Books Read

Books read in 2024

~January~

Point Zero by Seicho Matsumoto (Japanese Literature Challenge 17)
First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston
The Forbidden Notebook by Alba De Cespedes
Don’t Let Her Go by Willow Rose
The Final Curtain by Keigo Higashino (Japanese Literature Challenge 17)

~February~

Nails and Eyes by Kaori Fujino (Japanese Literature Challenge 17)
Life and Death in Shanghai by Nein Chung (book club)
Nowhere Like Home by Sara Shepard
A Well-Behaved Woman by Anne Therese Fowler (book club)

~March~

The Godwulf Manuscript by Robert B. Parker (reread)
God Save The Child by Robert B. Parker (reread)
Mortal Stakes by Robert B. Parker (reread)
Undiscovered by Gabriela Weiner (IBP longlist 2024)
The House on Via Gemito by Domenico Starnone (IBP longlist 2024)
Crooked Plow by Itamar Vieira Junior (IBP shortlist 2024)
A Dictator Calls by Ismail Kadare (IBP longlist 2024)

~April~

Not A River by Selva Almada (IBP shortlist 2024)
The Silver Bone by Andrey Kurkov (IBP longlist 2024)
The Details by Ia Genberg (IBP shortlist 2024)
Lost On Me by Veronica Raimos (IBP longlist 2024)
The Promised Land by Robert B. Parker
The Judas Goat by Robert B. Parker
How Do You Live? by Genzaburo Yoshino (1937 Club)
Simpatia by Rodrigo Blanco Calderon (IBP longlist 2024)
How Do You Live? by Genzaburo Yoshino, translated from the Japanese by Bruno Navasky (#1937 Club)

Books Read in 2023

January~

City Under One Roof by Iris Yamashita
A Death in Tokyo by Keigo Higashino (JLC16)
Moominland Midwinter by Tove Jansson (Nordic Finds Challenge)
Aliss At The Fire by Jon Fosse (Nordic Finds Challenge)
Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight by Riku Onda (JLC16)
The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
The Hole by Hiroko Oyamada (JCC16)

~February~

Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher (Book Club)
Diary of a Void by Emi Yagi (JCL16)
Black Wolf by Kathleen Kent (did not finish)
Wild Swans by Jung Chang (Book Club)
Birnham Woods by Eleanor Catton (did not finish)

~March~

The Maid by Nita Prose
Pyre by Perumal Murugan, translated by Aniruddhan Vasudevan (IPB23)
The Birthday Party by Laurent Mauvignier, translated from the French by David Levin (IBP23)
Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov, translated from the Bulgarian by Angela Rodel (IBP23)
Is Mother Dead by Vigdis Hjorth, translated from the Norwegian by Charlotte Barslund (IBP23)
The Gospel According to The New World by Maryse Conde, translated from the French by Richard Philcox (IBP23)

~April~

While We Were Dreaming by Clemens Meyer, translated from the German by Katy Derbyshire (IBP 2023)
Boulder by Eva Baltasar, translated from the Catalan by Julia Sanches (IBP 2023)
Still Born by Guadalupe Nettel, translated from the Spanish by Rosalind Harvey (IBP 2023)
A System so Magnificent It Is Blinding by Amanda Svensson, translated from the Swedish by Nichola Smalley

~May~

Whale by Cheon Myeong-kwan, translated from the Korean by Chi Young-Kim
Tina, Mafia Soldier by Maria Rosa Cutrufelli, translated from the Italian by Robin Pickering-Iazzi
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (for #DDM reading week)
Service by Sarah Gilmartin

~June~

The Measure of Sorrow by J. Ashley-Smith
Outlander by Diana Galbadon
Maybe by Kobi Yamada
Infinite Country by Patricia Engels
Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck, translated from the German by Michael Hofmann

~July~

Tear Soup by Scwiebert, Deklyen
The Secret Hours by Mick Herron
The Quiet Tenant by Clemence Michallon
Good Scent From A Strange Mountain by Robert Olen Butler
Central Park by Guillaume Musso, translated from the French by Sam Taylor
The Reunion by Guillaume Musso, translated from the French by Frank Wynne

