My Yearly 50 Books Challenge

Since 2017, after graduating from undergrad, I have challenged myself to read at least 50 books per year. I recognized how few books I was really reading during my university years, with the exception of those assigned to me by a professor, so I decided that my New Year’s resolution would not be to remove something from my lifestyle but ADD something. As an avid writer and reader, it would be difficult for me to grow in either of these labels without enjoying and learning from the books of others. I hope these lists will inspire you as much as they have me, and maybe you’ll pick up a few of these titles yourself.

2023 Books (total: TBD)

  1. Christianna Brand’s Death of Jezebel (audiobook) JAN ☆☆☆ Shedunnit BC February choice
  2. Agatha Christie’s Sad Cypress JAN ☆☆☆☆☆ #ReadChristie2023 choice 
  3. Gillian Flynn’s The Grownup JAN ☆☆☆
  4. Darcie Wilde’s The Secret of the Lost Pearls JAN ☆☆☆☆
  5. Sean Adams’s The Thing in the Snow JAN ☆☆☆
  6. Katherine Kovacic’s Just Murdered JAN ☆☆☆☆
  7. Leslie Vedder’s The Severed Thread (The Bone Spindle #2) JAN ☆☆☆☆☆
  8. Brittany Cavallaro’s A Study in Charlotte (Charlotte Holmes #1) FEB ☆☆☆
  9. Rebecca Morgan Frank’s The Spokes of Venus FEB ☆☆☆
  10. Mavis Doriel Hay’s Death on the Cherwell FEB ☆☆☆☆ Shedunnit BC March choice
  11. Lauren Kung Jessen’s Lunar Love FEB ☆☆☆☆
  12. Elizabeth Hunter’s Ink FEB ☆☆☆☆☆
  13. Riley Sager’s Home Before Dark FEB ☆☆
  14. Linda Reilly’s Cheddar Late Than Dead FEB ☆☆☆
  15. Audre Lorde’s A Burst of Light and Other Essays MAR ☆☆☆☆
  16. Claudia Rankine’s Citizen MAR ☆☆☆☆
  17. Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo’s The Laughing Policeman MAR ☆☆☆☆ Shedunnit BC April choice
  18. Sayantani Dasgupta’s Rosewood MAR ☆☆☆☆
  19. Rachel Smythe’s Lore Olympus Vol. I (GN; Lore Olympus #1) MAR ☆☆☆☆☆
  20. Cornell Woolrich’s Deadline at Dawn MAR ☆☆☆☆
  21. Rachel Smythe’s Lore Olympus Vol. II (GN; Lore Olympus #2) MAR ☆☆☆☆☆
  22. Ruby Dixon’s Ice Planet Barbarians (IPB #1) MAR ☆☆☆
  23. Ruby Dixon’s Barbarian Alien (IPB #2) MAR ☆☆☆☆☆
  24. Ruby Dixon’s Barbarian Lover (IPB #3) MAR ☆☆☆
  25. Carrie Doyle’s The Girl with the Dragon Fruit Tattoo (Trouble in Paradise #3) MAR ☆☆☆
  26. Juan Díaz Canales (writer) and Juanjo Guarnido (artist)’s Blacksad (GN) MAR ☆☆☆
  27. Daran Horn’s People Love Dead Jews MAR ☆☆☆☆☆
  28. Rachel Smythe’s Lore Olympus Vol. III (GN; Lore Olympus #3) APR ☆☆☆☆☆
  29. Ruby Dixon’s Barbarian Mine (IPB #4) APR ☆☆
  30. Ian Moore’s Death and Croissants APR ☆☆☆☆
  31. Emily George’s A Half-Baked Murder APR ☆☆☆☆
  32. Katy Birchall’s The Wedding Season (buddy read with Carly @bookishpixiereads) MAY ☆☆☆☆☆
  33. Ruby Dixon’s Barbarian’s Prize (IPB #5) MAY ☆☆☆☆
  34. Ruby Dixon’s Barbarian’s Mate (IPB #6) MAY ☆☆
  35. Emily McIntire’s Hooked (Read-Along with Brooklyn @brooklynreads) MAY ☆☆☆
  36. Cassandra Khaw’s The Salt Grows Heavy MAY ☆☆☆☆
  37. Kendare Blake’s One Girl In All The World (In Every Generation #2) MAY ☆☆☆☆☆
  38. Margaret Owen’s Little Thieves (Little Thieves #1) MAY ☆☆☆☆☆
  39. Margaret Owen’s Painted Devils (Little Thieves #2) MAY ☆☆☆☆
  40. Sarah Adams’s Practice Makes Perfect (When in Rome #2) MAY ☆☆
  41. Emily J. Edwards’s Viviana Valentine Gets Her Man (A Girl Friday Mystery #1) JUNE ☆☆☆☆
  42. S.A. Barnes’s Dead Silence (buddy read with Danni @danni.dabbles) JUNE ☆☆☆☆☆
  43. C. Daly King’s Obelists at Sea JUNE ☆☆☆ Mysterious Bookshop Subscription
  44. Michelle Gagnon’s Killing Me (Netgalley e-ARC) JUNE ☆☆☆
  45. Pim Wangtechawat’s The Moon Represents My Heart JUNE ☆☆☆
  46. Winnie-the-Pooh by AA Milne, illustrated by EH Shepard JUNE ☆☆☆☆☆

