My 2017 booklist:
Swing Time****1/2
Zadie Smith
For a Little While*****
Rick Bass
Preparation for the Next Life****1/2
Atticus Lish
Hillbilly Elegy*
J.D. Vance
The Paradox of Prevention (academic)****
Laura Watt
The Devil and Webster***1/2
Jean Hanff-Korelitz
El Tiempo Entre Costuras (The Time In Between)*****
Maria Dueñas
Blue Nights****1/2
Joan Didion
Commonwealth****
Ann Patchett
The Summer Guest****
Alison Anderson
The Idiot****
Elif Batuman
The Sympathizer****1/2
Viet Than Nguyen
LaRose****1/2
Louise Erdrich
Hunger****
Roxane Gay
The Girl on the Train****
Paula Hawkins
All Our Worldly Goods****1/2
Irene Nemirovsky
The Go-Between*****
L.P. Hartley
Started Early, Took the Dog****
Kate Atkinson
Good to a Fault***1/2
Marina Endicott
The Tenth of December: Stories****1/2
George Saunders
The Underground River****
Martha Conley
Travesuras de la Niña Mala*****
Mario Vargas Llosa
In a Lonely Place****1/2
Dorothy Hughes
Less*****
Andrew Sean Greer
Lucky Us****
Amy Bloom
Transit****
Rachel Cusk
The Burning Girl****1/2
Claire Messud
Drinking: A Love Story*****
Caroline Knapp
Desperate Characters****1/2
Paula Fox
The Last Word***
Hanif Kureishi
Strangers in Their Own Land****
Arlie Hochschild
The Book of Emma Reyes****
Emma Reyes, trans by Daniel Alarcon
The Honeymoon****
Dinitia Smith
Manhattan Beach****1/2
Jennifer Egan
Anything is Possible****
Elizabeth Strout
Mision Olvido****
Maria Duenas
Mrs. Osmond****
John Banville
My 2016 booklist:
10:04****
Ben Lerner
Enon****1/2
Paul Harding
The First Bad Man****
Miranda July
The Girls****
Lori Lansens
Being Mortal*****
Atul Gawande
Between the World and Me*****
Ta Nehisi Coates
A God in Ruins****
Kate Atkinson
The Door ****1/2
Magda Szabo
When Breath Becomes Air*****
Paul Kalanithi
Funny Girl ***1/2
Nick Hornby
Outline****1/2
Rachel Cusk
Eligible****1/2
Curtis Sittenfeld
A Tale for the Time Being****1/2
Ruth Ozeki
Our Souls at Night****
Kent Haruf
Fates and Furies***1/2
Lauren Groff
Dreamland****1/2
Sam Quinones
My Struggle: Book Five****
Karl Ove Knausgaard
Mislaid****
Nell Zink
My Name is Lucy Barton****1/2
Elizabeth Strout
Innocents and Others****
Dana Spiotta
In Other Words**1/2
Jhumpa Lahiri
The Mare*****
Mary Gaitskill
Arcadia***1/2
Lauren Groff
Descent****
Tim Johnston
Imagine Me Gone****1/2
Adam Haslett
Homecoming*****
Yaa Gyazi
A Little Life*****
Hanya Yanagihara
Heroes of the Frontier****1/2
Dave Eggers
Modern Lovers***1/2
Emma Straub
Everybody’s Fool****
Richard Russo
Hot Milk****
Deborah Levy
The Girls****
Emma Cline
Chronicle of a Last Summer****
Yasmine El Rashidi
Mendocino Fire***1/2
Elizabeth Tallent
The Portable Veblen****1/2
Elizabeth McKenzie
The Gene*****
Siddhartha Mukherjee
Can’t We Talk About Something Pleasant****1/2
Roz Chast
Another Brooklyn****1/2
Jacqueline Woodson
The Underground Railroad*****
Colson Whitehead
Eileen****
Ottessa Moshfegh
The Madwoman in the Volvo****
Sandra Tsing Loh
The Weight of Him*****