~August~

Mild Vertigo by Meiko Kanai, translated from the Japanese by Polly Barton
Traitors Gate by Jeffrey Archer
Treacle Walker by Alan Garner (shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize)
The Forbidden Notebook by Alba De Cespedes, translated from the Italian by Ann Goldstein
Foster by Claire Keegan
Black Water Lilies by Michael Bussi, translated from the French by Shaun Whiteside
Bleak House by Charles Dickens

~September~

Holly by Stephen King
Reykjavik by Ragnar Jonasson and Katrin Jacobsdottir, translated from the Icelandic by Victoria Cribb

~October~

Old God’s Time by Barry Sebastian, 2023 Booker Prize shortlist
The Haj by Leon Uris

~November~

~December~

Books Read in 2022

January~

Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama (Japanese Literature Challenge 15)
Touring the Land of The Dead by Maki Kashimada (Japanese Literature Challenge 15)
Harriet The Spy by Louise Fitzhugh (reread)
Silent Parade by Keigo Higashino (Japanese Literature Challenge 15)
A Man And His Cat by Umi Sakurai (Japanese Literature Challenge 15)

~February~

The Darkness by Ragnar Jonasson (Nordic Finds Challenge 2022)
The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarzcuk (International Booker Prize 2022 longlist)
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey (reread)
The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

~March~

Unraveling Oliver by Liz Nugent (Reading Ireland Month 2022)
Heaven by Meiko Kawakami (Japanese Literature Challenge 15, International Booker Prize 2022)
Elena Knows by Claudia Pineiro, translated from the Spanish by Frances Riddle (International Booker Prize 2022)
The Book of Mother by Violaine Huisman, translated from the French by Leslie Camhi (International Booker Prize 2022)
More Than I Love My Life by David Grossman, translated from the Hebrew by Jessica Cohen, (International Booker Prize 2022)
Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung, translated from the Korean by Anton Hur (International Booker Prize 2022)

~April~

I Is Another by Jon Fosse
A New Name by Jon Fosse (International Booker Prize 2022 longlist)
Tomb of Sand (International Booker Prize 2022 Winner)
The Horse and His Boy by C. S. Lewis (#1954 Club and #Narniathon21)
City on Fire by Don Winslow (DNF)
How Lucky by Will Leitch (Edgar Award 2022 longlist)

~May~

Happy Stories Mostly (International Booker Prize 2022 Longlist)

~June~

The Shell Seekers by Rosamund Pilcher (20 Books of Summer, reread)
All The Lovers In the Night by Meiko Kawakami (20 Books of Summer)
Cats of the Louvre by Taiyo Matsumata (20 Books of Summer)
Intimacies by Katie Kitamura (20 Books of Summer)
Book of Night by Holly Black (DNF) (20 Books of Summer)
Heights by Louise Candlish (20 Books of Summer)
Geiger by G. Skordeman (DNF, 20 Books of Summer)

~July~

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See (20 Books of Summer)
Perestroika In Paris by Jane Smiley (20 Books of Summer, Paris in July 2022)
Paris by Edward Rutherfurd (20 Books of Summer, Paris in July 2022)
Maigret and The Reluctant Witnesses by Georges Simenon (20 Books of Summer, Paris in July 2022)
The Martins by David Foenkinos (20 Books of Summer, Paris in July 2022)
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami (20 Books of Summer, read along with Swift as Inspiration)
Outside by Ragnar Jonasson (20 Books of Summer)

~August~

Never by Ken Follett (20 Books of Summer)
Scattered All Over the Earth by Yoko Tawada (20 Books of Summer, Women In Translation Month)
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (20 Books of Summer, Booker Prize 2022 longlist)
life ceremony by Sayaka Murata (20 Books of Summer, Women in Translation Month)

~September~

Shogun by James Clavell
Tai Pan by James Clavell
Gai Jin by James Clavell
Horse by Geraldine Brooks (for Book Club)

~October~

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell
American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis

~November~

Babel: An Arcane History by R. F. Kuang
Somebody Loves You by Mona Arshi
The Secret History by Donna Tartt (celebrating its 50 year anniversary, reread for the fifth time)
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (reread for the fourth time)