2022 Books (total: 96)

  1. Dawnie Walton’s The Final Revival of Opal & Nev (novel) JAN ☆☆
  2. Audre Lorde’s Sister Outsider (essays & speeches) JAN ☆☆☆☆☆
  3. Kelly Oliver’s Villainy in Vienna (Fiona Figg Mystery #3; 70% Netgalley) JAN ☆☆☆
  4. Jessamine Chan’s The School for Good Mothers JAN ☆☆☆☆☆
  5. John Dickson Carr’s The Eight of Swords (Dr. Gideon Fell #3) JAN ☆☆☆☆ Mysterious Bookshop Subscription
  6. Rémy Marion’s On Being a Bear (translation) JAN ☆☆☆☆
  7. Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits (translation) JAN ☆☆☆☆
  8. Maureen Johnson’s The Vanishing Stair (Truly Devious #2) JAN ☆☆☆☆
  9. Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun JAN ☆☆☆
  10. Matt Bell’s Appleseed JAN ☆☆☆☆☆
  11. Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile FEB ☆☆☆☆☆ #ReadChristie2022 choice
  12. Vincent Starrett’s Murder on “B” Deck FEB ☆☆☆ Mysterious Bookshop Subscription
  13. Leslie Vedder’s The Bone Spindle (The Bone Spindle #1) FEB ☆☆☆☆ Polarthon 2022
  14. Jamie Littler’s Frostheart (Frostheart #1) FEB ☆☆☆☆☆ Polarthon 2022
  15. Hannah Voskuil’s The Art of Magic (70% Netgalley) FEB ☆☆☆
  16. Jack London’s The Call of the Wild FEB ☆☆☆☆
  17. Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde MAR ☆☆☆☆
  18. Sarah Adams’s The Cheat Sheet MAR ☆☆☆☆
  19. Janae Marks’s From the Desk of Zoe Washington MAR ☆☆☆☆
  20. Guadalupe García McCall’s The Keeper MAR ☆☆☆☆☆
  21. Casey McQuiston’s Red, White, and Royal Blue MAR ☆☆☆ @Kay’sSecretLibrary book club choice
  22. Anonymous Sex edited by Hillary Jordan and Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan MAR ☆☆☆☆
  23. André Bjerke’s The Lake of the Dead (translation) MAR ☆☆☆☆
  24. Kate Chopin’s The Awakening APR ☆☆☆ (re-read)
  25. Craig Rice’s Eight Faces at Three APR ☆☆☆☆☆ Mysterious Bookshop Book Club choice
  26. Jonathan Latimer’s Headed for a Hearse APR ☆ Mysterious Bookshop Subscription
  27. Michel Foucault’s The History of Sexuality: Introduction, Vol. 1 APR ☆☆☆
  28. Sherry Thomas’s A Conspiracy in Belgravia (Lady Sherlock #2) APR ☆☆☆☆☆
  29. Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray APR ☆☆☆
  30. Claudia Gray’s The Murder of Mr. Wickham (100% Netgalley) APR ☆☆☆☆☆
  31. Robert Thorogood’s The Marlow Murder Club (100% Netgalley) MAY ☆☆☆☆
  32. Evanna Lynch’s The Opposite of Butterfly Hunting (memoir) MAY ☆☆☆☆
  33. Emily St. John Mandel’s Sea of Tranquility MAY ☆☆☆☆☆
  34. Roger Scarlett’s Cat’s Paw MAY ☆☆☆
  35. Reclaim the Stars edited by Zoraida Cordova MAY ☆☆☆☆
  36. Sulari Gentill’s The Woman in the Library (100% Netgalley) MAY ☆☆
  37. Marie Benedict’s The Other Einstein MAY ☆☆☆
  38. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of the Four JUNE ☆☆
  39. Lora Senf’s The Clackity (100% Netgalley) JUNE ☆☆☆☆
  40. John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men JUNE ☆☆☆
  41. Jennifer Bell’s Wonderscape JUNE ☆☆☆☆☆
  42. RJ McDowell’s Agatha Anxious and the Deer Island Ghost (100% Netgalley) JUNE ☆☆☆
  43. Agatha Christie’s Murder at the Vicarage JUNE ☆☆☆☆☆ (re-read)
  44. Lydia Conklin’s Rainbow Rainbow: Stories JUNE ☆☆☆☆
  45. Jennifer Bell’s Legendarium (Wonderscape #2) JUNE ☆☆☆☆☆
  46. Sloane Crosley’s Cult Classic JULY ☆☆☆☆☆
  47. Robert Thorogood’s A Meditation on Murder (buddy read with Mom) JULY ☆☆☆☆
