Book Club (and Beyond) Reading List

I’ve been the beneficiary of wonderful bookgroups since forever. Much gratitude to many great recommendations and I welcome your suggestions!

2024

The Hypocrite

The Hypocrite
Jo Hamya

North Woods

North Woods
Daniel Mason
A story told over hundreds of years about one wood; reminded me of The Overstory that way.

Enlightenment

Enlightenment
Sarah Perry
A book about orbits over time, human and comet. Sweet.

Tell Me Everything

Tell Me Everything
Elizabeth Strout
Feels like much more than the sum of its parts. Powerful and comforting.

Intermezzo

Intermezzo
Sally Rooney
I read everything Rooney writes; always worth it but this was a favorite.

Here One Moment

Here One Moment
Liane Moriarty
Guilty pleasure, Moriarty is always so much fun to read.

Abide with Me
Elizabeth Strout
My early Strout is complete. Every one of them is well worth reading.

Amy and Isabelle

Amy and Isabelle
Elizabeth Strout
I'm catching up on all the Elizabeth Strout I missed, before allowing myself the new one.

Death at the Sign of the Rook

Death at the Sign of the Rook
Kate Atkinson
An expanded Jackson Brodie-verse proves Atkinson makes all her characters fun and compulsively readable. I predict a spinoff is in the works, and I'll be first in line.

The Blackwater Lightship

The Blackwater Lightship
Colm Toibin
More tough Irish moms.

Mrs Palfrey At The Claremont

Mrs Palfrey At The Claremont
Elizabeth Taylor
Yes, a different E. Taylor, more like Barbara Pym. Charming and eccentric and sweet.

The Burgess Boys

The Burgess Boys
Elizabeth Strout
Such a vivid picture of Maine, even as characters try to start new elsewhere, their childhoods stay with them.

Feh: A Memoir
Shalom Auslander
Parts are brilliant, but so relentlessly dark for most of the book.

The Truths We Hold

The Truths We Hold
Kamala Harris
A great blend of her family story and her drive to make things better. Love the section of photos and captions.

All Fours
Miranda July
So smart, so uncomfortable. Her books are like her performance art, you kind of want to sneak out unnoticed, but end up glad you stayed.

The Sleepwalkers

The Sleepwalkers
Scarlett Thomas
Great premise but lost me somewhere in there.

Same As It Ever Was

Same As It Ever Was
Claire Lombardo
Wonderful sprawling family drama that's vivid, unusual, and moving. Hard to believe the author is just in her 30s!

In Tongues
Thomas Grattan
Classic gay coming-of-age novel set in 2000s New York, about a few formative choices and the impact they have on a life.

James
Percival Everett
Brilliant retelling of Huckleberry Finn from Jim's point of view. Mind-bending and thoughtful.

Long Island
Colm Toibin
A followup to his novel Brooklyn, 20 years later. Tough going in these small Irish towns I'd say.

The Giver of Stars

The Giver of Stars
Jojo Moyes
I found the historical parts of the New Deal’s Pack Horse Library initiative in Appalachia fascinating, but wasn't wowed by the rest of the story.

Bad Animals
Sarah Braunstein
The wild tale of a disgraced librarian who crosses paths with her fiction writing hero. It's a surprising, funny, and moving novel.

The Hunter
Tana French
More Irish blood feuds in this twisty reverse mystery.

A Dangerous Business

A Dangerous Business
Jane Smiley
An original crime solving heroine who's happier and better treated in an 1850s brothel in Monterey than she was in her marriage.

Someone Else’s Shoes

Someone Else’s Shoes
Jojo Moyes
I've always felt that accidentally grabbing the wrong bag with the right pair of pumps might just change one's life.

Now Is Not the Time to Panic

Now Is Not the Time to Panic
Kevin Wilson
"To be a teenager, it takes very little to think that someone else might actually know who you are, even as you spend all your time thinking that no one understands you. It's such a lovely feeling."

Family Family
Laurie Frankel
"It's good to know love, and it's good to know love is not enough... love did not preclude strife. It did not erase sorrows. It did not detangle complication. In the case of families, uncomplicated wasn't really the goal anyway."

Trouble the Living

Trouble the Living
Francesca McDonnell Capossela
A story of Ireland and California, narrated by mom and daughter in alternating chapters, much of it while each is 16. Feels energetic and real.

One Woman Show
Christine Coulson
Can you write a whole novel in art wall labels? Interesting, but a strange book.

My Ex-Life
Stephen McCauley
McCauley is always reliable for a smile and a laugh, writing about extended and interesting families. Comfort read.

White Teeth
Zadie Smith
Finally got to her first novel. So impressive, so much!

Wild, Tamed, Lost, Revived

Wild, Tamed, Lost, Revived
Diane Flynt
The story of founding the first modern cidery in the south, and the lost history of southern heirloom apples. Great read and proud to know Diane!

The Wren, the Wren

The Wren, the Wren
Anne Enright
Vivid voice, though parts of it are hard to take.

The Secret Hours

The Secret Hours
Mick Herron
Related to the Slow Horses series, a bit of a prequel. Sharp and cynical spy thriller.

Pineapple Street

Pineapple Street
Jenny Jackson
The 1 percent, dealing with inequality but still rocking great houses, apartments, and outfits. Hm.

The Sentence
Louise Erdrich
An ex-convict working in a Minneapolis bookstore is haunted by it's worst customer's ghost. Inventive, funny, and bittersweet.

You Only Call When You’re in Trouble

You Only Call When You’re in Trouble
Stephen McCauley
Comforting fun with a lovable collection of oddballs; fun to have a novel by a gay guy writing about people about our age.

Rules of Civility

Rules of Civility
Amor Towles
Towles creates such vivid, compelling characters, and their romp across 1930s Manhattan is a great read.

