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Eighteen years ago, I began keeping track of the books I read. My goal is two per month, or 24 per year, but I often fall short of that—some years more than others. I’ve omitted a lot of the pregnancy, child care, finance, and dog training books I’ve read. This page is for writers and readers either looking for a good book to read or interested in honing their craft. Enjoy!

2022

1. I Was Their American Dream by Malaka Gharib

2. The Stranger in the Lifeboat by Mitch Albom

3. Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

4. Atomic Habits by James Clear

5. The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

6. The Guest List by Lucy Foley

7. The Lying Game by Ruth Ware

8. Deacon King Kong by James McBride

9. Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

10. The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

11. Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

12. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

 

2021

1. Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

2. Strange Bedfellows by Ina Park

3. Breath by James Nestor

4. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

5. The Way of Integrity by Martha Beck

6. Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

7. The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

8. Halsey Street by Naima Coster

9. The Witch Elm by Tana French

10. Know My Name by Chanel Miller

11. The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

12. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling

13. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb

14. Did I Saw You Could Go? by Melanie Gideon

15. Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips

16. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

17. A Really Good Day by Ayelet Waldman

18. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

19. Untamed by Glennon Doyle

20. We Run the Tides by Vendela Vida

21. Woke Racism by John McWhorter

22. Pachinko by Min Jim Lee

23. People of the Lie by M. Scott Peck

24. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

 

2020

1. The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

2. Transit for Rachel Cusk

3. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

4. Why We Can’t Sleep by Ada Calhoun

5. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

6. Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney

7. Writing the Memoir by Judith Barrington

8. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

9. How to be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

10. Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

11. Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad

12. Blind Spot by Mahzarin Banaji and Anthony Greenwald

13. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

14. You Can Keep That To Yourself by Adam Smyer

15. Why We Swim by Bonnie Tsui

16. Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier

17. Writers and Lovers by Lily King

18. So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Olua

19. Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

20. Kindred by Octavia Butler

21. Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore

22. The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

23. Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins

24. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

 

2019

1. The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod

2. Dear America by Jose Antonio Vargas

3. The Fault in our Stars by John Green

4. Where Reasons End by Yiyun Li

5. Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life by Yiyun Li

6. Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver

7. The Power by Naomi Alderman

8. Where’d You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple

9. Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas Contreras

10. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

11. The Hours by Michael Cunninghma

12. Washington Black by Esi Edugyan

13. Good Talk by Mira Jacob

14. White Fragility by Robin Diangelo

15. Lost and Wanted by Nell Freudenberger

16. The History of White People by Nell Irvin Painter

17. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

18. The Friend by Sigrid Nunez

19. The Overstory by Richard Powers

20. Listen to the Marriage by John Jay Osborn

21. The Idiot by Elif Batuman

22. Outline by Rachel Cusk

23. Trust Exercise by Susan Choi

24. Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss

 

2018

1. The American War by Omar El Akkad

2. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

3. Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

4. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle

5. Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

6. Without You, There is No Us by Suki Kim

7. Smarter Faster Better by Charles Duhigg

8. The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle

9. Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

10. So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

11. Shrill by Lindy West

12. Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwon

13. Less by Andrew Sean Greer

14. Educated by Tara Westover

15. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

16. The Desert and the Sea by Michael Scott Moore

17. The Golden State by Lydia Kiesling

18. Essentialism by Greg McKeown

19. The Risk of Us by Rachel Howard

20. The Miracle Morning for Writers by Hal Elrod

 

2017

1. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

2. Sirens by Joshua Mohr

3. How to Raise an Adult by Julie Lythcott-Haims

4. Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better by Pema Chödrön and Seth Godin

5. The Weight of Him by Ethel Rohan

6. Lucky Boy by Shanthi Sekaran

7. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

8. Tell Me Everything You Don’t Remember by Christine Hyung-Oak Lee

9. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

10. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

11. The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell by W. Kamau Bell

12. The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

13. The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown

14. The Girls by Emma Cline

15. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

16. The Circle by Dave Eggers

17. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

18. Wild by Cheryl Strayed

19. A Kind of Freedom by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton

20. Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong

21. The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery

22. The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Ngyuyen

23. The One-Page Financial Plan by Carl Richards

 