  48. Christyne Morrell’s Trex (100% Netgalley) JULY ☆☆☆☆
  49. Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities JULY ☆☆☆☆
  50. Carrie Doyle’s It Take Two To Mango (bookstagram buddy read; Trouble in Paradise #1) JULY ☆☆☆☆
  51. Agatha Christie’s 4.50 from Paddington (Shedunnit book club pick) JULY ☆☆☆☆
  52. Lucy Foley’s The Hunting Party (audiobook) JULY ☆☆☆
  53. Gretchen Felker-Martin’s Manhunt (buddy read with Moriah) AUG ☆☆☆☆
  54. Tamara Berry’s Buried in a Good Book (audiobook; By The Book #1) AUG ☆☆☆☆☆
  55. A.A. Milne’s The Red House Mystery (audiobook) AUG ☆☆☆☆
  56. Adam Cesare’s Clown in a Cornfield (Camp Spoopathon) AUG ☆☆☆☆☆
  57. Misha Popp’s Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies (audiobook; Pies Before Guys #1) AUG ☆☆☆☆☆
  58. Jane Austen’s Emma (Jane Austen in July readathon) AUG ☆☆☆
  59. M.C. Beaton’s Agatha Raisin and The Vicious Vet (audiobook; Agatha Raisin #2) AUG ☆☆☆
  60. Nev March’s Murder in Old Bombay AUG ☆☆☆☆
  61. Teri Wilson’s A Spot Of Trouble AUG ☆☆☆
  62. Charlaine Harris’s Dead Until Dark (audiobook; Sookie Stackhouse #1) AUG ☆☆☆☆
  63. Craig Rice’s The Corpse Steps Out (audiobook; John J. Malone #2) AUG ☆☆☆☆
  64. Murder By The Book edited by Martin Edwards (100% Netgalley) SEP ☆☆☆☆☆
  65. Rick Bragg’s The Speckled Beauty (audiobook) SEP ☆☆☆☆
  66. Carrie Doyle’s Something’s Guava Give (bookstagram buddy read; Trouble in Paradise #2) SEP ☆☆☆☆
  67. Thrity Umrigar’s Sugar In Milk SEP ☆☆☆☆☆
  68. Dan Santat’s After the Fall: How Humpty Dumpty Got Back up Again SEP ☆☆☆☆☆
  69. Tessa Bailey’s It Happened One Summer (audiobook) SEP ☆☆
  70. Toni Morrison’s A Mercy SEP ☆☆☆
  71. Erin A. Craig’s Small Favors (audiobook) SEP ☆☆☆☆☆
  72. Vashti Hardy’s Brightstorm SEP ☆☆☆☆☆
  73. Vashti Hardy’s Darkwhispers SEP ☆☆☆☆☆
  74. Mindy Sterling’s Library Lion SEP ☆☆☆☆☆
  75. Shannon Hale’s Austenland (audiobook) SEP ☆☆☆
  76. Teri Wilson’s A Line in the Sand (audiobook) SEP ☆☆
  77. Ellery Queen’s The Roman Hat Mystery (audiobook) OCT ☆☆
  78. Josephine Tey’s The Man in the Queue OCT ☆☆☆☆
  79. Katherine Arden’s Small Spaces OCT ☆☆☆☆☆
  80. Kendare Blake’s In Every Generation (library book + audiobook, In Every Generation #1) OCT ☆☆☆☆☆
  81. Jennifer Dugan’s Coven (YA GN e-book) OCT ☆☆☆
  82. Ngaio Marsh’s Tied Up In Tinsel (audiobook) NOV ☆☆
  83. Craig Rice’s The Wrong Murder (audiobook) NOV ☆☆☆☆☆
  84. Rupert Latimer’s Murder After Christmas (100% Netgalley) NOV ☆☆☆☆☆
  85. Mary Pope Osborne’s Dinosaurs Before Dark (Magic Tree House #1) NOV ☆☆☆☆☆
  86. Mary Pope Osborne’s The Knight at Dawn (Magic Tree House #2) NOV ☆☆☆
  87. Mary Pope Osborne’s Mummies in the Morning (Magic Tree House #3) NOV ☆☆☆
  88. Attica Locke’s Pleasantville NOV ☆☆☆☆☆
  89. Mary Pope Osborne’s Pirates Past Noon (Magic Tree House #4) NOV ☆☆
  90. Tom Mead’s Death and the Conjuror NOV ☆☆☆☆☆
  91. Rhys Bowen’s The Twelve Clues of Christmas (Her Royal Spyness #6) DEC ☆☆☆
  92. Nev March’s Peril at the Exposition (Jim Agnihotri #2) DEC ☆☆☆
  93. Tess Bailey’s Hook, Line, and Sinker DEC ☆☆☆
  94. Tamara Berry’s On Spine of Death (By The Book #2; audiobook + Netgalley) DEC ☆☆☆☆☆
  95. S.T. Gibson’s A Dowry of Blood (audiobook) DEC ☆☆☆☆
  96. Katy Birchall’s The Secret Bridesmaid (audiobook) DEC ☆☆☆☆☆

2021 Books (total: 55)

  1. Brandon Hobson’s The Removed (novel) JAN
  2. Danielle Evans’s The Office of Historical Corrections (novella + short stories) JAN
  3. Jamison Hill’s When Force Meets Fate (nonfiction) JAN
  4. Ted Sanders’s The Keepers: The Box and the Dragonfly (The Keepers #1, middle grade series) JAN
  5. Marie Benedict’s The Mystery of Mrs. Christie (novel) JAN
  6. Diksha Basu’s The Windfall (novel) JAN
  7. Agatha Christie’s The Body in the Library (novel, Miss Marple Mystery #3) JAN #ReadChristie2021 alternative
  8. Patricia Engel’s Infinite Country (novel) FEB
  9. Matthew Sullivan’s Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore (novel) FEB
  10. Agatha Christie’s Parker Pyne Investigates (mystery collection) FEB #ReadChristie2021 choice
  11. Jennifer L. Armentrout’s White Hot Kiss (Dark Elements #1) FEB
  12. Italo Calvino’s If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller (translation, novel) FEB
  13. Min Jin Lee’s Free Food for Millionaires (novel) MAR
  14. Jennifer L. Armentrout’s Stone Cold Touch (Dark Elements #2) MAR
  15. Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (novel) MAR #ReadChristie2021 alternative
  16. Barbara Kingsolver’s The Bean Trees (novel) MAR
  17. Cora Reilly’s Bound by Honor (Born in Blood #1) MAR
  18. Martin Fido’s The World of Agatha Christie (illustrated nonfiction) MAR
  19. Leslie S. Klinger’s (Ed.) In the Shadow of Agatha Christie (anthology) MAR
  20. Jasmine Guillory’s The Wedding Date (The Wedding Date #1) APR
  21. Hala Alyan’s The Arsonists’ City (novel) APR
  22. Agatha Christie’s The Mysterious Affair at Styles (novel) APR #ReadChristie2021 alternative
  23. Sophie Hannah’s The Monogram Murders (novel, Hercule Poirot reboot) APR
  24. Dorothy L. Sayers’s Whose Body? (novel) MAY
  25. Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club (novel) MAY
  26. Sadeqa Johnson’s Yellow Wife (novel) MAY
  27. M.C. Beaton’s The Quiche of Death (Agatha Raisin Mystery #1) MAY
  28. Justina Ireland’s Ophie’s Ghost (middle-grade novel) MAY
  29. Walter Mosley’s Devil in a Blue Dress (Easy Rawlins Mystery #1) MAY
  30. Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass (nonfiction, nature writing) JUNE
  31. Agatha Christie’s The Murder at the Vicarage (novel) JUNE
  32. Jazmina Barrera’s On Lighthouses (translation, nonfiction) JUNE
  33. Agatha Christie’s Nemesis (Miss Marple Mystery #11) JUNE #ReadChristie2021
  34. S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders (YA novel) JUNE
  35. David Mitchell’s Backstory (memoir, audiobook) JUNE
  36. Nino Cipri’s Homesick (fiction collection) JULY
  37. Jennifer L. Armentrout’s Every Last Breath (Dark Elements #3) JULY
  38. Edwin Rolfe and Lester Fuller’s Murder in the Glass Room (Audio Read-Along with Dirt Cheap Podcast) JULY
  39. Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club (novel) AUG
  40. Agatha Christie’s The Secret Adversary (novel, Tommy & Tuppence #1) AUG
  41. Rachel Yoder’s Nightbitch (novel) AUG
  42. Alexandra Kleeman’s Something New Under the Sun (novel) SEP
  43. Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge (play) SEP
  44. Claire Luchette’s Agatha of Little Neon (novel) SEP
  45. Agatha Christie’s The Man in the Brown Suit (novel) SEP
  46. Calvin Kasulke’s Several People are Typing (novel) SEP
  47. Carolyn Keene’s The Ghost of Blackwood Hall (Nancy Drew #25) OCT
  48. Maureen Johnson’s Truly Devious (Truly Devious #1) OCT
  49. Adam Gidwitz’s A Tale Dark & Grimm (Grimm #1) NOV
  50. Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House NOV
  51. Louise Erdrich’s Love Medicine (novel) DEC
  52. Katie Williams’s Tell The Machine Goodnight (novel) DEC
  53. Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights (novel) DEC
  54. M.C. Beaton’s A Highland Christmas (novel) DEC
  55. Adam Gidwitz’s In a Glass Grimmly (Grimm #2) DEC

