-2009-
January
1. Keeping House: The Litany of Everyday Life – Margaret Kim Peterson
2. New Stories from the South: The Year’s Best, 2008 – Edited by ZZ Packer, Series Editor Kathy Pories
3. The Inheritance of Loss – Kiran Desai
February
4. The Power and the Glory – Graham Greene
5. Nine Months Strong – Karen Bridson
6. Runner’s World Guide to Running and Pregnancy – Chris Lundgren
March
7. The Art of Subtext: Beyond Plot – Charles Baxter
8. Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth – Ina May Gaskin
9. Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading – Eugene Peterson
10. Lost in the City – Edward P. Jones
April
11. The Trouble with Being Born – Jeffrey DeShell
12. Flannery: A Life of Flannery O’Connor – Brad Gooch
13. The Ministry of Special Cases – Nathan Englander
14. Hiding Man: A Biography of Donald Barthelme – Tracy Daugherty
May
15. The Best American Short Stories 2008 – Ed. Salmon Rushdie, Series Editor Heidi Pitlor
16. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao – Junot Díaz
17. Rich Dad, Poor Dad – Robert Kiyosaki
June
18. Great with Child: Reflections on Faith, Fullness and Becoming a Mother – Debra Rienstra
19. Girl with Curious Hair – David Foster Wallace
July
20. Anagrams – Lorrie Moore
21. Secrets of the Baby Whisperer – Tracy Hogg
22. Born to Run – Christopher McDougall
23. Mother Warriors: A Nation of Parents Healing Autism Against All Odds – Jenny McCarthy
August
24. Belly Laughs: The Naked Truth about Pregnancy and Childbirth – Jenny McCarthy
25. On Becoming Baby Wise – Gary Ezzo, Robert Bucknam
September
26. A Gate at the Stairs – Lorrie Moore
October
27. Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner – Dean Karnazes
28. Reasons for and Advantages of Breathing – Lydia Peelle
November
29. Once a Runner – John L. Parker, Jr.
-2008-
January
1. Housekeeping – Marilynne Robinson
February
2. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
3. Dubliners - James Joyce
March
4. Minor Robberies – Deb Olin Unferth
5. The Chosen – Chaim Potok
April
6. East of Eden – John Steinbeck
7. The Nature of Longing – Alyce Miller
8. His Needs, Her Needs – Willard F. Harley, Jr.
9. Velvet Elvis – Rob Bell
10. The Creative Writing MFA Handbook – Tom Kealey
11. The City is a Rising Tide – Rebecca Lee
12. Large Animals in Everyday Life – Wendy Brenner
13. The Mother Knot – Kathryn Harrison
May
14. The Cloister Walk – Kathleen Norris
15. White Teeth – Zadie Smith
16. The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy and “Women’s Work” – Kathleen Norris
17. The O. Henry Prize Stories 2002 – Ed. Larry Dark
June
18. The Namesake – Jhumpa Lahiri
19. The Year of Magical Thinking – Joan Didion
20. (reread) Nancy Drew: The Stranger in the Shadows - Carolyn Keene
21. Self-Help – Lorrie Moore
July
22. (reread) The Curse - Bill Myers/James Riordan
23. (reread) The Undead – Bill Myers/James Riordan
24. (reread) Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? – Lorrie Moore
25. The Renegade Writer: A Totally Unconventional Guide to Freelance Writing Success – Linda Formichelli and Diana Burrell
26. Getting Started as a Freelance Writer – Robert W. Bly
27. Gilead – Marilynne Robinson
28. Road Racing for Serious Runners - Pete Pfitzinger and Scott Douglass
August
29. Six-Figure Freelancing – Kelly James-Enger
30. The Moviegoer – Walker Percy
31. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life – Barbara Kingsolver with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver
32. Rules for Saying Goodbye – Katherine Taylor
33. This Boy’s Life – Tobias Wolff
September
34. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy, translated by Constance Garnett
35. It’s Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life – Lance Armstrong, with Sally Jenkins
36. Home – Marilynne Robinson
37. The Complete Stories – Flannery O’Connor
38. Sabbath Keeping: Finding Freedom in the Rhythms of Rest – Lynne M. Baab
October
39. The Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage – Paul Elie
40. The Book of Joe – Jonathan Tropper
41. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running – Haruki Murakami
42. Catholic and Christian: An Explanation of Commonly Misunderstood Catholic Beliefs – Alan Schreck
