Reading list
Each year since late 2015, I've kept track of my reading habits here, and noted which books have left a mark on me.
2024
All books
- Transcription, Kate Atkinson
- 1000 Words: A Writer's Guide to Staying Creative, Focused, and Productive All Year Round, Jamie Attenberg
- Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
- Foundryside, Robert Jackson Bennett
- Killer Content, Olivia Blacke
- Rabbit Hole, Kate Brody
- Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler
- The New Wilderness, Diane Cook
- Notebook, Tom Cox
- The Terrible, Yrsa Daley-Ward
- The Bookshop, Evan Friss
- The Lonely Stories, ed. Natalie Eve Garrett
- The Examiner, Janice Hallett
- Anger, Thich Nhat Hanh
- The Warehouse, Rob Hart
- Self-Esteem and the End of the World, Luke Healy
- The Word is Murder, Anthony Horowitz
- The Sentence is Death, Anthony Horowitz
- A Line to Kill, Anthony Horowitz
- The Twist of a Knife, Anthony Horowitz
- The Buried Giant, Kazuo Ishiguro
- The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro
- Let's Pretend This Never Happened, Jenny Lawson
- Sign Here, Claudia Lux
- Wrong Way, Joanne McNeil
- Solar Bones, Mike McCormack
- Tabula Rasa, John McPhee
- The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder, C.L. Miller
- Shopkeeping, Peter Miller
- Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
- This Year You Write Your Novel, Walter Mosley
- What Are You Going Through, Sigrid Nunez
- Weather, Jenny Offill
- The Eighth Detective, Alex Pavesi
- Grief is the Thing with Feathers, Max Porter
- Nothing is Impossible, Christopher Reeve
- Attachments, Rainbow Rowell
- Dusk, James Salter
- Eyes of Prey, John Sandford
- Mind Prey, John Sandford
- Night Prey, John Sandford
- Rules of Prey, John Sandford
- Secret Prey, John Sandford
- Shadow Prey, John Sandford
- Silent Prey, John Sandford
- Sudden Prey, John Sandford
- Toxic Prey, John Sandford
- Winter Prey, John Sandford
- Happy-Go-Lucky, David Sedaris
- Runaways, Michael J. Seidlinger
- Think Like a Monk, Jay Shetty
- Little Weirds, Jenny Slate
- Goldenrod, Maggie Smith
- Keep Moving, Maggie Smith
- You Could Make This Place Beautiful, Maggie Smith
- Q&A, Adrian Tomine
- Gentle Writing Advice, Chuck Wendig
2023
Year-end favorites
- All the Queen's Men, SJ Bennett
- Small Game, Blair Braverman
- Microserfs, Douglas Coupland
- The Appeal, Janice Hallett
- New and Selected Poems, Volume One, Mary Oliver
- The Thursday Murder Club, Richard Osman
- Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, Jesse Q. Sutanto
All books
- This Was Not the Plan, Cristina Alger
- The Writing Retreat, Julia Bartz
- All the Queen's Men, SJ Bennett
- The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury
- Small Game, Blair Braverman
- Directed by James Burrows, James Burrows
- Twenty Bits I Learned About Design, Business and Community, Dan Cederholm
- Twenty Bits I Learned About Making Fonts, Dan Cederholm
- Microserfs, Douglas Coupland
- Abandon, Blake Crouch
- The Antiques, Kris D'Agostino
- The Sunlit Night, Rebecca Dinerstein
- A Career in Books, Kate Gavino
- This is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone
- The Appeal, Janice Hallett
- The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels, Janice Hallett
- The Twyford Code, Janice Hallett
- Scary Stories for Young Foxes, Christian McKay Heidecker
- Fairy Tale, Stephen King
- The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson
- Attached, Amir Levine & Rachel S. F. Heller
- Moneyball, Michael Lewis
- Pretty as a Picture, Elizabeth Little
- This Country, Navied Mahdavian
- A Memory Called Empire, Arkady Martine
- All Our Wrong Todays, Elan Mastai
- Welcome to the Circus of Baseball, Ryan McGee
- Novelist as a Vocation, Haruki Murakami
- Come As You Are, Emily Nagoski
- Charm City Rocks, Matthew Norman
- Dept. of Speculation, Jenny Offill
- Weather, Jenny Offill
- New and Selected Poems, Volume One, Mary Oliver
- The Thursday Murder Club, Richard Osman
- The Man Who Died Twice, Richard Osman
- We Are Too Many, Hannah Pittard
- The Maid, Nita Prose
- The Imperfectionists, Tom Rachman
- Contact, Carl Sagan
- Dark Angel, John Sandford
- Judgment Prey, John Sandford
- One Continuous Mistake: Four Noble Truths for Writers, Gail Sher
- Shovel Ready, Adam Sternbergh
- Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club, J. Ryan Stradal
- Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore, Matthew Sullivan
- Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, Jesse Q. Sutanto
- Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization, Neil deGrasse Tyson
- The Family Fang, Kevin Wilson
- Last Year, Robert Charles Wilson