Lessons in Chemistry

Lessons in Chemistry
Bonnie Garmus
Moves fast and somehow plows through the gross sexism of midcentury American science with some zany fun. Hard to describe.

Day
Michael Cunningham
Pandemic flashbacks with some magical realism. Sweet and sad.

2023

Old God’s Time
Sebastian Barry
Memory and reality blur in this dreamy, creepy mashup of Job and a whodunit. Barry is becoming one of my favorites for his diverse, fascinating Irish stories.

Hello Beautiful

Hello Beautiful
Ann Napolitano
As I got sucked into this book I realize I never read Little Women, but this sure makes me want to. Sweet family saga, two hanky book.

The Bee Sting
Paul Murray
Great writing, layered stories from 4 people in the family. But it just gets so, so dark, and then darker. And darker. Too much for me at the end, though I'm glad I read it.

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
James McBride
"Principle... that was the one thing the Moshe never gave away. He never hated anyone. He was always kind. He'd give away his last crumb... Kindness. Love. Principle. It runs the world."

The Magic Kingdom

The Magic Kingdom
Russell Banks
As Banks writes in Continental Drift, “Good cheer and mournfulness over lives other than our own ... deprive the world of some of the greed it needs to continue to be itself. Sabotage and subversion, then, are this book’s objectives. Go, my book, and help destroy the world as it is.”

Normal Rules Don’t Apply

Normal Rules Don’t Apply
Kate Atkinson
Stories from the always-interesting writer.

Horse
Geraldine Brooks
About a real racehorse, Lexington, a late-19th-century Kentucky bay stallion, and as the NYTimes says, about “race... not the contests Lexington won... but relations between Black and white people over the course of two centuries."

The Fraud
Zadie Smith
A great yarn told around the 1870s Tichborne trials and scandal in England. I could not get enough of the narrator, the patient cousin of a talentless writer who holds her tongue, but gives us her thoughts.

A Thousand Moons

A Thousand Moons
Sebastian Barry
The followup novel to Days Without End, a "dazzling novel about memory and identity, set in Tennessee in the aftermath of the Civil War."

Small Mercies
Dennis Lehane
As The New York Times says, this Lehane has it all: "a propulsive plot, a perfectly drawn cast of working-class Boston Irish characters, razor-sharp wit and a pervasive darkness through which occasional glimmers of hope peek out like snowdrops in early spring."

The Librarianist

The Librarianist
Patrick deWitt
Remarkable: a quiet, sharp book about an introspective character in a crazy world.

Crook Manifesto

Crook Manifesto
Colson Whitehead
A wonderful followup to Harlem Shuffle. The need for Jackson 5 tickets for his teen lures him back into the life in deeply corrupt NYC.

Tom Lake
Ann Patchett
Patchett has such control of her stories, it's so great to relax into it and enjoy. “There is no explaining this simple truth about life: You will forget much of it.”

The House of Broken Angels

The House of Broken Angels
Luis Alberto Urrea
Multigenerational LA family story about a reluctant patriarch's last birthday.

The Covenant of Water

The Covenant of Water
Abraham Verghese
Also a LOT of characters! A bit too much plot. But tied together skillfully and beautifully at the end.

Still Life
Sarah Winman
Charming and heartfelt story spanning the end of WWII to the 70s in Florence. Some magical realism (the parrot's like the chorus) but an utterly lovely wanna travel read.

The Late Americans

The Late Americans
Brandon Taylor
Some great moments, but too many characters for me to follow. Maybe the doubling is on purpose, but I lost the thread.

The Master
Colm Toibin
Historical fiction imagining the interior life of Henry James. Beautiful book.

The Last Word
Taylor Adams
Summer's trending thriller with who-saw-it twists. To be read with your feet in the sand only.

Ways to Disappear

Ways to Disappear
Idra Novey
Reminiscent of "Where'd You Go, Bernadette" but much less madcap.

The World According to Garp

The World According to Garp
John Irving
Revisited this one after 40 years... I had a complicated response, mostly about my 40-year-ago self.

The Housekeeper and the Professor

The Housekeeper and the Professor
Yoko Ogawa
"The mathematical order is beautiful precisely because it has no effect on the real world. Life isn't going to be easier, nor is anyone going to make a fortune, just because they know something about prime numbers."

Mercury Pictures Presents

Mercury Pictures Presents
Antony Marra
A vivid, madcap yet poignant portrait of Hollywood in the 30s and 40s, an industry of illusion run by emigrees fleeing Mussolini and Hitler and looking for home.

The Lincoln Highway

The Lincoln Highway
Amor Towles
An epic 50's road trip that goes nowhere you expect but everywhere you're glad to go. Great characters.

Take What You Need

Take What You Need
Idra Novey
Two narrators tell an intertwined tale The New York Times says "speak for the two (dis)United States, one with nothing left to lose and one afraid of losing everything... a story about complicated relationships" yet very satisfying.

Bookish People
Susan Coll
Fun romp about a bookstore and its frenzied staff. If her real bookstore is this much fun I want to go.

Happy-Go-Lucky
David Sedaris
There are few writers I'd open up with this creepy clown on the cover, but I love his funny, sad, outrageous takes on life.

I Have Some Questions for You

I Have Some Questions for You
Rebecca Makkai
Manages to grapple with both the overwhelming amount of violence directed at women's bodies and our toxic online culture that makes vengance simpler than justice.

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida
Shehan Karunatilaka
A unique novel set in the afterlife during Sri Lanka's brutal civil war. Funny, absurd, and moving meditation on living with forces outside our control.

Demon Copperhead

Demon Copperhead
Barbara Kingsolver
A southern Appalachian Dickensian story of survival in the face of poverty, addiction, and living in a place the US has abandoned and would like to forget. Kingsolver is always a great storyteller.

The Crow Trap
Ann Cleeves
An engaging mystery told from multiple points of view, though the famous Vera Stanhope barely figures in this, her first book. Do I have the energy for another detective series?

