A Visit from the Goon Squad
Jennifer Egan
Read on November 14, 2024
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Milan Kundera, translated by Michael Henry Heim
Read on October 31, 2024
Solito
Javier Zamora
Read on September 1, 2024
I think high school literature classes will eventually teach this book.
Less
Andrew Sean Greer
Read on May 24, 2024
The Broom of the System
David Foster Wallace
Read on April 16, 2024
No endnotes and a straightforward linear story make it much easier to follow than Infinite Jest and The Pale King.
McSweeney’s Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales
Edited by Michael Chabon
Read on September 19, 2023
Short stories by Sherman Alexie, Aimee Bender, Michael Chabon, Dan Chaon, Michael Crichton, Dave Eggers, Harlan Ellison, Carol Emshwiller, Karen Joy Fowler, Neil Gaiman, Glen David Gold, Nick Hornby, Laurie R. King, Stephen King, Elmore Leonard, Kelly Link, Rick Moody, Michael Moorcock, Chris Offutt, and Jim Shepard.
Girl with Curious Hair
David Foster Wallace
Read on June 11, 2023
Faced with 100 more pages of the same, I deserve a medal for soldiering past, “if this were a piece of metafiction, which it’s NOT, the exact number of of typeset lines [. . .] would very probably be mentioned,” (p. 264 of 373) undaunted. I’m sure that’s the point he’s trying to make. But still.
Young Skins
Colin Barrett
Read on March 30, 2023
Liberation Day: Stories
George Saunders
Read on February 20, 2023
Happy-Go-Lucky
David Sedaris
Read on August 14, 2022
You Look Like a Thing and I Love You
Janelle Shane
Read on February 23, 2022
The first book I’ve read that explains AI the same way I try to.
Circe
Madeline Miller
Read on January 1, 2022
A bit like watching Disney as an adult for the classicist in me.
Ten Essays on Fizz Buzz
Joel Grus
Read on December 27, 2021
Neat.
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
Ocean Vuong
Read on December 19, 2021
Completely ruined literature for me for the rest of my life. Maybe one day I’ll have the words to describe it.
Brave New World
Aldous Huxley
Read on November 21, 2021
Went into it weary of dystopian novels. Came away impressed with Huxley and even more unimpressed with what other people have done since. Decidedly more Shakespeare than I expected.
Why Are We in Vietnam?
Norman Mailer
Read on October 4, 2021
A fever dream of a novel.
Theft by Finding: Diaries (1977–2002)
David Sedaris
Read on September 19, 2021
Infinite Jest
David Foster Wallace
Read on August 13, 2021
My second time through this novel. Probably not my last.
Priestdaddy
Patrica Lockwood
Read on April 10, 2021
Little Fires Everywhere
Celeste Ng
Read on September 20, 2020
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Junot Díaz
Read on August 10, 2020
Anna Karenina
Leo Tolstoy
Read on February 1, 2020
The greatest work of literature ever written certainly delivers.