Writers recommend: Reading across the lines

I loved “Five Star Billionaire” by Tash Aw, a sprawling, multi-dimensional novel about contemporary China. And my favorite character was a woman, who was wonderfully drawn and human: ambitious, vulnerable, grasping, kind and unkind.

(Jennifer S. Altman / For The Times; Spiegel & Grau)

Nov. 29, 2013 8:50 AM PT

Do we read books by women and men differently? This was a hot topic in the literary world in 2013, one that raised a lot of questions without finding many answers. To bring us back together, we asked some of our favorite writers to recommend a book for us written by someone of the opposite gender — and were delighted by the results.

A. Scott Berg, author of the biography "Wilson":

The Library of America reasserted its mission —publishing America’s best and most significant writing — with “Susan Sontag: Essays of the 1960s & 70s.” Page after page, Sontag enlightens with her provocative insights and delights with her compelling prose. These pieces at once evoke their era and prove to be timeless.

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times; Library of America)

Terry McMillan, author of "Who Asked You":

“The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat” by Edward Kelsey Moore (Knopf, $24.95) because he captures the world of black women in the ‘60s, and because there are so few African American male novelists. I should also mention that he’s an outstanding writer. He should be widely read. (Barbara Davidson / The Los Angeles Times; Alfred A. Knopf)

Walter Mosley, author of "Little Green: An Easy Rawlins Mystery":

A new Edwidge Danticat novel is a gift: It is language delicately calibrated to bring to your senses a different kind of music. “Claire of the Sea Light” (Knopf, $25.95) is filled with family love and loss, the salt shock of the Caribbean sea, and a quiet radiance that changes everything you know. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times; Knopf)

Harryette Mullen, author of the poetry collection "Urban Tumbleweed: Notes from a Tanka Diary":

In “The Cineaste: Poems” (W.W. Norton, $26.95), A. Van Jordan‘s imaginative work is an ekphrasis of moving pictures with the power to enthrall us as we surrender to the cinema’s dark theater. (Barbara Davidson / The Los Angeles Times; Alfred A. Knopf)

Lynda Obst, author of "Sleepless in Hollywood: Tales from the New Abnormal in the Movie Business":

I read “Going Clear” (Knopf, $28.95) by Lawrence Wright in two days. Every time I drive by that huge spooky blue building on Fountain Avenue on my way home, I shudder. His vast investigative skills finally cracked the hard litigious shell around Scientology, which scared off scores of journalists before him. We now know how L. Ron Hubbard and his minions hold their followers hostage with bizarre beliefs. Wright never parodies these beliefs, but instead is fascinated by the power they hold. (Amy Stuart; Ed Jones / AFP/Getty Images)

Every year I ask Santa Claus for a new book by Monica Drake, Katherine Dunn, Amy Hemple or Fran Lebowitz. This year Monica Drake came through with “The Stud Book,” a quiet masterpiece. Drake’s brilliant without being a clever showoff, and she’s funny without being snarky or shtick-y. Even Santa Claus loves her fiction. (Bryan Bedder / Getty Images; Hogarth)

Eric Schlosser, author of "Command and Control":

“Five Days at Memorial” is an extraordinary work of narrative nonfiction. I have great admiration for the way that Sheri Fink has told a complex story with eloquence, intelligence and compassion. (Stephen Lovekin / Getty Images; Crown)

Books