james rettig
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running list of books i've read since i started keeping track, some favorites in bold
(updated 1/2)
2023
115. Molly Keane - Good Behaviour
114. Charles Dickens - Oliver Twist
113. David France - How To Survive A Plague
112. Gwendoline Riley - My Phantoms
111. J.L. Carr - A Month In The Country
110. Alan Sepinwall - Welcome To The O.C.: The Oral History
109. Iris Murdoch - The Black Prince
108. Shirley Jackson - The Lottery And Other Stories
107. Leonard Gardner - Fat City
106. Curzio Malaparte - The Skin
105. Alasdair Gray - Poor Things
104. Kate Christensen - Jeremy Thrane
103. James Schuyler - What's For Dinner?
102. Margaret Kennedy - The Feast
101. Britney Spears - The Woman In Me
100. Henry Green - Living
99. Dorothy West - The Wedding
98. Barbara Comyns - Our Spoons Came From Woolworth's
97. Joy Williams - Harrow
96. Richard Matheson - Hell House
95. Stephen King - The Tommyknockers
94. Mary Renault - The Charioteer
93. James Vance Marshall - Walkabout
92. Hiroko Oyamada - Weasels In The Attic
91. Janet Groth - The Receptionist: An Education At The New Yorker
90. Charles Dickens - The Pickwick Papers
89. Budi Darma - People From Bloomington
88. Rebecca West - The Fountain Overflows
87. Olivia Manning - Fortunes Of War: The Sum Of Things
86. Patricia Highsmith - Found In The Street
85. Olivia Manning - Fortunes Of War: The Battle Lost And Won
84. Elliott Chaze - Black Wings Has My Angel
83. Olivia Manning - Fortunes Of War: The Danger Tree
82. Penelope Mortimer - The Pumpkin Eater
81. D. G. Compton - The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe
80. Olivia Manning - Fortunes Of War: Friends And Heroes
79. Olivia Manning - Fortunes Of War: The Spoilt City
78. Jean-Patrick Manchette - Fatale
77. Olivia Manning - Fortunes Of War: The Great Fortune
76. Shirley Jackson - The Sundial
75. Raymond Kennedy - Ride A Cockhorse
74. David Grann - The Wager: A Tale Of Shipwreck, Mutiny And Murder
73. Judy Blume - In The Unlikely Event
72. Antonio Di Benedetto - Zama
71. John D. MacDonald - Nightmare In Pink
70. John D. MacDonald - The Deep Blue Good-By
69. Rona Jaffe - The Best Of Everything
68. Emma Cline - The Guest
67. Chris Payne - Where Are Your Boys Tonight?: The Oral History Of Emo's Mainstream Explosion, 1998-2008
66. Oakley Hall - Warlock
65. Henry Green - Blindness
64. Inès Cagnati - Free Day
63. Antal Szerb - Journey By Moonlight
62. John Fox - The Boys On The Rock
61. Iris Murdoch - The Unicorn
60. François-René de Chateaubriand - Memoirs From Beyond the Grave: 1800-1815
59. Grady Hendrix - How To Sell A Haunted House
58. Helen Weinzweig - Basic Black With Pearls
57. Mary McCarthy - The Company She Keeps
56. Edward P. Jones - Lost In The City
55. Connie Willis - To Say Nothing Of The Dog
54. Dale Peck - Martin And John
53. Magda Szabo - Iza's Ballad
52. E.M. Forster - Howards End
51. Joan Samson - The Auctioneer
50. Michael Shulman - The Oscar Wars
49. Julien Gracq - Balcony In The Forest
48. Grace Paley - The Little Disturbances Of Man
47. Hervé Le Tellier - The Anomaly
46. Rose Macaulay - The Towers Of Trebizond
45. Renata Adler - Pitch Dark
44. Kerry Howley - Bottoms Up And The Devil Laughs: A Journey Through The Deep State
43. Rebecca Makkai - I Have Some Questions For You
42. Jonathan Abrams - All the Pieces Matter: The Inside Story Of The Wire
41. Malcolm Braly - On The Yard
40. Helen DeWitt - The Last Samurai
39. Joan Didion - Run River
38. Patrick Modiano - In The Cafe Of Lost Youth
37. Geoffrey Household - Rogue Male
36. Annie Ernaux - The Years
35. Bret Easton Ellis - The Shards
34. Bret Easton Ellis - Less Than Zero
33. Christopher Priest - Inverted World
32. J. R. Ackerly - My Dog Tulip
31. Elizabeth Taylor - Mrs. Palfrey At The Claremont
30. Thomas Tryon - The Other
29. James B. Stewart & Rachel Abrams - Unscripted: The Epic Battle For A Media Empire...
28. Elizabeth Hardwick - Sleepless Nights
27. Walter Kempowski - All For Nothing
26. John Williams - Augustus
25. Anna Kavan - Machines In The Head
24. Anne Morrow Lindbergh - Gift From The Sea
23. James Andrew Miller - Tinderbox: HBO's Ruthless Pursuit Of New Frontiers
22. Walker Percy - The Moviegoer
21. Robert Aickman - Compulsory Games
20. Virginia Woolf - Orlando
19. Qiu Miaojin - Last Words From Montmarte
18. Vita Sackville-West - The Edwardians
17. Violette Leduc - The Lady And The Little Fox Fur
16. Hiroko Oyamada - The Hole
15. Mathias Énard - Tell Them Of Battles, Kings, And Elephants
14. Larry McMurtry - Lonesome Dove
13. Louis Guilloux - Blood Dark
12. Iris Murdoch - A Fairly Honourable Defeat
11. Kerry Howley - Thrown
10. Maria Dermout - The Ten Thousand Things
9. Gore Vidal - The City And The Pillar
8. Mary Karr - The Liars' Club
7. Lynda Barry - Cruddy
6. James Baldwin - Tell Me How Long The Train's Been Gone
5. Stephen King - Fairy Tale
4. Iris Murdoch - The Flight From The Enchanter
3. François-René de Chateaubriand - Memoirs From Beyond The Grave: 1768-1800
2. Robertson Davies - The Deptford Trilogy: World Of Wonders
1. Robertson Davies - The Deptford Trilogy: The Manticore
2022
58. Darcy O'Brien - A Way Of Life, Like Any Other
57. Robertson Davies - The Deptford Trilogy: Fifth Business
56. Tove Jansson - The True Deceiver
55. John Wyndham - Chocky
54. Joy Williams - The Changeling
53. Barbara Kingsolver - Prodigal Summer
52. J.G. Farrell - The Siege Of Krishnapur
51. Josephine Tey - The Daughter Of Time
50. Ray Russell - The Case Against Satan
49. Patricia Highsmith - This Sweet Sickness
48. Wilkie Collins - The Woman In White
47. Shirley Jackson - We Have Always Lived In The Castle
46. Stephen King - The Institute
45. Ivy Compton-Burnett - A House And Its Head
44. Dorothy B. Hughes - The Expendable Man
43. Ken Auletta - Hollywood Ending: Harvey Weinstein And The Culture Of Silence
42. Lillian Ross - Picture
41. Marisha Pessl - Night Film
40. Don Carpenter - Hard Rain Falling
39. Caroline Blackwood - Great Granny Webster
38. Robert Gluck - Margery Kempe
37. Elizabeth Taylor - Angel
36. Beth Macy - Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, And The Drug Company That Addicted America
35. Tom Breihan - The Number Ones: Twenty Chart-Topping Hits That Reveal The History Of Pop Music
34. Elaine Dundy - The Old Man And Me
33. Kaitlyn Tiffany - Everything I Need I Get From You: How Fangirls Created The Internet As We Know It
32. Iris Murdoch - The Nice And The Good
31. Eve Babitz - Eve's Hollywood
30. Wolfgang Herrndorf - Sand
29. Evan Ross Katz - Into Every Generation: How Buffy Staked Our Hearts
28. Alfred Dobin - Berlin Alexanderplatz
27. Tobias Wolff - This Boy's Life
26. Shirley Hazzard - The Transit Of Venus
25. Gary Shteyngart - Our Country Friends
24. John Wyndham - The Chrysalids
23. Edith Wharton - The Custom Of The Country
22. Emily St. John Mandel - Sea Of Tranquility
21. George Eliot - Silas Marner
20. Arthur Conan Doyle - The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes
19. Iris Murdoch - A Severed Head
18. Kingsley Amis - Lucky Jim
17. Dorothy Baker - Young Man With A Horn
16. Don DeLillo - Libra
15. Mona Simpson - The Lost Father
14. William Lindsay Gresham - Nightmare Alley
13. Sybille Bedford - A Compass Error
12. John Darnielle - Devil House
11. Nina de Gramont - The Christie Affair
10. Sybille Bedford - A Favourite Of The Gods
9. Magda Szabó - Katalin Street
8. Iris Murdoch - Under The Net
7. Clive Barker - Abarat
6. Anita Loos - Gentlemen Prefer Blondes & But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes
5. Sarah Messer - Red House: Being A Mostly Accurate Account Of New England's Oldest Continuously Lived-in House
4. Philip K. Dick - Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said
3. Barbara Comyns - The Juniper Tree
2. Thomas Savage - The Power Of The Dog
1. Elizabeth Taylor - A Game Of Hide And Seek
2021
80. Margaret Jones - Patsy
79. Arthur Conan Doyle - The Sign Of The Four
78. Arthur Conan Doyle - A Study In Scarlet
77. Willa Cather - O Pioneers!
76. Eileen Chang - Little Reunions
75. David Zucchino - Wilmington's Lie
74. Tove Jansson - The Summer Book
73. J.G. Farrell - Troubles
72. Hermann Hesse - Narcissus And Goldmund
71. Elizabeth Von Arnim - The Enchanted April
70. Evelyn Waugh - Vile Bodies
69. Elizabeth Gaskell - North And South
68. Stephen Graham Jones - My Heart Is A Chainsaw
67. Betty Medsger - The Burglary: The Discovery Of J Edgar Hoover's Secret FBI
66. Daphne du Maurier - Jamaica Inn
65. Erik Larson - The Devil In The White City
64. Stephen King - Misery
63. Doris Lessing - The Fifth Child
62. Edith Wharton - The New York Stories Of...
61. Michael Azerrad - Our Band Could Be Your Life
60. William Sloane - The Edge Of Running Water
59. Patricia Highsmith - Strangers On A Train
58. William Gibson - Neuromancer
57. Sally Rooney - Beautiful World, Where Are You
56. Allan Gurganus - Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All
55. Mona Simpson - Anywhere But Here
54. David Mitchell - Cloud Atlas
53. Iris Murdoch - The Bell
52. Jean Stafford - The Mountain Lion
51. William Sloane - To Walk The Night
50. Rachel Ingalls - Binstead's Safari
49. Josephine Tey - The Man In The Queue
48. Isabel Allende - The House Of The Spirits
47. Elizabeth Taylor - A View Of The Harbour
46. Pearl S. Buck - The Good Earth
45. Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
44. Muriel Barbery - The Elegance Of The Hedgehog
43. Don Winslow - The Power Of The Dog
42. Susan Orlean - The Orchid Thief
41. Shawn Levy - The Castle On Sunset: Life, Death, Love, Art, And Scandal At Hollywood's Chateau Marmont
40. David Grann - The Lost City Of Z: A Tale Of Deadly Obsession
39. Alex Trebek - The Answer Is...
38. Tom O'Neill - CHAOS: Charles Manson, The CIA, And The Secret History Of The Sixties
37. Sylvia Townshend Warner - Lolly Willowes
36. B.A. Shapiro - The Art Forger
35. Stephen King - Dolores Claiborne
34. R.L. Stine - The Babysitter
33. Madeline Miller - The Song Of Achilles
32. Annie Proulx - The Shipping News
31. Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov
30. Hanif Abdurraqib - A Little Devil In America
29. Torrey Peters - Detransition, Baby
28. Patricia Lockwood - No One Is Talking About This
27. Jeanette Winterson - Written On The Body
26. Alan Garner - Red Shift
25. Robert Kolker - Hidden Valley Road: Inside The Mind Of An American Family
24. Jeanette Walls - Dish: The Inside Story Of Gossip
23. Claire Messud - The Emperor's Children
22. Jean Giono - A King Alone
21. Lisa Robinson - Nobody Ever Asked Me About The Girls
20. Susanna Clark - Piranesi
19. John Williams - Stoner
18. Lauren Oyler - Fake Accounts
17. Nicholson Baker - The Mezzanine
16. Douglas Stuart - Shuggie Bain
15. Zora Neale Hurston - Barracoon: The Story Of The Last "Black Cargo"
14. Elaine Dundy - The Dud Avocado
13. Iris Murdoch - The Sea, The Sea
12. Valeria Luiselli - Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay In Forty Questions
11. Jenny Odell - How To Do Nothing: Resisting The Attention Economy
10. Magda Szabó - The Door
9. Patrick Radden Keefe - Say Nothing: A True Story Of Murder And Memory In Northern Ireland
8. Zadie Smith - Swing Time
7. Kelly Conaboy - The Particulars Of Peter
6. Charles Yu - Interior Chinatown
5. Alexandre Dumas - The Count Of Monte Cristo
4. Karina Longworth - Seduction: Sex, Lies, And Stardom In Howard Hughes's Hollywood
3. Claude McKay - Romance In Marseille
2. Chloe Hooper - The Arsonist: A Mind On Fire
1. Doris Lessing - The Golden Notebook
2020
88. Jean Stein - Edie
87. Hilary Mantel - Fludd
86. Wayétu Moore - She Would Be King
85. Anna Kavan - Ice
84. Jenn Shapland - My Autobiography Of Carson McCullers
83. Michelle Zauner - Crying In H Mart
82. John le Carré - The Little Drummer Girl
81. Dorothy & Thomas Hoobler - The Crimes Of Paris
80. Nafkote Tamirat - The Parking Lot Attendant
79. Jean Toomer - Cane
78. Susanna Clarke - Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
77. Francesa Lia Block - Weetzie Bat
76. Rachel Kushner - The Mars Room
75. Sarah Bakewell - How To Live or A Life Of Montaigne
74. Haruki Murakami - Norwegian Wood
73. Lily King - Writers & Lovers
72. James Baldwin - Go Tell It On The Mountain
71. Dodie Smith - I Capture The Castle
70. Peter Cameron - What Happens At Night
69. Charles Dickens - Great Expectations
68. Claire McNear - Answers In The Form Of Questions
67. Elena Ferrante - The Lying Life Of Adults
66. Lucy Ellman - Ducks, Newburyport
65. Oscar Wilde - The Picture Of Dorian Gray
64. Tana French - The Searcher
63. H. G. Wells - The War Of The Worlds
62. Mary Shelley - Frankenstein
61. Edith Wharton - The Age Of Innocence
60. Annie Baker - The Flick
59. Ursula K. Le Guin - The Tombs Of Atuan
58. Patricia Highsmith - The Talented Mr. Ripley
57. Clarice Lispector - The Hour Of The Star
56. Renata Adler - Speedboat
55. Ursula K. Le Guin - A Wizard Of Earthsea
54. James Baldwin - Another Country
53. John Steinbeck - The Grapes Of Wrath
52. Brandon Taylor - Real Life
51. Philip Roth - The Plot Against America
50. Fernanda Melchor - Hurricane Season
49. Min Jin Lee - Pachinko
48. Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go
47. Anne Carson - Autobiography Of Red
46. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Americanah
45. Jenny Offill - Dept. Of Speculation
44. Stephen King - The Long Walk
43. Madeline Miller - Circe
42. Meg Wolitzer - The Female Persuasion
41. Zadie Smith - White Teeth
40. Virginia Woolf - Mrs. Dalloway
39. Don DeLillo - White Noise
38. Sarah M. Broom - The Yellow House
37. Andrea Lawlor - Paul Takes The Form Of A Mortal Girl
36. Leo Tolstoy - Anna Karenina
35. Magda Szabó - Abigail
34. Anna Wiener - Uncanny Valley
33. Octavia E. Butler - Kindred
32. Miaojin Qiu - Notes Of A Crocodile
31. Sigrid Nunez - The Friend
30. Leila Slimani - The Perfect Nanny
29. Joyce Carol Oates - The Accursed
28. Joan Lindsay - Picnic At Hanging Rock
27. Jane Austen - Mansfield Park
26. Willa Cather - My Antonia
25. Garth Greenwell - What Belongs To You
24. Gabriele Tergit - Kasebier Takes Berlin
23. Carson McCullers - The Member Of The Wedding
22. Susan Orlean - Rin Tin Tin
21. Patrick Suskind - Perfume
20. Emily St. John Mandel - The Glass Hotel
19. Hilary Mantel - The Mirror & The Light
18. Angela Carter - Heroes And Villains
17. Colson Whitehead - The Underground Railroad
16. Kazuo Ishiguro - The Remains Of The Day
15. Marie Darrieussecq - Pig Tales
14. Jean Stafford - Boston Adventure
13. Barbara Ehrenreich - Nickel And Dimed
12. Yoko Ogawa - The Housekeeper And The Professor
11. Maggie O'Farrell - After You'd Gone
10. Valeria Luiselli - Lost Children Archive
9. Charles Dickens - A Tale Of Two Cities
8. Naomi Novik - Spinning Silver
7. Hugh Ryan - When Brooklyn Was Queer
6. Agatha Christie - The A.B.C. Murders
5. George Saunders - Lincoln In The Bardo
4. Larry Brown - Tiny Love: The Complete Stories
3. Mary McCarthy - The Group
2. Hiroko Oyamada - The Factory
1. Dorothy Baker - Cassandra At The Wedding