Remarkably Bright Creatures

Remarkably Bright Creatures
Shelby Van Pelt
Liked it, despite (because of?) the chapters narrated by a resigned giant Pacific Octopus, doing time in confinement. The humans doing their best.

Cloud Cuckoo Land

Cloud Cuckoo Land
Anthony Doerr
A sprawling novel about an ancient Greek text and how, improbably, it survives through the centuries. A puzzle that rewards the reader who keeps plugging.

Shrines of Gaiety

Shrines of Gaiety
Kate Atkinson
NYTimes: "Atkinson vividly conjures the post-Great War London of a century ago, a vast stinking metropolis ... bent on burying its mass trauma in a sort of collective, hectic hedonism.”

2022

These Precious Days: Essays

These Precious Days: Essays
Ann Patchett
"The uncertainty, the complete lack of autonomy or control, leaving places you never wanted to leave to go places you never wanted to go... To have a child required the willful forgetting of what childhood was actually like."

The Magician
Colm Toibin
Wonderful fictional account of Thomas Mann's interior life.

A World of Curiosities

A World of Curiosities
Louise Penny
Inspector Gamache is back, looking to keep his faith despite evil in the world. Also a good croissant helps.

Lessons
Ian McEwan
A complex, compelling story of growing up and, despite everything, finding one's way.

Nothing to See Here

Nothing to See Here
Kevin Wilson
Electric and indescribable. "Maybe that's what children were, a desperate need that opened you up even if you didn't want it."

Family Life
Akhil Sharma
"Vanishing into books, I felt held. While at school and walking down the street, there seemed no end to the world, when I read a book or watched The Love Boat, the world felt simple and understandable."

Harlem Shuffle
Colson Whitehead
"It was like trying to decode a mystery from childhood, like why a man leaves his young son alone on a stool in a run-down bar. Anyone who knew the story was dead or wasn't talking. That left the repercussions and your feeble attempts to make sense of it."

Less Is Lost
Andrew Sean Greer
"Because to love someone ridiculous is to understand something deep and true about the world. That up close it makes no sense."

Lucy by the Sea

Lucy by the Sea
Elizabeth Strout
"I also noticed how, in the afternoons, clouds might start to come in and they were gently autumnal; they made the world look quietly soft as though it was already getting ready to tuck itself in for the night."

This Time Tomorrow

This Time Tomorrow
Emma Straub
"Maybe moms talk about it more--I bet they do. But no one ever talked to me about it, that's for sure--what it feels like to love someone so much, and then have them change into someone else."

This Is How It Always Is

This Is How It Always Is
Laurie Frankel
"This is how it always is. You have to make these huge decisions on behalf of your kid, this tiny human whose fate and future is entirely in your hands, who trusts you to know what's good and right and then to be able to make that happen. You never have enough information."

The Boys
Katie Hafner
Totally unexpected and absorbing.

The Magician
Colm Tóibín
Fascinating historical fiction about Thomas Mann.

The Searcher
Tana French
This one might be my favorite French mystery. Small scale, vivid, engrossing.

What Alice Forgot

What Alice Forgot
Liane Moriarty
Does it sometimes require a brain injury to realize what's important? In Liane's world, yes, and I think she might be right.

Wild Fire
Ann Cleeves
...and then I read books 5 through 8 in the Shetland series. Popcorn summer reading, and a very satisfying series. I'd recommend them in order.

Blue Lightning
Ann Cleeves
Shetland book 4 finds even more murder in those violent little islands, but luckily there's just the guy to solve it.

The Summer Place

The Summer Place
Jennifer Weiner
It's like I can feel the sand between my toes with every romcom twist and turn.

The Heron’s Cry

The Heron’s Cry
Ann Cleeves
A friend lent me the hardcover so I read Detective Matthew Venn book 2 BEFORE book 1. That's right, I'm that wild and crazy.

A Really Good Day

A Really Good Day
Ayelet Waldman
The subtitle says it all: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage, and My Life

Hamnet
Maggie O'Farrell
A dive into 16th century English life and a fun take on what a certain playwright's family story might have been.

A Carnival of Snackery: Diaries (2003-2020)

A Carnival of Snackery: Diaries (2003-2020)
David Sedaris
Like much of his writing, I read a bit then give it a rest. He's a powerful presence on the page, disruptive and funny but also a tiny bit toxic. Ultimately enjoyable.

A Visit from the Goon Squad

A Visit from the Goon Squad
Jennifer Egan
Still a thrilling read 10 years later, and a good companion book to Candy House. I wouldn't want all my novels to be short stories, but these work for me.

The Candy House

The Candy House
Jennifer Egan
She's as vivid a prose writer as ever, a fractured companion to the novel A Visit from the Goon Squad.

Young Mungo
Douglas Stuart

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry
Fredrik Backman
A fable about the power of stories, and a mystery set out for a precocious 7 year old by her grandmother. Smarmy in parts, but there are times that's the right feel good cry a bit choice.

Trust Exercise
Susan Choi
Boldly experimental, brilliantly captures the feelings I remember of being in high school under the sway of creative and crazy adults. I was lost and puzzled in by the late narrative twists though.

Raven Black
Ann Cleeves
Book One of the Shetland Island Mysteries; should I commit or just watch the streaming adaptation?

French Braid
Anne Tyler

Mouth to Mouth
Antoine Wilson
An old acquaintance tells a long, wild story about how saving a drowning victim changed his life, if it's true.

Wildcat
Amelia Morris
Fun story of an epic friendship breakup between hip LA creative moms. Absurd and real at the same time.

Joe Country
Mick Herron
More freezing London (and Wales!) and the Slough House spies.

Small Things Like These

Small Things Like These
Claire Keegan
It shocked me to realize the Magdalene laundries operated into the 1980s.

