I started keeping track of the books I’ve read in 2018. Added a bunch of other ones from memory.

I got really into history around 2010 which started with various histories of Rome, progressed to medieval European history, read way too much about World War 2, and read a bunch of American history during COVID and after. I love a good sit down to get lost in a totally different world.

COVID lockdown seems to have re-activated the reading circuits.

Year Book Title Author Subject Notes
2024 All Systems Red Martha Wells Science Fiction  
2024 Dreamsnake Vonda McIntyre Science Fiction  
2024 The Left Hand of Darkness Ursula K. Le Guin Science Fiction Re-read, first read 2018
2024 Acceptance Jeff VanderMeer Science Fiction  
2023 Dragonlance Legends Trilogy Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman History Re-read, last read 2002 or so
2023 The Dispossessed (reread) Ursula K. Le Guin Science Fiction Re-read, first read 2018
2023 A History of Ancient Egypt John Romer History  
2023 The Mauritius Command Patrick O’Brien Historical Fiction  
2023 HMS Surprise Patrick O’Brien Historical Fiction  
2023 The Burning God R. F. Kuang Fantasy  
2023 The Dragon Republic R. F. Kuang Fantasy    
2023 California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric Katherine Blunt Current Events  
2023 Authority Jeff VanderMeer Science Fiction  
2023 China: A New History John King History  
2022 Annihilation Jeff VanderMeer Science Fiction  
2022 The Sleepwalkers Christopher Clark History  
2022 Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin Timothy Snyder History  
2022 The Pursuit of Love Nancy Mitford Fiction  
2022 The Poppy War R. F. Kuang Fantasy  
2022 Babel R. F. Kuang Fantasy  
2022 Stoner John Williams Fiction  
2022 Against the Grain James C Scott Sociology  
2022 Logicomix A. Doxiadis and C. Papadimitriou Graphic Novel  
2022 The Sixth Extinction Elizabeth Kolbert Popular Science  
2022 Shadow’s End Sheri Tepper Science Fiction  
2022 The Tragedy of Cambodian History David P Chandler History  
2022 Oathbringer Brandon Sanderson Fantasy  
2021 Red State Blue State Rich State Poor State America Gelman American Politics  
2021 Words of Radiance Brandon Sanderson Fantasy  
2021 The Way of Kings Brandon Sanderson Fantasy  
2021 Seeing Like A State James C Scott Sociology  
2021 The End of Everything Katie Mack Popular Science  
2021 Post Captain Patrick O’Brien Historical Fiction  
2021 Master and Commander Patrick O’Brien Historical Fiction  
2021 Gardens of the Moon Steven Erickson Fantasy  
2021 I Capture the Castle Dodie Smith Adult Fiction  
2021 The Seven Surrenders Ada Palmer Science Fiction  
2021 Too Like The Lightning Ada Palmer Science Fiction  
2021 The Age of Innocence Edith Warton Literature  
2021 We Have Always Lived In The Castle Shirley Jackson Adult Fiction  
2021 Empire of Liberty Gordon S. Wood American History  
2021 Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus Rick Perlstein American History  
2021 Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory David Blight American History  
2021 Reaganland Rick Perlstein American History  
2021 The Invisible Bridge Rick Perlstein American History  
2020 Nixonland Rick Perlstein American History  
2020 Railroaded: The Transcontinentals Richard White American History  
2020 The Republic For Which It Stands: United States during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age Richard White American History  
2020 The Future is History Masha Gessen Current Events (Russia)  
2020 The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America Frances Fitzgerald American History  
2020 Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? Mark Fisher Current Events  
2020 The Schoolhouse Gate Justin Driver Constitutional Law Started 2019
2020 Au Bonheur Des Dames Émile Zola French Literature Life in an early department store