2020 Books (total: 50)

  1. Rita Ciresi’s Sometimes I Dream in Italian (fiction collection) JAN
  2. Leslie Jamison’s The Empathy Exams (essay collection) JAN
  3. Nin Andrews’s Why God is a Woman (poetry) JAN
  4. Jenny Erpenbeck’s Visitation (translation) JAN
  5. Megan Abbott’s Dare Me (novel) JAN
  6. Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye (novel) FEB
  7. Aracelis Girmay’s The Black Maria (poetry) FEB
  8. Toni Morrison’s Beloved (novel) FEB
  9. Maaza Mengiste’s The Shadow King (novel) FEB
  10. Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing (novel) FEB
  11. Emily Bernard’s Black is the Body (essay collection) FEB
  12. Ta-Nehisi Coates’s The Water Dancer (novel) MAR
  13. Colson Whitehead’s The Intuitionist (novel) MAR
  14. E.J. Koh’s The Magical Language of Others (memoir) MAR
  15. Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend (novel) MAR
  16. Peg Alford Pursell’s A Girl Goes into the Forest (fiction collection) MAR
  17. Alexandra Kleeman’s You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine (novel) APR
  18. Jason Graff’s Stray the Pieces (novel) APR
  19. Sally Rooney’s Normal People (novel) APR
  20. Gaia Vince’s Transcendence (nonfiction) APR
  21. Lucy Foley’s The Guest List (novel) MAY
  22. Nick Girard’s In the Beginning (novel) MAY
  23. Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking (memoir) MAY
  24. Richard Powers’s The Overstory (novel) JUNE
  25. Jennifer Weiner’s Big Summer (novel) JUNE
  26. Kira Henehan’s Orion You Came and You Took All My Marbles (novel) SEP
  27. Stephen L. Peck’s A Short Stay in Hell (novel) SEP
  28. Eimear McBride’s Strange Hotel (novel) SEP
  29. Samantha Harvey’s The Shapeless Unease (memoir) SEP
  30. Amity Gaige’s Sea Wife (novel) OCT
  31. Ira Levin’s The Stepford Wives (novel) OCT
  32. Christin Brecher’s 15 Minutes of Flame (novel; cozy mystery) OCT
  33. Jane Shemilt’s The Playground (novel) OCT
  34. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (fiction collection) OCT
  35. Agatha Christie’s The ABC Murders (novel) OCT
  36. Merlin Sheldrake’s Entangled Life (nonfiction) NOV
  37. Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi (novel) NOV
  38. Yoss’s A Planet for Rent (novel, translation) NOV
  39. Peter Balakian’s Ozone Journal (poetry) NOV
  40. Nathaniel Rich’s Losing Earth: A Recent History (nonfiction) NOV
  41. Hilary McKay’s Saffy’s Angel (novel) NOV
  42. Ed Tarkington’s The Fortunate Ones (novel, Pub Date: Jan 5, 2021) DEC
  43. Agatha Christie’s Partners in Crime (fiction collection, Tommy & Tuppence #2) DEC
  44. Stanley Fish’s How to Write a Sentence and How to Read One (nonfiction) DEC
  45. Ellen Raskin’s The Westing Game (novel) DEC
  46. Alan Lightman’s Einstein’s Dreams (novel) DEC
  47. Nathan W. Pyle’s Stranger Planet (comics, book #2) DEC
  48. Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility (novel) DEC
  49. Sherry Thomas’s A Study in Scarlet Women (Lady Sherlock #1, series) DEC
  50. Nick Seluk’s Heart and Brain (comics) DEC

2019 Books (total: 56)

  1. Haruki Murakami’s The Elephant Vanishes (short fiction collection) JAN
  2. Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven (novel) JAN
  3. Zadie Smith’s On Beauty (novel) JAN
  4. Jhumpa Lahiri’s In Other Words (nonfiction/memoir) JAN
  5. Helen Macdonald’s H is for Hawk (nonfiction/memoir) JAN
  6. David Sedaris’s Me Talk Pretty One Day (essay collection) FEB
  7. Lauren Groff’s Arcadia (novel) FEB
  8. Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness (novel) FEB
  9. Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad (novel) MAR
  10. Anna Burns’s Milkman (novel) MAR
  11. Celeste Ng’s Everything I Never Told You (novel) APR
  12. Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s (novel) APR
  13. Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go (novel) APR
  14. Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible (novel) APR
  15. Chris Whitaker’s All the Wicked Girls (novel) APR
  16. Donald Antrim’s The Hundred Brothers (novel) MAY
  17. Mary Ellen Hannibal’s Citizen Scientist (nonfiction) MAY
  18. John Henry Fleming’s Songs for the Deaf (short fiction collection) MAY
  19. Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life (novel) JUNE
  20. Salman Rushdie’s Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights (novel) JUNE
  21. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Last Tycoon (unfinished novel) JUNE
  22. Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls (novel) JUNE
  23. Anthony Doerr’s The Shell Collector (short fiction collection) JUNE
  24. Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies (short fiction collection) JUNE
  25. Liane Moriarty’s Nine Perfect Strangers (novel) JUNE
  26. David Sedaris’s Calypso (essay collection) JUNE
  27. Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians (novel) JULY
  28. Sigrid Nunez’s The Friend (novel) JULY
  29. Mona Awad’s Bunny (novel) JULY
  30. David Sedaris’s Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk (short fiction collection) JULY
  31. Rachel Hall’s Heirlooms (short fiction collection) JULY
  32. George Saunders’s Tenth of December (short fiction collection) JULY
  33. Liane Moriarty’s Truly Madly Guilty (novel) JULY
  34. Téa Obreht’s The Tiger’s Wife (novel) JULY
  35. Andrew Sean Greer’s Less (novel) JULY
  36. Kathy Reich’s Déjà Dead (novel) AUG
  37. Peter Wohlleben’s The Hidden Life of Trees (nonfiction) AUG
  38. Daphne DuMaurier’s Kiss Me Again, Stranger (short fiction collection) AUG
  39. Colum McCann’s Let the Great World Spin (novel) AUG
  40. Linwood D. Rumney’s Abandoned Earth (poetry) AUG
  41. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s Before We Visit the Goddess (novel) SEP
  42. Dana Spiotta’s Eat the Document (novel) SEP
  43. Carmen Maria Machado’s Her Body and Other Parties (short fiction collection) SEP
  44. Jonathan Dee’s The Locals (novel) SEP
  45. Lisa Olstein’s Radio Crackling, Radio Gone (poetry) SEP
  46. Hala Alyan’s Salt Houses (novel) SEP
  47. Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle (novel) SEP
  48. John Henry Fleming’s The Legend of the Barefoot Mailman (novel) NOV
  49. Elizabeth McCracken’s Here’s Your Hat What’s Your Hurry (short fiction collection) NOV
  50. Deb Olin Unferth’s Wait Till You See Me Dance (short fiction collection) NOV
  51. Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink (nonfiction) NOV
  52. Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus (novel) NOV
  53. George Saunders’s Lincoln in the Bardo (novel) NOV
  54. Antonya Nelson’s Funny Once (short fiction collection) DEC
  55. Padma Viswanathan’s The Toss of a Lemon (novel) DEC
  56. Heather Sellers’s You Don’t Look Like Anyone I Know (nonfiction/memoir) DEC

2018 Books (total: 45)

  1. Haruki Murakami’s A Wild Sheep Chase (novel, book #1 in series)
  2. Haruki Murakami’s Dance Dance Dance (novel/sequel of the above)
  3. Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, the Penal Colony, and other stories (short fiction collection)
  4. Alice Hoffman’s The Rules of Magic (novel)
  5. Karen Russell’s Vampires in the Lemon Grove, and other stories (short fiction collection)
  6. Tayari Jones’s An American Marriage (novel)
  7. Agatha Christie’s A Holiday for Murder (novel)
  8. Louis Paul Boon’s My Little War (novel)
  9. Georges Rodenbach’s Bruges-la-Morte (novel)
  10. Amelie Nothomb’s The Book of Proper Names (novel)
  11. Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express  (novel)
  12. Liane Moriarity’s Big Little Lies (novel)
  13. Douglas Watson’s The Era of Not Quite (short fiction collection)
  14. Clarissa Goenawan’s Rainbirds (novel)
  15. Emily Fridlund’s History of Wolves (novel)
  16. Aracelis Girmay’s Kingdom Animalia (poetry)
  17. Han Kang’s The Vegetarian (novel)
  18. Nova Jacobs’s The Last Equation of Isaac Severy (novel)
  19. Naomi Shihab Nye’s Transfer (poetry)
  20. Naomi Alderman’s The Power (novel)
  21. Joelle Charbonneau’s Independent Study (novel, book #2 in series)
  22. Lucille Clifton’s Blessing the Boats (poetry)
  23. Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko (novel)
  24. Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood (novel)
  25. David Sedaris’s Naked (essay collection)
  26. Anna Kendrick’s Scrappy Little Nobody (nonfiction/memoir)
  27. Donna Tartt’s The Secret History (novel)
  28. Jenny Han’s To All the Boys I’ve Ever Loved Before (novel, book #1)
  29. Jenny Han’s P.S. I Still Love You (novel, book #2)
  30. Jenny Han’s Always and Forever, Lara Jean (novel, book #3)
  31. Robyn Harding’s The Party (novel)
  32. Fredrik Backman’s A Man Called Ove (novel)
  33. Maria Hummel’s Still Lives (novel)
  34. Scaachi Koul’s One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter (nonfiction/memoir)
  35. Grace Krilanovich’s The Orange Eats Creeps (novel)
  36. Haruki Murakami’s A Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (novel)
  37. David Sedaris’s Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim (essay collection)
  38. Ramona Ausubel’s A Guide to Being Born (short fiction collection)
  39. Joan Didion’s The White Album (essay collection)
  40. Virginia Woolf’s Orlando (novel)
  41. Herman Melville’s Billy Budd, Sailor (novella)
  42. Karen Russell’s St Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves: Stories (short fiction collection)
  43. Kira Henehan’s Orion You Came and You Took All My Marbles *re-read (novel)
  44. Ryan Habermeyer’s The Science of Lost Futures (short fiction collection)
  45. Herman Koch’s The Dinner (novel)