- The Infinite Future, Tim Wirkus
- To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
- Beneath the Moon, Yoshi Yoshitani
2022
Year-end favorites
- Ghost Forest, Pik-Shuen Fung
- Whereabouts, Jhumpa Lahiri
- Sea of Tranquility and The Glass Hotel, Emily St. John Mandel
- Great Circle, Maggie Shipstead
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin
All books
- Invincible Summer, Alice Adams
- The Banker's Wife, Cristina Alger
- The Darlings, Cristina Alger
- Girls Like Us, Cristina Alger
- Who is Maud Dixon?, Alexandra Andrews
- I Came All This Way to Meet You, Jami Attenberg
- The Child, Fiona Barton
- Local Gone Missing, Fiona Barton
- The Suspect, Fiona Barton
- The Widow, Fiona Barton
- A Line Made by Walking, Sara Baume
- The Mutual Friend, Carter Bays
- Ducks, Kate Beaton
- Refuse to be Done: How to Write and Rewrite a Novel in Three Drafts, Matt Bell
- The Windsor Knot, S.J. Bennett
- We Had to Remove This Post, Hanna Bervoets
- They Call Me Guero, David Bowles
- The Light Pirate, Lily Brooks-Dalton
- Anya's Ghost, Vera Brosgol
- The Old Woman with the Knife, Gu Byeong-mo
- Onion Skin, Edgar Camacho
- Rave, Jessica Campbell
- Need to Know, Karen Cleveland
- The New Neighbor, Karen Cleveland
- Finding Langston, Lesa Cline-Ransome
- Upgrade, Blake Crouch
- How to Be Happy, Eleanor Davis
- The Candy House, Jennifer Egan
- Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self, Danielle Evans
- Fatty Legs, Christy Jordan-Fenton & Margaret Pokiak-Fenton
- Sharp Objects, Gillian Flynn
- The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank
- Ghost Forest, Pik-Shuen Fung
- Our Short History, Lauren Grodstein
- Lost Connections: Why You’re Depressed and How to Find Hope, Johann Hari
- How to Survive in the North, Luke Healy
- The Con Artists, Luke Healy
- The Wanderers, Meg Howrey
- Island, Siri Ranva Hjelm Jacobsen
- The True Deceiver, Tove Jansson
- The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin
- Five Tuesdays in Winter, Lily King
- The Pleasing Hour, Lily King
- French Milk, Lucy Knisley
- The Plot, Jean Hanff Korelitz
- Yerba Buena, Nina LaCour
- Whereabouts, Jhumpa Lahiri
- Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life, Yiyun Li
- Every Secret Thing, Laura Lippman
- The Girl in the Green Raincoat, Laura Lippman
- Seasonal Work, Laura Lippman
- No One is Talking About This, Patricia Lockwood
- The Glass Hotel, Emily St. John Mandel
- Sea of Tranquility, Emily St. John Mandel
- Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel
- Meteor Shower, Steve Martin
- Number One is Walking, Steve Martin & Harry Bliss
- The Atmospherians, Alex McElroy
- In, Will McPhail
- Tokyo Ueno Station, Yu Miri
- Convenience Store Woman, Sayaka Murata
- Planetfall, Emma Newman
- True Biz, Sara Novic
- Last Things, Jenny Offill
- Rooms, Lauren Oliver
- 100 Things We've Lost to the Internet, Pamela Paul
- Two Nights in Lisbon, Chris Pavone
- The Best American Short Stories 2014, ed. Heidi Pitlor, Jennifer Egan
- Victory Point, Owen D. Pomery
- Paul Has a Summer Job, Michel Rabagliati
- Paul Goes Fishing, Michel Rabagliati
- Paul at Home, Michel Rabagliati
- Paul Joins the Scouts, Michel Rabagliati
- Paul Moves Out, Michel Rabagliati
- Paul Up North, Michel Rabagliati
- The Song of Roland, Michel Rabagliati
- Dear Mr. Knightley, Katherine Reay
- Cover Story, Susan Rigetti
- Esperanza Rising, Pam Muñoz Ryan
- The Investigator, John Sandford
- Righteous Prey, John Sandford
- Great Circle, Maggie Shipstead
- This Time Tomorrow, Emma Straub
- This One Summer, Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki
- Killing and Dying, Adrian Tomine
- The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist, Adrian Tomine
- Shortcomings, Adrian Tomine
- Minecraft: The End, Catherynne M. Valente
- I Hold a Wolf by the Ears, Laura Van Den Berg
- The Isle of Youth, Laura Van Den Berg
- The Third Hotel, Laura Van Den Berg
- One by One, Ruth Ware
- The Turn of the Key, Ruth Ware
- The Book Tour, Andi Watson
- Now is Not the Time to Panic, Kevin Wilson
- The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, Gabrielle Zevin
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin
- Young Jane Young, Gabrielle Zevin
2021
Year-end favorites
- Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube: Chasing Fear and Finding Home in the Great White North, Blair Braverman
- In the Quick, Kate Hope Day
- The Office of Historical Corrections, Danielle Evans
- Several People Are Typing, Calvin Kasulke
- Weather, Jenny Offill
All books
- Bury Me, K.R. Alexander
- Supergirl Vol. 1: The Killers of Krypton, Marc Andreyko, Kevin Maguire, etc.