2016

1. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
2. Beyond Measure by Vicki Abeles
3. Dear White People by Justin Simien

4. The Girl in the Train by Paula Hawkins

5. The Turner House by Angela Flournoy

6. Why Do All The Black Kids Sit Together in the Cafeteria? by Beverly Daniel Tatum

7. Citizen by Claudia Rankine

8. Your Brain at Work by David Rock

9. Love and Treasure by Ayelet Waldman

10. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

11. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

12. Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance

13. Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit

14. The Weight of Him by Ethel Rohan

15. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

 

2015

1. Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala

2. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North

3. The End of Western Civilization: A View from the Future by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway

4. Untamed State by Roxane Gay

5. The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson

6. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

7. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

8. Euphoria by Lily King

9. Welcome to Braggsville by T. Geronimo Johnson

10. We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

 

2014
1. State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
2. Wild Thymes: Catering to the Egos of the Hollywood Elite by Sally Van Slyke
3. Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain
4. A Short Guide to a Happy Life by Anna Quindlen
5. Wonder by R.J. Palacio
6. The Mouse Room by Susan Ito
7. Owl in Darkness by Zoe Rosenfeld
8. Out of Dublin by Ethel Rohan
9. The Risotto Guru by Laura Fraser
10. Eveything Known and Visible: Beer, Detroit, adn growing up Stroh by Frances Stroh
11. My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff
12. I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You by Courtney Maum
13. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
14. Conundrum by Jan Morris

15. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

 

2013
1. The Newlyweds by Nell Freudenberger
2. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
3. The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
4. Hologram for a King by Dave Eggers
5. Lost Cat by Caroline Paul and Wendy MacNaughton
6. Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
7. This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz
8. NW by Zadie Smith
9. Stay Up With Me by Tom Barbash
10. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

2012
1. The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides
2. Little Bee by Chris Cleave
3. The Submission by Amy Waldman
4. Growgirl by Heather Donahue
5. How To Write a Damn Good Novel by James N. Frey
6. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
7. Bringing Up Bébé by Pamela Druckerman
8. The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
9. Unbroken by Lauren Hillenbrand
10. The Night Swimmer by Matt Bondurant
11. The Life Boat by Charlotte Rogan
12. The Prayer Room by Shanthi Sekaran
12. Mindset by Carol Dweck
13. Teach Your Children Well by Madeline Levine

2011
1. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua
2. 13, rue Thérèse by Elena Mauli Shapiro
3. A Tiger in the Kitchen by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan
4. Hold Still by Nina LaCour
5. Jacob Wonderbar and the Cosmic Space Kapow by Nathan Bransford
6. We Are Not Alone: The Writer’s Guide to Social Media by Kristen Lamb
7. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
8. Inbound Marketing by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah
9. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
10. Room by Emma Donahue
11. The Peacock Sings for Rain by Alison Singh Gee
12. How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish
13. Plastic by Susan Freinkel
14. Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff
15. Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne
16. How I sold 200,000 e-books by H.P. Mallory
17. Blindsight by Chris Colin
18. In Zanesville bu Jo Ann Beard
19. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
20. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
21. In the Mirror by Ann Best
22. A Thousand Lives by Julia Scheeres
23. Twenty Somewhere by Kristan Hoffman

2010
1. Model by Cheryl Diamond
2. An Education by Lynn Barber
3. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami
4. The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall
5. All Over The Map by Laura Fraser*
6. Snow Mountain Passage by James Houston*
7. Bad Mother by Ayelet Waldman
8. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak*
9. The Passage by Justin Cronen
10. Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man by Bill Clegg
11. The Adderall Diaries by Stephen Elliott
12. The Price of Privilege by Madeline Levine*
13. We Are Not Alone: The Writer’s Guide to Social Media by Kristen Lamb

2009
1. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese*
2. Story by John McKee*
3. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami*
4. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
5. Rising Shadow by Jaquelyn Appell
6. The Ramen King and I by Andy Raskin*
7. The Age of Orphans by Laleh Khadivi*
8. A Happy Marriage by Rafael Yglesias*
9. The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality by André Compte-Sponville
10. All That Work and Still No Boys by Kathryn Ma*
11. Nurture Shock by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman*
12. The Elegance of a Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
13. Big Machine by Victor LaValle