Ethel Rohan
Queen of the Night***1/2
Alexander Chee
Today Will Be Different***
Maria Semple
My 2015 booklist:
Euphoria*****
Lily King
Let Me Be Frank With You****
Richard Ford
Nine Lives:Death and Life in New Orleans*****
Dan Baum
Empire of Sin***1/2
Gary Krist
Don’t Let Him Know***1/2
Roy Sandip
The Lowland****
Jhumpa Lahiri
My Struggle, Part I*****
Karl Ove Knausgaard
A Brief History of Seven Killings*****
Marlon James
Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free****1/2
Héctor Tobar
My Struggle: Part 2*****
Karl Ove Knausgaard
The Diver’s Clothes are Empty***1/2
Vendela Vida
My Struggle, Part 3****1/2
Karl Ove Knausgaard
Mothers, Tell Your Daughters****1/2
Bonnie Jo Campbell
American Romantic****1/2
Ward Just
The Orchardist*****
Amanda Coplin
All The Light We Cannot See*****
Anthony Doerr
The Possibilities***1/2
Kaui Hart Hemmings
Some Luck*****
Jane Smiley
The Interior Circuit****
Francisco Goldman
The Radetzky March*****
Joseph Roth
My Struggle, Part IV****
Karl Ove Knausgaard
All This Life (friend)
Joshua Mohr
H is for Hawk*****
Helen MacDonald
Dancer*****
Colum McCann
Storia della Bambina Perduta (final book in Napoletano quartet)****
Elena Ferrante
Barbarian Nurseries****
Hector Tobar
Persuasion****
Jane Austen (again)
The Sunken Cathedral***1/2
Kate Walbert
Purity*****
Jonathan Franzen
Madame Bovary*****
Gustave Flaubert (again)
Early Warnings*****
Jane Smiley
The M Train***
Patti Smith
A Manual for Cleaning Women*****
Lucia Berlin
Being Mortal*****
Atul Guwande
The Golden Age****
Jane Smiley
My 2014 booklist:
This year I’ve been Editorial Director of Shebooks, which means I’ve read a lot of short e-books, so my list of long books is short!
At Night We Walk in Circles*****
Daniel Alarcón
The Valley of Amazement***
Amy Tan
The Circle****
Dave Eggers
Little Failure****
Gary Shteyngart
Tinkers*****
Paul Harding
Transatlantic****1/2
Colum McCann
All That Is****1/2
James Salter
Solar****1/2
Ian McEwan
Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon etc.**
Sheila Weller
Swamplandia!***1/2
Karen Russell
The Year She Left Us****
Kathryn Ma
Queen Sugar (ƒ)
Natalie Baszile
Damascus(ƒ)
Josh Mohr
Abroad****1/2
Katie Crouch
Americanah*****
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Love of My Youth***1/2
Alice Gordon
Telex From Cuba*****
Rachel Kushner
The UnAmericans*****
Molly Antopol
An Italian Wife***1/2
Ann Hood
The Patrick Melrose Novels*****
(Never Mind, Bad News, Some Hope and Mother’s Milk)
Edward St. Aubyn
At Last****1/2
Edward St. Aubyn
The Children Act****1/2
Ian McEwan
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage***1/2
Haruki Murakami
Lovers at the Chameleon Club: Paris, 1932*****
Francine Prose
Light Years****1/2
James Salter
Women in Their Beds*****
Gina Berriault
Home*****
Marilynne Robinson
You Deserve Nothing****1/2
Alexander Maksik
Clever Girl****1/2
Tessa Hadley
The Lowland****
Jhumpa Lahiri
