I just finished another book. I’m going to write about it next week, but it goes with the book I’ve just started (another example of my unique and unconscious ability to read books back to back that end up going together in some way). The pile next to my bed is getting a little shorter than I like. So I took out my book list, on which I keep the titles and authors of the books I want to read.<\/p>\n
My choices are made by reading reviews in newspapers, magazines, and recommendations from Nancy Pearl.<\/a> It’s getting really long — about 85 books and I have a bunch of pages torn from publications and sticky notes with book titles scribbled on them that will easily add another dozen to the list. I was thinking that one way to pare it down would be to put it on my\u00a0 blog and you, my loyal readers, could tell me if you’d read any of them. You can point out the lousy ones so I can take them off my list. I am loathe to add this next sentence, but if, given the authors and titles you see, you know of another book I simply must add, you can tell me that, too.<\/p>\n A note: two of the entries are for my son, but I make it a point to read every book I suggest to him first, so I can tell him if I think he’ll like it. My secret super power is linking people I know with books I’m sure they’ll love. It\u00a0 makes me happy to get Darling Son to admit I was right and that he loved whatever book I’ve suggested.<\/p>\n 1001 Foods You Must Taste Before You Die<\/a> edited by Frances Case<\/p>\n 7 Sisters<\/a> by Margaret Drabble<\/p>\n America Pacifica<\/a> by Anna North<\/p>\n At Home on the Range<\/a> by Margaret Yardley Potter<\/p>\n Bad Dog <\/a>by Martin Kihn<\/p>\n Blackout <\/a>by Connie Willis<\/p>\n Blue Castle<\/a> by LM Montgomery<\/p>\n Brooklyn<\/a> by Colm Toibin<\/p>\n Catching Fire<\/a> by Richard Wrangham<\/p>\n City of Ember <\/a>(series) by Jeanne DuPrau (for Darling Son)<\/p>\n Dimanche <\/a>by Irene Nemirovsky<\/p>\n Every Last Cuckoo<\/a> by Kate Maloy<\/p>\n Fifth Avenue 5 a.m.<\/a> by Sam Wasson<\/p>\n Gate at the Stairs <\/a>by Lorrie Moore<\/p>\n Ghost Lights <\/a>by Lydia Millet<\/p>\n Heart in the Right Place<\/a> by Carolyn Jourdan<\/p>\n Heft <\/a>by Liz Moore<\/p>\n History of a Pleasure Seeker<\/a> by Richard Mason<\/p>\n How Did You Get This Number <\/a>by Sloane Crosley<\/p>\n How It All Began <\/a>by Penelope Lively<\/p>\n I Think I Love You<\/a> by Allison Pearson<\/p>\n I\u2019d Know You Anywhere <\/a>by Laura Lippman<\/p>\n Indignation <\/a>by Philip Roth<\/p>\n Is That Fish in Your Ear?<\/a> By David Bellos<\/p>\n John the Revalator<\/a> by Peter Murphy<\/p>\n Let\u2019s Pretend This Never Happened<\/a> by Jenny Lawson<\/p>\n Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out<\/a> by MoYan<\/p>\n Lizz Free or Die <\/a>by Lizz Winstead<\/p>\n Love and Shame and Love<\/a> by Peter Orner<\/p>\n Memory of Running <\/a>by Ron McLarty<\/p>\n Model Home<\/a> by Eric Puchner<\/p>\n Night Train to Lisbon <\/a>by Pascal Mercier<\/p>\n No One Is Here Except All of U<\/a>s by Ramona Ausubel<\/p>\n On Writing<\/a> by Stephen King<\/p>\n One Amazing Thing<\/a> by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni<\/p>\n Peep Show<\/a> by Joshua Braff<\/p>\n Private Life <\/a>by Jane Smiley<\/p>\n Reality Hunger: A Manifesto <\/a>by David Shields<\/p>\n Secrets of Eden <\/a>by Chris Bohjalian<\/p>\n Sleeping Beauty<\/a> by Elizabeth Taylor<\/p>\n Smut <\/a>by Alan Bennet<\/p>\n Solace <\/a>by Belinda McKeon<\/p>\n Stay with Me<\/a> by Paul Griffin<\/p>\n Sybil Exposed<\/a> by Debbie Nathan<\/p>\n The Anthologist<\/a> by Nicholas Baker<\/p>\n The Art of Fielding <\/a>by Chad Harbach<\/p>\n The Ask<\/a> by Sam Lipsyte<\/p>\n The Betraya<\/a>l by Helen Dunmore<\/p>\n The Bolter<\/a> by Frances Osborne<\/p>\n The Chemistry of Tears<\/a> by Peter Carey<\/p>\n The Chicken Chronicles<\/a> by Alice Walker<\/p>\n The Empty Family<\/a> by Colm Toibin<\/p>\n The Fates Will find Their Way<\/a> by Hannah Pittard<\/p>\n The Flight of Gemma Hardy<\/a> by Margo Livesey<\/p>\n The Free World <\/a>by David Bezmozgi<\/p>\n The Glass Room<\/a> by Simon Mawer<\/p>\n The Grift<\/a> by Debra Ginsberg<\/p>\n The Lake<\/a> by Banana Yoshimoto<\/p>\n The Leftovers<\/a> by Tom Perotta<\/p>\n The Life of Irene Nemirovsky<\/a> by Oliver Philipponnat<\/p>\n The Missing of the Somme <\/a>by Geoff Dyer<\/p>\n The Northern Clemency<\/a> by Philip Hensher<\/p>\n The Oriental Wife<\/a> by Evelyn Toynton<\/p>\n The Quiet Girl<\/a> by Peter Hoeg<\/p>\n The Resurrectionist<\/a> by Jack O\u2019Connell<\/p>\n The Selected Works of TS Spivet <\/a>by Reif Larsen (for Darling Son)<\/p>\n The Sense of an Ending<\/a> by Julian Barnes<\/p>\n The Uninvited Guests<\/a> by Sadie Jones<\/p>\n The Way Things Look To Me<\/a> by Roopa Farooki<\/p>\n Then Again<\/a> by Diane Keaton<\/p>\n Thoughts Without Cigarettes<\/a> by Oscar Hijuelos<\/p>\n Three Daughters<\/a> by Letty Pogrebin<\/p>\n Three Delays<\/a> by Charlie Smith<\/p>\n Timbuktu <\/a>by Paul Auster<\/p>\n Tony and Susan <\/a>by Austin Wright<\/p>\n Too Much Happiness<\/a> by Alice Munro<\/p>\n Various Pets Alive and Dead<\/a> by Marina Lewycka<\/p>\n Weeds: In Defense of Natures Most Unloved Plants<\/a> by Richard Mabey<\/p>\n Weird Sisters <\/a>by Eleanor Brown<\/p>\n What Was Lost <\/a>by Catherine O\u2019Flynn<\/p>\n When She Woke<\/a> by Hillary Jordan<\/p>\nBooks Lisa Wants*<\/span><\/h2>\n