Best known for her hit post-apocalyptic novel Station Eleven, Canadian essayist and author Emily St. John Mandel has been hailed as one of the most thrilling voices in futuristic fiction. With writing described as haunting and atmospheric, and stories that explore identity, displacement, and the impact of historical events on people’s lives, the eery prescience of her work has made her an international phenom.
When Station Eleven was published in 2014, it quickly garnered widespread critical acclaim and was named a finalist for the National Book Award. Taking place in the aftermath of a pandemic that’s decimated the world’s population, the book’s been praised for its imaginative world-building as well as its commentary on the power of art and culture in a time of crisis.
In addition to Station Eleven, Mandel has published several other novels, including The Singer’s Gun, The Lola Quartet and The Glass Hotel, which was selected by Barack Obama as one of his favorite books of 2020. Her latest work, 2022’s Sea of Tranquility – a meditation on time travel and the simulation hypothesis – won the Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Science Fiction Book.
Sharing six of her all-time favorite reads with The Week, Mandel spoke on the vivid imagery of Robert Louis Stevenson, the fractured structure of A Visit From the Goon Squad, and the warm humanity behind Salinger’s iconic Glass family characters. Explore her bookshelf below, and dive into the recommended reading lists of other celebrated writers right here.
Emily St. John Mandel’s Reading List
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (also rec’d by Anthony Bourdain, Hayao Miyazaki, Oscar Wilde & Richard Branson)
“Stevenson’s 1883 page-turner was the first full-length book I ever read. I was slow to pick up reading — I struggled until I was 7 — and I still remember the joy I felt when the pieces suddenly clicked into place. All these years later, I retain strangely vivid images of scenes in Stevenson’s book.” -ESJM
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
“I requested this novel for Christmas when I was 14 or 15. Ondaatje’s text was revelatory: I think it was the first time I understood how beautiful prose could be.” -ESJM
The Executioner’s Song by Norman Mailer (also rec’d by Joan Didion)
“I get some strange looks when I cite this book as an influence. It’s almost as if some people confuse the question ‘Which books influenced you?’ with ‘Which writers do you uncritically adore, and do you also approve of them stabbing their spouses?’ I don’t like most of the Mailer books that I’ve read. But his book about serial killer Gary Gilmore is a masterpiece, and it changed the way I write.” -ESJM
Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon
“I believe Await Your Reply, which sends three characters on parallel journeys of reinvention, would be a captivating novel no matter what structure Chaon chose to use. Yet the tension is greatly heightened by his use of multiple points of view and a wildly nonlinear structure.” -ESJM
A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (also rec’d by Anya Taylor-Joy)
“The structure in Egan’s most recent novel is so fractured that, legend has it, the book was marketed in some territories as a short-story collection. It was a direct influence on Station Eleven.” -ESJM
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction by J.D. Salinger (also rec’d by Patti Smith)
“I like The Catcher in the Rye well enough, but to my mind, Salinger’s masterworks were the stories he wrote about the Glass family. Their humanity grabs hold of me. Salinger took such care with his characters and wrote with such warmth. When I’m working on developing characters, I try to live up to his example.” -ESJM
(via The Week)
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