43. Ron Carlson Writes a Story – Ron Carlson
November
44. A Moveable Feast – Ernest Hemingway
45. Drinking Coffee Elsewhere – ZZ Packer
46. Miss Lonelyhearts – Nathanael West
December
47. The Promise – Chaim Potok
-2007-
January
1. The Corrections – Jonathan Franzen
2. Cherry – Mary Karr
3. Sinners Welcome – Mary Karr
February
4. Daniels’ Running Formula – Jack Daniels, Ph.D
5. The Sweet Hereafter – Russell Banks
6. Everything is Illuminated – Jonathan Safran Foer
7. And Now You Can Go – Vendela Vida
March
8. Real Sex: The Naked Truth About Chastity – Lauren F. Winner
9. The History of Love – Nicole Krauss
April
10. For Whom the Bell Tolls – Ernest Hemingway
11. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close – Jonathan Safran Foer
12. The Pact – Jodi Picoult
13. (reread) The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
May
14. Girl Meets God – Lauren F. Winner
15. Easter Everywhere – Darcey Steinke
16. Mudhouse Sabbath – Lauren F. Winner
17. One Tree Hill: The Beginning – Jenny Markas
18. One Tree Hill: A Heart So True – Anna Lotto
19. Falling Man – Don DeLillo
June
20. My Name is Asher Lev – Chaim Potok
21. July, July – Tim O’Brien
July
22. The Gift of Asher Lev – Chaim Potok
23. Mystery and Manners – Flannery O’Connor
24. Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides
25. Learning to Teach for Social Justice – Ed. Darling-Hammond, French, Garcia-Lopez
26. Nineteen Minutes – Jodi Picoult
27. The Virgin Suicides – Jeffrey Eugenides
August
28. The Wonder Boys – Michael Chabon
29. For Women Only – Shaunti Feldhahn
30. No One Belongs Here More Than You – Miranda July
31. Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith – Anne Lamott
September
32. Rabbit, Run – John Updike
33. The Road – Cormac McCarthy
34. (reread) The House on Mango Street – Sandra Cisneros
35. The Voice of Matthew – Lauren F. Winner
36. (reread) Searching for God Knows What – Donald Miller
37. (reread) Lullaby – Chuck Palahniuk
38. (reread) The Society – Bill Myers
39. (reread) The Deceived – Bill Myers
40. On Beauty – Zadie Smith
October
41. (reread) The Spell – Bill Myers
42. Mrs. Dalloway – Virginia Woolf
43. The Hours – Michael Cunningham
44. The Tenth Circle – Jodi Picoult
45. The Discomfort Zone – Jonathan Franzen
46. The Good Soldier – Ford Madox Ford
47. If on a winter’s night a traveler – Italo Calvino
November
48. To the Lighthouse – Virginia Woolf
49. Atonement – Ian McEwan
December
50. The Virgin of Bennington – Kathleen Norris
51. The Sky Isn’t Visible From Here – Felicia Sullivan
52. (reread) The Neighbor From Outer Space – Maureen George
53.
What did you think of Don Delilo?
I’m a fan of Palahniuk and Bret Easton Ellis and I know that both authors say that Don inspired them.
Also, “July, July” is a great book. I’d also recommend “The Things they Carried” also by Tim.
Comment by RunColo — 23 July 2008 @ 4:31 pm
DeLillo is one of my favorite writers, but I can’t take too much of his writing at once. I wasn’t that impressed with Falling Man, but I had high expectations. Underworld, Libra, and White Noise are phenomenal (in that order).
I keep thinking I should read Bret Easton Ellis. Any recommendations?
Comment by kristynwinters — 23 July 2008 @ 5:28 pm
“American Psycho” is fantastic, but you have to be prepared for the “sicko factor”.
“Less than Zero” was written by Bret when he was in college, I think 20 years old. You could read that book in 3 hours straight, which I did. It’s a good book and probably great if you keep in mind that it was written by such a young person.
“Rules of Attraction” was also good. “Informers” is cool, just a collection of short stories.
Bret is of the minimalist school of writting, thus sometimes he is hard to follow and you’re not always sure if what you are reading is happening or a figment of the characters imagination.
In “Rules of Attraction” and some of his other books, he also like to use the “Unreliable Narrator” which is interesting. An example is a guy and a girl meet at a bar and next morning you hear each version of their story separately and each version is a bit different and contradicts the other, so your left wondering what really happened.
Comment by RunColo — 30 July 2008 @ 3:28 pm