Reading 2011, Richard Seltzer

READING 2011

Attached is a list of the books I've read so far this year. Sometimes I add markers like (*) to indicate books I particularly like. 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 seltzer@samizdat.com www.samizdat.com
For reviews of some of these books, see http://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

January

1 Neil Gaiman 1 American Gods AMERICAN 21st 1 NOVEL 1
2 Paul Auster 8 ** Moon Palace AMERICAN 20th 1 NOVEL 2
3 Rex Sexton 5 *** Night Without Stars AMERICAN 21st 2 SHORT STORIES 1 POETRY 1

February

4 Tom Rachman 1 **** The Imperfectionists AMERICAN 21st 3 NOVEL 3
5 Elena Mauli Shapiro 1 **** 13 Rue Therese AMERICAN 21st 4 NOVEL 4

March

6 Nicola Barker 1 Darkmans BRITISH 21st 1 NOVEL 5
7 Michael David Lukas 1 *The Oracle of Stamboul AMERICAN 21st 5 NOVEL 6
8 Anna Akhmatova 1 (trans. Judith Hemschemeyer) Selected Poems RUSSIAN 20th 1 POETRY 2
9 Marshall Wilder (editor) 3 ***The Wit and Humor of American, volume 3 AMERICAN 20th 2 SHORT STORIES 2 -- 2011
10 Tea Obreht 1 ****The Tiger's Wife SERBIAN 21st 1 NOVEL 7
11 Diane Setterfield 1 ***The Thirteenth Tale BRITISH 21st 2 NOVEL 8
12 Alexander McCall Smith 14 **The Double Comfort Safari Club BOTSWANA 21st 1 NOVEL 9
13 Ladcadio Hearn 3 Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things JAPANESE 20th 1 ESSAYS 1
14 Alexander McCall Smith 15 **The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party BOTSWANA 21st 2 NOVEL 10
15 Yann Martel 3 Beatrice and Virgil CANADIAN 21st 1 NOVEL 11
16 Joanne Harris 3 ****The Girl With No Shadow BRITISH 21st 3 NOVEL 12
17 Michael Gruber 1 ****The Forgery of Venus AMERICAN 21st 6 NOVEL 13
18 Joseph Strayer 1 Western Europe in the Middle Ages AMERICAN 20th 3 HISTORY 1

April

19 Arthur Koestler 3 **Dialogue with Death HUNGARIAN 20th 1 BIOGRAPHY 1
20 Brian Greene 3 *****The Hidden Reality AMERICAN 21st 4 SCIENCE 1
21 David Foster Wallace 0 *****The Pale King AMERICAN 21st 5 NOVEL 14
22 Tracy Barrett 1 Anna of Byzantium AMERICAN 20th 3 NOVEL 15
23 Tana French 2 ****In the Woods IRISH 21st 1 NOVEL 16
24 Arthur Koestler 4 The Gladiators HUNGARIAN 20th 2 NOVEL 17

May

25 Kate Maloy 1 Every Last Cuckoo AMERICAN 21st 6 NOVEL 18
26 Hugh Thomas 1 The Spanish Civil War BRITISH 20th 1 HISTORY 1
27 H.G. Wells 7 The Invisible Man BRITISH 20th 2 NOVEL 19
28 Marco Polo 1 Travels of Marco Polo volume 1 ITALIAN 13th 1 BIOGRAPHY 2
29 G.K. Chesterton 7 All Things Considered BRITISH 20th 3 ESSAYS 2
30 G.K. Chesterton 8 A Short History of England BRITISH 20th 4 HISTORY 2
31 Benvenuto Cellini 1 The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini, Part 1 ITALIAN 16th 1 BIOGRAPHY 3
32 Benvenuto Cellini 2 The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini Part 2 ITALIAN 16th 2 BIOGRAPHY 4
33 Ambrose Bierce 4 A Cynic Looks at Life AMERICAN 20th 4 ESSAYS 3
34 Mark Twain 21 American Claimant AMERICAN 19th 1 NOVEL 20
35 H.G. Wells 8 Anticipations BRITISH 20th 5 ESSAYS 4
36 G.K. Chesterton 9 What's Wrong with the World BRITISH 20th 6 ESSAYS 5
37 Ibanez 1 **The Blood of the Arena SPANISH 20th 1 NOVEL 21
38 Montaigne 1 Essays Volume 1 FRENCH 16th 1 ESSAYS 6

June

39 Henry James 10 **** Portrait of a Lady, Volume 1 AMERICAN 19th 1 NOVEL 22
40 Henry James 11 **** Portrait of a Lady, Volume 2 AMERICAN 19th 2 NOVEL 23
41 Ferdinand Gregorovius 1 Lucretia Boria ITALIAN 16th 3 BIOGRAPHY 5
42 Raphael Sabatini 1 The Life of Cesare Borgia ITALIAN 16th 4 BIOGRAPHY 6
43 Theodore Roosevelt 1 The Winning of the West, Volume 1 AMERICAN 19th 3 HISTORY 1
44 David McCullough 1 [awful] The Great Journey AMERICAN 21st 6 HISTORY 2
45 Jerome Tuccille 1 * A Portrait of Hemingway as a Young Man AMERICAN 20th 5 BIOGRAPHY 7
46 Malcolm Cowley 1 *** Exile's Return AMERICAN 20th 6 HISTORY 3
47 Humphrey Carpenter 2 ** Geniuses Together: American Writers in Paris in the 1920s AMERICAN 20th 7 HISTORY 4
48 Kathy Flower 1 Culture Smart: China AMERICAN 21st 6 TRAVEL 1
49 Ernest Hemingway **** The Sun Also Rises [third time] AMERICAN 20th 8 NOVEL 24
50 Ernest Hemingway **** A Moveable Feast [second time] AMERICAN 20th 9 BIOGRAPHY 8
51 Ernest Hemingway 8 To Have and To Have Not AMERICAN 20th 10 NOVEL 25
52 Ernest Hemingway ****A Farewell to Arms [second time] AMERICAN 20th 11 NOVEL 26

July

53 F. Scott Fitzgerald 4 *** Tender is the Night AMERICAN 20th 12 NOVEL 27
54 F. Scott Fitzgerald 5 * This Side of Paradise AMERICAN 20th 13 NOVEL 28
55 F. Scott Fitzgerald **** The Great Gatsby [second time] AMERICAN 20th 14 NOVEL 29
56 Malcolm Gladwell 1 *** Blink AMERICAN 21st 7 ESSAYS 7
57 Jennifer Egan 1 A Visit from the Goon Squad AMERICAN 21st 9 NOVEL 30
58 Joseph Campbell 1 The Hero with a Thousand Faces AMERICAN 20th 15 ESSAYS 8
59 Malcolm Gladwell 2 ** The Tipping Point AMERICAN 21st 10 ESSAYS 9
60 William Kennedy 1 *****Ironweed AMERICAN 20th 16 NOVEL 31
61 Harold Bloom 1 *** The Western Canon AMERICAN 21st 11 ESSAYS 10
62 Ernest Hemingway 9 True at First Light AMERICAN 20th 17 NOVEL 32
63 Primo Levi 1 The Monkey's Wrench ITALIAN 20th 1 NOVEL 33
64 George Bernard Shaw 10 Preface to Back to Methusaleh BRITISH 20th 7 ESSAYS 11
65 George Bernard Shaw 11 Back to to Methusaleh BRITISH 20th 8 DRAMA 1
66 John Bryan Starr 1 *** Understanding China AMERICAN 21st 12 ESSAYS 12
67 Euripides Iphigenia in Tauris [third time] ANCIENT GREEK 1 DRAMA 2

August

68 Abraham Verghese 1 ***** Cutting for Stone (reminds me of John Irving and is at least as good as the best of Irving) AMERICAN 21st 12 NOVEL 34
69 Jean Fritz 2 * Homesick CHINESE 20th 1/AMERICAN 20th 18 BIOGRAPHY 9
70 Walt Whitman 1 Leaves of Grass AMERICAN 19th 4 POETRY 1
71 Tana French 3 **** Faithful Place IRISH 21st 2 NOVEL 35
72 William Kennedy 2 ***Legs AMERICAN 20th 19 NOVEL 36
73 Theodore Roosevelt 2 The Winning of the West, volume 2 AMERICAN 19th 5 HISTORY 4
74 Theodore Roosevelt 3 The Winning of the West, volume 3 AMERICAN 19th 6 HISTORY 5
75 Theodore Roosevelt 4 The Winning of the West, volume 4 AMERICAN 19th 7 HISTORY 6
76 H. G. Wells 9 The Island of Dr. Moreau BRITISH 20th 9 NOVEL 37
77 George R. R. Martin 4 A Game of Thrones AMERICAN 20th 20 NOVEL 38
78 George R. R. Martin 5 A Clash of Kings AMERICAN 20th 21 NOVEL 39

September

79 George R. R. Martin 6 A Storm of Swords AMERICAN 21st 13 NOVEL 40
80 George R. R. Martin 7 A Feast of Crows AMERICAN 21st 14 NOVEL 41
81 Gibson, William 6 Zero History AMERICAN 21st 15 NOVEL 42

October

82 Ellen Sussman 1 French Lessons AMERICAN 21st 16 NOVEL 43
83 Julia Stuart 1 The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise BRITISH 21st 4 NOVEL 44
84 Ian McEwan 9 ***The Child in Time BRITISH 20th 10 NOVEL 45
85 Neal Stephenson 10 *****Reamde AMERICAN 21st 17 NOVEL 46

November

86 Sebastian Barry 1 *****The Secret Scripture IRISH 21st 3 NOVEL 47
87 Mavis Gallant 1 ***Paris Stories CANADIAN 21st 1 SHORT STORIES 3
88 P. D. James 6 **The Lighthouse BRITISH 21st 5 NOVEL 48
89 William Kennedy 3 ****Billy Phelan's Greatest Game AMERICAN 20th 22 NOVEL 49
90 George R.R. Martin 8 A Dance with Dragons AMERICAN 21st 18 NOVEL 50
91 Stieg Larsson 1 *****The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo SWEDISH 21st 1 NOVEL 51
92 Colm Toibin 2 ****Brooklyn IRISH 21st 4 NOVEL 52
93 Paul Auster 9 **Sunset Park AMERICAN 21st 19 NOVEL 53
94 James Gleick 5 ***The Information AMERICAN 21st 20 COMPUTING 1

December

95 Stieg Larsson 2 *****The Girl Who Played with Fire SWEDISH 21st 2 NOVEL 54
96 Julia O'Faolain 1 ***No Country for Young Men IRISH 20th 1 NOVEL 55
97 Steig Larsson 3 *****The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest SWEDISH 21st 3 NOVEL 56
98 William Kennedy 4 Quinn's Book AMERICAN 20th 23 NOVEL 57
99 Cormac McCarthy 10 The Sunset Unlimited AMERICAN 20th 24 NOVEL 58
100 Julian Barnes 11 The Sense of Ending BRITISH 21st 12 NOVEL 59
101 William Kennedy 5 **Roscoe AMERICAN 21st 21 NOVEL 60
102 Jeffrey Eugenides 3 ***The Marriage Plot AMERICAN 21st 22 NOVEL 61
103 Michael Ondaatje 6 The Cat's Table CANADIAN 21st 3 NOVEL 62
104 Julian Barnes 12 Pulse BRITISH 21st 13 SHORT STORIES 4
105 Sebastian Barry 2 **On Canaan's Side IRISH 21st 5 NOVEL 63
106 Geoffrey Chaucer 1 Canterbury Tales ENGLISH 14th 1 SHORT STORIES 5

Discuss books at Blogging about Books http://www.samizdat.com/blog/
Other book reviews by Richard Seltzer
Opus authors -- contemporary writers whose entire work is great
The Readers' Corner and Writers Showcase

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