford edited by Peter Y Sussman
42. A Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell
43. Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith (Rowling’s pseudonym)
44. The Tale of Two Bad Mice by Beatrix Potter
45. The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
46. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
47. Feminism is For Everybody by bell hooks
48. Lethal White by Robert Galbraith (yes, we know this is really J.K. herself)
49. The Deportees and Other Stories by Roddy Doyle
50. Skellig by David Almond
Other authors mentioned:
51. Dorothy L. Sayers mysteries
52. Cressida Cowell’s dragon books
53. Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
54. Anthony Trollope
55. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
56. Collected works of Shakespeare
57. Collected works of Colette
58. Collected works of P. G. Wodehouse
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