All the books I read this year
And some reading notes
I thought about doing a full-on recap of “favorites” but then that seemed too time consuming, so instead I’m listing out all of the books I read this year.
Most of these were not published this year, though a few are.
Here’s the list in the order that I read them. Favorites are starred.
Ohio by Stephen Markley*1. Great story, one of those where each chapter goes super deep on a character and they all come together at the end. Read this one fast2.
2AM in Little America by Ken Kalfus. Like a literary spy novel? I honestly didn’t get it. Similar tone and perspective as “Blindness” by Saramago or “The Road” by McCarthy.
Big Sur by Jack Kerouac. Read it more like a poem, letting it wash over me, turning the pages.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow* by Gabrielle Zevin. It’s become pretty popular, but it’s worth the hype. I sped through it in 3 days. Like Kavalier & Klay for the gaming industry. Highly recommend.
The Deluge by Stephen Markley. Finished! 888 pages! It took me like 6 weeks. I liked Ohio so much that I got this new one when it came out. It’s so long. A lot of moralizing about climate change, with some internal strifes, but it's purposely not sci-fi, only near future. Moral of the story: Don’t live by the beach or get a dog if you care about climate change. His publisher was probably hoping this would be on a lot end-year lists, but it’s too long for anyone to have seriously read lol.
Keep Going by Austin Kleon. Easy but encouraging.
The Red Headed Pilgrim by Kevin Maloney. So fun & funny. Nice to read books like this. It’s a love story adventure.
Tell Me I’m An Artist by Chelsea Martin. About art yes, but great anecdotes about friendships & family. Yes, I read this on a Disney cruise.
Death to Deconstruction by Joshua Porter. Maybe the only Christian book I read this year? It’s a good memoir, plus reckoning with what the Christian faith teaches. And the author is in a hardcore band so you get a few stories from that too.
Traffic by Ben Smith. Smith used to be at Buzzfeed, and then the NY Times, before starting his own thing, Semafor. He tracks the rise of Buzzfeed and Gawker specifically with plenty of Huffington Post thrown in. This was the time of getting millions of hits from Facebook and then the algo changed. Smith charts all that.
The Every by Dave Eggers. I generally like tech dystopias and I generally like Eggers, but this is about 200 pages too long. Good points, no plot, should have been a Harpers essay. It’s the sequel to The Circle, his first freak out about social media/tech co’s. There is lots to freak out about, but yeah, it could’ve been shorter.
Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri. “ This is a book about nothing, and it's beautiful amazing writing, the kind that makes you so jealous.” I wrote that previous line right after reading this book, but now I don’t really remember much about this book, tbh. Last book I finished before moving away from Nashville!
Trust * by Hernan Diaz. The beginning is great! Part 2 could have been cut, unless I missed something.
The Best Minds * by Jonathan Rosen. I did this mostly by audiobook, but then grabbed a physical copy from the library when I was almost finished. This is a book about 2 friends growing up outside of New York City, and both are very smart. One has a psychiatric disorder that becomes hard to control. Sad, but a good read.
The Silence by Don DeLillo. Very short, meditative, like if they were cliffnotes to Infinite Jest.
Best of Everything * by Rona Jaffe. Like Mad Men from Peggy’s POV. I like how it dips in & out of the characters. Should be a TV series.
The Very Last Interview by David Shields. I appreciate books that don’t read like books.
300 Arguments by Sarah Manguso. Think I’ve read this before. I love small books like this that fit in a pocket.
New York, New York, New York by Thomas Dyja. Good overview of the past 40 years in NYC. Another audiobook / physical book hybrid. I started this in Nashville once I knew we were moving and it gave me a quick primer on some of the history of what I was walking into. He kinda yadayadayadas the past 20 years after 9/11 but still a good read.
Stay True * by Hua Hsu. California, Chinese American experience & friendship in the late 90s. He also talks zines & Nirvana. Meant to read this for awhile & it’s great.
Molly * by Blake Butler. I wrote about this book last week, and it’s just devastating. It’s an intense focus on a relationship and then the deceit in that relationship, and it’s just heartbreaking all around. Difficult story, good read.
Drifts by Kate Zambreno. I’m not technically done with this yet, but I know I will finish it in the next few days. I only have like 20 pages yet. I like these ruminations on artistic life.
Some reading notes:
Okay so my favorites were:
Ohio, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Trust, The Best Minds, Best of Everything, Stay True, Molly
I tend to remember books by places and those included: a month in Florida, a Disney cruise, New Orleans, Charlotte, Nashville, Shreveport, LA, and New York City of course.
This list is short. Only 21 books. Usually I read at least 30 plus. My wife tends to read about 100 every year, but she’s down to 60-something this year. Yes, we moved but…
I started and stopped a bunch of books this year. Notable ones include “Diary of X” by Catherine Lacey (feel like I’ll return to this one, I tried it in audiobook but it’s meant to be read in a physical book), “Fortress of Solitude” by Jonathan Lethem (not sure why everyone loved this, New York bias strikes again!), and Number Go Up by Zeke Foux (I’m interested in crypto, but the tone kinda put me off). There were a few more but I can’t remember them now.
Sometimes I read marketing books but I didn’t include them here. I think I will from now on. I don’t think I read a full marketing book this year, however, just parts of a few (Obviously Awesome by April Dunford comes to mind).
Next year, I’ll probably read more theology books and probably more culture ones. There is one about Netflix by Peter Biskind that recently came out, and I’ll probably dive into that soon. I’m also interested in more books on writing and already have a few of those writing books tee’d up.
What books did you read this year? Which ones stuck out to you the most?
Last Thing
“If a book is well written, I always find it too short.” ― Jane Austen
Keep going,
-Josh Spilker
Affiliate links for these books
FYI, This one is kinda explicit