~December~

The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper (audio on BBC Sounds)
Three Assassins by Kotoro Isaka
The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray (for Book Club)

Books Read in 2021

~January~

Breasts and Eggs by Meiko Kawakami (Japanese Literature Challenge 14)
Before The Ruins by Victoria Gosling (psychological fiction)
The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall
Before The Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Japanese Literature Challenge 14)
The Wild Geese by Ogai Mori (Japanese Literature Challenge 14)

~February~

A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight (psychological fiction)
Lady Joker by Kaoru Takamura (Japanese Literature Challenge 14)
The High-Rise Diver by Julia von Lucadou (translated from the German)
The Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara (winner of the Edgar Award for Best Novel)

~March~

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro (Japanese Literature Challenge 14/Booker Prize 2021 long list)
The Phonebooth at The Edge of The World by Laura Imai Messina (Japanese Literature Challenge 14)
The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearce
Snowblind by Ragnar Jonasson (Dark Iceland series #1)
The Perfect Nine by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, translated from Gikuyu by the author (2021 International Booker Prize)

~April~

Minor Detail by Adania Shibli, translated from the Arabic by Elizabeth Jaquette (2021 International Booker Prize Longlist)
An Inventory of Losses by Judith Schalansky, translated from the German by Jackie Smith (2021 International Booker Prize Longlist)
At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop, translated from the French by Anna Moschovakis (2021 International Booker Prize shortlist)
The Pear Field by Nana Ekvtimishvili, translated from the Georgian by Elizabeth Heighway (2021 International Booker Prize Longlist)
In Memory of Memory by Maria Stepanova, translated from the Russian by Sasha Dugdale (2021 International Booker Prize)
War of the Poor by Éric Vuillard, translated from the French by Mark Polizzotti (2021 International Booker Prize shortlist)
Wretchedness by Andrzej Tichy, translated from the Swedish by Nichola Smalley (2021 International Booker Prize Longlist)
The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enriquez, translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell (2021 International Booker Prize Longlist)
The Employees by Olga Ravn, translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken (2021 International Booker Prize shortlist)
Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne DuMaurier (reread)

~May~

The Housekeeper by Natalie Barelli
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng (book club)
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated from the Russian by Pevear and Volokhonsky
The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith (reread)
Ripley Under Ground by Patricia Highsmith
When We Cease to Understand The World by Benjamin Labatut, translated from the Spanish by Adrian Nathan West (International Booker Prize Shortlist 2021)

~June~

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey (reread)
The Bullet Train by Kōtarō Isaka (translated from Japanese by Sam Malissa)
The Maidens by Alex Michaelides
Madam by Phoebe Wynne

~July~

The Passenger by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz
Family Record by Patrick Modiani (Paris in July 2021)
Seventeenth Summer by Maureen Daly (reread)
The Foreign Girls by Sergio Olguin (Spanish Lit Month 2021)
Double Blind by Edward St. Aubyn
The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain (Paris in July 2021)

~August~

Falling by T. J. Newman
Sleep of Memory by Patrick Modiano (translated from the French by Mark Polizzotti)
The Promise by Damon Galgut (Booker Prize 2021 long list)
The Cipher by Isabella Maldonado
second place by Rachel Cusk (Booker Prize 2021 long list)
China Room by Sunjeer Sahota (Booker Prize 2021 long list)
Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford (Booker Prize 2021 long list)

~September~

The Second Women by Louise Mey (translated from the French by Louise Rogers Lalaurie)
Hour of The Witch by Chris Bohjalen
The Duchess by Wendy Holden

~October~

1. Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice (#1976 Club, R.I.P. XVI)

2. Searching for Sylvia Lee by Jean Kwok

3. The Perfect Family by Robyn Harding

4. The Mad Women’s Ball by Victoria Mas (translated from the French by Frank Wynne)

~November~

1. The Golden Cage by Camilla Lackberg (translated from Swedish)

2. Apeirogon by Colum McCann

3. Silver Tears by Camilla Lackberg)

4. Oh, William! by Elizabeth Strout

~December~

1. The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan