Reading Pool for 2022

Traditionally I would to sit around the café at Barnes & Noble making my Christmas list of books I considered reading during the upcoming year. Then I bought a fancy espresso machine and nowadays I tend to stay home. But I still make that annual list of the next year’s potential reading.

The list is probably one of the most flexible lists I make and the number of titles considered is always far greater than the number of books I actually read during the year. You might notice that a large part of the list contains reading from the previous year that I didn’t get to but still want to read. I start off with about 150 books and by the end of the coming year this list will expand to about 250 books (I’ll read about 100 of them). [Note: 400 + in times of CoVid]

I love lists so here is this year’s Reading Pool. Note also the reading lists under the menu item “Lists.”

Read=Blue (136) To Read=Red

1. A Man of the People — Chinua Achebe
2. Swans Over the Moon — Forrest Aguirre
3. The Monkey-Wrench Gang — Edward Albee
4. Zorro — Isabel Allende
5. City of the Beasts — Isabel Allende
6. Kingdom of the Golden Dragon — Isabel Allende
7. Forest of the Pygmies — Isabel Allende
8. Lionel Asbo: State of England — Martin Amis
9. Sanskara — U. R. Ananthamurthy
10. The Saga of Gunnlaug Serpent-tongue — Anonymous
11. Act of the Damned – António Lobo Antunes
12. God: A Human History — Resa Aslan
13. The Year of the Flood — Margaret Atwood
14. Maddaddam — Margaret Atwood
15. Cat’s Eye — Margaret Atwood
16. The Robber Bride — Margaret Atwood
17. The Edible Woman — Margaret Atwood
18. The Invention of Solitude — Paul Auster
19. A Harlot High or Low — Honoré de Balzac
20. Illusions perdues — Honoré de Balzac
21. History of the Thirteen — Honoré de Balzac
22. The Wild Asses Skin — Honoré de Balzac
23. Alessandro Baricco — Emmaus
24. Monsieur Ouine – Georges Bernanos
25. The Lime Works – Thomas Bernhard
26. Religion For Atheists — Alain de Botton
27. Killoyle, An Irish Farce – Roger Boylan
28. When the Killing’s Done — T. C. Boyle
29. The Terranauts – T. C. Boyle
30. Drop City – T. C. Boyle
31. The Women – T. C. Boyle
32. Talk to Me — T. C. Boyle
33. The Road to Wellville – T. C. Boyle
34. Anonymous Celebrity — Ignácio de Loyola Brandão
35. The Unknown Quantity – Hermann Broch
36. Thru — Christine Brooke-Rose
37. Between –  Christine Brooke-Rose
38. Manchild in the Promised Land — Claude Brown
39. Tiny Love: The Complete Stories of Larry Brown – Larry Brown
40. Father and Son – Larry Brown
41. Hard Case Crime: Bust — Ken Bruen and Jason Starr
42. Hard Case Crime: Pimp — Ken Bruen and Jason Starr
43. A Walk in the Woods — Bill Bryson
44. Cecilia — Franny Burney
45. The Wanderer — Franny Burney
46. Dry: A Memoir — Augustin Burroughs
47. The Land That Time Forgot — Edgar Rice Burroughs
48. The People That Time Forgot — Edgar Rice Burroughs
49. Out of Time’s Abyss — Edgar Rice Burroughs
50. Babel Tower – A. S. Byatt
51. The Ruin of Kasch — Roberto Calasso
52. Moonglow — Michael Chabon
53. The Enemy — Lee Child
54. Night School — Lee Child
55. Running Blind — Lee Child
56. I’m the One That I Want — Margaret Cho
57. Floating in a Most Peculiar Way — Louis Chude-Sokei
58. Deal Breaker — Harlan Coben
59. The Devil Never Sleeps: and Other Essays — Andrei Codrescu
60. Trunk Music — Michael Connelly
61. Angels Flight — Michael Connelly
62. The Poet — Michael Connelly
63. The Narrows — Michael Connelly
64. The Red Rover: A Tale — James Fenimore Cooper
65. The Winners – Julio Cortázar
66. Second Place — Rachel Cusk
67. Clickbait — Evelyn Dar
68. Varieties of Disturbance: Stories – Lydia Davis
69. The End of the Story — Lydia Davis
70. Guns, Germs, Steel — Jared Diamond
71. Valis — Philip K. Dick
72. The Divine Invasion — Philip K. Dick
73. The Transmigration of Timothy Archer — Philip K. Dick
74. The Last Thing He Wanted — Joan Didion
75. A Book of Common Prayer — Joan Didion
76. Bright Magic: Stories — Alfred Döblin
77. Bucking the Sun — Ivan Doig
78. Night of the Assholes — Kevin L. Donihe
79. Darwin’s Ghosts — Ariel Dorfman
80. The Adolescent – Fyodor Dostoevsky
81. Island People – Coleman Dowell
