BY PUBLICATION DATE
BY STAR RATING
- 1 star = I do my best to finish every book I start. But these are the ones I’d DNF if I were so inclined. These are books I either find offensive, unbearably amateur, or some combination of the two.
- 2 stars = While there may be some redeeming characteristics, I didn’t like these.
- 3 stars = Usually what I’d describe as inoffensive. I like them, but they’re missing something.
- 4 stars = An excellent and competent book that I’d highly recommend.
- 5 stars = These may not be objectively flawless, but they’re the ones that speak to me, challenge me, or make me a better reader.
BY GENRE
CLASSICS
- Austen, Jane: Northanger Abbey
- Bronte, Emily: Wuthering Heights
- Burgess, Anthony: A Clockwork Orange
- Christie, Agatha: Sparkling Cyanide
- Christie, Agatha: Three Act Tragedy
- Farrell, J.G.: Troubles
- Greene, Graham: The Quiet American
- Hardy, Thomas: Far from the Madding Crowd
- Homer, The Odyssey, translated by Emily Wilson
- Joyce, James: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
- Lewis, C.S.: Till We Have Faces
- Renault, Mary: Fire From Heaven
- Rose, Reginald: Twelve Angry Men
- Shelley, Mary: Frankenstein
- Tolstoy, Leo: War and Peace
- von Kleist, Heinrich: The Marquise of O–
- Vonnegut, Kurt: Cat’s Cradle
- Walker, Alice: The Color Purple
DYSTOPIA/SPECULATIVE FICTION
- Alderman, Naomi: The Power
- Burgess, Anthony: A Clockwork Orange
- Day, Kate Hope: If, Then (ARC)
- El Akkad, Omar: American War
- Heng, Rachel: Suicide Club (ARC)
- Hunter, Megan: The End We Start From (ARC)
- Ma, Ling: Severance
- Thompson Walker, Karen: The Dreamers (ARC)
- Yap, Felicia: Yesterday (ARC)
FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION (YA & ADULT)
- Bardugo, Leigh: Crooked Kingdom
- Bardugo, Leigh: Six of Crows
- Dyachenko, Marina and Sergey: Vita Nostra
- Hellisen, Cat: When the Sea is Rising Red
- Hobb, Robin: Farseer Trilogy:
- Jemisin, N.K.: The Obelisk Gate
- Kuang, R.F.: The Poppy War:
- Mead, Richelle: Vampire Academy
- Miller, Madeline: Circe (ARC)
- Stiefvater, Maggie: The Raven Boys
- Stiefvater, Maggie: The Scorpio Races
GRAPHIC NOVELS
- Carroll, Emily: Through the Woods
- Drnaso, Nick: Sabrina
- Spiegelman, Art: Maus
HISTORICAL FICTION
- Barker, Pat: The Silence of the Girls (ARC)
- Barry, Sebastian: Days Without End
- Barzini, Chiara: Things That Happened Before the Earthquake (ARC)
- Battle-Felton, Yvonne: Remembered
- Boyne, John: The Absolutist
- Boyne, John: The Heart’s Invisible Furies
- Carlin, Laura: The Wicked Cometh
- Chen, Kirsten: Bury What We Cannot Take (ARC)
- Dunmore, Helen: A Spell of Winter
- Edugyan, Esi: Washington Black
- Énard, Mathias: Tell Them of Battles, Kings & Elephants
- Greenberg-Jephcott, Kelleigh: Swan Song
- Guadagnino, Gina Marie: The Parting Glass (ARC)
- Hughes, Michael: Country
- Kang, Han: Human Acts
- Lee, Min Jin: Pachinko
- Merlis, Mark: An Arrow’s Flight
- Oksanen, Sofi: Purge
- Ondaatje, Michael: Warlight
- Reid, Taylor Jenkins: Daisy Jones & The Six
- Reid, Taylor Jenkins: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
- Renault, Mary: Fire From Heaven
- Schmidt, Sarah: See What I Have Done (ARC)
- See, Lisa: The Island of Sea Women (ARC)
- See, Lisa: The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane (ARC)
- Seiffert, Rachel: A Boy in Winter
- Smith, Gregory Blake: The Maze at Windermere
- Stewart, Amy: Lady Cop Makes Trouble
- Stewart, Amy: Miss Kopp’s Midnight Confessions (ARC)
- Toibin, Colm: House of Names (ARC)
- Valmorbida, Elise: The Madonna of the Mountains (ARC)
- Walker, Alice: The Color Purple
- Willig, Lauren: The English Wife
HORROR
- Boyne, John: This House is Haunted
- Jackson, Shirley: The Haunting of Hill House
- Kehlmann, Daniel: You Should Have Left
- Malerman, Josh: Bird Box
- Malerman, Josh: Unbury Carol (ARC)
- Shelley, Mary: Frankenstein
HUMOR/SATIRE
- Farrell, J.G.: Troubles
- McAllister, Tom: How To Be Safe
- Vonnegut, Kurt: Cat’s Cradle
IRISH LIT (trust me – it needs its own category)
- Barrett, Colin: Young Skins
- Barry, Kevin: Night Boat to Tangier
- Barry, Sebastian: Days Without End
- Beckett, Samuel: Waiting for Godot
- Boyne, John: A Ladder to the Sky
- Boyne, John: The Absolutist
- Boyne, John: The Heart’s Invisible Furies
- Boyne, John: This House is Haunted
- Burns, Anna: Milkman
- Carr, Marina: By the Bog of Cats
- Carson, Jan: The Fire Starters (ARC)
- Farrell, J.G.: Troubles
- Friel, Brian: Faith Healer
- Friel, Brian: Translations
- Gleeson, Sinéad: Constellations
- Griffin, Anne: When All Is Said (ARC)
- Harrison, Phil: The First Day (ARC)
- Heaney, Seamus: Human Chain
- Hughes, Michael: Country
- Joyce, James: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
- Kidd, Jess: Himself
- Kiernan, Olivia: The Killer In Me (ARC)
- Kiernan, Olivia: Too Close to Breathe (ARC)
- McBride, Eimear: A Girl is a Half-formed Thing
- McBride, Eimear: The Lesser Bohemians (ARC)
- McDonagh, Martin: A Skull in Connemara
- McDonagh, Martin: The Beauty Queen of Leenane
- McDonagh, Martin: The Cripple of Inishmaan
- McDonagh, Martin: The Lieutenant of Inishmore
- McDonagh, Martin: The Lonesome West
- McInerney, Lisa: The Blood Miracles
- McInerney, Lisa: The Glorious Heresies
- McTiernan, Dervla: The Ruin
- Norton, Graham: Holding (ARC)
- O’Brien, Edna: Paradise
- O’Faolain, Julia: Daughters of Passion
- O’Neill, Louise: Almost Love
- O’Neill, Louise: Asking For It
- Pine, Emilie: Notes to Self
- Rooney, Sally: Color and Light
- Rooney, Sally: Conversations With Friends
- Rooney, Sally: Mr Salary
- Rooney, Sally: Normal People
- Ryan, Donal: All We Shall Know
- Ryan, Donal: From a Low and Quiet Sea (ARC)
- Toibin, Colm: House of Names (ARC)
LITERARY FICTION:
- Ackerman, Eliot: Waiting for Eden
- Andrews, Jessica: Saltwater (ARC)
- Aw, Tash: We, the Survivors
- Ball, Jesse: Census
- Barry, Kevin: Night Boat to Tangier
- Batuman, Elif: The Idiot
- Benjamin, Chloe: The Immortalists (ARC)
- Besson, Philippe: Lie With Me (ARC)
- Boyne, John: A Ladder to the Sky
- Braithwaite, Oyinkan: My Sister, The Serial Killer
- Buntin, Julie: Marlena
- Burns, Anna: Milkman
- Dolan-Leach, Caite: Dead Letters (ARC)
- Dolan-Leach, Caite: We Went to the Woods (ARC)
- Emezi, Akwaeke: Freshwater (ARC)
- Evans, Diana: Ordinary People
- Forna, Aminatta: Happiness (ARC)
- Fuller, Claire: Swimming Lessons
- Galloway, Janice: The Trick is to Keep Breathing
- Goenawan, Clarissa: Rainbirds
- Greengrass, Jessie: Sight (ARC)
- Greenwell, Garth: Cleanness (ARC)
- Griffin, Anne: When All Is Said (ARC)
- Gunaratne, Guy: In Our Mad and Furious City
- Gundar-Goshen, Ayelet: The Liar
- Halliday, Lisa: Asymmetry
- Hamid, Mohsin: Exit West
- Harrison, Phil: The First Day (ARC)
- Healey, Emma: Whistle in the Dark (ARC)
- Hisayo Buchanan, Rowan: Harmless Like You
- Hoffman, Cara: Running (ARC)
- Honeyman, Gail: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
- Howrey, Meg: The Cranes Dance
- Huckelbridge, Dane: Castle of Water (ARC)
- Jones, Cynan: Cove
- Kandasamy, Meena: When I Hit You
- Kang, Han: The White Book
- Ko, Lisa: The Leavers
- Kukafka, Danya: Girl in Snow (ARC)
- Kushner, Rachel: The Mars Room
- Kwon, R.O.: The Incendiaries
- Lee, Mira T.: Everything Here is Beautiful (ARC)
- Levy, Deborah: The Man Who Saw Everything
- Li, Lillian: Number One Chinese Restaurant
- Li, Yiyun: Where Reasons End
- Libaire, Jardine: White Fur (ARC)
- Luiselli, Valeria: Lost Children Archive
- Lyon, Rachel: Self-Portrait with Boy (ARC)
- Mackintosh, Sophie: The Water Cure (ARC)
- Martin, Kimmery: The Queen of Hearts (ARC)
- McBride, Eimear: A Girl is a Half-formed Thing
- McBride, Eimear: The Lesser Bohemians (ARC)
- McEwan, Ian: On Chesil Beach
- McInerney, Lisa: The Blood Miracles
- McInerney, Lisa: The Glorious Heresies
- Miaojin, Qiu: Notes of a Crocodile
- Mirza, Fatima Farheen: A Place for Us (ARC)
- Mitchell, David: Black Swan Green
- Moshfegh, Ottessa: Eileen
- Moshfegh, Ottessa: My Year of Rest and Relaxation
- Moss, Sarah: Ghost Wall (ARC)
- Mozley, Fiona: Elmet (ARC)
- Murata, Sayaka: Convenience Store Woman
- Newman, Sandra: The Heavens (ARC)
- Nunez, Sigrid: The Friend
- Ng, Celeste: Little Fires Everywhere
- Odoevtseva, Irina: Isolde (ARC)
- Ogawa, Yoko: The Housekeeper and the Professor
- O’Neill, Louise: Almost Love
- Orange, Tommy: There There
- Phillips, Helen: The Need (ARC)
- Porter, Max: Lanny
- Powers, Richard: The Overstory
- Rachman, Tom: The Italian Teacher
- Raisin, Ross: A Natural
- Rao, Shobha: Girls Burn Brighter (ARC)
- Rodrigues Fowler, Yara: Stubborn Archivist (ARC)
- Rooney, Sally: Conversations With Friends
- Rooney, Sally: Normal People
- Rose, Heather: The Museum of Modern Love
- Ryan, Donal: All We Shall Know
- Ryan, Donal: From a Low and Quiet Sea (ARC)
- Saunders, George: Lincoln in the Bardo
- Shamsie, Kamila: Home Fire
- Shin, Kyung-Sook: I’ll Be Right There
- Smith, Ali: How to Be Both
- St. Aubyn, Edward: Dunbar (ARC)
