This page contains a few favorite books, organized by category/genre. (Many titles belong in multiple categories, but I've listed each book only once.)
Favorite (general) books on the philosophy of music
Leonard Meyer, Style and Music
Roger Scruton, The Aesthetics of Music
R.A. Sharpe, Music and Humanism
...and a few texts on art, criticism, and/or philosophy of art
Monroe Beardsley, Aesthetics
John Berger, The White Bird (essays)
Stephen Booth, King Lear, Macbeth, Indefinition, Tragedy
Malcolm Budd, Values of Art
Stanley Cavell, Pursuits of Happiness; Themes out of School
John Hollander, The Work of Poetry; Melodious Guile; Rhyme's Reason
Susanne Langer, Philosophy in a New Key; Problems of Art
Charles Rosen...
Murray Smith, Engaging Characters
Donald Spoto, The Art of Alfred Hitchcock
Matthew Strohl, Why It's OK to Love Bad Movies
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own
Favorite philosophical novels
Julian Barnes, England, England
Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov; Demons; ...
George Eliot, Middlemarch; Daniel Deronda; ...
Rebecca Goldstein, The Mind-Body Problem; Properties of Light
Herman Melvile, Moby-Dick
Iris Murdoch, The Black Prince; An Accidental Man; Bruno's Dream
Roger Scruton, Notes from Underground
Other fiction (or authors) I enjoy
Jane Austen...
John Barth, Chimera; The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor
Albert Camus, The Plague; Exile and the Kingdom; also [nonfiction] Lyrical and Critical Essays
Joseph Conrad, The Secret Agent
Daphne Du Maurier...
Favorite philosophical novels
Julian Barnes, England, England
Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov; Demons; ...
George Eliot, Middlemarch; Daniel Deronda; ...
Rebecca Goldstein, The Mind-Body Problem; Properties of Light
Herman Melvile, Moby-Dick
Iris Murdoch, The Black Prince; An Accidental Man; Bruno's Dream
Roger Scruton, Notes from Underground
Other fiction (or authors) I enjoy
Jane Austen...
John Barth, Chimera; The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor
Albert Camus, The Plague; Exile and the Kingdom; also [nonfiction] Lyrical and Critical Essays
Joseph Conrad, The Secret Agent
Daphne Du Maurier...
George Eliot, Romola
F. Scott Fitzgerald...
Alasdair Gray, Lanark
F. Scott Fitzgerald...
Alasdair Gray, Lanark
Tessa Hadley...
Shirley Hazzard, The Transit of Venus
Oscar Hijuelos, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
Alan Isler, The Prince of West End Avenue
Jhumpa Lahiri, Interpreter of Maladies
Hilary Mantel, Beyond Black
Oscar Hijuelos, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
Alan Isler, The Prince of West End Avenue
Jhumpa Lahiri, Interpreter of Maladies
Hilary Mantel, Beyond Black
Yukio Mishima, Spring Snow
Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses; Shalimar the Clown
Shakespeare...
Anton Shammas, Arabesques
Edith Sitwell, I Live Under a Black Sun
Muriel Spark...
Stendhal, Scarlet and Black
General (and some trade) philosophy books
John Armstrong, Conditions of Love
Sarah Bakewell...
Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses; Shalimar the Clown
Shakespeare...
Anton Shammas, Arabesques
Edith Sitwell, I Live Under a Black Sun
Muriel Spark...
Stendhal, Scarlet and Black
General (and some trade) philosophy books
John Armstrong, Conditions of Love
Sarah Bakewell...
David Friedman, Law's Order
Bryan Magee, Popper; Confessions of a Philosopher
Bernard Suits, The Grasshopper
Books on science and related topics
Jacob Bronowski...
Richard Dawkins...
Daniel Dennett, Consciousness Explained; Darwin's Dangerous Idea
Books on science and related topics
Jacob Bronowski...
Richard Dawkins...
Daniel Dennett, Consciousness Explained; Darwin's Dangerous Idea
David Deutsch...
Karl Popper...
John Steinbeck, The Log from the Sea of Cortez
Books on history (with a literary slant)
Rupert Christiansen, Romantic Affinities
Stephen Greenblatt, Will in the World
Richard Holmes, The Age of Wonder
Misc
Pedro de Alcantara, Indirect Procedures (1st edition)
John Steinbeck, The Log from the Sea of Cortez
Books on history (with a literary slant)
Rupert Christiansen, Romantic Affinities
Stephen Greenblatt, Will in the World
Richard Holmes, The Age of Wonder
Misc
Pedro de Alcantara, Indirect Procedures (1st edition)
Adam Smith...
Stephen Sondheim, Finishing the Hat; Look, I Made a Hat
Academic Self-Help
Karen Kelsky, The Professor Is In
Jason Brennan, Good Work If You Can Get It
Jason Brennan and Phillip Magness, Cracks in the Ivory Tower