Max Porter's Book Recommendations (Updated for 2026)

1

The Odyssey

Homer

4.2

After enduring the Trojan War, Odysseus begins the treacherous journey home to Ithaca. On the way, he faces ravenous monsters and vengeful gods. But the real battle awaits, as his kingdom is under siege by unruly suitors vying for his wife’s hand—and his son’s head. To reclaim his throne and save his family, Odysseus must rely on his wits…and help from the unpredictable gods.

Homer’s The Odyssey wa

Recommended by Caterina Fake, Ted Turner, Charlotte Higgins, and 3 others.

Max Porter

I still have an image of Odysseus in my head from when I was a child – he’s very Anglo-Saxon and stubbly, a bit like Michael Fassbender [source]

Ted Turner

Founder/CNN

When I got to college, I was a classics major, and that was mainly the study of Greek - and to a lesser extent Roman - history and culture, and that fascinated me: the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Aeneid by Virgil. [source]

Charlotte Higgins

It’s a very easy read, and a completely different world from The Iliad. Whereas The Iliad depicts a militaristic and war-wrecked world, The Odyssey is like a fairytale and it’s fascinatingly complex. It’s told in flashbacks, it has time that’s extended and time that’s compressed, and it’s told from different viewpoints. [source]

Cover unavailable

2

Riddley Walker

HOBAN RUSSELL

4.0

In the far distant future, the country laid waste by nuclear holocaust, twelve-year-old Riddley Walker tells his story in a language as fractured as the world in which he lives. As Riddley steps outside the confines of his small world, he finds himself caught up in intrigue and a frantic quest for power, desperately trying to make sense of things.

Recommended by James Miller, James Miller, and Max Porter.

Max Porter

The joy of Riddley Walker is that it’s a fully realized universe and it never lets up – it’s very, very difficult all the way through [source]

James Miller

Everyone is speaking in a kind of eccentric, quasi-Chaucerian idiom. That is what I really liked about it – the unfamiliarity of the language because it is set in this post-apocalyptic world. [source]

James Miller

Everyone is speaking in a kind of eccentric, quasi-Chaucerian idiom. That is what I really liked about it – the unfamiliarity of the language because it is set in this post-apocalyptic world. [source]

Cover unavailable

3

Angry Arthur

Hiawyn Oram, Satoshi Kitamura

4.2

Once there was a boy called Arthur, who wanted to stay up and watch TV, but his mother wouldn't let him. "I'll get angry," said Arthur, and he did. Very, very angry...

Recommended by Max Porter.

Max Porter

The book is a kind of love letter to frustrated males, to when you get into one of those moods and there’s no turning back. [source]

4

Russian Fairy Tales

Aleksandr Afanasev, Alexander Alexeieff, Norbert Guterman, Roman Jakobson

4.5

Translated by Norbert Guterman

Illustrated by Alexander Alexeieff

In this most comprehensive collection of classic Russian tales available in English we meet both universal fairy-tale figures—thieves and heroes, kings and peasants, beautiful damsels and terrifying witches, enchanted children and crafty animals—and such uniquely Russian characters as Koshchey the Deathless, Baba Yaga, the Swan Maiden

Recommended by Max Porter.

Max Porter

It was like going back to a medicine box of two-dimensional things – it felt like a cool drink of water after a lot of sawdust. [source]

5

Glass, Irony and God

Anne Carson

4.4

Known as a remarkable classicist, Anne Carson weaves contemporary and ancient poetic strands with stunning style in Glass, Irony and God. This collection includes: "The Glass Essay," a powerful poem about the end of a love affair, told in the context of Carson's reading of the Brontë sisters; "Book of Isaiah," a poem evoking the deeply primitive feel of ancient Judaism; and "The Fall of Rome," abo

Recommended by Max Porter.

Max Porter

Anne Carson teaches you is that you can always be clever enough, you can always work harder, you can always train yourself to understand more. [source]