- Supergirl Vol. 2: Sins of the Circle, Marc Andreyko, Kevin Maguire, etc.
- Supergirl Vol. 3: Infectious, Marc Andreyko, Kevin Maguire, etc.
- Light From Uncommon Stars, Ryka Aoki
- Company, Max Barry
- The Idiot, Elif Batuman
- Naomi, Season One, Brian Michael Bendis, Jamal Campbell, etc.
- Superman, Action Comics Vol. 1: Invisible Mafia, Brian Michael Bendis, Ryan Sook, etc.
- Superman, Action Comics Vol. 2: Leviathan Rising, Brian Michael Bendis, Ryan Sook, etc.
- Superman, Action Comics Vol. 3: Leviathan Hunt, Brian Michael Bendis, Ryan Sook, etc.
- Superman, Action Comics Vol. 4: Metropolis Burning, Brian Michael Bendis, Ryan Sook, etc.
- Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube: Chasing Fear and Finding Home in the Great White North, Blair Braverman
- The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking, Oliver Burkeman
- Superman: Back in Action, Kurt Busiek, Fabian Nicieza, etc.
- Superman: Camelot Falls, Vol. 1, Kurt Busiek, Carlos Pacheco
- Superman: Camelot Falls, Vol. 2, Kurt Busiek, Carlos Pacheco
- Superman: Secret Identity, Kurt Busiek, Stuart Immonen
- Better Off Dead, Lee Child & Andrew Child
- If, Then, Kate Hope Day
- In the Quick, Kate Hope Day
- Factory Summers, Guy Delisle
- The Every, Dave Eggers
- Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, David Epstein
- Fresh Complaint, Jeffrey Eugenides
- Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet, Claire L. Evans
- The Office of Historical Corrections, Danielle Evans
- Where Nobody Knows Your Name: Life In the Minor Leagues of Baseball, John Feinstein
- A Calling for Charlie Barnes, Joshua Ferris
- The Dinner Party, Joshua Ferris
- The Unnamed, Joshua Ferris
- The Jane Austen Book Club, Karen Joy Fowler
- Lost and Found, Nell Freudenberger
- The Peripheral, William Gibson
- The Encyclopedia of Early Earth, Isabel Greenberg
- You, Austin Grossman
- The Strangers, Margaret Peterson Haddix
- Console Wars, Blake Harris
- Beach Read, Emily Henry
- Etta and Otto and Russell and James, Emma Hooper
- Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, and Other Typographical Marks, Keith Houston
- Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro
- Nocturnes, Kazuo Ishiguro
- Escape Routes, Naomi Ishiguro
- Superman: Last Son, Geoff Johns, Richard Donner, etc.
- Superman: The Men of Tomorrow, Geoff Johns, John Romita, Jr., etc.
- Superman: Secret Origin, Geoff Johns, Gary Frank, etc.
- Superman, Action Comics Vol. 1: Path of Doom, Dan Jurgens
- Superman, Action Comics Vol. 2: Welcome to the Planet, Dan Jurgens
- Superman, Action Comics Vol. 3: Men of Steel, Dan Jurgens
- Superman, Action Comics Vol. 4: The New World, Dan Jurgens
- Superman, Action Comics Vol. 5: Booster Shot, Dan Jurgens
- Superman: Lois & Clark, Dan Jurgens, Lee Weeks, etc.
- Superman: The Oz Effect, Dan Jurgens
- Superman: Reborn, Dan Jurgens, Patrick Gleason, etc.
- The Invoice, Jonas Karlsson
- Several People Are Typing, Calvin Kasulke
- People From My Neighborhood, Hiromi Kawakami
- A Truck Full of Money: Coding, Mania, Love, Genius: The Life of an American Entrepreneur, Tracy Kidder
- Several Short Sentences About Writing, Verlyn Klinkenborg
- Superman: Up in the Sky, Tom King, Andy Kubert
- The Vision, Tom King, Gabriel Hernandez Walta, etc.
- Who is Rich?, Matthew Klam
- Superman: American Alien, Max Landis
- The MVP Machine: How Baseball’s New Nonconformists are Using Data to Build Better Players, Ben Lindbergh, Travis Sawchik
- Dream Girl, Laura Lippman
- My Life as a Villainess, Laura Lippman
- The Hidden Girl and Other Stories, Ken Liu
- Superman for All Seasons, Jeph Loeb
- Severance, Ling Ma
- A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, Anthony Marra
- Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times, Katherine May
- Identity Crisis, Brad Meltzer, Rags Morales, etc.
- Superman: Year One, Frank Miller, John Romita, Jr.
- Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, Alan Moore, Curt Swan
- All Together Now, Matthew Norman
- Domestic Violets, Matthew Norman
- Dept. of Speculation, Jenny Offill
- Weather, Jenny Offill
- Supergirl Vol. 1: Reign of the Cyborg Supermen, Steve Orlando, Brian Ching, etc.
- Supergirl Vol. 2: Escape From the Phantom Zone, Steve Orlando, Brian Ching, etc.
- Supergirl Vol. 3: Girl of No Tomorrow, Steve Orlando, Brian Ching, etc.
- Supergirl Vol. 4: Plain Sight, Steve Orlando, Brian Ching, etc.
- Fake Accounts, Lauren Oyler
- The Impossible Fortress, Jason Rekulak
- Do Better: Spiritual Activism for Fighting and Healing from White Supremacy, Rachel Ricketts
- Why Did I Ever, Mary Robison
- Beautiful World, Where Are You, Sally Rooney
- Wonder Woman, Vol. 1: The Lies, Greg Rucka, Liam Sharp, etc.
- 88 Names, Matt Ruff
- Miles Away From You, A.B. Rutledge
- Ocean Prey, John Sandford
- A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, George Saunders
- Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made, Jason Schreier
- Press Reset: Ruin and Recovery in the Video Game Industry, Jason Schreier
- The Sopranos Sessions, Matt Zoller Seitz, Alan Sepinwall
- LaserWriter II, Tamara Shopsin
- Superman: Grounded, Vol. 1, J. Michael Stracyznski, Chris Roberson, etc.
- Superman: Grounded, Vol. 2, J. Michael Straczynski, Chris Roberson, etc.
- Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout
- The Body Is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love, Sonya Renee Taylor
- The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien
- Action Comics #1000, Peter J. Tomasi, Dan Jurgens, etc.
- The Final Days of Superman, Peter J. Tomasi, Doug Mahnke, etc.
- Superman Vol. 1: Son of Superman, Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason, etc.
- Superman Vol. 2: Trials of the Super Son, Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason, etc.
- Superman Vol. 3: Multiplicity, Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason, etc.
- Superman Vol. 4: Black Dawn, Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason, etc.
- Superman Vol. 5: Hopes and Fears, Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason, etc.
- Superman Vol. 6: Imperius Lex, Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason, etc.
- Superman Vol. 7: Bizarroverse, Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason, etc.
- Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir
- Billion Dollar Loser: The Epic Rise and Spectacular Fall of Adam Neumann and WeWork, Reeves Wiedeman
- A Borrowed Man, Gene Wolfe
- Superman Smashes the Klan, Gene Luen Yang, Gurihiru
- Version Zero, David Yoon
2020
Year-end favorites
- The Vanishing Half, Brit Bennett
- Days of Distraction, Alexandra Chang
- Essays After Eighty, Donald Hall
- The Summer Book, Tove Jansson
- The Housekeeper and the Professor, Yoko Ogawa
All books
- Meditations, Marcus Aurelius
- Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Richard Bach
- The Operator, Gretchen Berg
- Radical Acceptance, Tara Brach
- Nomadland, Jessica Bruder
- The Best We Could Do, Thi Bui
- Robert Redford: The Biography, Michael Feeney Callan
- Await Your Reply, Dan Chaon
- The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, Michael Chabon
- The Sentinel, Lee Child, Andrew Child
- Emergency Contact, Mary H.K. Choi
- Leviathan Wakes, James S.A. Corey
- Caliban’s War, James S.A. Corey
- Abbadon’s Gate, James S. A. Corey
- Dark Matter, Blake Crouch
- Recursion, Blake Crouch
- West, Carys Davies
- Cosmos: Possible Worlds, Ann Druyan
- Offshore, Penelope Fitzgerald
- The Trick of It, Michael Frayn
- Agency, William Gibson
- The Old Man and the Gun (and Other Tales of True Crime), David Grann
- The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s: An Oral History, Andy Greene
- The Whistler, John Grisham
- The Midnight Library, Matt Haig
- Exit West, Mohsin Hamid
- 84, Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff
- The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, Helene Hanff
- Evvie Drake Starts Over, Linda Holmes
- Americana, Luke Healy
- The Dog Stars, Peter Heller
- The Last Pilot, Benjamin Johncock
- Fortune Smiles, Adam Johnson
- Death Without Company, Craig Johnson
- Writers & Lovers, Lily King
- Out of Left Field, Ellen Klages
- Everything Leads to You, Nina LaCour
- Watch Over Me, Nina Lacour
- You Know Me Well, Nina Lacour and David Levithan
- Paul Newman: A Life, Shawn Levy
- Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble, Dan Lyons
- A River Runs Through It and Other Stories, Norman Maclean
- Before and After the Book Deal: A Writer’s Guide to Finishing, Publishing, Promoting, and Surviving Your First Book, Courtney Maum
- Touch, Courtney Maum
- I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer, Michelle McNamara
- Superman: Red Son, Mark Millar, Dave Johnson, etc.
- Hotels of North America, Rick Moody
- Long Bright River, Liz Moore
- The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid, Rosemary Mosco, Dylan Thuras
- The Cactus League, Emily Nemens
- New Waves, Kevin Nguyen
- Last Couple Standing, Matthew Norman
- We’re All Damaged, Matthew Norman
- A Promised Land, Barack Obama
- Last Night at the Lobster, Stewart O’Nan
- The Library Book, Susan Orlean
- Consider This: Moments in My Writing Life After Which Everything Was Different, Chuck Palahniuk
- Dear Mrs. Bird, AJ Pearce
- Trajectory, Richard Russo
- Masked Prey, John Sandford
- The Last Draft: A Novelist’s Guide to Revision, Sandra Scofield
- The Comet Seekers, Helen Sedgwick
- Where’d You Go, Bernadette?, Maria Semple
- In Five Years, Rebecca Serle
- Live Long And…: What I’ve Learned Along the Way, William Shatner
- Ghostly Campfire Stories of Western Canada, Barbara Smith
- The Lager Queen of Minnesota, J. Ryan Stradal
- All Adults Here, Emma Straub
- Other People We Married, Emma Straub
- The Vacationers, Emma Straub
- The Queen’s Gambit, Walter Tevis
- Back When We Were Grownups, Anne Tyler
- Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us), Tom Vanderbilt
- The Perfection of the Paper Clip: Curious Tales of Invention, Accidental Genius, and Stationery Obsession, James Ward
- Pencils You Should Know: A History of the Ultimate Writing Utensil in 75 Anecdotes, Caroline Weaver
- Uncanny Valley: A Memoir, Anna Weiner
- Baby, You’re Gonna Be Mine, Kevin Wilson
- Nothing to See Here, Kevin Wilson
- Meet Me at the Museum, Anne Youngson
2019
Year-end favorites
- The Mothers, Brit Bennett
- Motorcycles I've Loved, Lily Brooks-Dalton
- How to Write an Autobiographical Novel, Alexander Chee
- Through a Life, Tom Haugomat
- Perfect Little World, Kevin Wilson
All books
- You Will Know Me, Megan Abbott
- When You Read This, Mary Adkins
- The Secret Miracle: The Novelist’s Handbook, ed. Daniel Alarcon
- The Line Tender, Kate Allen
- This Was Our Pact, Ryan Andrews
- Mosquitoland, David Arnold
- Transcription, Kate Atkinson
- If Beale Street Could Talk, James Baldwin
- The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury
- Small Fry, Lisa Brennan-Jobs
- The New Me, Halle Butler
- Blue Moon, Lee Child
- No Middle Name, Lee Child
- Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones, James Clear
- Ramona Quimby, Age 8, Beverly Cleary
- Ramona Forever, Beverly Cleary
- The Beautiful Struggle, Ta-Nehisi Coates
- How to Be Happy, Eleanor Davis
- The Hard Tomorrow, Eleanor Davis
- Some Trick, Helen DeWitt
- White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, Robin DiAngelo
- Mindset, Carol S. Dweck
- The Black Stallion, Walter Farley
- The Princess Diarist, Carrie Fisher
- Wishful Drinking, Carrie Fisher
- Harriet the Spy, Louise Fitzhugh
- A Dream About Lightning Bugs: A Life of Music and Cheap Lessons, Ben Folds
- The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore, Kim Fu
- Never Tell, Lisa Gardner
- Write Away: One Novelist’s Approach to Fiction and the Writing Life, Elizabeth George
- Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within, Natalie Goldberg
- Friendship, Emily Gould
- Otis Redding: An Unfinished Life, Jonathan Gould
- Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, David Grann
- Turtles All the Way Down, John Green
- Less, Andrew Sean Greer
- The Secret Life of the Pencil: Great Creatives and Their Pencils, Alex Hammond, Mike Tinney
- Bunnicula, James and Deborah Howe
- Howliday Inn, James and Deborah Howe
- A Single Man, Christopher Isherwood
- My Twentieth Century Evening and Other Small Breakthroughs: The Nobel Lecture, Kazuo Ishiguro
- When We Were Orphans, Kazuo Ishiguro
- The Last Equation of Isaac Severy, Nova Jacobs
- The Best of Everything, Rona Jaffe
- Negroland, Margo Jefferson
- The Hidden Writer: Diaries and the Creative Life, Alexandra Johnson
- Leaving a Trace: On Keeping a Journal, Alexandra Johnson
- The Alaskan Laundry, Brendan Jones
- Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns), Mindy Kaling
- Why Not Me?, Mindy Kaling
- The Stationery Shop, Marjan Kamali
- Far Afield, Susanna Kaysen
- The Learners, Chip Kidd
- Still Life with Tornado, A.S. King
- On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Stephen King
- Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad, Austin Kleon
- Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone, Eric Klinenberg
- The Incendiaries, R. O. Kwon
- Hold Still, Nina LaCour
- We Are Okay, Nina LaCour
- Since We Fell, Dennis Lehane
- A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Madeleine L’Engle
- The Fifth Risk, Michael Lewis
- Another Thing to Fall, Laura Lippman
- I’d Know You Anywhere, Laura Lippman
- Lady in the Lake, Laura Lippman
- The Last Place, Laura Lippman
- The Emotional Craft of Fiction, Donald Maass
- Early Work, Andrew Martin
- The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother, James McBride
- Letters to a Young Writer, Colum McCann
- On Chesil Beach, Ian McEwan
- The Mindful Writer, Dinty Moore
- Heft, Liz Moore
- The Words of Every Song, Liz Moore
- Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, Haruki Murakami
- Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen, Mary Norris
- Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, Barack Obama
- Becoming, Michelle Obama
- How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy, Jenny Odell
- A Tale for the Time Being, Ruth Ozeki
- The Paris Diversion, Chris Pavone
- Second Wind, Nathaniel Philbrick
- The Fates Will Find Their Way, Hannah Pittard
- Yes, Please, Amy Poehler
- The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles, Steven Pressfield
- Inward, Yung Pueblo
- Creative Quest, Questlove
- Fangirl, Rainbow Rowell
- The Star Trek Book: Strange New Worlds Boldly Explained, Paul Ruditis
- The Destiny Thief: Essays on Writing, Writers, and Life, Richard Russo
- Holes, Louis Sachar
- Gratitude, Oliver Sacks
- For Small Creatures Such as We: Rituals for Finding Meaning in Our Unlikely World, Sasha Sagan
- Bloody Genius, John Sandford
- Neon Prey, John Sandford
- Civilwarland in Bad Decline, George Saunders
- Calypso, David Sedaris
- Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, David Sedaris
- Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls, David Sedaris
- TV (The Book): Two Experts Pick the Greatest American Shows of All Time, Matt Zoller Seitz, Alan Sepinwall
- The Future for Curious People, Gregory Sherl
- Challenger Deep, Neal Shusterman
- Glaciers, Alexis M. Smith
- Working Days: The Journals of The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
- Dear Martin, Nic Stone
- The Lager Queen of Minnesota, J. Ryan Stradal
- Light from Other Stars, Erika Swyler
- The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life, Amy Tan
- Swimmer Among the Stars, Kanishk Tharoor
- On the Come Up, Angie Thomas
- The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien
- An Honorable Man, Paul Vidich
- On a Sunbeam, Tillie Walden
- The Color Purple, Alice Walker
- The Woman in Cabin 10, Ruth Ware
- Where Things Come Back, John Corey Whaley
- Sag Harbor, Colson Whitehead
- American Spy, Lauren Wilkinson
- I Am Brian Wilson: A Memoir, Brian Wilson
- The Andromeda Evolution, Daniel H. Wilson
- Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets & Advice for Living Your Best Life, Ali Wong
- Front Desk, Kelly Yang
- Disturbing the Peace, Richard Yates
- The Easter Parade, Richard Yates
- Frankly in Love, David Yoon
- Meet Me at the Museum, Anne Youngson
- The Leisure Seeker, Michael Zadoorian
- The Making of a Manager: What to Do When Everyone Looks to You, Julie Zhou
2018
Year-end favorites
- Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Good Morning, Midnight, Lily Brooks-Dalton
- You & a Bike & a Road, Eleanor Davis
- Exit West, Mohsin Hamid
- Goodbye, Vitamin, Rachel Khong
All books
- Stay with Me, Ayobami Adebayo
- Letter to My Daughter, Maya Angelou
- What it Means When a Man Falls from the Sky, Lesley Nneka Arimah
- Be Prepared, Vera Brosgol
- The Wild Robot Escapes, Peter Brown
- Pops: Fatherhood in Pieces, Michael Chabon
- Past Tense, Lee Child
- We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy, Ta-Nehisi Coates
- The Gum Thief, Douglas Coupland
- Americana, Don DeLillo
- South and West: From a Notebook, Joan Didion
- The Writing Life, Annie Dillard
- Things We Lost in the Fire, Mariana Enriquez
