Elizabeth Berg's 6 books for a 'kinder, gentler world'

Elizabeth Berg is the author of many bestselling novels, including The Story of Arthur Truluv, Open House (an Oprah's Book Club selection), Talk Before Sleep, and The Year of Pleasures, as well as the short story collection The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted. Durable Goods and Joy School were selected as ALA Best Books of the Year. She adapted The Pull of the Moon into a play that enjoyed sold-out performances in Chicago and Indianapolis. Berg's work has been published in thirty countries, and three of her novels have been turned into television movies.

Her new novel is The Confession Club.

At The Week magazine, Berg tagged six books for a "kinder, gentler world," including:

The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler (2004).

I have never read an Anne Tyler novel that I haven't loved. In this tale of two people who never should have gotten married, Tyler is quirky, her characters are eccentric, and you keep re-­reading her dialogue for the sheer pleasure of it. The world she creates is the world I want to live in.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue