Most important books: Mary Gordon

Mary Gordon is the author, most recently, of the memoir Circling My Mother. She told Newsweek about her five most important books.

One title to make the list:

The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford.

The combination of complexities and emotionally intense timbre is an inspiration.

Read about all five titles on Gordon's list.

Mary Gordon is the author of the novels Spending, The Company of Women, The Rest of Life, Final Payments, and The Other Side, as well as the memoir The Shadow Man. She has received a Lila Wallace—Reader’s Digest Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the 1997 O. Henry Award for best story.

--Marshal Zeringue