2019 reading list [personal]

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:

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

If you enjoy my writing, please consider dropping me a comment here or, if applicable, on AO3 or by supporting my hot beverage habit on Ko-fi. Thank you!

—joanielspeak
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