In a printed book, the back matter is everything after the last chapter: the notes, the acknowledgments, the list of further reading. This page is ours. It gathers the books and resources our chapters keep coming back to, with a line on why, and a link to where we discuss each one.
Novels whose endings we keep rereading
- Middlemarch by George Eliot (1871 to 1872). The last paragraph is the best lesson in a quiet ending we know. We take it apart sentence by sentence in seven kinds of last page.
- Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (1861). A novel with two endings, and a good argument about which one is right.
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925). The first and last lines answer each other across the book; see first lines and last lines.
- The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (1989). An ending on a seaside bench that settles the feeling and leaves the facts alone, discussed in open or closed.
- The End by Salvatore Scibona (2008). The novel this address was named for; our reader's guide covers its structure and its ending.
For book groups
- Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (2005), the worked example in our book club questions.
- Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (2004), a slow book that rewards patience, from reading dense novels.
- Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson (1919), where our Rust Belt reading list begins.
Craft books for writers
- Aspects of the Novel by E. M. Forster (1927): flat and round characters, story and plot.
- The Art of Fiction by John Gardner (1983): the case for the vivid, continuous dream.
- Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott (1994): permission to write a bad first draft.
- Steering the Craft by Ursula K. Le Guin (1998, revised 2015): exercises on sentences, point of view and voice.
- Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose (2006): slow reading as a teacher.
- A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders (2021): seven Russian stories read closely.
Our chapters on finishing a first draft and revising in passes put several of these to work.
Literary and writing magazines
Reading a few issues is the best preparation for sending a story to a magazine, and good company between novels.
- The Paris Review (founded 1953), known for its long interviews with writers as well as its fiction and poetry.
- Ploughshares (founded 1971), where a different guest editor shapes each issue.
- One Story, which publishes a single story per issue.
- Writer's Digest, a long-running magazine on the craft and business of writing.
Many public libraries carry literary magazines, and many magazines put some of their work online.
A note on links Some links on this page go to bookstores, magazine stores, course sites or publishing services, and Last Chapter can earn a commission when you buy through them. It costs you nothing extra.
Courses and structured study
Not everyone wants a degree. Our piece on an MFA or self-study compares degree programs, community workshops, online university courses and a one-year reading plan. University courses on platforms such as Coursera can give a self-taught writer deadlines and assignments; check what each course includes, and what it costs, on the course page itself.
Free and public-domain reading
- Project Gutenberg publishes free editions of public-domain books, including most of the classics above.
- Your public library almost certainly lends ebooks and audiobooks through an app, as well as print copies, and can order books it does not hold.