82. Hard Case Crime: The Valley of Fear — Arthur Conan Doyle
83. Jennie Gerhardt — Theodore Dreiser
84. The Financier — Theodore Dreiser
85. The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana – Umberto Eco
86. Foucault’s Pendulum – Umberto Eco
87. Zeitoun — Dave Eggers
88. Hard Case Crime: Web of the City — Harlan Ellison
89. The Samurai – Shusaku Endo
90. The Televangelist — Ibrahim Eissa
91. 1933 Was a Bad Year — John Fante
92. Wait Until Spring, Bandini — John Fante
93. Jonathan Wild — Henry Fielding
94. The Circus of Dr. Lao — Charles G. Finney
95. The Crack-up — F. Scott Fitzgerald
96. The Pillars of the Earth — Ken Follett
97. World Without End — Ken Follett
98. A Column of Fire — Ken Follett
99. The Evening and the Morning — Ken Follett
100. Independence Day— Richard Ford
101. The Twenty-Seventh City — Jonathan Franzen
102. Freedom — Jonathan Franzen
103. Purity — Jonathan Franzen
104. Strong Motion — Jonathan Franzen
105. Crossroads — Jonathan Franzen
106. Sophie’s World – Jostein Gaarder
107. The Mare — Mary Gaitskill
108. The Case of the Sleepwalker’s Niece — Erle Stanley Gardner
109. The Case of the Stuttering Bishop — Erle Stanley Gardner
110. The Case of the Dangerous Dowager — Erle Stanley Gardner
111. Promise At Dawn — Roman Gary
112. Wives and Daughters: An Everyday Story — Elizabeth Gaskell
113. The Glass Palace – Amitav Ghosh
114. The Disappearance of Paige Turner — Bart J. Gilbertson
115. She Drove without Stopping – Jaimy Gordon
116. Château d’Argol — Julien Gracq
117. “D” Is for Deadbeat — Sue Grafton
118. “E” Is for Evidence — Sue Grafton
119. “F” Is for Fugitive — Sue Grafton
120. “G” Is for Gumshoe — Sue Grafton
121. “H” Is for Homicide — Sue Grafton
122. “I” Is for Innocent — Sue Grafton
123. Too Far Afield – Günter Grass
124. Party Going — Henry Green
125. Our Man in Havana — Graham Greene
126. The Comedians — Graham Greene
127. The Ministry of Fear — Graham Greene
128. The Confidential Agent — Graham Greene
129. The Book of Intimate Grammar: A Novel – David Grossman
130. The Magician’s Trilogy — Lev Grossman
131. Stalingrad — Vasily Grossman
132. The Autobiography of Malcolm X – Alex Haley
133. Fly Paper and Other Stories — Dashiell Hammett
134. Two On a Tower — Thomas Hardy
135. Whistlejacket – John Hawkes
136. I — Wolfgang Hilbig
137. Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Sausages — Tom Holt
138. Là-Bas – J. K. Huysmans
139. Captain Saturday — Robert Inman
140. The Princess Cassamassima— Henry James
141. Ms Ice Sandwich — Mieko Kawakami
142. Something New Under the Sun — Alexandra Kleeman
143. Disclaimer — Rene Knight
144. The Exile — William Kotzwinkle
145. God’s Without Men — Hari Kunzru
146. Something Unbelievable: A Novel — Maria Kuznetsova
147. Bubba and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers — Joe R. Lansdale
148. Sweet Smell of Success — Ernest Lehman
149. Cass Timberlane — Sinclair Lewis
150. Gideon Planish — Sinclair Lewis
151. Complete Stories — Clarice Lispector
152. A Man of Parts — David Lodge
153. The Executioner’s Song – Norman Mailer
154. Harlot’s Ghost – Norman Mailer
155. The Loved Ones – Alia Mamdouh
156. Adam Buenosayres: A Novel — Leopoldo Marechal
157. Your Face Tomorrow: Fever and Spear — Javier Marías
158. Your Face Tomorrow: Dance and Dream — Javier Marías
159. Your Face Tomorrow: Poison, Shadow and Farewell — Javier Marías
160. Shadow Country — Peter Matthiessen
161. Far Tortuga — Peter Matthiessen
162. Mary Ann in Autumn — Armistead Maupin
163. The Days of Anna Madrigal — Armistead Maupin
164. Sweet Tooth — Ian McEwan
165. Forbidden Colors — Yukio Mishima
166. Swimming Lessons — Rohinton Mistry
167. Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
168. The Bone Clocks — David Mitchell
169. Utopia Avenue — David Mitchell
170. Noir: A Novel — Christopher Moore
171. Apples Never Fall — Liane Moriarty
172. Goth Girl — Melanie Mosher
173. McGlue — Ottessa Moshfegh
174. The Unicorn — Iris Murdoch
175. The Time of the Angels — Iris Murdoch
176. The Bat — Jo Nesbø
177. The Redbreast — Jo Nesbø
178. Nemesis — Jo Nesbø
179. A Widow’s Story — Joyce Carol Oates
180. The Gravedigger’s Daughter — Joyce Carol Oates
181. My Heart Laid Bare — Joyce Carol Oates
182. Hazards of Time Travel — Joyce Carol Oates
183. Breathe: A Novel — Joyce Carol Oates
184. The Man Without a Shadow — Joyce Carol Oates
185. The Pursuit — Joyce Carol Oates
186. Mystery, Inc. — Joyce Carol Oates
187. From the Terrace — John O’Hara
188. Down and Out in Paris and London — George Orwell
189. A Tale of Love and Darkness – Amos Oz
190. The Book of Form and Emptiness — Ruth Ozeki
191. Towns Without Rivers – Michael Parker
192. Doomino’s Apocalyptic Pizza Delivery — Lucas Pederson & Tim Marquitz
193. The Sacred Book of the Werewolf — Victor Pelevin
194. When Christ and His Saints Slept — Sharon Kay Penman
195. Time and Chance — Sharon Kay Penman
196. Devil’s Brood — Sharon Kay Penman
197. Lionheart — Sharon Kay Penman
198. The Sunne In Splendour — Sharon Kay Penman
199. The Thanatos Syndrome — Walker Percy
200. Special Topics in Calamity Physics – Marisha Pessl
201. Monsieur Songe – Robert Pinget
202. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance — Robert M. Pirsig
203. The Corpse Wore Pasties — Porkpie Jonny
204. Prisoner’s Dilemma — Richard Powers
205. The Overstory: A Novel — Richard Powers
206. Bewilderment — Richard Powers
207. A Glastonbury Romance — John Cowper Powys
208. Porius — John Cowper Powys
209. Owen Glendower — John Cowper Powys
210. Maiden Castle — John Cowper Powys
211. The Extremes — Christopher Priest
212. The Prestige — Christopher Priest
213. eXistenZ — Christopher Priest
214. Carmody’s Run — Bill Pronzini
215. Touch — Francine Prose
216. Satiristas! — Paul Provenza
217. Swann’s Way — Marcel Proust
218. Within a Budding Grove — Marcel Proust
219. The Guermantes Way — Marcel Proust
220. Sodom and Gomorrah — Marcel Proust
221. The Captive and The Fugitive — Marcel Proust
222. Time Regained — Marcel Proust
223. Peppermint Twist — Gina Ranalli
224. Larva: A Midsummer Night’s Babel – Julían Ríos
225. Shantaram: A Novel — Gregory David Roberts
226. Chronicles of Old Los Angeles — James Roman
227. Beautiful World, Where Are You — Sally Rooney
228. Seven Brief Lessons on Physics — Carlo Rovelli
229. The Golden House — Salman Rushdie
230. Joseph Anton — Salman Rushdie
231. A Renegade History of the United States — Thaddeus Russell
232. Travels With Herodotus — Ryszard Kapuscinski
233. Memoirs of an Invisible Man — H. F. Saint
234. It Came From Below the Belt — Bradley Sands
235. The Russian Debutante’s Handbook — Gary Shteyngart
236. Super Sad True Love Story: A Novel — Gary Shteyngart
237. The Train — Georges Simenon
238. Sunday — George Simenon
239. Madame Maigret’s Friend — Georges Simenon
240. Oil! — Upton Sinclair
241. The Engineer of Human Souls – Josef Skvoresky
242. In the First Circle – Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn
243. Imaginative Quantities of Actual Things – Gilbert Sorrentino
244. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas — Gertrude Stein
245. The Missing Head of Damasceno Monteiro — Antonio Tabucchi
246. Under the Wave at Waimea — Paul Theroux
247. The Last Chronicle of Barset — Anthony Trollope
248. Yvain — Chretien de Troyes
249. A Spool of Blue Thread — Ann Tyler
250. Digging to America — Anne Tyler
251. A Slipping Down Life — Anne Tyler
252. Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant — Anne Tyler
253. Redhead by the Side of the Road — Anne Tyler
254. The Big Green Tent — Ludmila Ulitskaya
255. S. — John Updike
256. The Coup — John Updike
257. Brazil — John Updike
258. Villages — John Updike
259. Rainbow Stories – William T. Vollmann
260. The Ice-Shirt – William T. Vollmann
261. The Rifles – William T. Vollmann
262. An Afghanistan Picture Show; or, How I Saved the World – William T. Vollmann
263. Riding Toward Everywhere — William T. Vollmann
264. Welcome to the Monkey House — Kurt Vonnegut
265. Glue — Irvine Welsh
266. Skagboys — Irvine Welsh
267. You Can’t Go Home Again — Thomas Wolfe
268. This Book Is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don’t Touch It — David Wong
269. Trash — Amy Yamada
270. I Hotel – Karen Tei Yamashita

(Workspace for next year’s reading pool : subject to constant change)

TBA