Booker Prize Winner M. John Harrison Recommends 4 Books to Read After His Latest Novel
Fresh off his Booker Prize win for ‘The End of Everything,’ author M. John Harrison is sharing the books that have stayed with him
Key Takeaways
- M. John Harrison’s latest novel The End of Everything' won the 2026 Booker Prize.
- M. John Harrison’s favorite books span fantasy, memoir, mystery and literary fiction.
- M. John Harrison’s picks include ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Offshore.’
John Harrison, age 81, just won the Booker Prize for his science fiction novel, The End of Everything. He is the oldest author to ever receive such an honor. The book follows Phillip Tennent, who makes his living collecting artifacts that wash up on a nearby shore. One day, an artifact he can’t keep appears, so he decides to take it inland, only to learn that doing so will change everything. It’s eerie, gripping and filled with twists no one will see coming.
Once you turn the last page, you’ll want something else just as unforgettable. Fortunately, Harrison has spent years recommending the books he loves, and we’ve rounded up four of the best to read after The End of Everything.
‘The Lord of the Rings’ by J.R.R. Tolkien
Published in 1954, this bestselling fantasy trilogy begins with The Fellowship of the Ring. Many years ago, the One Ring was created, only to end up in the hands of Bilbo Baggins, which readers can learn more about in the prequel novel The Hobbit. Now Bilbo has gifted the ring to his relative Frodo Baggins, who soon goes on a deadly quest to try and destroy it. By doing so he could save the world of Middle-earth, but if he fails the consequences could be dire. It’s a magical tale filled with suspense, danger and intrigue.
What M. John Harrison says: “At 16 or so I started reading The Lord of the Rings. I read it at least once a year for a decade.”
What other readers are saying: “The Fellowship of the Ring is more than simply a fantasy, but a serious, though fun, story dealing with serious themes of plot and characterization. I am convinced that the Lord of the Rings will be one of the few books from the 20th century still read centuries from now.”
‘Offshore’ by Penelope Fitzgerald
In 1979, this novel also won the Booker Prize. It follows a group of people who live in the same houseboat community on the Thames. One of the residents is Maurice, a male prostitute. Then there is Richard, an ex-Navy man who has one of the biggest boats on the lot, and Nenna, an abandoned mother oftwo. As Nenna’s domestic problems escalate, the houseboat community comes together to protect her and their way of life.
What M. John Harrison says: “Penelope Fitzgerald’s Offshore, about a group of precarious outsiders living in houseboats on the Thames at Battersea Reach, is chokingly funny and seriously moving at the same time, written in her wry, light, utterly crafted, utterly readable manner. That kind of writing is genuinely inimitable.”
What other readers are saying: “The novelist has created a portrait of a community whose members help rather than persecute each other. Their chosen life on the water makes them undesirables among middle class Londoners. These river folk don’t seem to care. They like their lives. Their poverty, their generosity, and their rich humanity bind them together. There is a good deal of happy social life to be found in this muddy back water of a community—along with mishaps that are frightening and sometimes hilarious.”
‘Autobiography of a Super-Tramp’ by W.H. Davies
Welsh poet and writer W.H. Davies published this memoir in 1908. In it, he details how he wandered through the harsh, brutal and sometimes beautiful British and American landscapes during the 20th century. It’s filled with vivid details and hard truths and it’s perfect for people who like stories centered around real people experiencing hardships.
What M. John Harrison says:“I was offered Autobiography of a Super-Tramp by W.H. Davies as a secondary school text. Hobo life. Riding the rails. Dirt, hunger, weather, adventure, amputated limbs. At 13, what more can you ask?”
What other readers are saying: “A fascinating depiction of life on the road in England in the early part of the 20th century.Written from personal experience by an English man electing for a different lifestyle. He bummed and worked his way around England and relates all his trials and tribulations in a very easy to read style.”
‘The Erasers’ by Alain Robbe-Grillet
Alain Robbe-Grillet’s first novel feels like a detective story, but it also deals with some pretty heavy topics. Eight people have been murdered over the course of eight days, and all signs point to it being a terror attack. But when a ninth murder happens, a police agent gets assigned to figure out what’s really going on—but what happens when some of the evidence actually points to him being the killer?
What M. John Harrison says:“Alain Robbe Grillet’s The Erasers shocked me with its flatness of presentation.”
What other readers are saying: “The Erasers is one of the most convoluted, complex, knotty novels a reader could possibly encounter, a novel that can be approached from multiple perspectives and on multiple levels, everything from an intricate detective mystery to a meditation on the circularity of time, from the phenomenology of perception to the story of Oedipus, to name several.”
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