American Gods by Neil Gaiman (Hilarious wit; symbolism)
Calico Captive by Elizabeth George Spear (Wonderful characterization and sense of the American Colonial time period.)
Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Neil Gaiman (Witty, subtle in unexpectedly pleasant ways.)
His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman (A Young Adult Paradise Lost. Excellent characterization of a female protagonist and imaginative world building.)
In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje (Amazing diction and imagery.)
Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig (Imaginative description, interesting pacing and emotional arc.)
Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto (Clean, simple, and loaded with emotion. A great way to learn how to accomplish “the hotter the topic, the colder the prose.”)
Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Seamlessly weaves the paranormal and normal, makes the supernatural feel natural. An intense psychological drama with much to learn about “the big reveal” process.)
Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade by Diana Gabaldon (Flow, description, and characterization are all to die for!)
Orlando by Virginia Woolf (Gorgeous descriptions and treatment of emotional journey through symbolism.)
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse (A book so beautifully written and with such a powerful message that I try to live by it.)
Temeraire Trilogy Omnibus by Naomi Novik (Inventive, imaginative, and character-driven fantasy at its best.)
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje (If I didn’t love Ondaatje as much as I do, I’d hate him because I’m so jealous of his diction and imagery. This book helped me find my “voice.” Regardless of what you felt about the movie, the book is worth owning.)
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (Unique descriptions and absorbing narrator POV.)
The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell (Essential for understanding what people need from you as a storyteller.)
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin (This entire book is a lesson in how tone and dialog pacing can set mood and character. The topic and premise might be a tad esoteric, but like all of Le Guin’s books, this is an anthropological study about the human experience, not just a story.)
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Pure, clean, unadulterated imagery and allegory.)
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley (A wonderful example of how genres can blend together—historical, fantasy, folklore, romance, action, and drama—to tackle various themes, such as religion, politics, culture, familial relations, feminism, etc.)
The Once and Future King by T.H. White (The flow and tender, almost wistful characterization in this story has always moved me—particularly because White wrote this out of love for a young boy he once knew.)
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Irrefutable proof that a child protagonist/narrator can use simple, straightforward diction to subtly convey powerful messages about race, poverty, abuse, integrity, compassion, and joy.)
View with a Grain of Sand: Selected Poems by Wislawa Szymborska (Perhaps the finest collection of words ever strung together.)
Whisper of Roses by Teresa Medeiros (How all romance novels should be—devoid of purple prose and focused on solid characterization with such genuine enthusiasm that the people on the pages are almost tangible.)
Woman Warrior: A Girlhood Among Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston (Gritty feminism; symbolism at its best.)