2017 Books (total: 50)

  1. Stephenie Meyer’s The Host (novel)
  2. Carl Safina’s Beyond Words (nonfiction)
  3. Zach Powers’s Gravity Changes (short fiction collection)
  4. Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy (novel, book #1 in series)
  5. Craig Morgan Teicher’s The Trembling Answers (poetry)
  6. Rick Yancy’s The Last Star (novel, book #3 in series)
  7. Charles Rafferty’s The Smoke of Horses (poetry)
  8. Adam McOmber’s My House Gathers Desires (short fiction collection)
  9. Douglas Watson’s A Moody Fellow Finds Love and Then Dies (novel)
  10. Chen Chen’s When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities (poetry)
  11. Christine Kitano’s Sky Country (poetry)
  12. Mitch Albom’s The Five People You Meet in Heaven (novel)
  13. Adam McOmber’s This New and Poisonous Air (short fiction collection)
  14. Christian Barter’s Bye-Bye Land (poetry)
  15. Reginald Gibbons’s An Orchard in the Street (short fiction collection)
  16. Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (novel)
  17. Bruce Beasley’s All Soul Parts Returned (poetry)
  18. Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicademus’s Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life (nonfiction; self-help)
  19. Karen Russell’s Swamplandia! (novel)
  20. Jawdat Fakhreddine’s Lighthouse for the Drowning (translation/poetry)
  21. Bianca Tarozzi’s The Living Theatre (translation/poetry)
  22. Kelly Link’s Pretty Monsters (short fiction collection)
  23. Rick Bursky’s I’m No Longer Troubled by the Extravagence (poetry)
  24. Stewart O’Nan’s Last Night at the Lobster (novel)
  25. George Orwell’s Animal Farm (novel)
  26. Stephen King’s The Stand (uncut) (novel)
  27. Alyson Noël’s Evermore (novel, book #1 in series)
  28. Jessica Treat’s Meat Eaters and Plant Eaters (short fiction collection)
  29. Pittacus Lore’s I am Number Four (novel, book #1 in series)
  30. Nicole Williams’s Trusting You and Other Lies (novel)
  31. Malcolm Gladwell’s What the Dog Saw (novel)
  32. Linnea Hartsuyker’s The Half-Drowned King (novel)
  33. Steve Martin’s Shop Girl (novel)
  34. George Saunders’s In Persuasion Nation (short fiction collection)
  35. Kevin Powers’s Yellow Birds (novel)
  36. Jenny Han’s The Summer I Turned Pretty (novel)
  37. Joelle Charbonneau’s The Testing (novel, book #1 in series)
  38. Aurelie Shaehan’s Jewelry Box (short fiction collection)
  39. Stephen King’s The Dark Tower (novel, book #1 in series)
  40. Janice Harrington’s The Hand of Strangers (poetry)
  41. Haruki Murakami’s Men Without Women (short fiction collection)
  42. John Berryman’s 77 Dream Songs (poetry)
  43. Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie (nonfiction)
  44. Nickole Brown’s Fanny Says (poetry)
  45. Amanda Lovelace’s The Princess Saves Herself in this One (poetry)
  46. Megan Hunter’s The End We Start From (novel)
  47. Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 (novel)
  48. Amanette Ansay’s Vinegar Hill (novel)
  49. Daniel Grandbois’s Unlucky Days (short fiction collection)
  50. Jillian Weise’s The Book of Goodbyes (poetry)