The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher****
Hilary Mantel
Shroder****
Amity Gaige
The Secret History of Wonder Woman***1/2
Jill Lepore
Lost for Words***1/2
Edward St. Aubyn
Nora Webster*****
Colm Toibin
Those Who Stay and Those Who Leave*****
Elena Ferrante
A Naked Singularity****1/2
Sergio De La Pava
My 2013 booklist:
Bring Up the Bodies*****
Hilary Mantel
The Orphan Master’s Son*****
Adam Johnson
Leaving the Atocha Station*****
Ben Lerner
The Twelve Tribes of Hattie****
Ayana Mathis
Beautiful Ruins****1/2
Jess Walter
The Financial Lives of Poets****
Jess Walter
Ancient Light****
John Banville
I Love You More Than You Know*
Jonathan Ames
The Language of Flowers****
Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Enduring Love*****
Ian Mcewan
The Innocent****1/2
Ian Mcewan
My Old Sweetheart****1/2
Susanna Moore
The Whiteness of Bones****
Susanna Moore
The Folded Cliffs*****
M.S. Merwin
The Round House****1/2
Louise Erdrich
Season of the Witch****1/2
David Talbot
Days of Abandonment****
Elsa Ferrante
After Hannibal***1/2
Barry Unsworth
My Brilliant Friend*****
Elsa Ferrante
Indiscretion***
Charles Dubow
Troubling Love***1/2
Elena Ferrante
Eventide*****
Kent Haruf
Nothing Daunted***1/2
Dorothy Wickenden
Il Nuovo Cognome*****
Elena Ferrante
The Interestings****1/2
Meg Wolitzer
Benediction****
Kent Haruf
Battleborn****
Clairevaye Watkins
The Optimist’s Daughter****
Eudora Welty
All I Could Get (ƒ)
Scott Lasser
The Engagements***1/2
J. Courtney Sullivan
Blasphemy*****
Sherman Alexie
A Strong West Wind****
Gail Caldwell
First Stop in the New World: Mexico City, the Capital of the 21st Century***1/2
David Lida
Dirty Love****1/2
Andre Dubus III
The Woman Upstairs****1/2
Claire Messud
The Silver Star****1/2
Jeannette Walls
The Panopticon*****
Jenni Fagan
Last Car Over the Sagamore Bridge*****
Peter Orner
Sarah****1/2
J.T. Leroy
The Telling Room***1/2
Michael Paterniti
The Wife****
Meg Wolitzer
Man in the Dark****1/2
Paul Auster
Stay Up With Me*****
Tom Barbash
The Goldfinch****1/2
Donna Tartt
Goodnight, Nobody****
Ethel Rohan
Knocking on Heaven’s Door*****
Katy Butler
Cave and Cosmos***1/2
Michael Harner
Girls Like Us***
Sheila Weller
The FlameThrowers*****
Rachel Kushner
A Permanent Member of the Family****1/2
Russell Banks
The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells****1/2
Andrew Sean Greer
My 2012 booklist:
This year, I am not rating friends’ books except with an ƒ. I am blessed with friends who are wonderful writers, but I don’t want to go giving them stars. They’re all stars…
The Cat’s Table****
Michael Ondaatje
The Slippery Year (ƒ)
Melanie Gideon
Perfume***
Patrick Suskind
Growgirl (ƒ)
Heather Donahue
Fighting Fire (ƒ)
Caroline Paul
Catherine the Great*****
Robert Massie
Zeitoun*****
Dave Eggers
The Situation and the Story****
Vivian Gornick
In One Person****
John Irving
Best American Nonrequired Reading*****
Dave Eggers, ed.
