Taiko, by Eiji Yoshikawa. A sweeping novel about Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the peasant-born warlord from a village now part of Nagoya, who rose to unite Japan. Yoshikawa's prose makes the era's politics readable; visiting Nagoya Castle and Kiyosu after reading it is a different experience.
The Lonesome Bodybuilder, by Yukiko Motoya. A collection of darkly comic short stories by a Nagoya-born writer. Less about the city than about the strangeness of suburban Japanese life — which is part of Nagoya too.
Toyota Production System, by Taiichi Ohno. The slim book that defined modern manufacturing, written by the engineer who built the system at Toyota's Nagoya plants. Essential context for the Toyota Commemorative Museum.