Books I would like to read or reread this year for personal reasons or because of upcoming writing challenges. I’m not following this list of 100 Modern Must-Read Classics, but I am pulling a few titles from it.
Books I’ve Finished:
January
- Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie – 1/15
- Bagombo Snuff Box* by Kurt Vonnegut – 1/22
- Alices Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll – 1/28
- Ishmael by Daniel Quinn – 1/29
February
- Trigger Warnings* by Neil Gaiman – 2/6
- The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde – 2/10
- Armageddon in Retrospect* by Kurt Vonnegut – 2/18
- A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess – 2/19
- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson – 2/21
- 1984 by George Orwell – 2/26
- A Man Without a Country by Kurt Vonnegut – 2/27
March
- To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee – 3/1
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury – 3/4
- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley – 3/6
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button & Other Stories* by F. Scott Fitzgerald – 3/8
- Minority Report and Other Short Stories* by Philip K Dick – 3/12
- Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs – 3/19
- Slaughter-house Five by Kurt Vonnegut – 3/27
- The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells – 3/30
- The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway – 3/30
April
- The Country of the Blind* by H. G. Wells – 4/1
- On the Road by Jack Kerouac – 4/3
- The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells – 4/5
- The Remarkable Case of Davidson’s Eyes* by H. G. Wells – 4/6
- Tales from Edgar Allan Poe Vol 1* (L&LA) – 4/7
- Tales from Edgar Allan Poe: Vol 2* (L&LA) – 4/7
- I am Legend by Richard Matheson – 4/9
- The Metamorphosis* by Franz Kafka – 4/12
- The Time Machine by H. G. Wells – 4/15
- The Dark Worlds of H. P. Lovecraft Vol 4* – 4/18
- Anthem by Ayn Rand – 4/19
- Welcome to the Monkey House* by Kurt Vonnegut – 4/27
- The Road Virus Heads North* by Stephen King – 4/27
- The Curious Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson – 4/27
- The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell – 4/27
- Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk* by David Sedaris – 4/28
May
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley – 5/3
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams – 5/7
- The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen – 5/9
- Mr. Spaceship* by Philip K. Dick – 5/11
- Lord of the Flies by William Golding – 5/13
- The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H. P. Lovecraft – 5/16
- The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame – 5/19
- Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov – 5/21
- Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut – 5/22
- The Dunwich Horror* by H. P. Lovecraft – 5/23
- Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne – 5/25
June
- Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck – 6/7
- Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx – 6/11
- The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving – 6/15
- Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell – 6/16
- The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin – 6/20
- The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry – 6/21
- The Ocean At the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman – 6/22
July
- The Giver by Lois Lowry – 7/16
- More than Two: A Practical Guide to Ethical Polyamory by Eve Rickert and Franklin Veaux – 7/18
- Zen & the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury – 7/19
August
- Animal Farm by George Orwell – 8/27
- The Nameless City* by H. P. Lovecraft – 8/31
September
- Men, Women, and Worthiness by Brené Brown – 9/10
- Let’s All Kill Constance by Ray Bradbury – 9/12
- Junky by William S. Burroughs – 9/20
October
- Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury – 10/1
- Everything is F*cked: A Book About Hope by Mark Manson – 10/4
- Fortunately, The Milk by Neil Gaiman – 10/7
- Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds – 10/7
- The Grownup by Gillian Flynn – 10/7
- The Prophet by Kahil Gibran – 10/8
- The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy – 10/10
- Unfu*k Yourself: Get Out of Your Head and Into Your Life by Gary John Bishop – 10/12
- The Breast by Philip Roth – 10/14
- Futuria Fantasia, spring 1940 (Bradbury’s fanzine) – 10/18
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson – 10/20
- Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind by Annaka Harris – 10/22
November
- Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman – 11/1
- How to Think More About Sex by Alain de Botton – 11/29
December
- The Nose by Nikolai Gogol – 12/5
- The End We Start From by Megan Hunter – 12/10
- The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick – 12/17
Currently Reading:
- Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig
- Not So Much, Said the Cat by Michael Swanwick
- George by Alex Gino
- The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch
Current Audiobook Podcasts:
- The Brothers Grimm Lunch Break – Unfortunately, this podcast does not read all 250 original Grimm fairytales (he stops at chapter 116 of The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm published by Bantam), but I enjoy the man’s voice, so after I complete his podcast I’ll probably borrow the book and finish it on my own.
Books suggested to me:
- The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
- Something Wicked Comes This Way by Ray Bradbury
- Howl and Other Poems* by Allen Ginsberg
- The Dark Worlds of H. P. Lovecraft Vol 1*
- The Dark Worlds of H. P. Lovecraft Vol 3*
- Dracula by Bram Stoker
- In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
- The Wonderful Visit by H. G. Wells
- Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
- Human Cuisine by Albala & Allen
- American Gods (the 10-year revised edition) by Neil Gaiman
- Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
- Foundation by Isaac Asimov
- The Beginning Place by Ursula K. Le Guin
- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
- A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle
- Beloved or The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
- Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
- A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
- Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
- Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
- Dune by Frank Herbert
- The Road by Cormac McCarthy
- Carrie by Stephen King
- IT by Stephen King
- The Folk of the Air by Peter S. Beagle
- The Inkeepers Song by Peter S. Beagle
- Small Gods by Terry Pratchett
- The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
- 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C Clarke
- Everything’s Eventual* by Stephen King
- Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut
- The Frogs by Aristophanes
- Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
- The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss
- I Thought It Was Just Me (but It Isn’t) by Brené Brown
- Gerald’s Game by Stephen King
- Sophie’s Choice
- The Scarlet Letter
*short story, a collection of shorts, or poetry