2020 Nana Émile Zola French Literature  
2020 Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 Tony Judt European History  
2020 The War of Wars: European Conflict 1793 - 1815 Robert Harvey European History  
2020 The Thirty Years War CV Wedgwood European History  
2020 The Triumph of the Dark: European International History, 1933-1938 Zara Steiner History Started 2017
2020 The Pursuit of Power: Europe 1815-1914 Richard J Evans History Started 2017
2020 The Crying of Lot 49 Thomas Pynchon Fiction Re-read; first read ~2006
2020 Mason & Dixon Thomas Pynchon Fiction Started 2010
2019 The Guns of August Barbara Tuchman History Started 2018
2019 The Lathe of Heaven Ursula K. Le Guin Science Fiction  
2019 Chapterhouse Dune Frank Herbert Science Fiction  
2019 Heretics of Dune Frank Herbert Science Fiction  
2019 What If This Were Enough? Heaver Havrilesky Essays  
2019 The Republic, Crito, Apology, Phaedo Plato Literature Audiobook
2019 Right Ho, Jeeves PG Wodehouse Fiction (Humor) Audiobook
2019 A Fisherman of the Inland Sea Ursula K. Le Guin Science Fiction  
2019 My Man Jeeves PG Wodehouse Fiction (Humor) Audiobook
2019 Tehanu Ursula K. Le Guin Fantasy  
2018 The Farthest Shore Ursula K. Le Guin Fantasy  
2018 The Tombs of Atuan Ursula K. Le Guin Fantasy  
2018 A Wizard of Earthsea Ursula K. Le Guin Fantasy  
2018 The Reactionary Mind Corey Robin Current-events  
2018 God-Emperor of Dune Frank Herbert Science Fiction  
2018 Children of Dune Frank Herbert Science Fiction  
2018 Misquoting Jesus Bart D. Ehrman Religion  
2018 Dune Messiah Frank Herbert Science Fiction  
2018 Dune Frank Herbert Science Fiction  
2018 The Dispossessed Ursula K. Le Guin Science Fiction  
2018 The Left Hand of Darkness Ursula K. Le Guin Science Fiction  
2018 A Distant Mirror Barbara Tuchman History  
2018 Why The West Rules For Now Ian Morris History  
2018 Moby Dick Herman Melville Literature Re-read, audiobook
2018 Winnie-the-Pooh AA Milne Children’s Literature Re-read, audiobook
2018 House on Pooh Corner AA Milne Children’s Literature Re-read, audiobook
2017 To Hell and Back: Europe 1914-1949 Ian Kershaw History  
2017 The Lights That Failed: European International History, 1919-1933 Zara Steiner History  
2017 The End of Europe Jaime Kirchick Current Events  
2017 Germinal Émile Zola French Literature  
2016 The Romanovs: 1613-1918 Simon Sebag Montefiore History  
2016 Children of the Revolution: The French, 1799-1914 Robert Gildea History  
2015 The Thirty Year’s War, Europe’s Tragedy Peter Wilson History  
2015 The Reformation: A History Diarmaid MacCulloch History  
2015 Europe in the High Middle Ages William Jordan History  
2015 Iron Kingdom: Rise and Downfall of Prussia 1600 - 1947 Christopher Clark History Started 2014
2014 The Pursuit of Glory: The Five Revolutions that Made Modern Europe: 1648-1815 Tim Blanning    
2014 Swann’s Way Marcel Proust Novel Re-read; Audiobook
2013 The Inheritance of Rome: A History of Europe from 400 to 1000 Christopher Wickham History  
2012 1587, A Year of No Significance Ray Huang History  
2012 Antony and Cleopatra Adrian Goldsworthy History  
2012 Caesar Adrian Goldsworthy History  
2012 How Rome Fell Adrian Goldsworthy History  

Grad School

I read a bunch in grad school, mostly from the “modern canon”.

  • In Search of Lost Time, Marcel Proust (all of the books over the course of 3 years)
  • Virginia Woolf: Mrs. Dalloway, Jacob’s Room, The Waves, To The Lighthouse, The Voyage Out
  • Samuel Beckett: Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable, How It Is
  • Franz Kafka: Amerika, The Castle, The Trial
  • Vladamir Nabokov: Lolita, Pale Fire, The Eye, Bend Sinister, most of Invitation to a Beheading, The Eye
  • Thomas Pynchon: Gravity’s Rainbow, The Crying of Lot 49
  • Haruki Murakami: Norweigan Wood, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, After the Quake