2008
1. The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
2. The Fourth Trimester by Amy Einhorn
3. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz*
4. Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje
5. The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
6. Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
7. Babywise by Gary Ezzo and Robert Bucknam
8. King of Shadows by Aaron Shurin
9. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (2nd read)*
10. The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
11. Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
12. The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti *
13. Animal Crackers by Hannah Tinti*
14. A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah*
15. The American by Henry James
16. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri*
17. The Nakesake by Jhumpa Lahiri*
18. The Slippery Year by Melanie Gideon*
19. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee*

2007
1. The Boys of My Youth by Jo Ann Beard*
2. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison*
3. Parrot in the Oven by Victor Martinez
4. Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson
5. The Places In Between by Rory Stewart*
6. Name All the Animals by Alison Smith
7. Good Morning, Midnight by Jean Rhys
8. What is the What? by Dave Eggers*
9. In Her Absence by Antonio Muñoz Molina
10. The Color of Water by James McBride*
11. Writers Workshop in a Book edited by Alan Cheuse and Lisa Alvarez
12. Goal Digger by Alicia Dunams
13. Your Survival Strategies are Killing You! By Martha Borst*
14. What You Call Winter by Nalini Jones*
15. Lost City Radio by Daniel Alarcon*
16. Smart Girls Like Me by Diane Vadino
17. Blockbuster Plots: Pure and Simple by Martha Alderson
18. What to Expect When You’re Expecting by Arlene Eisenberg, et al
19. Pregnancy Sucks by Joanne Kimes
20. The Birth Book by Sears and Sears
21. Baby Bargains by Denise and Alan Fields
22. Your Pregnancy Week by Week by Dr. Glade B. Curtis and Judith Schuler
23. Girl Meets Boy by Ali Smith*
24. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez*
25. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini*
26. Weight by Jeanette Winterson
27. Operating Instructions by Anne Lamott*

2006
1.    The Kite Runner by Khaled Hossein*
2.    The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
3.    Are Men Necessary? By Maureen O’Dowd
4.    The Girl in the Flammable Skirt by Aimee Bender*
5.    Bad Behavior by Mary Gaitskill
6.    The Master by Colm Toibin*
7.    Lost Night by Rachel Howard
8.    Prep by Cutis Sittenfeld
9.    Magical Thinking by Augusten Burroughs
10.    Black Girl in Paris by Shay Youngblood
11.    An Italian Affair by Laura Fraser
12.    Model Student by Robin Hazelwood
13. Drown by Junot Diaz*
14. The Dissident by Nell Freudenberger*
15. My Girlfriend Comes to the City and Beats Me Up by Stephen Elliott
16. Happy Baby by Stephen Elliott*
17. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald*
18. Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose*
19.    This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff
20. For One More Day by Mitch Albom
21. The Man Who Outgrew His Prison Cell by Joe Loya

2005
1. The Gatekeeper by Terry Eagleton
2. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte*
3. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
4. The Strange Case of Baby H. Kathryn Reiss
5. Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid
6. Dreaming in Cuban by Christina Garcia
7. Memoirs of a Survivor by Doris Lessing
8. Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee
9. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson*
10. Betsy Brown by Ntozake Shange
11. The Rock Warrior’s Way
12. Smart Women Finish Rich by David Bach*
13. Getting the Love You Want by Harville Hendrix*
14. The Davinci Code by Dan Brown
15. Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison*
16. The Ecstatic by Victor LaValle
17. Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres*
18. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
19. Lucky Girls by Nell Freudenberger*
20. Memoirs by Louis B. Ward
21. Another Day of Life by Ryszard Kapuscinski
22. Texaco by Patrick Chamoiseau
23. The Absent City by Ricardo Piglia
24. A Thousand Years of Prayers by Yiyun Li*
25. Who Took My Money by Robert Kiyosaki
26. Veronica by Mary Gaitskill
27. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon*
28. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey