1. Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy — ✔️
2. Laurus, by Eugene Vodolazkin — ✔️
3. The Wager, by David Grann — ✔️
4. Ficciones, by Jorge Luis Borges — ✔️
5. on earth we're briefly gorgeous, by Ocean Vuong — ✔️
6. Babel, by R. F. Kuang — ✔️
7. Chronicle of a Death Foretold, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez — ✔️
8. Swann's Way, by Marcel Proust
[+ Proust's Way, by Roger Shattuck; — ✔️
Marcel Proust's Search for Lost Time, by Patrick Alexander;
Lost Time, by Józef Czapski; — ✔️
Proust and the Squid, by Maryanne Wolf;
Proust Was A Neuroscientist, by Jonah Lehrer;
In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower, by Marcel Proust ]
9. In Ascension, by Martin MacInnes
10. The Enchanters, by James Ellroy
11. Beautiful Evidence, by Edward Tufte
12. The Consolation of Philosophy, by Boethius — (finish)
13. The Comforts of the Abyss, by Philip Schultz
14. best poetry 2023 ;
failure, by Philip Schultz;
[+20 poems each by select list of ten poets: ]
15. To The Ends of The Earth, by William Golding
16. A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, by George Saunders
17. Free Indirect, by Timothy Bowes
18. Seduced by Story, by Peter Brooks
19. The Onion Field, by Joseph Wambaugh (re-read)
20. The Emigrants, by W. G. Sebald
21. The Saga of Icelanders, trans by various; intro: Jane Smiley
22. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, transl by Simon Armitage
[+ Tolkien's trans ]
23. The Silmarrilion, by J. R. R. Tolkien
24. Macunaíma (The Hero With No Character), by Mário de Andrade
25. The Good Lord Bird, by James McBride
26. A Month in the Country, by J.L. Carr
27. A Place of Greater Safety, by Hilary Mantel
28. A Thousand Ships, by Natalie Haynes
29. Unknown Masterpieces, edited by Edwin Frank
30. Cloud Cuckoo Land, by Anthony Doerr
31. The Mezzanine, by Nicholson Baker
32. Stay True, by Hua Hsu
33. The Sentence, by Louise Erdrich
34. Touch, by Elmore Leonard
35. The Somme, by Peter Hart
36. The Secret History, by Donna Tartt (K)
37. What You Are Looking For Is in the Library, by Michiko Aoyama
38. The Buried Giant, by Kazuo Ishiguro
39. Lempriere's Dictionary, by Lawrence Norfolk
40. The Landmark Anabasis, by Xenophon — (finish)
41. The Books of Jacob, by Olga Tokarczuk
42. The Talented Mr. Ripley, by Patricia Highsmith
43. 100 Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. Truth and Repair, by Judith Herman, MD
45. Histories Grecques, by Maurice Sartre — (finish)
46. The Great Gatsby, by F Scott Fitzgerald
47. The Leopard, by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (K)
48. Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov — (finish)
49. Blindness, by Jose Saramago
50. My Antonia, by Willa Cather — (finish)
51. Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy
52. Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides
53. The Night Watchmen, by Louise Erdrich
54. The Trial by Franz Kafka
55. The Secret History, by Donna Tartt
56. Americanah, by Chimamanda
57. The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy
58. Middlemarch by George Eliot
59. Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh
60. The Last Mughal, by William Dalrymple — (finish)
61. Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (Edith Grossman, transl)
62. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, by Luo Guanzhong (Penguin, Martin Palmer transl)
