reading

TO BE READ

December 2018

  • Nightwoods by Charles Frazier (novel)
  • Tolstoy and the Purple Chair by Nina Sankovitch (memoir)*

November 2018

  • Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin (novel)*
  • Dream House by Catherine Armsden (debut novel)

October 2018

  • The Death of Fred Astair by Leslie Lawrence (essays)
  • Daybook by Anne Truitt (memoir)

September 2018

  • The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai (novel)*

August 2018

July 2018

  • There, There by Tommy Orange (debut novel)*

June 2018

  • An American Marriage by Tayari Jones (novel)*
  • Bad Kansas by Becky Mandelbaum (debut stories)*

May 2018

April 2018

  • Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward (novel)*
  • Entire Dilemma by Michael Burkard (poetry)*

March 2018

  • Sirens by Joshua Mohr (memoir)*
  • Spill by Kelle Groome (poetry)*

February 2018

  • The Untouched Minutes by Donald Morrill (nonfiction)
  • What My Last Man Did by Andrea Lewis (debut stories)*

January 2018

  • Devotion by Patti Smith (memoir)

December 2017

  • Kinds of Love by May Sarton (novel)

November 2017

  • The Rest of Life by Mary Gordon (novellas/reread)
  • The Beauty of the Husband by Anne Carson (fiction)

October 2017

  • The Natural by Bernard Malamud (debut novel)
  • Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (novel)

September 2017

  • History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund (debut novel)
  • An Absorbing Errand by Janna Malamud Smith (nonfiction)

August 2017

  • Unforgivable Love by Sophfronia Scott (novel)
  • Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng (novel)

July 2017

  • The Last Laugh by Lynn Freed (novel)
  • Harbors by Donald Quist (essays/memoir)
  • The Daylight Marriage by Heidi Pitlor (novel)

June 2017

  • Vanishing Point by E.V. Legters (novel)
  • The Summer Book by Tove Jansson (novel)

may 2017

  • The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti (novel)

april 2017

  • Hourglass by Dani Shapiro (memoir)
  • Things Like the Truth by Ellen Gilchrist (essays)
  • Lost Wax by Jericho Parms (debut essays)

march 2017

  • The Last Gift of Time: Life Beyond Sixty by Carolyn G. Heilbrun (essays)
  • Commonwealth by Ann Patchett (novel)
  • Mercy Songs by Kai Carlson-Wee and Anders Carlson-Wee (poetry)

february 2017

january 2017

  • The Other Side of the World by Stephanie Bishop (novel)
  • Felicity by Mary Oliver (poetry)

december 2016

  • M Train by Patti Smith (memoir)
  • Her, Infinite by Sawnie Morris (debut poetry)
  • The Ranch by Pam Houston (memoir in manuscript)
  • The Clairvoyants by Karen Brown (novel)

november 2016

october 2016

september 2016

  • Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed edited by Meghan Daum (essays)
  • Preliminary Report by Jon Davis (poetry)

august 2016

  • I Mary You by John Ciardi (poetry)
  • Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff (novel)
  • Half Wild by Robin MacArthur (debut stories)

july 2016

  • Simply Lasting: Writers on Jane Kenyon edited by Joyce Peseroff (essays)
  • The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan (debut novel)
  • The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty by Vendela Vida (novel)
  • Why We Came to the City by Kristopher Jansma (novel)

june 2016

  • The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald (novel)
  • The Boys of my Youth by Jo Ann Beard (memoir)
  • Hamlet by William Shakespeare (play)
  • My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout (novel)

may 2016

  • What Belongs to You by Garth Greenwell (debut novel)
  • Girl Through Glass by Sari Wilson (debut novel)

april 2016

  • A Book of Common Prayer by Joan Didion (novel)
  • They Could Live With Themselves by Jodi Paloni (debut stories)
  • Off Magazine Street by Ronald Everett Capps (debut novel)
  • The Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick (nonfiction)

march 2016

  • A Well-Made Bed by Abby Frucht and Laurie Alberts (novel)
  • The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee (novel)

february 2016

  • The Narrow Door by Paul Lisicky (memoir)
  • Marriage & Personal Development by Rubin Blanck and Gertrude Blanck (nonfiction)

january 2016

  • The Fragile Bond by Augustus Y. Napier (nonfiction)
  • Casualties by Elizabeth Marro (debut novel)

december 2015

  • Aftermath by Rachel Cusk (memoir)

november 2015

  • Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake by Anna Quindlen (essays)
  • The True Secrets of the Nile by Sarah Stone (debut novel)
  • As You Like It by William Shakespeare (play)

october 2015

  • We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (essay)
  • Citizen by Claudia Rankine (essays)

september 2015

august 2015

  • The Green Road by Anne Enright (novel)
  • Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare (play)
  • Nom de Plume by Carmela Ciuraru (nonfiction)

july 2015

  • A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (novel 736 pages!)
  • A Thousand Mornings by Mary Oliver (poetry)

june 2015

  • The Beautiful Bureaucrat by Helen Phillips (debut novel)
  • The Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit (nonfiction)
  • The Remedy for Love by Bill Roorbach (novel)

may 2015

  • The First Bad Man by Miranda July (debut novel)
  • Henry V by William Shakespeare (play)

april 2015

  • The Book of Nightmares by Galway Kinnell (poetry)
  • Lighthousekeeping by Jeanette Winterson (novel)
  • What Comes Next and How to Like it by Abigail Thomas (memoir)

march 2015

  • Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare (play)
  • The Gift of an Ordinary Day: A Mother’s Memoir by Katrina Kenison (memoir)
  • Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White (children’s book/reread)
  • Winter Hours by Mary Oliver (prose, prose poems, & poems/reread)
  • The Unvanquished by William Faulkner (novel)

february 2015

  • Henry IV, Part Two by William Shakespeare (play)
  • Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay (essays)
  • Dream Work by Mary Oliver (poetry)
  • Island of Bones by Joy Castro (essays)
  • Our World by Mary Oliver (prose/poetry) and Molly Malone Cook (photographs)

january 2015

  • History of the Rain by Niall Williams (novel)
  • The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare (play)
  • Rainey Royal by Dylan Landis (novel)

december 2014

  • Nora Webster by Colm Toibin (novel)
  • Someone by Alice McDermott (novel)
  • Henry IV, Part One by William Shakespeare (play)

november 2014

  • Animal, Mineral, Radical by BK Loren (essays)
  • Theft by BK Loren (debut novel)
  • The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare (play)
  • Beasts of the Southern Wild and other stories by Doris Betts (stories)

october 2014

  • Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (novel)
  • The New Valley by Josh Weil (debut novellas)
  • The Woman Who Lost Her Soul by Bob Shacochis (novel)

september 2014

  • Anatomy of a Misfit by Andrea Portes (young adult novel)
  • Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner (novel)

august 2014

  • A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare (play)
  • Bound by Antonya Nelson (novel)
  • Shepherd by Richard Gilbert (debut memoir)

july 2014

  • Snow Hunters by Paul Yoon (novel)
  • Acts of God by Ellen Gilchrist (stories)
  • The Anna Papers by Ellen Gilchrist (novel/reread)

june 2014

may 2014

  • Richard II by William Shakespeare (play)
  • Sparta by Roxana Robinson (novel)
  • King John by William Shakespeare (play)
  • The Goldfinch by Donna Tart [771 pages!] (novel)

april 2014

  • Love’s Labor’s Lost by William Shakespeare (play)
  • The Pat Boone Fan Club by Sue William Silverman (memoir)
  • Resuscitation of a Hanged Man by Denis Johnson (novel)

march 2014

  • The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare (play)
  • Train Shots by Vanessa Blakeslee (debut stories)

february 2014

  • Dirty Love by Andre Dubus III (linked novellas)
  • Mystery Ride by Robert Boswell (novel/reread)
  • Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare (play)

january 2014

  • The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare (play)
  • The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante (novel)
  • The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante (debut novel)

december 2013

  • Silverchest by Carl Phillips (poetry)
  • Small Change by Elizabeth Hay (linked stories)
  • Still Writing by Dani Shapiro (nonfiction)
  • Tumbledown by Robert Boswell (novel)

november 2013

  • The Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare (play)
  • Life Drawing by Robin Black (novel)

october 2013

  • Return to Oakpine by Ron Carlson (novel)

september 2013

  • Richard III by William Shakespeare (play)
  • Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (novel)
  • Fobbit by David Abrams (debut novel)
  • The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. by Adelle Waldman (debut novel)

august 2013

  • Westerly by Will Schutt (poetry)
  • The Saddest Music Ever Written by Thomas Larson (nonfiction)
  • Henry VI, Part Three by William Shakespeare (play)

july 2013

  • The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman (debut novel)
  • Henry VI, Part One by William Shakespeare (play)
  • Henry VI, Part Two by William Shakespeare (play)

june 2013

  • Pictures of You by Caroline Leavitt (novel)
  • The Season of Open Water by Dawn Tripp (novel)
  • The Paper Anniversary by Joan Wickersham (novel)

may 2013

april 2013

march 2013

  • Tenth of December by George Saunders (stories)
  • This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper (novel)

february 2013

  • The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (debut novel)
  • The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers (debut novel)
  • Reservation Road by John Burnham Schwrtz (novel)
  • Prosperous Friends by Christine Schutt (novel)

january 2013

  • Seasons in Love by Dave Malone (poetry)
  • Glaciers by Alexis M. Smith (debut novel)
  • The News from Spain by Joan Wickersham (stories)
  • Train Dreams by Denis Johnson (novella)

december 2012

november 2012

october 2012

  • A Sport and a Pastime by James Salter (novel)
  • Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed (letters)
  • The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (debut novel)
  • Battleborn by Claire Vaye Watkins (stories)

september 2012

august 2012

july 2012

  • Straight Man by Richard Russo (novel)
  • The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards (nonfiction)
  • The Infinite Tides by Christian Kiefer (novel/debut)
  • Unconventions by Michael Martone (craft)
  • Four for a Quarter by Michael Martone (book)
  • The Burning House by Paul Lisicky (novel)
  • Florida by Christine Schutt (novel)

june 2012

  • Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese [658 pages!] (novel/debut)
  • Nobody Wakes Up Pretty by Diane Lefer (novel)
  • Into This World by Sybil Baker (novel)
  • Michael Martone by Michael Martone (fiction)
  • Best Words, Best Order by Stephen Dobyns (essays)
  • When Women Were Birds by Terry Tempest Williams (essays)
  • After This by Alice McDermott (novel)
  • The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson (novel/debut)

may 2012

  • Normal People Don’t Live Like This by Dylan Landis (stories/debut)
  • The Education of Harriet Hatfield by May Sarton (novel)
  • The Art Lover by Carole Maso (novel)
  • The Bradshaw Variations (novel)
  • The Bradshaw Variations [nope, not a mistake–finished the last page and turned to the first to read it again] (novel/reread)
  • The Confessions of Edward Day by Valerie Martin (novel)

april 2012

march 2012

  • Contents May Have Shifted by Pam Houston (novel/reread)

february 2012

january 2012

  • Volt by Alan Heathcock (stories/debut)
  • Torch by Cheryl Strayed (novel/debut)

december 2011

  • So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell (novel)
  • The Empty Family by Colm Toibin (stories)

november 2011

  • An Actor Prepares by Constantin Stanislavski (nonfiction)
  • The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides (novel)
  • We The Animals by Justin Torres (novel/debut)

october 2011

  • Notes Home From a Prodigal Son by Douglas Glover (essays)
  • The Court of Common Pleas by Alexandra Marshall (novel/reread)
  • The Gathering by Anne Enright (novel/reread)

september 2011

  • No Place on Earth by Christa Wolf (novel)
  • The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa (novel)

august 2011

  • The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark (novel)
  • Siddhartha by Herman Hesse (novel/reread)
  • Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler (novel/reread)

july 2011

june 2011

may 2011

april 2011

  • This Won’t Take But A Minute, Honey by Steve Almond (essays and stories)
  • The Art of the Novel by Milan Kundera (craft)
  • A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit (essays)
  • Contents May Have Shifted by Pam Houston (novel)
  • Mother of Sorrows by Richard McCann (stories)

march 2011

  • The Age of Grief by Jane Smiley (stories and a novella)
  • Aspects of the Novel by E. M. Forster (craft)
  • How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly by Connie May Fowler (novel)

february 2011

january 2011

december 2010

  • Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler (novel)
  • Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (novel/did not finish)

november 2010

  • Old Border Road by Susan Froderberg (novel/debut)
  • Evocative Objects edited by Sherry Turkle (essays)
  • Coming to Writing and Other Essays by Helene Cixous (essays)
  • By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham (novel)
  • Journeyman’s Wages by Clemens Starck (poetry)
  • Shakespearean Design by Mark Rose (craft)
  • Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout (novel/reread)

october 2010

  • Jesus’ Son by Dennis Johnson (stories/reread)
  • Words Overflown by Stars edited by David Jauss (craft essays from the Vermont College of Fine Arts faculty)
  • The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler (novel)

september 2010

august 2010

july 2010

june 2010

  • Mrs. Somebody Somebody by Tracy Winn (stories/debut)
  • Rabbit, Run by John Updike (novel)
  • Where the God of Love Hangs Out by Amy Bloom (stories)

may 2010

  • The Maytrees by Annie Dillard (novel/reread)
  • Imperfect Birds by Anne Lamott (novel)
  • Verging on the Pertinent by Carol Emshwiller (stories)

april 2010

march 2010

  • Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard (nonfiction)
  • How Fiction Works by James Wood (craft)
  • The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty (stories)
  • Love in Mid Air by Kim Wright (novel/debut)

february 2010

  • Love and Summer by William Trevor (novel)
  • Reasons to Live by Amy Hempel (stories)
  • Edinburgh by Alexander Chee (novel/debut)
  • Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace (essays)

january 2010

december 2009

  • Mentors, Muses, & Monsters edited by Elizabeth Benedict (essays)
  • The Signal by Ron Carlson (novel)

november 2009

  • An Equal Stillness by Francesca Kay (novel/debut)
  • The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera (novel)
  • Things You Should Know by A. M. Homes (stories)

october 2009

  • A Brief History of Time by Shaindel Beers (poetry)
  • Snoop by Sam Gosling (nonfiction)
  • A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore (novel)
  • The Sweet In-Between by Sheri Reynolds (novel)
  • poemcrazy by Susan Goldsmith Wooldrigde (craft)
  • wildlives by Monique Proulx (novel)

september 2009

  • Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (novel)
  • Speak Low by Carl Phillips (poetry)

august 2009

july 2009

  • This is Water by David Foster Wallace (essay)
  • The Way to Write by John Fairfax and John Moat (craft)
  • The Best American Short Stories 2008 edited by Salman Rushdie (story anthology)

june 2009

may 2009

april 2009

march 2009

  • House of Light by Mary Oliver (poetry)
  • The Secret Currency of Love edited by Hilary Black (essays)
  • In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin (nonfiction)
  • Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates (novel/reread)

february 2009

january 2009

december 2008

november 2008

october 2008

september 2008

august 2008

july 2008

june 2008

  • The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (novel/reread)
  • The Problem with Paradise by Lesley Dahl (novel/YA)
  • Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos (novel)
  • Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (memoir)
  • Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje (novel)
  • Flight by Sherman Alexie (novel)
  • Late Wife by Claudia Emerson (poetry)

may 2008

  • Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (stories/linked)
  • Enduring Love by Ian McEwan (novel)
  • A Dangerous Age by Ellen Gilchrist (brand new novel!)
  • The Spy who Came in from the Cold by John le Carre (novel)

april 2008

  • Animal Crackers by Hannah Tinti (stories/debut)
  • The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards (novel)
  • The Awakening by Kate Chopin (novel)
  • The Gateway by T. M. McNally (stories)
  • The Gathering by Anne Enright (novel)

march 2008

february 2008

january 2008

  • Loving Frank by Nancy Horan (novel)
  • Five Skys by Ron Carlson (novel)
  • Ron Carlson Writes a Story by Ron Carlson (craft)
  • The Art of Subtext by Charles Baxter (craft)
  • Fugitive Blue by Dani Shapiro (novel)

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Please post a comment if you have any questions about these books.

11 thoughts on “reading

  1. Voracious reader that I am, I have to say that I have not ready any one of these books! I now have a solid list to add to my “to read” list.

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  2. Pingback: a most interesting blog « Aimless musings

  3. Hey Hope! Nice to see you here. I’ve just read the first page of The Signal, and with your words I can’t wait to pick it back up again tonight. I see you liked Five Skies as well. So did I. I appreciate your leaving a comment!

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  4. Elizabeth, thanks for leaving a comment here. I have to say, I’m a list-maker so it just seemed natural to keep a list of the books I read. And I love reading others’ lists. Nice to know you!

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