There’s this one guy I know. He’s asked me to post a books-read list for 2018; in fact, he’s asked me more than once. I’ve said that I’d do just that. Today, procrastination gives way to action. Here’s the updated list for the year.
I read a lot, though I’d love to read more. Maybe you’ll find something in here worth your time.
January: No Big Thing by Wm. Stage (novel); The Visible Man by Chuck Klosterman (novel); Alice Fantastic by Maggie Estep (novel); Salt by Mark Kurlansky (historical non-fiction); Girl in a Band by Kim Gordon (memoir); Point Omega by Don Delilio (novella); Fear of Music by Jonathan Lethem (cultural/music criticism); The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs (non-fiction and THE BEST book I’ve read in years)
February: Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble by Daniel Lyons (memoir/tech culture criticism); So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson (media culture criticism); The Sellout by Paul Beatty (novel); The Professor in the Cage: Why Men Fight and Why We Like to Watch by Jonathan Gottschall (sports criticism/memoir); We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates (socio-political non-fiction)
March: Blind Spot: Hidden Biases of Good People by Mahzarin R. Banaji & Anthony G. Greenwald (psychology); Hell to Pay by George Pelecanos (novel); The View From the Cheap Seats by Neil Gaiman (collected non-fiction); The Tao of Bob by Spike Gillespie (memoir); Heroes of the Frontier by Dave Eggers (novel); A Bomb in Every Issue: How the Short and Unruly Life of Ramparts Magazine Changed America by Peter Richardson (media history)
April: Black Gods of the Asphalt: Religion, Hip-Hop and Street Basketball, Onaje X.O. Woodbine (memoir, cultural criticism); Sputnik Sweetheart, Haruki Murakami (fiction); Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States, Bill Bryson (social history); Fire and Fury, Michael Wolff (experiential journalism); No Death, No Fear: Comforting Wisdom for Life, Thich Nhat Hanh (Buddhism, spirituality)
May: The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin (memoir/self-help); The Long Goodbye, Raymond Chandler (noir fiction); High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (my favorite novel, re-read for the third, maybe fourth time)
June: Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy: The Many Faces of Anonymous, Gabriella Coleman (tech/culture); The Prophet, Khalil Gibran (poetry); The Tree, John Fowles (nature/memoir); In the Garden of Beasts, Erik Larson (historical non-fiction)
July: Medieval Lives, Terry Jones & Alan Ereira (history); Retromania, Simon Reynolds (culture/media criticism); Dream State: Eight Generations of Swamp Lawyers, Conquistadors, Confederate Daughters, Banana Republicans, and Other Florida Wildlife, Diane Roberts (memoir/regional history)
August: The Plot Against America, Philip Roth (historical fiction); Siddharta, Herman Hesse (fiction); Flying Close to the Sun: My Life and Times as a Weatherman, Cathery Wilkerson (memoir/radical history)
September: Shoot the Piano Player, David Goodis (noir fiction); Fear, Bob Woodward (contemporary events/horror); In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan (ag studies); Talking to Girls About Duran Duran (memoir/pop culture)
October: Signifying Rappers, David Foster Wallace and Mark Costello (culture criticism)
November: Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America, Michael Eric Dyson (civics/race relations)
December: You’re on an Airplane, Parker Posey (memoir); Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging, Sebastian Junger (social science); They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us, Hanif Abdurraqib (memoir/cultural criticism); The Education of Kevin Powell: A Boy’s Journey into Manhood (memoir); Fox 8, George Saunders (illustrated fable); Animals Eat Each Other, Elle Nash (novel); Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (psychology/self-help)
Target for year: 52 books
Completed: 50 books (d’oh)
Enjoy your own reading in 2019, as will I.