FIFTY-TWO YEARS OF READING

For those who are curious, attached is a list of every book I've read cover-to-cover since 1958, when I was in the sefventh grade. I tend to be a bit obsessive, keeping a list of this kind. Sometimes I've added markers like (*) to indicate books I particularly liked; but I've been rather inconsistent about that. I also try to keep track of how many books of a particular kind (novel, etc.) and from a given country and century (Eng. 19th, etc.), I read each year. Richard Seltzer
For reviews of some of these books, see www.samizdat.com/isyn/reviews.html For brief notes on others, see www.samizdat.com/readrev.html For more on books and reading, see www.samizdat.com/readers.html

Read reviews and discuss books at Blogging about Books

To buy a library for the price of a book, please check our online store.


Chronological lists --

2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988, 1987, 1986, 1985, 1984, 1983, 1982, 1981, 1980, 1979, 1978, 1977, 1976, 1975, 1974, 1973, 1972, 1971, 1970, 1969, 1968, 1967, 1966, 1965, 1964, 1963, 1962, 1961, 1960, 1958-59

Year-by-year score

Books I want to read next

Books begun, but never finished

Uncollected articles and short stories read (starting 1997)

Thoughts about books I recently read

Book reviews and criticism by Richard Seltzer

Book reviews by Deane Rink

Recommendations and comments about books from other enthusiastic readers

Blogging about Books

Dialogue on favorite books with Deane Rink before and during his latest trek to Antarctica, with a note from Bill Ransom and contributions from Jonathan Loschi (a.k.a. Bookbabble 101) --a very long and rapidly growing document (a.k.a. Bookbabble 101)


Alphabetical list, by Author

Some of the books listed below have hyperlinks to Amazon.com. If you might want to buy such a book, just click on the title. You'll get the usual discount and service from Amazon.com, and we'll get a small commission for the referral. That could help us pay some bills and expand what we do for you.

Anonymous

Edward Abbey Chinua Achebe Adair Douglas Adams
Henry Adams
Richard Adams
Scott Adams
Addison
71 Joseph Addison 1 Cato 18/7 ENG PL38 --1967

Aeschylus

James Agee
Vassily Aksyonov
Boris Akunin Alain-Fournier
Edward Albee
Alexa Albert Mitch Albom

Frederick Allen

Woody Allen
Isabel Allende
Burt Alpert
Lisa Alther
Jorge Amado
Kingsley Amis
Martin Amis
Poul Anderson Sherwood Anderson
V.C. Andrews
Anouilh
Katherine Anthony
Piers Anthony Donald Antrim
Apollodorus Apollonius of Rhodes Apuleius
Lee Arcuri
Robert Ardery
Hannah Arendt
Arensberg
Ariosto
Aristotle
Aristophanes
Fernando Arrabal
Ashley
Roger Aschom
Isaac Asimov

86 Isaac Asimov 13 *Robots and Empire AMERICAN 20th 13 SCIFI 10/MYSTERY 11 -- 2007

87 Isaac Asimov 14 *Asimov's Mysteries AMERICAN 20th 14 SCIFI 11/MYSTERY 12 -- 2007
127 Isaac Asimov 16 *Forward the Foundation AMERICAN 20th 43 SCIFI 40 -- 2007

129 Isaac Asimov 17 *The Caves of Steel AMERICAN 20th 44 SCIFI 41

130 Isaac Asimov 18 ***The Naked Sun AMERICAN 20th 45 SCIFI 42

 
Robert Asprin
Asturias
Anselm Atkins Atwood
Jane Austen
Paul Auster
Marcell Ayme
Richard Bach
Rupa Bajwa Nicholson Baker
Mikhail Bakhtin
Kirsten Bakis
James Baldwin
Balkin
Honore de Balzac
John Kendrick Bangs Muriel Barbery John Barnes
Julian Barnes
Dagmar Barnouw
77 Dagmar Barnouw *Visible Spaces: Hannah Arendt and the German-Jewish Experience AMERICAN 20th 6 CRITICISM 1 -- 2003


