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