The 8 books personally recommended by Sally Rooney
Sally Rooney named eight books that influenced her while writing and editing *Intermezzo*, her novel about two estranged brothers after their father’s death. She said reading helps her get closer to her characters and their world, and the selections reflect themes of grief, family and literary influence.
The article details four of her choices: Dostoyevsky’s *The Brothers Karamazov*, Shakespeare’s *Hamlet*, James Joyce’s *Ulysses* and Isabella Hammad’s *Enter Ghost*, set around a 2017 Arabic-language production of *Hamlet* in the West Bank. Rooney also revisited Colette’s *Chéri*, finding it more melancholy than she remembered; the article says her publisher Faber published the full list.
In short
- Rooney chose eight books connected to writing *Intermezzo*.
- Several selections explore grief, family and *Hamlet*.
- Revisiting *Chéri*, Rooney found it darker than she recalled.
Explained simply
Sally Rooney is an Irish novelist whose books often explore relationships, family and how people understand one another. Intermezzo follows two brothers dealing with their father’s death and with their own differences.
The books Rooney chose include works by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, William Shakespeare and James Joyce, alongside a contemporary novel by Isabella Hammad. Several connect to family, grief or the continuing influence of earlier writing, while Colette’s Chéri struck Rooney differently when she reread it.