Baron

Andrea Barrett
S.M. Barrett Barrio
David Barry
John Barth
Donald Barthelme
Roland Barthes
Baruch
Frank Baum
Charles Baxter
John Bayley Peter Beagle
Richard Bear
Beattie
Samuel Beckett
Saul Bellow
Andrey Bely
Aimee Bender
Elizabeth Benedict Ruth Benedict
Benoit
Berdyayev
Thomas Berger
Ingmar Bergman
Henri Bergson
Isaiah Berlin
Hubert Bermont
Tim Berners-Lee
John Berryman
Ugo Betti
Ambrose Bierce Rene Bijenico James Billington
Andrei Bitov
Shane Black
Irwin Blacker
Michael Blake
Blanchard
Bleckman
Amy Bloom

Judy Blume

Boccaccio
Boethius Roberto Bolano Heinrich Boll
Erma Bombeck
Bonaventura
Daniel Boorstin
Borden
Jorge Luis Borges
Bowles
T. Coraghessan Boyle
Ray Bradbury
Bradford
Marion Zimmer Bradley Brianchaninov
Jacques Brel
Berthold Brecht
Bredvold
Restif de la Bretonne
Brinkley
Hermann Broch
Fawn M. Brodie
Charlotte Bronte Emily Bronte
Brookner
Dan Brown Norman O. Brown
Peter Brown


Rita Mae Brown

Thomas Browne
Steven Brust
C.D.B. Bryan
Martin Buber
Elizabeth Buchan John Buchan
Buchner
Pearl Buck
Buckingham
Alexander Bulatovich
Miodrag Bulatovich
Thomas Bulfinch
Mikhail Bulgakhov
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Bundesen
Anthony Burgess
Jonathan Burgess Edmund Burke
Edgar Rice Burroughs Richard de Bury Frederick Busch
Richard Burton Byatt
Byron
James Branch Cabell
Julius Caesar Calderon
Erskine Caldwell
Italo Calvino
Andrea Camilleri Albert Camus
Elias Canetti
Ethan Canin
Capablanca
Fritjof Capra
Card
Peter Carey Dale Carnegie
Carpenter
James Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Thomas Carlyle
Paul Cartledge Sean B. Carroll Raymond Carver
Joyce Cary
Jacques Casanova
Ernst Casirer
Carlos Castaneda
Castiglione
Willa Cather
Enrico Cerulli Miguel Cervantes
George Chambers
Michael Chabon Raymond Chandler
George Chapman Mike Chapman
Stepan Chapman
Janet Skeslien Charles Larry Chase
Chatwin
John Cheever
Anton Chekhov
G.K. Chesterton Tracy Chevalier
Noam Chomsky
Kate Chopin
Christian
Clayton Christensen
Agatha Christie
Chute
Carolyn Chute
Tom Clancy
Susanna Clarke Paul Claudel
Clausewitz
James Clavell
Cleator
Eldridge Cleaver
Peter Clemente
Jean Cocteau
Coe
Paulo Coelho


J.M. Coetzee

Cole
Coleridge
Colette
Eoin Colfer Colette Collingwood
Billy Collins John Collins
Wilkie Collins Lacy Collison-Morley Confucius
Congreve
Evan Connell
Andree Connors
Joseph Conrad
Frank Conroy
Benjamin Constant
Elizabeth Cook


M.B. Cook

Robin Cook
Olivia Coolidge
Cooper
James Fenimore Cooper
Frederick Copleston
Cormier
Corneille
Cortazar
Costain
Diane Croft
Douglas Coupland
Bryce Courtenay


