The Books canon

Sourced and shelved.

Every book chosen by hand and annotated for why it matters.
Browse all 1,178 books or filter by subject, era, place, and author.

The Bloody Chamber

1979 · 176 pages

Carter opened the old fairy tales and took out what was always inside: appetite, blood, and women who want things. Her Bluebeard is a French Marquis, and her Beauty walks toward the tiger.

★ 5.8

Silas Marner

1861 · 209 pages

Robbed of gold he hoarded for fifteen years, a lonely weaver finds a golden-haired child on his hearth. Eliot turns a village fable into a full account of how a person is repaired.

★ 6.7

The Golden Ass

170 · 267 pages

Meddling with magic, Lucius turns himself into a donkey and is beaten from owner to owner across Greece. The tale of Cupid and Psyche sits at the center, and the ending turns holy.

★ 7.3