63. The Better Angels of Our Nature, by Steven Pinker
+ The Sense of Style, by Stephen Pinker
64. The Treasure of the City of Ladies, by Christine de Pizan
65. The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen
66. Weekends at Bellevue, by Julie Holland, M.D.
67. When Religion Becomes Evil, by Charles Kimball
68. The Bird Artist, by Howard Norman
69. No One Is Talking About This, by Patricia Lockwood (K)
70. The Landmark Campaigns of Julius Caesar, edited by Robert Strassler
71. Underworld, by Don DeLillo (finish)
72. The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov (K)
73. A New World Begins, by Jeremy D. (K)
74. Death in Venice and other stories, by Thomas Mann (K)
75. Illuminations, by Walter Benjamin (K)
76. The Ten Thousand Things, by Marina Dermoût (K)
77. The Outsider, by Stephen King (K)
78. The Caprices, by Silvana Murray (K)
79. Live or Die, by Anne Sexton (K)
80. Epitaph for a Small Winner, by Machado de Assis
81. In the Heart of the Heart of the Country, by William H. Gass
82. Ulysses, by James Joyce (K)
83. The Corrections, by William H. Gass
84. God's Chinese Son, by Jonathan Spence (finish)
85. The Last Mughal, by William Dalyrimple (finish)
86. Annals of the Former World, by John McPhee (finish)
2. Laurus, by Eugene Vodolazkin — ✔️
3. The Wager, by David Grann — ✔️
4. Ficciones, by Jorge Luis Borges — ✔️
5. on earth we're briefly gorgeous, by Ocean Vuong — ✔️
6. Babel, by R. F. Kuang — ✔️
7. Chronicle of a Death Foretold, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez — ✔️
8. Swann's Way, by Marcel Proust
[+ Proust's Way, by Roger Shattuck; — ✔️
Marcel Proust's Search for Lost Time, by Patrick Alexander;
Lost Time, by Józef Czapski; — ✔️
Proust and the Squid, by Maryanne Wolf;
Proust Was A Neuroscientist, by Jonah Lehrer;
In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower, by Marcel Proust ]
9. In Ascension, by Martin MacInnes
10. The Enchanters, by James Ellroy
11. Beautiful Evidence, by Edward Tufte
12. The Consolation of Philosophy, by Boethius — (finish)
13. The Comforts of the Abyss, by Philip Schultz
14. best poetry 2023 ;
failure, by Philip Schultz;
[+20 poems each by select list of ten poets: ]
15. To The Ends of The Earth, by William Golding
16. A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, by George Saunders
17. Free Indirect, by Timothy Bowes
18. Seduced by Story, by Peter Brooks
19. The Onion Field, by Joseph Wambaugh (re-read)
20. The Emigrants, by W. G. Sebald
21. The Saga of Icelanders, trans by various; intro: Jane Smiley
22. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, transl by Simon Armitage
[+ Tolkien's trans ]
23. The Silmarrilion, by J. R. R. Tolkien
24. Macunaíma (The Hero With No Character), by Mário de Andrade
25. The Good Lord Bird, by James McBride
26. A Month in the Country, by J.L. Carr
27. A Place of Greater Safety, by Hilary Mantel
28. A Thousand Ships, by Natalie Haynes
29. Unknown Masterpieces, edited by Edwin Frank
30. Cloud Cuckoo Land, by Anthony Doerr
31. The Mezzanine, by Nicholson Baker
32. Stay True, by Hua Hsu
33. The Sentence, by Louise Erdrich
34. Touch, by Elmore Leonard
35. The Somme, by Peter Hart
36. The Secret History, by Donna Tartt (K)
37. What You Are Looking For Is in the Library, by Michiko Aoyama
38. The Buried Giant, by Kazuo Ishiguro
39. Lempriere's Dictionary, by Lawrence Norfolk
40. The Landmark Anabasis, by Xenophon — (finish)
41. The Books of Jacob, by Olga Tokarczuk
42. The Talented Mr. Ripley, by Patricia Highsmith
43. 100 Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. Truth and Repair, by Judith Herman, MD
45. Histories Grecques, by Maurice Sartre — (finish)
46. The Great Gatsby, by F Scott Fitzgerald
47. The Leopard, by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (K)
48. Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov — (finish)
49. Blindness, by Jose Saramago
50. My Antonia, by Willa Cather — (finish)
51. Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy
52. Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides
53. The Night Watchmen, by Louise Erdrich
54. The Trial by Franz Kafka
55. The Secret History, by Donna Tartt
56. Americanah, by Chimamanda
57. The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy
58. Middlemarch by George Eliot
59. Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh
60. The Last Mughal, by William Dalrymple — (finish)
61. Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (Edith Grossman, transl)
62. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, by Luo Guanzhong (Penguin, Martin Palmer transl)
63. The Better Angels of Our Nature, by Steven Pinker
+ The Sense of Style, by Stephen Pinker
64. The Treasure of the City of Ladies, by Christine de Pizan
65. The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen
66. Weekends at Bellevue, by Julie Holland, M.D.
67. When Religion Becomes Evil, by Charles Kimball
68. The Bird Artist, by Howard Norman
69. No One Is Talking About This, by Patricia Lockwood (K)
70. The Landmark Campaigns of Julius Caesar, edited by Robert Strassler
71. Underworld, by Don DeLillo (finish)
72. The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov (K)
73. A New World Begins, by Jeremy D. (K)
74. Death in Venice and other stories, by Thomas Mann (K)
75. Illuminations, by Walter Benjamin (K)
76. The Ten Thousand Things, by Marina Dermoût (K)
77. The Outsider, by Stephen King (K)
78. The Caprices, by Silvana Murray (K)
79. Live or Die, by Anne Sexton (K)
80. Epitaph for a Small Winner, by Machado de Assis
81. In the Heart of the Heart of the Country, by William H. Gass
82. Ulysses, by James Joyce (K)
83. The Corrections, by William H. Gass
84. God's Chinese Son, by Jonathan Spence (finish)
85. The Last Mughal, by William Dalyrimple (finish)
86. Annals of the Former World, by John McPhee (finish)