John Cramer

Stephen Crane
Stanley G. Crawford
Robert Creeley
Crichton
Diane Croft
Csikszentmihalyi
e.e. cummings
Michael Cunningham
Eve Curie
Richard Dana
Daninos
Dante
Davenant
Robertson Davies
Philip Davis
Richard Harding Davis
Richard Dawkins
Clarence Day
De Bernieres
Alain de Botton
Mary Dearborn
Daniel Defoe
Dekker
Don DeLillo
Daniel Dennett
Thomas de Quincey Kiran Desai Rene Descartes
Desquier
Deutscher
John Dewey
Pete Dexter
Jared Diamond
Philip K. Dick
Charles Dickens
James Dickey
Emily Dickinson Gordon Dickson Diderot
Joan Didion
Dillard
Isak Dinesen
Benjamin Disraeli
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni Pam Dixon
Milovan Djilas
Doblin
Bonamy Dobree
Doctorow
Dodds
Stephen R. Donaldson J.P. Donleavy
Ignatius Donnelly
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Nathan Douglas
William O. Douglas
Arthur Conan Doyle
Margaret Drabble Theodore Dreiser
John Dryden
William Dubie


W.E.B. Dubois

Andre Dubus
Andre Dubus III
Bruce Duffy
John Dufresne
Duggan
Georges Duhamel
Alexander Dumas
Sarah Dunant David Duncan
Allen Drury
Margarite Duras
Lawrence Durrell
Durrenmatt
Dykstra
Jaclyn Easton Richard Eberhart Dikkon Eberhart Umberto Eco David Edmonds Jeff Edmunds Kim Edwards Dave Eggers Eglin Eichendorff Eidson Albert Einstein Loren Eiseley Crawford Elder Mircea Eliade George Eliot T.S. Eliot Harlan Ellison Ralph Ellison Elevitch Richard Ellman Arpad Elo Ralph Waldo Emerson Michael Ende Leslie Epstein Erasmus Erdrich Erik Ericksen Steve Erickson Erskine Jane Espenson Laura Esquivel George Ethredge Jeffrey Eugenides Euripides Eusebius
Michel Faber
Fanger Nancy Farmer Philip Jose Farmer Farquhar William Faulkner Sebastian Faulks David Feldman Elizabeth Fenton Charles Ferguson Marilyn Ferguson Ferlinghetti Feynman Jasper Fforde Field Henry Fielding Jack Finney Fischer F. Scott Fitzgerald Penelope Fitzgerald Gustav Flaubert Ian Fleming Fletcher Ken Follett Fonvizin Ford Madox Ford John Ford Richard Ford Fordham Foreman Forster Forsyth Robert Forward Michel Foucault Karen Joy Fowler Anatole France Frankl Benjamin Franklin
Sarah Franklin


Jonathan Franzen

George MacDonald Fraser Charles Frazier Freeman Tana French Sigmund Freud Friedman Kinky Friedman Richard Elliott Friedman Frisch Jean Fritz Eric Fromm Frost Fry Northrop Frye Fukuyama Fulghum Buckminster Fuller Charles Fuller Fulop-Miller Emile Gaboriau William Gaddis John Galsworthy Jane Gardam John Gardner Alex Garland Ortega y Gasset de Gaulle Theophile Gautier John Gay Rimpoche Nawang Gehlek Annie Proulx
Jean Genet Gelernt Adele Geras David Gerrold Giannetti Edward Gibbon Kay Gibbons Gibson


Andre Gide

Gilbert and Sullivan Cherry Gilchrist Ellen Gilchrist Tom Gilling Charlotte Gilman Allen Ginsberg George Gissing Julia Glass Gleick Gail Godwin Goethe Nikolai Gogol Arthur Golden William Golding Francisco Goldman Oliver Goldsmith Barry Goldwater Gombrowicz Allegra Goodman


Nadine Gordimer

Jaimy Gordon Mary Gordon Maxim Gorky Stephen Jay Gould Gunter Grass Robert Graves Brian Greene Graham Greene John Gribbin Grabbe Grannunzio John Grisham Grossman Sara Gruen Faisa Guene G.I. Gurdieff Gurney David Guterson Guthrie Mark Haddon John Hagel von Hagen H. Rider Haggard Joe Haldeman Brian Hall Linda Hall Oakley Hall Richard Hall Pete Hamill

128 Pete Hamill 1 Forever AMERICAN 21st 22 NOVEL 39

Edith Hamilton

Jane Hamilton Dashiell Hammett Knut Hamsun Brooks Hansen Sidney Harcave Thomas Hardy Joanne Harris Frazer Harrison Harry Harrison Jim Harrison Bret Harte Jim Hartman Jaroslav Hasek Gerhardt Hauptmann Haviaras Hawkes Stephen Hawking Nathaniel Hawthorne Hayes Cynthia Haynes Seamus Heaney Anthony Hecht Hegel Heggen Heiddegger Heilbronner Heinrich Heine Robert Heinlein Joseph Heller Lillian Hellman Mark Helprin Ernest Hemingway O. Henry G.A. Henty Frank Herbert Herodotus John Hersey Hesiod Herman Hesse Hijuelos Tony Hillerman Russell Hoban David Hodges Peter Hoeg Hoff Banesh Hoffman E.T.A. Hoffmann Hofstadter James Hogan James Hogg Florence Holbrook Holderlin Edmond Holmes Holscher Tom Holt Homer Jason Hook Horovitz Horowitz Khaded Hosseini Robert Howard Dean Howells David Huddle Carl Huffakker Victor Hugo Huizinga Hulme Charles Humana Aldous Huxley Heinrik Ibsen Ilf and Petrov Illich Imperato Ionesco John Irving Moses Isegawa Kazuo Ishiguro Vyacheslav Ivanov
J
Alex Jack Robert Louis Jackson Henry James P.D. James William James Sebastian Japrisot Randall Jarrell Jaspers Thomas Jefferson Jerome K. Jerome Jesman Jimenez Ha Jin

15 Ha Jin 1 Waiting AMERICAN 20th 12 CHINESE 20th 2 NOVEL 9 -- 2001

Samuel Johnson

James Jones Leroi Jones Erica Jong Ben Jonson Jeremy Josephs Philip Jourdain James Joyce Karl Jung Norton Juster Franz Kafka Michio Kaku


Robert Kalechofsky

Roberta Kalechofsky Kamen Immanuel Kant Jerry Kaplan I. S. Katsnelson Guy Kawasaki Nikos Kazantzakis John Keats Kehoe Keillor Keller Kay Kelley Kevin Kelly Harry Kemelman Keneally John F. Kennedy Stephen Kern Jack Kerouac Ken Kesey Daniel Keyes Omar Khayyam
Sue Monk Kidd
Kidder Suki Kim Stephen King
Charles Kingsley Kingsolver Maxine Hong Kingston Kinsella Rudyard Kipling Ethyn Kirby Kirsch Kleist Knight John Knowles Arthur Koestler Leszek Kolakowski Jerzy Kosinski Richard Kostelanetz Kostyev Harley Jane Kozak Kozvintsev Kramer Krasnov Jaan Kross Kundera Hari Kunru Kuprin Kurosawa Allen Kurzweil Ray Kurzweil Thomas Kyd Laclos Madame de LaFayette Selma Lagerlof Jhumpa Lahiri

12 Jhumpa Lahiri 1 Interpreter of Maladies AMERICAN 20th 10 INDIAN 20th 1 SHORT STORIES 1 -- 2001
20 Jhumpa Lahiri 2 ***The Namesake INDIAN 21st 1 NOVEL 14 -- 2004

R.D. Laing

Jay Lake Charles Lamb Anne Lamott

3 Anne Lamott 1 *Bird by Bird AMERICAN 20th 3 ESSAYS 1 -- 2001

Lampedusa

Tommaso Landolfi Lao-Tzu Erik Larson


Emanuel Lasker

Joachim Latacz Evelyn Lau Mary Lavin D.H. Lawrence Halldor Laxness Richard Leakey Marc LeCard John Le Carre J.M.G. Le Clezio Harper Lee Nathaniel Lee Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu Ursula Le Guin Dennis Lehane Fritz Leiber Murray Leinster Leithauser Stanislaw Lem L'Engle Lenin George Lensen Elmore Leonard Lermontov Gaston Leroux Lessing Doris Lessing Levin Claude Levi-Strauss C.S. Lewis
Michael Lewis Paul Lewis R.W.B. Lewis Sinclair Lewis Marina Lewycka Mark Leyner Lightman George Lillo Lindgren Kelly Link David Liss Litvinov Livy Llosa Father Jerome Lobo Christopher Locke Jack London Longus Barry Longyear Lord Lovecraft Robert Lowell Lowry Lucian Ludlum George Lukacs Lisa Lutz Lycophron John Lyons Nicolo Machiavelli Norman MacLean John Maddox Magnus Gregory Maguire Naguib Mahfouz Norman Mailer Bernard Malamud Andre Malraux Thomas Mandel Sir John de Mandeville Paul de Mann Thomas Mann Olivia Manning Alessandro Manzoni David Markson Herbert Marcuse Christopher Marlowe Gabriel Marquez Marshall Marston Yann Martel Christopher Martin George R.R. Martin James Martin W.A.P.Martin William Martin Karl Marx Maslennikov Massie Peter Matthiesen Somerset Maugham Mauldin Guy de Maupassant Francois Mauriac Francois Maurois Debby Mayer Andrei Makine McCaffrey Cormac McCarthy Kristin McCloy Elizabeth McCracken McCrumb Carson McCullers Coleen McCullough Ian McEwan Marshall McLuhan McMurtry Gita Mehta Pauline Melville Herman Melville Menander H.L. Mencken Prosper Merimee John Meyendorff Nicholas Meyer Ben Mezrich Middleton Arthur Miller Henry Miller James Miller Walter Miller A.A. Milne Milosz John Milton Minot Minsky Mirsky Mishima Margaret Mitchell Mochulsky Walter Moers Moliere Tom Montag Montesquieu Rick Moody Christopher Moore F.H. Moore Geoffrey Moore Alan Moorehead Morazzoni Thomas More William Morris James Morrow Mrozkek Zak Mucha John Muir Brett Munro H.H. Munro, see Saki

Haruki  Murakami

Lady Muraskai Iris Murdoch Ian Murray Robert Musil Vladimir Nabokov Naipul Nathan Margarite de Navarre Patrick Neate Jacob Needleman Nicholas Negroponte
Gerard de Nerval

Nevinson Friedrich Nietzsche Audrey Niffenegger Nikolayevsky Aron Nimzovitch Anais Nin Larry Niven Lawrence Norfolk Howard Norman Laurie Notaro Amelie Nothomb Novalis Flann O'Brien Tim O'Brien

Hilton Obenzinger

Sean O'Casey Flannery O'Connor Richard O'Connor Oe Oldenbourg Patrick O'Leary Olesha Oliver Tillie Olsen Michael Ondaatje Eugene O'Neill Andre Orbeliani Orerry Henri d'Orleans Orlov Orme George Orwell John Osborne Otway Leonid Ouspensky P.D. Ouspensky Amos Oz Cynthia Ozick Elaine Pagels Marcel Pagnol Thomas Paine Charles Palliser Christopher Paoling Papert Robert Parker

C.N. Parkinson

John Dos Passos Boris Pasternak Ann Patchett Alan Paton Pavic Peacock Matthew Pearl Iain Pears Peck Pekarkova Borislav Pekic Victor Pelevin
  • 96 Victor Pelevin 5 The Life of Insects (well worth a second reading) RUSSIAN 20th 7 NOVEL 37-- 2000 review
  • 13 Victor Pelevin 6 The Blue Lantern The Blue Lantern RUSSIAN 20th 1 SHORT STORIES 2 -- 2001
  • Pendlebury Samuel Pepys Walker Percy Arturo Perez-Reverte Perkinson Elliot Perlman Laurence Peter Elizabeth Peters Petronius Petrov (of Ilf and Petrov) Phillips Marie Phillips Michael Phillips Philostratus Pilnyak Pinchuk Steven Pinker Harold Pinter Pipes Pirandello Pirsig Sylvia Plath Plato Plautus Pliny the Elder Plumer Plutarch Edgar Allan Poe Frederik Pohl Polybius Sarah Pomeroy Pomyalovsky Popper