The Madness of Crowds

The Madness of Crowds

The latest Inspector Gamache imagines a surprising post-pandemic life, with a clever riff on some of our current flavors of madness. There are scones and hot chocolate.

Night Boat to Tangier

Night Boat to Tangier
Kevin Barry
Two colorful, aging criminals in a meandering, more hopeful sort of Waiting for Godot.

What Comes After

What Comes After
JoAnne Tompkins
What seems like it might be a who-done-it is really a why'd they do it, and a meditation on seeing ourselves clearly, forgiveness, and love. 2- to 3-hanky rating.

The Book of Form and Emptiness

The Book of Form and Emptiness
Ruth Ozeki
A knockout book about our relationship to things and each other, told in part by a book. Beautiful.

All the Devils Are Here

All the Devils Are Here
Louise Penny
Ringing in the year with Quebec's best detective.

2021

While Justice Sleeps

While Justice Sleeps
Stacey Abrams

Bewilderment
Richard Powers
I found it as powerful as The Overstory, instead of a large saga it's a tightly focused on a father and his son, and their connections to the world.

London Rules
Mick Herron
5th book in the Slough House series; the MI5 outcasts bumble along but save the day, sort of.

Wintering
Katherine May
Recommended by Cheryl Strayed, a good one for this season. The subtitle says it all, The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times.

Long Live the Post Horn!

Long Live the Post Horn!
Vigdis Hjorth
Dark, funny, and indescribable novel about a PR flack losing faith, and maybe finding it again through the Norwegian postal service.

Our Country Friends

Our Country Friends
Gary Shteyngart
This is the pandemic quarantine book we've all been waiting for. Ridiculous, sad, and funny.

A Better Man
Louise Penny
That completes books 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15. These are like candy.

A Gambler’s Anatomy

A Gambler’s Anatomy
Jonathan Lethem
A hall of mirrors of male disguise, bluff, and risk; weird and compelling.

Oh William!
Elizabeth Strout
The third "Lucy Barton" gets its power from its narrator's spare, puritan refusal to say it all.

Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures

Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures
Emma Straub
I've almost completed all of Emma Straub's novels, and have enjoyed them all.

A Calling for Charlie Barnes

A Calling for Charlie Barnes
Joshua Ferris
A beautifully chaotic novel about an archetypical father blustering his way through American culture, and unreliable subject narrated by his possibly unreliable son. Read my review!

The Morning Star

The Morning Star
Karl Ove Knausgaard
Some fun storytelling but I didn't feel it held together as well as his autobiographical fiction.

Apples Never Fall

Apples Never Fall
Liane Moriarty
There is never a spare detail in Moriarity's books, it's all tightly connected.

Spook Street
Mick Herron
Slough House Book 4

The Nature of the Beast

The Nature of the Beast
Louise Penny
Inspector Gamache Book 10 and the stakes have never been higher.

The Master
Colm Toibin
A wonderful take on what the life of Henry James might have felt like.

The Vanishing Half

The Vanishing Half
Brit Bennett
Well-deserved Best Books of 2020, powerful story about passing, what we hide and how we become ourselves.

Beautiful World, Where Are You

Beautiful World, Where Are You
Sally Rooney
One of my favorite writers; such a sharp, unique voice, putting human connection at the center of everything.

Real Tigers
Mick Herron
Slough House Book 3 finds the misfit M15 agents at it again in gritty London.

Modern Lovers
Emma Straub
Perfect gossipy summer read; I pretended I was at the beach.

Dead Lions (Slough House Book 2)

Dead Lions (Slough House Book 2)
Mick Herron

The Damage
Caitlin Wahrer

Klara and the Sun

Klara and the Sun
Kazuo Ishiguro
Haunting, provocative story narrated by an AI "friend."

Under the Wave at Waimea

Under the Wave at Waimea
Paul Theroux
A surfer is forced to look inward for the first time. Brooding and immersive.

The Vacationers

The Vacationers
Emma Straub
Textbook beach novel is great fun, though best read by a pool on vacation in the south of France.

One Two Three
Laurie Frankel
A lot of issues packed into this novel, maybe a bit too much, but Frankel has a charming way with narration.

All Adults Here

All Adults Here
Emma Straub
My summer reading is alternating murder and kooky family sagas. All good here.

How the Light Gets In

How the Light Gets In

I'm up to book 9 in Inspector Gamache. Literally a cozy mystery.

The Secret Place

The Secret Place
Tana French
You can just assume I read the whole series, I won't bore you with every cover.

The Most Fun We Ever Had

The Most Fun We Ever Had
Claire Lombardo
I guess it's the season of the sweeping family saga; it's so moving to see the characters over so many years. Great first novel.

The Recent East

The Recent East
Thomas Grattan
Captivating multigenerational novel about leaving East Germany, Europe, the US, and returning.

Faithful Place
Tana French
Can't get enough of the Dublin murder squad.

Writers & Lovers

Writers & Lovers
Lily King
Powerful, evocative novel about crossing into adulthood.

The Likeness
Tana French

Slade House
David Mitchell
Spooky version of Mitchell's novel The Bone Clocks. I'd read that one first, and over this, but was fun.

Anxious People
Fredrik Backman
After I got the hang of the tone, I really enjoyed it. Different!

A Rule Against Murder

A Rule Against Murder
Louise Penny
Inspector Gamache Mystery #4! Very comforting.

The Self-Driven Child

The Self-Driven Child

...because control freak dad isn't working for me anymore.

The Book of Lost Light

The Book of Lost Light
Ron Nyren
Fun San Francisco and Berkeley historical fiction. Great read!

The Magician’s Assistant

The Magician’s Assistant
Ann Patchett
Somehow I missed this in the late 90s, but it's a knockout!

2020

Memorial
Bryan Washington
Fresh narrative voice and a sweet, Millennial love story

Leave the World Behind

Leave the World Behind
Rumaan Alam
Gorgeous smart writing, compelling, but devastatingly apocalyptically depressing

Mexican Gothic
Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Too gothic for me I'm afraid.

Cleanness
Garth Greenwell
Well written but quite graphic

The Mirror & the Light

The Mirror & the Light
Hilary Mantel
Third of the Wolf Hall series. Captivating.

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
Olga Tokarczuk
Indescribable and surprising; an elegiac meditation and a mystery with an unforgettable narrator.

That Kind of Mother

That Kind of Mother
Rumaan Alam
Really interesting story of adoptive parenting, he really captures a certain voice.

Shuggie Bain
Douglas Stuart
Searing and beautiful.

The Heart’s Invisible Furies

The Heart’s Invisible Furies
John Boyne

Just Like You
Nick Hornby
I try to never miss a Nick Hornby. Just out!

The Cruelest Month

The Cruelest Month
Louise Penny
Another Chief Inspector Gamache Mystery. I can't stop!

A Fatal Grace: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel

A Fatal Grace: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel
Louise Penny
My friend Kenny hooked me on this series.

Bring Up the Bodies

Bring Up the Bodies
Hilary Mantel
Fascinating character study of what might have driven Thomas Cromwell. Great read.

Utopia Avenue
David Mitchell
Deep dive into a fictional, groovy 1968 in London's music scene. Fun.

Squeeze Me
Carl Hiaasen
Satire that only barely keeps out ahead of the ridiculous present. But diverting and some good laughs.

The Weekend
Charlotte Wood
Three friends of 40 years clear out a fourth's house after her passing. Sharp, sweet musings on mortality and meaning, adding up a life.

Intimations: Six Essays

Intimations: Six Essays
Zadie Smith
It only seems obvious and true after Zadie Smith says it. Essays about 2020 to help us figure out what we're feeling.

Love
Roddy Doyle
A lifelong friendship revealed through one beery night; the words fail them but the picture comes clear. Must we always explain what we mean?

What Is the Grass: Walt Whitman in My Life

What Is the Grass: Walt Whitman in My Life
Mark Doty
A loving reverie about Whitman from a favorite poet.

Inland
Téa Obreht
Gritty and tough, beautifully written. And I did not know the story of camels in civil war US, fascinating.

Still Life: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel

Still Life: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel
Louise Penny
A good time for a Canadian crime cozy.

White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism

White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism
Robin J. DiAngelo
Working on my blind spots and assumptions. Very useful book.

Actress
Anne Enright
I appreciate her style, which stays vivid and crisp even as the narrator and characters lose perspective, get lost, and then find a thread.

Big Summer
Jennifer Weiner
Fun whodunnit friendship & fashionblogger drama. Ominous doings at a big beach wedding sounds so fun right now.

Truly Madly Guilty

Truly Madly Guilty
Liane Moriarty
Liane Moriarty is the perfect pandemic reading. Exciting, fun, emotional.

Wolf Hall
Hilary Mantel
Finally started the Cromwell trillogy. At a time when not much can hold my attention, this kept me turning the pages. Delicious.

The Last Anniversary

The Last Anniversary
Liane Moriarty
So far I'd say you can't go wrong with the Big Little Lies author's work, I'm gobbling them like candy.

Who Do You Love?

Who Do You Love?
Jennifer Weiner
30 year love story. Maybe too much of a romance, but good COVID reading I guess.

The Husband’s Secret

The Husband’s Secret
Liane Moriarty
Suspenseful, twisting fun with an Aussie accent. Read it before it's a miniseries.

American Spy
Lauren Wilkinson
Fresh and fun espionage thriller. Ta-Nehisi Coates calls it “Spy fiction plus allegory, and a splash of pan-Africanism.”

What Belongs to You

What Belongs to You
Garth Greenwell
Sexy and surprising story of a gay American teaching English in Bulgaria.

How to Read the Air

How to Read the Air
Dinaw Mengestu
The child of Ethiopian immigrants sets out to understand his parents, and the marks their stories, real and imagined, have left on him.

Clock Dance
Anne Tyler
A comforting read for chilly winter nights.

Normal People
Sally Rooney
Great dialog fires this Millennial dark comedy of manners.

Olive, Again
Elizabeth Strout
Fitting and moving sequel to Olive Kitteridge

2019

The Dutch House

The Dutch House
Ann Patchett
Crazy dads, dominating architecture, generational sprawl. Great read.

The Witch Elm
Tana French
My friend Kenny suggested Tana French, and I will be checking out her other books. Absorbing dark winter read.

The Immortalists

The Immortalists
Chloe Benjamin
Four siblings sneak to a psychic in late 60s New York City, and she tells each the day they will die. A beautiful novel about self-determination vs fate, and the complicated joys and sorrows of family.

The Overstory
Richard Powers
Incredible book, not exactly narrated by trees, but told, in sections, in tree time, which makes human life look dizzyingly short.

Lady in the Lake

Lady in the Lake
Laura Lippman
Gripping whodone it and historical drama set in 60s Baltimore.

Asymmetry
Lisa Halliday
Quite a read, bold and honest about a (probably inspired by real life) romance between a young literary assistant and a brilliant, elderly author.

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
Arundhati Roy
Gorgeously elaborate, sprawling narrative woven into the violence and despair of Kashmir's struggle with India.

Pops: Fatherhood in Pieces

Pops: Fatherhood in Pieces
Michael Chabon
Short pieces that go deep. I'd follow Michael Chabon almost anywhere in a book.

Washington Black

Washington Black
Esi Edugyan
A meditation on identity, slavery, and freedom, wrapped in a surreal Victorian adventure. Beautiful language.

Mrs. Everything

Mrs. Everything
Jennifer Weiner
Epic family saga of two sisters from the sixties to today. Beautiful.

Becoming
Michelle Obama
Really well written and confiding.

Conversations with Friends

Conversations with Friends
Sally Rooney
She's got a really compelling voice and the plot never goes where you think it will. Great read.

Big Sky (Jackson Brodie Book 5)

Big Sky (Jackson Brodie Book 5)
Kate Atkinson
I would follow Kate Atkinson anywhere. At least in a book. Very satisfying whodoneit!

Machines Like Me

Machines Like Me
Ian McEwan
Sexy AI Noir in an alternate UK where Alan Turing lived, and the Beatles never broke up.

The Great Believers

The Great Believers
Rebecca Makkai
Six hanky read, 2 thumbs up.

Nine Inches: Stories

Nine Inches: Stories
Tom Perrotta

Where the Crawdads Sing

Where the Crawdads Sing
Delia Owens
Reese proves she's the new Oprah. Made for the screen, but lovely, detailed observations and settings.

Transcription
Kate Atkinson
Exciting and smart WWII spy thriller and coming of age novel. Atkinson has great control of the page, and really fun twists.

The Silkworm
Robert Galbraith (really J K Rowling)
Cormoran Strike book 2. I had to stop here because book 3 got really bloody.

Cuckoo’s Calling Copy

Cuckoo’s Calling Copy
Robert Galbraith (really J K Rowling)
Fun! Cormoran Strike is up there with Jackson Brodie in my book.

Summer
Karl Ove Knausgaard
The end of an 18-month reading project the likes of which I'll probably never have again. Let's talk about these books!

The Mars Room
Rachel Kushner
I don't know yet. Well written, but... You can borrow my copy.

Black Is the Body

Black Is the Body
Emily Bernard
Thoughtful, honest essays about having a black body in this country.

The Uncoupling
Meg Wolitzer
A funny take on Lysistrata.

The Wife
Meg Wolitzer
I am a Wolitzer fan, but... eh.

Fates and Furies

Fates and Furies
Lauren Groff
The New Yorker calls her text "beautiful and vigorously alert" ... I agree. Stylish and surprising.

Nine Perfect Strangers

Nine Perfect Strangers
Liane Moriarty
More from the author of Big Little Lies. Fun.

Spring
Karl Ove Knausgaard
Suffering Karl Ove withdrawl. Only one in the series left.

Winter
Karl Ove Knausgaard
Struggling with my Karl Ove addiction.

2018

Brooklyn
Colm Toibin
Wonderful immersive story about two worlds.

The Sparsholt Affair

The Sparsholt Affair
Alan Hollinghurst
One of my favorite authors.

Unsheltered
Barbara Kingsolver
She's convinced me we're at the end of an era.

My Struggle: Book Six

My Struggle: Book Six
Karl Ove Knausgaard
The 6 volume read has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The Female Persuasion: A Novel

The Female Persuasion: A Novel
by Meg Wolitzer
Rollercoaster fun read.

How to Change Your Mind

How to Change Your Mind
Michael Pollan
The mind-blowing history of LSD research past and present.

Imagine Me Gone

Imagine Me Gone
Adam Haslett
Beautiful book.

Little Fires Everywhere

Little Fires Everywhere
Celeste Ng
Gripping family drama set in Shaker Heights, Ohio (my people are from there).

Less
Andrew Sean Greer
A poignant story of a not-so-successful author's 50th year; he never says the witty things he ends up writing down.

Calypso
David Sedaris
He's a powerful but still weird narrator of his kooky family's stories.

Mrs Queen Takes the Train

Mrs Queen Takes the Train
William Kuhn
Fast and fun what if about the Queen's escape.

My Absolute Darling

My Absolute Darling
Gabriel Tallent
Brutal. I couldn't put it down, but felt held hostage. Not sure I recommend.

My Struggle: Book 5

My Struggle: Book 5
Karl Ove Knausgaard
College, and looping back to his father's death. Now I have to wait for the translation of Book 6 to come out!

My Struggle: Book 4

My Struggle: Book 4
Karl Ove Knausgaard
Teaching school at 18 in far northern Norway.

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
Gail Honeyman

My Struggle: Book 3

My Struggle: Book 3
Karl Ove Knausgaard
Deep dive into childhood.

Manhattan Beach

Manhattan Beach
Jennifer Egan
Great yarn about WW2 New York: shipyards, the mafia, and more.

My Struggle: Book 2

My Struggle: Book 2
Karl Ove Knausgaard
A Man in Love. And changing diapers.

2017

Autumn
Ali Smith
Poetic and moving.

My Struggle: Book 1

My Struggle: Book 1
Karl Ove Knausgaard
Compulsively readable meditation on death, building a powerful intimacy in this first (of 6!) autobiographical novel.

Autumn
Karl Ove Knausgaard
Elegiac and simple, a gorgeous meditation on noticing things.

Mrs. Fletcher
Tom Perrotta
This empty nest drama goes nowhere you expect and I could only follow.

Slow Horses
Mick Herron
A group of misfits banished from MI5 uncover a plot that could destroy them.

Insomniac City: New York, Oliver Sacks, and Me

Insomniac City: New York, Oliver Sacks, and Me
Bill Hayes
A lovely take on the joys of city life, and a very famous boyfriend.

Days Without End

Days Without End
Sebastian Barry
Gorgeous, funny, and brutal Booker Prize shortlist. Don't miss.

The Go-Between
The Go-Between
Reissued and newly popular strong book from a mostly middling writer.

Theft by Finding: Diaries (1977-2002)

Theft by Finding: Diaries (1977-2002)
David Sedaris
Not really introspective, but reveals a great deal about him through the oddball stuff he notices and writes down.

Lincoln in the Bardo

Lincoln in the Bardo
George Saunders
Gorgeous, elegiac poem about Willie, Abraham, and the Civil War. Powerful.

Bettyville: A Memoir

Bettyville: A Memoir
George Hodgman
Funny and touching memoir about caring for a parent.

Since We Fell
Dennis Lehane
Fun summer whodoneit.

A Gentleman in Moscow

A Gentleman in Moscow
Amor Towles
This long book breezes by quick. Charming read.

The Mistress of Spices

The Mistress of Spices
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Beautiful, lyric writing and great setup, though it falls apart at the end.

Idaho
Emily Ruskovich
Lovely novel about the gaps in what we know.

A Little Life
Hanya Yanagihara
This is a tough book. Beautifully written but a kick in the guts.

Homegoing
Yaa Gyasi
Roots for a new generation.

Today Will Be Different

Today Will Be Different
Maria Semple
Stressed out moms unite!

Moonglow
Michael Chabon
Fantastic read. He's back, after a disappointing "Telegraph Avenue"

Swing Time
Zadie Smith
What a narrative voice!

2016

This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage

This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage
Ann Patchett
Engaging essays about writing and life.

LaRose
Louise Erdrich
I think my favorite Erdich.

Commonwealth
Ann Patchett
Sprawling family saga had me paying attention.

The Nest
Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
Fast, fun summer read!

The Sympathizer

The Sympathizer
Viet Thanh Nguyen
Difficult and painful; worthy of the Pulitzer.

The Girl on the Train

The Girl on the Train
Paula Hawkins

A Tale for the Time Being

A Tale for the Time Being
Ruth Ozeki

Euphoria
Lily King

Undermajordomo Minor

Undermajordomo Minor
Patrick deWitt

My Name Is Lucy Barton

My Name Is Lucy Barton
Elizabeth Strout

After You
Jojo Moyes

When Breath Becomes Air

When Breath Becomes Air
Paul Kalanithi
Heartbreakingly beautiful. Read this.

The Portable Veblen

The Portable Veblen
Elizabeth Mckenzie
The best squirrel book ever.

A God in Ruins
Kate Atkinson
Not sure about this one yet.

2015

The Golden Age
Jane Smiley
Final book of the trillogy. Series is a knockout!

The Luminaries
Eleanor Catton
Booker winning knockout whodunit set in Gold Rush New Zeland.

Early Warning
Jane Smiely
Book 2 in the remarkable trillogy.

NW
Zadie Smith
Bright, beautiful prose. A bit far-flung, but lovely.

Purity
Jonathan Franzen
Are our motives ever absolutely clear? Captiviating.

Americanah
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Beautiful, engrossing book.

The Rosie Effect

The Rosie Effect
Graeme Simsion
Don Tillman is irresistible. Guilty pleasure.

This Is Where I Leave You

This Is Where I Leave You
Jonathan Tropper
Wanted to like this more than I did...

A Spool of Blue Thread

A Spool of Blue Thread
Anne Tyler
Sweet read.

Funny Girl
Nick Hornby
I will ready anything Hornby writes. Great book, smart and interesting.

The First Bad Man

The First Bad Man
Miranda July
Hilarious, uncomfortable, and ultimately moving.

The Paying Guests

The Paying Guests
Sarah Waters
Kind of soapy, not sure I believed it.

The Narrow Road to the Deep North

The Narrow Road to the Deep North
Richard Flanagan
Beautiful and harrowing.

2014

State of Wonder
Ann Patchett

To Rise Again at a Decent Hour
Joshua Ferris

Can’t We Talk about Something More Pleasant?
Roz Chast

The Bone Clocks
David Mitchell

The Children Act
Ian McEwan

At Night We Walk in Circles
Daniel Alarcón

The Good Lord Bird
James McBride

Cutting for Stone
Abraham Verghese

I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You
Courtney Maum

The Goldfinch
Donna Tartt

The Snow Queen
Michael Cunningham

And the Dark Sacred Night
Julia Glass

Mommy Man: How I Went from Mild-Mannered Geek to Gay Superdad
Jerry Mahoney

The Light Between Oceans
M.L. Stedman

Me Before You
Jojo Moyes

We Are Water
Wally Lamb

Tenth of December: Stories
George Saunders

Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules
Edited by David Sedaris

2013

You Remind Me of Me
Dan Chaon

Seating Arrangements
Maggie Shipstead

The Interestings
Meg Wolitzer

Necessary Errors
Caleb Crain

Bad Monkey
Carl Hiaasen

Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls
David Sedaris

No One Belongs Here More Than You: Stories
Miranda July

Someone Could Get Hurt: A Memoir of Twenty-First-Century Parenthood
Drew Magary

The Silver Linings Playbook
Matthew Quick

Life After Life
Kate Atkinson

The Fault in Our Stars
John Green

The Paris Wife
Paula Mclain

The End of Your Life Book Club
Will Schwalbe

2012

The Art of Fielding
Chad Harbach

The Sense of an Ending
Julian Barnes

Sweet Tooth
Ian McEwan

Flight Behavior
Barbara Kingsolver

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
Cheryl Strayed

Blue Nights
Joan Didion

Redirect: The Surprising New Science of Psychological Change
Timothy D. Wilson

Bringing Up Bebe: The Wisdom of French Parenting
Pamela Druckerman

2011

Bangkok 8
John Burdett

A Gate at the Stairs
Loorie Moore

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
David Mitchell

Ivan and Misha: Stories
Michael Alenyikov

Tinkers
Paul Harding

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
Jamie Ford

Then We Came to the End
Joshua Ferris

Solar
Ian Mcewan

Zeitoun
Dave Eggers

Wishin’ and Hopin’
Wally Lamb

The Imperfectionists
Tom Rachman

South of Broad
Pat Conroy

2010

The Lacuna
Barbara Kingsolver

Let the Great World Spin
Colum McCann

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Jonathan Safran Foer

The Lazarus Project
Aleksandar Hemon

Case Histories
Kate Atkinson

One Good Turn
Kate Atkinson
Love the Jackson Brodie series!