- Light the Dark: Writers on Creativity, Inspiration, and the Artistic Process, ed. Joe Fassler
- To Rise Again at a Decent Hour, Joshua Ferris
- The Dry, Jane Harper
- Sociable, Rebecca Harrington
- Speak No Evil, Uzodinma Iweala
- The Way of the Writer, Charles Johnson
- Train Dreams, Denis Johnson
- Superman: Action Comics Vol. 4: The New World, Dan Jurgens
- Enter Title Here, Rahul Kanakia
- The Room, Jonas Karlsson
- Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative, Austin Kleon
- Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered, Austin Kleon
- Disclaimer, Renee Knight
- Jedi Academy: A New Class, Jarrett J. Krosoczka
- A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle
- Conversations on Writing, Ursula K. Le Guin
- The Forest for the Trees: An Editor's Advice to Writers, Betsy Lerner
- Dear Cyborgs, Eugene Lim
- Home Land, Sam Lipsyte
- After I'm Gone, Laura Lippman
- And When She Was Good, Laura Lippman
- Baltimore Blues, Laura Lippman
- Butchers Hill, Laura Lippman
- Charm City, Laura Lippman
- In a Strange City, Laura Lippman
- In Big Trouble, Laura Lippman
- Life Sentences, Laura Lippman
- The Sugar House, Laura Lippman
- Sunburn, Laura Lippman
- What the Dead Know, Laura Lippman
- Wilde Lake, Laura Lippman
- Black Water Rising, Attica Locke
- Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado
- Scratch: Writers, Money, and the Art of Making a Living, ed. Manjula Martin
- Draft No. 4: On the Writing Process, John McPhee
- This Could Hurt, Jillian Medoff
- Lions, Bonnie Nadzam
- The Refugees, Viet Thanh Nguyen
- Hilda and the Bird Parade, Luke Pearson
- Hilda and the Black Hound, Luke Pearson
- Hilda and the Midnight Giant, Luke Pearson
- Still Life, Louise Penny
- The Assistants, Camille Perri
- Listen to Me, Hannah Pittard
- Reunion, Hannah Pittard
- Visible Empire, Hannah Pittard
- Wonder Valley, Ivy Pochoda
- Attachments, Rainbow Rowell
- The Transcriptionist, Amy Rowland
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J.K. Rowling
- Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Benjamin Alire Saenz
- Holy Ghost, John Sandford
- Twisted Prey, John Sandford
- The Revenge of Analog: Real Things and Why They Matter, David Sax
- Dear Committee Members, Julie Schumacher
- Super Sad True Love Story, Gary Shteyngart
- Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters, John Steinbeck
- Lumberjanes Vol. 7: A Bird's Eye View, Noelle Stevenson
- Lumberjanes Vol. 8: Stone Cold, Noelle Stevenson
- Lumberjanes: Bonus Tracks, Noelle Stevenson
- What Comes Next and How to Like It, Abigail Thomas
- Superman Vol. 4: Black Dawn, Peter J. Tomasi
- Superman Vol. 5: Hopes and Fears, Peter J. Tomasi
- Sing, Unburied, Sing, Jesmyn Ward
- The Pencil Perfect: The Untold Story of a Cultural Icon, Caroline Weaver
- Lucky Wander Boy, D.B. Weiss
- Valley of the Gods, Alexandra Wolfe
- The Wife, Meg Wolitzer
- Sophia of Silicon Valley, Anna Yen
2017
Year-end favorites
- The Paper Menagerie, Ken Liu
- The Unseen World, Liz Moore
- Mad Men: Carousel, Matt Zoller Seitz
- The Fire This Time, ed. Jesmyn Ward
- The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead
All books
- The Tetris Effect: The Game That Hypnotized the World, Dan Ackerman
- Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Modern Romance, Aziz Ansari
- The Fountain, Darren Aronofsky
- Faceoff, ed. David Baldacci
- The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin
- Moonglow, Michael Chabon
- The Midnight Line, Lee Child
- What Happened, Hillary Clinton
- Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet: Book 1, Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel (Before You Waste Three Years Writing 327 Pages That Go Nowhere), Lisa Cron
- Universal Harvester, John Darnielle
- Buried Secrets, Joseph Finder
- The Fixer, Joseph Finder
- Guilty Minds, Joseph Finder
- Vanished, Joseph Finder
- Mooncop, Tom Gauld
- Hide, Matthew Griffin
- Camino Island, John Grisham
- The Rooster Bar, John Grisham
- IQ, Joe Ide
- The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro
- Superman: Lois and Clark (Road to Rebirth), Dan Jurgens
- Superman: Action Comics Vol. 1: Path of Doom, Dan Jurgens
- Superman: Action Comics Vol. 2: Welcome to the Planet, Dan Jurgens