Maya Roads: One Woman’s Journey Among the People of the Rainforest****
Mary Jo McConahay
The Art of Fielding****
Chad Harbach
The Marriage Plot*****
Jeffrey Eugenides
The Girl Who Played with Fire***
Stieg Larsson
Hologram for a King*****
Dave Eggers
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest****
Stieg Larsson
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin****
Erik Larson
The Solitude of Prime Numbers****
Paolo Giordano
When the Emperor Was Divine****
Julie Otsuka
In Patagonia****
Bruce Chatwin
Home Cooking*****
Laurie Colwin
Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal?*****
Jeanette Winterson
The Sense of an Ending****
Julian Barnes
Dead Man Walking****
Sister Helen Prejean
Modern American Memoirs****
Edited by Annie Dillard and Cort Conley
Wolf Hall****
Hilary Mantel
Menage***
Alix Kates Shulman
Rules of Civility****
Amor Towles
Krik? Krak!****
Edwidge Danticot
Say Her Name***1/2
Francisco Goldman
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk*****
Ben Fountain
Canada*****
Richard Ford
Maine****
J. Courteney Sullivan
The Summer Guest*****
Justin Cronin
The Long Night of White Chickens****
Francisco Goldman
A Big Storm Knocked it Down***1/2
Laura Colwin
The Newlyweds****
Nell Freudenberger
Wild***
Cheryl Strayed
Where’d You Go, Bernadette?****
Marie Semple
Train Dreams****
Denis Johnson
Behind the Beautiful Forevers*****
Katherine Boo
The Last of Her Kind***1/2
Sigrid Nunez
This is How You Lose Her****1/2
Junot Diaz
Telegraph Avenue****
Michael Chabon
Overstuffed.
NW****
Zadie Smith
Sweet Tooth*****
Ian McEwan
Sutton****
J.R. Moehringer
Lightning Rods****
Helen Dewitt
Dear Life*****
Alice Munro
My 2011 booklist:
I’m starting a five-star rating system this year (before the books on the list were either starred or not)
Man in the Dark****
Paul Auster
The Cookbook Collector***
Allegra Goodman***
Celeste Ascending***
Kaylie Jones
La Bella Lingua***
Dianne Hales
Boys of My Youth*****
Jo Ann Beard
Cakewalk****
Kate Moses
The Flaming Corsage***
William Kennedy
Cleopatra****
Stacy Schiff
The Widower’s Tale****
Julia Glass
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents****
Julia Alvarez
By Nightfall****
Michael Cunningham
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks***
Rebecca Skloot
The Toughest Indian in the World*****
Sherman Alexie
Orange is the New Black*****
Piper Kerman
Don’t Cry***
Mary Gaitskill
Sunset Park****
Paul Auster
Empty Family****
Colm Toibin
Persuasion*****
Jane Austen
The Privileges****
Jonathan Dee
The Believers****
Zoe Heller
The White Tiger****
Aravind Adiga
Northanger Abbey****
Jane Austen
Half Broke Horses****
Jeannette Walls
Bite Me***
Fabio Parasecoli
The Year of Wonders****
Geraldine Brooks
The Tiger’s Wife****
Tea Obreht
Pride and Prejudice*****
Jane Austen
Before Night Falls***
Reinaldo Arenas
Emma****
Jane Austen
Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World’s Stolen Treasures**
Robert K. Wittman with John Shiffman
The Weird Sisters*****
Eleanor Brown
Lola, California****
Edie Meidev
Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater***
Frank Bruni
The Ask***
Sam Lipsyte
Amor en los Tiempos del Colera*****
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Nowhere City****
Alison Lurie
Blood, Bones, and Butter***
Gabrielle Hamilton
Something from the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America***
Laura Shapiro
The War of Don Emmanuel’s Nether Parts***
Louis de Bernieres
Great House****
Nicole Krauss
Food is Culture***
Massimo Montanari
Lost Memory of Skin*****
Russell Banks
A Short History of Women****
Kate Walbert
Indignation****
Philip Roth
March****
Geraldine Brooks
Caleb’s Crossing****
Geraldine Brooks
Love and Shame and Love****
Peter Orner
The Voyage of the Rose City****
John Moynihan (dear departed friend)
A Thousand Lives: The Untold Story of Hope, Deception, and Survival at Jonestown****
Julia Scheeres
Stone Arabia****
Dana Spiotta
The Custom of the Country****
Edith Wharton
Bossypants***
Tina Fey
1Q84****
Haruki Murakami