Brooklyn
Colm Toibin

Little Bee
Chris Cleave

Bridge of Sighs
Richard Russo

The Song Is You
Arthur Phillips

Summertime
J. M. Coetzee

The Amateur Marriage
Anne Tyler

Alias Grace
Margaret Atwood

2009

Eventide
Kent Haruf

The Art of Racing in the Rain
Garth Stein

The Outlander
Gil Adamson

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Stieg Larsson

America America
Ethan Canin

Unaccustomed Earth
Jhumpa Lahiri

Olive Kitteridge
Elizabeth Strout

Emergency Sex And Other Desperate Measures
Kenneth Cain

The White Tiger
Aravind Adiga

Lush Life
Richard Price

The Elegance of the Hedgehog
Muriel Barbery

The Distant Land of My Father
Bo Caldwell

2008

The Echo Maker
Richard Powers

The Story of a Marriage
Andrew Sean Greer

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox
Maggie Ofarrell

The Yiddish Policemen’s Union
Michael Chabon

Ten Days in the Hills
Jane Smiley

Loving Frank
Nancy Horan

The Gathering
Anne Enright

Forever
Pete Hamill

Dirt Music
Tim Winton

Restless
William Boyd

2007

The Lovely Bones
Alice Sebold

The Time Traveler’s Wife
Audrey Niffenegger

On Chesil Beach
Ian McEwan

Shroud
John Banville

About Grace
Anthony Doerr

The Wonder Spot
Melissa Bank

March: A Novel
Geraldine Brooks

Palace Walk
Naguib Mahfouz

2006

Zorro
Isabel Allende

The Glass Castle: A Memoir
Jeannette Walls

Memory Keeper’s Daughter
Kim Edwards

Saturday
Ian McEwan

Last Orders
Graham Swift

Gilead
Marilynne Robinson

Giant O’Brien
Hilary Mantel

The Plot Against America
Philip Roth

Their Eyes Were Watching God
Zora Neale Hurston

2005

Lolita
Vladimir Nabokov
December 2005

Snow
Orhan Pamuk
September 2005

China Boy
Gus Lee
November 2005

The Other Boleyn Girl
Philippa Gregory
July 2005

Happiness
Will Ferguson
May 2005

Lying Awake
Mark Salzman
March 2005

A General Theory of Love
Thomas Lewis et. al.
A change-your-life sort of book
February 2005

The Confessions of Max Tivoli
Andrew Sean Greer
January 2005

2004

The Stories of Wallace Stegner
Wallace Stegner
December 2004

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime
Mark Haddon
Wonderful read
November 2004

The Namesake
Jhumpa Lahiri
Two hankies
October 2004

Empire Falls
Richard Russo
September 2004

The Known World
Edmund Jones
August 2004

Motherless Brooklyn
Jonathan Lethem
July 2004

The Secret Lives of Bees
Sue Monk Kidd
June 2004

The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini
May 2004

The Pieces from Berlin
Michael Pye
April 2004

Middlesex
Jeffrey Eugenides
March 2004

Where I Was From
Joan Didion
January 2004

2003

The DaVinci Code
Dan Brown
December 2003

The Red Tent
Anita Diamant
October 2003

Educating Waverly
Laura Kalapian
September 2003

John Adams
David McCullough
August 2003

Caroline’s Daughters
Alice Adams
July 2003

Booneville
Robert Mailer Anderson
June 2003

The Vine of Desire
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
May 2003

The Girl from Zanzibar
Roger King
April 2003

Pere Goriot
Balzac
March 2003

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
Dai Sijie
February 2003

Fall on Your Knees
Ann-Marie MacDonald
January 2003

2002

Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Marriage
Alice Munro
December 2002

Money
Martin Amis
October 2002

The Dive from Claussen’s Pier
Ann Packer
September 2002

How to Be Good
Nick Hornby
August 2002

Kitchen Confidential
Anthony Bourdain
July 2002

The Sea, The Sea
Iris Murdoch
June 2002

The Human Stain
Philip Roth
May 2002

Atonement
Ian McEwan
April 2002

Second Hand
Michael Zadoorian
March 2002

The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty
Eudora Welty
February 2002

The Corrections
Jonathan Franzen
January 2002

2001

The Notorious Dr. August: His Real Life and Crimes
Christopher Bram
November 2001

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Michael Chabon
October 2001

In the Name of Salome
Julia Alvarez
September 2001

Prodigal Summer
Barbara Kingsolver
August 2001

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Dave Eggers
June 2001

The Bonesetter’s Daughter
Amy Tan
May 2001

The Vision of Emma Blau
Ursula Hegi
April 2001

Corelli’s Mandolin
Louis de Bernieres
March 2001

Girl with a Pearl Earring
Tracy Chevalier
February 2001

2000

Plainsong
Kent Haruf
December 2000

Me Talk Pretty One Day
David Sedaris
October 2000

Bodily Harm
Margaret Atwood
August 2000

The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing
Melissa Bank
July 2000

Timbuktu
Paul Auster
June 2000

Different Seasons
Stephen King
April 2000

American Pastoral
Philip Roth
March 2000

Interpreter of Maladies
Jhumpa Lahiri
January 2000

1999

Eucalyptus
Murray Bail
November 1999

Harvest Son
David Mas Masumoto
October 1999

Lost in Translation
Nicole Mones
July 1999

Enduring Love
Ian McEwan
June 1999

Memoirs of a Geisha
Arthur Golden
March 1999

The Sweet Hereafter
Russell Banks
February 1999

The Perfect Storm
Sebastian Junger
January 1999

1998

A Civil Action
Jonathan Harr
December 1998

Beloved
Toni Morrison
November 1998

The Color of Water
James McBride
October 1998

None to Accompany Me
Nadine Gordimer
September 1998

Into the Wild
Jon Krakauer
August 1998

The God of Small Things
Arundhati Roy
July 1998

Sacred Hunger
Barry Unsworth
June 1998

Behind the Scenes at the Museum
Kate Atkinson
May 1998