- Superman: Action Comics Vol. 3: Men of Steel, Dan Jurgens
- The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster
- The Vision Vol. 1: Little Worse Than a Man, Tom King
- The Vision Vol. 2: Little Better Than a Beast, Tom King
- Superman: American Alien, Max Landis
- The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories from My Life, John LeCarre
- A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel, Hope Larson
- Warcross, Marie Lu
- The Singer's Gun, Emily St. John Mandel
- Why We Write About Ourselves: Twenty Memoirists on Why They Expose Themselves (and Others) in the Name of Literature, ed. Meredith Maran
- Off Speed: Baseball, Pitching, and the Art of Deception, Terry McDermott
- Sweet Tooth, Ian McEwan
- Norwegian Wood, Haruki Murakami
- Everything I Never Told You, Celeste Ng
- The Tiger's Wife, Tea Obreht
- Version Control, Dexter Palmer
- A Single Shard, Linda Sue Park
- The Expats, Chris Pavone
- The Accident, Chris Pavone
- The Travelers, Chris Pavone
- Thrill Me: Essays on Fiction, Benjamin Percy
- A Hundred Thousand Worlds, Bob Proehl
- Sorta Like a Rock Star, Matthew Quick
- Serenity: No Power in the 'Verse, Chris Roberson
- Eleanor & Park, Rainbow Rowell
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, J.K. Rowling
- Deep Freeze, John Sandford
- Golden Prey, John Sandford
- Saturn Run, John Sandford & Ctein
- Startup, Doree Shafrir
- The World of Flashpoint: Superman, Scott Snyder
- Lumberjanes Vol. 1: Beware the Kitten Holy, Noelle Stevenson
- Lumberjanes Vol. 2: Friendship to the Max, Noelle Stevenson
- Lumberjanes Vol. 3: A Terrible Plan, Noelle Stevenson
- Lumberjanes Vol. 4: Out of Time, Noelle Stevenson
- Lumberjanes Vol. 5: Band Together, Noelle Stevenson
- Lumberjanes Vol. 6: Sink or Swim, Noelle Stevenson
- Superman Vol.1: Son of Superman, Peter J. Tomasi
- Superman Vol. 2: Trials of the Super Son, Peter J. Tomasi
- Superman: Vol. 3: Multiplicity, Peter J. Tomasi
- Spinning, Tillie Walden
- Men We Reaped, Jesmyn Ward
- How to Ruin Everything, George Watsky
- Serenity: Leaves on the Wind, Zack Whedon
- The Animators, Kayla Rae Whitaker
- The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, Sloan Wilson
- The Swimmer, Joakim Zander
2016
Year-end favorites
- Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Life Among the Savages, Shirley Jackson
- The Tsar of Love & Techno, Anthony Marra
- Contact, Carl Sagan
- Marrow Island, Alexis M. Smith
All books
- The Hours Count, Jillian Cantor
- Night School, Lee Child
- Fire Season: Field Notes from a Wilderness Lookout, Philip Connors
- Every Anxious Wave, Mo Daviau
- The Charm School, Nelson DeMille
- The Art of Slow Writing: Reflections on Time, Craft, and Creativity, Louise DeSalvo
- The Flood Girls, Richard Fifield
- Suspicion, Joseph Finder
- Kevin Kramer Starts on Monday, Debbie Graber
- Playing Dead: A Journey Through the World of Death Fraud, Elizabeth Greenwood
- In Progress: See Inside a Lettering Artist's Sketchbook and Process, from Pencil to Vector, Jessica Hische
- The Buried Giant, Kazuo Ishiguro
- To the Bright Edge of the World, Eowyn Ivey
- Wait for Signs, Craig Johnson
- Iron Lake, William Kent Krueger
- A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle
- Get in Trouble, Kelly Link
- Two Kisses for Maddy: A Memoir of Loss and Love, Matthew Logelin
- A Burglar's Guide to the City, Geoff Manaugh
- A Place of My Own: The Education of an Amateur Builder, Michael Pollan
- Escape Clause, John Sandford
- Extreme Prey, John Sandford
- All the Old Knives, Olen Steinhauer
- My Documents, Alejandro Zambra
2015
In 2015, I began tracking my reading, but only late in the year; this one is a short list as a result.
Year-end favorites
- Man v. Nature, Diane Cook
- Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
- Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel
- What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, Haruki Murakami
- Gratitude, Oliver Sacks
All books
- Step Aside, Pops, Kate Beaton
- Fortunately, the Milk, Neil Gaiman
- Mortality, Christopher Hitchens
- Dead Wake, Erik Larson
- This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, Ann Patchett
- Contact, Carl Sagan
- Kitchens of the Great Midwest, J. Ryan Stradal