The American filmmaker and screenwriter James Ivory is best known for his partnership (both professional and personal) with Ismail Merchant, with whom he created 44 films, and an entire movie idiom, often based on literary classics. Merchant Ivory Productions garnered six Oscars, and Ivory himself has received four nominations, including for Best Adapted Screenplay for Call Me By Your Name, making him the second oldest person to be nominated for an Oscar.  “I’ve always liked to make things that were beautiful,” Ivory told The Daily Beast. “I wanted to create beauty. That was my main desire. I’m just glad those films have been found beautiful by many, many people. Political consequences have never really come into my thinking.”

Below are James Ivory’s favorite books, available to purchase individually or as a set.