- Stevens, Madeline: Devotion (ARC)
- Stridsberg, Sara: Valerie (ARC)
- Strout, Elizabeth: My Name is Lucy Barton
- Szabó, Magda: The Door
- Toews, Miriam: All My Puny Sorrows
- Tsushima, Yuko: Territory of Light (ARC)
- van den Berg, Laura: The Third Hotel
- Vane, Kate: The Former Chief Executive (ARC)
- Vann, David: Bright Air Black (ARC)
- Vapnyar, Lara: Divide Me By Zero
- Varvello, Elena: Can You Hear Me? (ARC)
- Vogel, Saskia: Permission (ARC)
- Vuong, Ocean: On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
- Walker, Nico: Cherry
- Wang, Weike: Chemistry
- Ward, Jesmyn: Sing, Unburied, Sing (ARC)
- Wells, Benedict: The End of Loneliness (ARC)
- Winman, Sarah: Tin Man (ARC)
- Winterson, Jeanette: Frankissstein (ARC)
- Wolf, Christa: Medea
- Würger, Takis: The Club (ARC)
- Wyld, Evie: All the Birds, Singing
MAGICAL REALISM
- Carson, Jan: The Fire Starters
- Gowar, Imogen Hermes: The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock (ARC)
- Johnson, Daisy: Everything Under
- Kidd, Jess: Himself
- Porter, Max: Lanny
- van Llewyn, Sophie: Bottled Goods
MYSTERIES & THRILLERS
- Baker, Jo: The Body Lies
- Barber, Kathleen: Are You Sleeping (ARC)
- Bauer, Belinda: Snap
- Benedict, Laura: The Stranger Inside (ARC)
- Berry, Flynn: A Double Life (ARC)
- Berry, Flynn: Under the Harrow
- Bryndza, Robert: The Girl in the Ice
- Burton, Tara Isabella: Social Creature (ARC)
- Christie, Agatha: Murder at the Vicarage
- Christie, Agatha: Sparkling Cyanide
- Christie, Agatha: Three Act Tragedy
- Denfield, Rene: The Child Finder
- Elliott, Lexie: The Missing Years (ARC)
- Galbraith, Robert: The Silkworm
- Girard, Geoffrey: Mary Rose
- Finn, A.J.: The Woman in the Window (ARC)
- Harper, Jane: The Dry
- Hawkins, Paula: Into the Water
- Horowitz, Anthony: Magpie Murders
- Hutchison, Dot: Roses of May (ARC)
- Hutchison, Dot: The Summer Children (ARC)
- Joy, David: The Line That Held Us (ARC)
- Kiernan, Olivia: The Killer In Me (ARC)
- Kiernan, Olivia: Too Close to Breathe (ARC)
- Kuehn, Stephanie: When I Am Through With You (ARC)
- Land, Ali: Good Me, Bad Me (ARC)
- Mackintosh, Clare: I See You (ARC)
- McTiernan, Dervla: The Ruin
- Minato, Kanae: Confessions
- Minato, Kanae: Penance (ARC)
- North, Alex: The Whisper Man
- Norton, Graham: Holding (ARC)
- Phillips, Julia: Disappearing Earth
- Ravatn, Agnes: The Bird Tribunal
- Rio, M. L.: If We Were Villains (ARC)
- Sager, Riley: Final Girls
- Sager, Riley: Lock Every Door
- Sager, Riley: The Last Time I Lied (ARC)
- St. James, Simone: The Broken Girls
- Tokarczuk, Olga: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
- Torjussen, Mary: Gone Without a Trace (ARC)
- Tudor, C.J.: The Chalk Man (ARC)
- Tudor, C.J.: The Hiding Place (ARC)
- Ware, Ruth: The Woman in Cabin 10
- Way, Camilla: The Lies We Told (ARC)
- Way, Camilla: Watching Edie
- Wesolowski, Matt: Six Stories (ARC)
- Whitehouse, Lucie: The House at Midnight
NONFICTION
- Abramović, Marina: Walk Through Walls
- Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi: Dear Ijeawele
- Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi: We Should All Be Feminists
- Basu, Shrabani: Spy Princess
- Beard, Mary: Women & Power: A Manifesto
- Broder, Melissa: So Sad Today
- Carreyrou, John: Bad Blood
- Cox, Brendan: Jo Cox: More in Common
- Deraniyagala, Sonali: Wave
- Gleeson, Sinéad: Constellations
- Jahren, Hope: Lab Girl
- Julien, Maude: The Only Girl in the World
- Kalush, William and Sloman, Larry: The Secret Life of Houdini
- Laymon, Kiese: Heavy
- Lorde, Audre: Sister Outsider
- Loridan-Ivens, Marceline: But You Did Not Come Back
- Machado, Carmen Maria: In the Dream House
- Macy, Beth: Dopesick
- McNamara: I’ll Be Gone in the Dark
- Miller, Chanel: Know My Name
- Miller, T. Christian & Armstrong, Ken: Unbelievable
- Nelson, Maggie: The Argonauts
- Nelson, Maggie: Bluets
- Noah, Trevor: Born a Crime
- O’Farrell, Maggie: I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death (ARC)
- Philipps, Busy: This Will Only Hurt a Little
- Pine, Emilie: Notes to Self
- Prior-Palmer, Lara: Rough Magic
- Radden Keefe, Patrick: Say Nothing (ARC)
- Shalmiyev, Sophia: Mother Winter (ARC)
- Shraya, Vivek: I’m Afraid of Men
- Traister, Rebecca: Good and Mad
- Westover, Tara: Educated
PLAYS
- Beckett, Samuel: Waiting for Godot
- Carr, Marina: By the Bog of Cats
- Friel, Brian: Faith Healer
- Friel, Brian: Translations
- McDonagh, Martin: A Skull in Connemara
- McDonagh, Martin: The Beauty Queen of Leenane
- McDonagh, Martin: The Cripple of Inishmaan
- McDonagh, Martin: The Lieutenant of Inishmore
- McDonagh, Martin: The Lonesome West
- Peterson, Lisa & O’Hare, Denis: An Iliad
- Rose, Reginald: Twelve Angry Men
- Ruhl, Sarah: Eurydice
- Williams, Tennessee: The Glass Menagerie
POETRY
- Heaney, Seamus: Human Chain
- Vuong, Ocean: Night Sky with Exit Wounds
ROMANCE
- Aciman, André: Call Me By Your Name
- Aciman, André: Find Me
- Alderman, Naomi: Disobedience
- Broder, Melissa: The Pisces (ARC)
- Flippy, I.M.: A Fugitive in Grass Valley (ARC)
SHORT STORIES (COLLECTIONS & INDIVIDUAL STORIES)
- Adjei-Brenyah, Nana Kwame: Friday Black
- Barrett, Colin: Young Skins
- Enríquez, Mariana: Things We Lost in the Fire (ARC)
- Moshfegh, Ottessa: Homesick for Another World
- O’Brien, Edna: Paradise
- O’Faolain, Julia: Daughters of Passion
- Ogawa, Yoko: Revenge
- Rooney, Sally: Color and Light
- Rooney, Sally: Mr Salary
- Rubin, Jay (ed): The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories
- Smith, Ali: The Whole Story and Other Stories
YOUNG ADULT
- Lee, Mackenzi: The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue
- McCullough, Joy: Blood Water Paint
- McGinnis, Mindy: The Female of the Species
- O’Neill, Louise: Asking For It
- Summers, Courtney: Sadie (ARC)
- Thomas, Angie: The Hate U Give
- Woodson, Jacqueline: Another Brooklyn
- Zappia, Francesca: Eliza and Her Monsters
THEATRE REVIEWS
- Merrily We Roll Along (Huntington Theatre Company, Boston)
pace, amore, libri 