    Eleanor Porter

  • 34 Eleanor Porter 1 ***Pollyanna AMERICAN 19th 8 NOVEL 21 -- 2009
  • 36 Eleanor Porter 2 Pollyanna Grows Up AMERICAN 20th 7 NOVEL 22 -- 2009
  • Katherine Ann Porter David Pottruck Anthony Powell Dawn Powell J.W. Powell Powers Prescott Abbe Prevost Steven Price Procopius Marcel Proust Eugene Pugh Philip Pullman
    119 Philip Pullman 3 **The Amber Spyglass ENGLISH 20th 6 NOVEL -- 2007

    Purdy

    Alexander Pushkin Howard Pyle Barbara Pym


    Thomas Pynchon

    Pyziur David Quammen Raymond Queneau Quevedo Rabelais Racine Raymond Radiguet Kris Radish Richard Rahn Walter Raleigh


    Ramsey

    Lisa Randall Samuel Rapaport Valentin Rasputin Rattigan Ray Chet Raymo


    Eric Raymond

    Mary Rayt James Redfield Charles Reich Reed Reid Fred Reinfeld Eric Maria Remarque Mary Renault Richard Reti Frederick Reuss Karin Rex Howard Rheingold Anne Rice Mark Rich Richmond Rilke Arthur Rimbaud J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts) Allain Robbe-Grillet Richard Robbins Tom Robbins Wayne Robbins Gerold Robinson Kim Stanley Robinson Ronald Robinson Spider Robinson Rodzianko Theodore Roethke Katie Roiphe


    M.J. Rose

    Reginald Rose David Rosenberg Chris Rosenfeld Judith Rossner Dick Roth


    Joseph Roth

    Philip Roth J. K. Rowling Arundhati Roy Rozanov Rudy Rucker Rush Rushdie Bertrand Russell Geoff Ryman Sablinsky Oliver Sacks Marquis de Sade Carl Sagan Francoise Sagan Nayantara Sahgal Antoine de Saint-Exupery Consuelo de Saint-Exupery Saki (H.H. Munro) Sakkharov J.D. Salinger Harrison Salisbury Sallust


    Saltykov

    Sanchez Georges Sand Edward Sapir Jose Saramago William Saroyan Nathalie Sarraute Jean-Paul Sartre Mark Saxton Dorothy Sayers Maurice Sceve George Schaeffer Martin Seymour-Smith Mary Ann Shaffer


    Carol Shields

    Schiller Cathleen Schine Arthur Schlesinger Ken Scholes Robert Scholes Olive Schreiner Bruno Schulz Schultze Schwartz Sir Walter Scott Kevin Scrantz Alice Sebold David Sedaris
  • 32 David Sedaris 1 The Santaland Diaries AMERICAN 20th 19 PLAY 1 -- 2001
  • 33 David Sedaris 2 Season's Greetings AMERICAN 20th 20 PLAY 2 -- 2001
  • Barbara Seels Segal Eric Segal Sellassie Henry Hocker Seltzer Michael Seltzer Sallie Seltzer Richard Selzer Richard Seltzer, Sr. Seneca Peter Senge Maneesh Sethi Elizabeth Sewall Rex Sexton Jack Schaefer Friedrich Schiller Peter Shaeffer William Shakespeare Shapiro George Bernard Shaw Sheldon Mary Shelley


    Sheridan

    Margaret Sherwood Shevchenko William Shirer Mikhail Sholokhov Anita Shreve Dai Sijie Silone Silverberg Clifford Simak Simmons Isaac Singer B.F. Skinner Josef Skvorecky Sloane Jane Smiley Alexander McCall Smith Edward Smith Harry Smith Janet Smith Martin Cruz Smith Zadie Smith Smullyan Quintus Smyrnaeus C.P. Snow Dava Sobel Sokolov Sologub Vladimir Solovyov Alexander Solzhenitsyn Sophocles Sophrony Muriel Spark Nicholoas Sparks Jonathan Spence Spender


    Staiger

    Richard Steele
    Wallace Stegner Jeanne Steig Gertrude Stein John Steinbeck George Steiner Stendhal Neal Stephenson Bruce Sterling Laurence Sterne Robert Louis Stevenson