So Much to Read
“A man ought to read just as inclination leads him, for what he reads as a task will do him little good.”—Samuel Johnson

Literary Limericks
Books summed up in Six Words
Songs to Buy Nothing By
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Books Reviewed (alphabetical by author)
Castle Barebane Joan Aiken
Ten Little Indians Sherman Alexie
Would It Kill You To Stop Doing That? Henry Alford
The Middlesteins Jami Attenberg
The...Mormon Singles Halloween Dance Elna Baker
A Box of Matches Nicholson Baker
Big Trouble Dave Barry
One! Hundred! Demons! Lynda Barry
Personals Thomas Beller, editor
Bike Snob BikeSnobNYC/Eben Weiss
Postville Stephen Bloom
Passionate Minds David Bodanis
Behind the Beautiful Forevers Katherine Boo
Mystery Ride Robert Boswell
The Climb Anatoli Boukreev and G. Weston DeWalt
My Husband Betty Helen Boyd
Drop City T.C. Boyle
The Inner Circle T.C. Boyle
Paying For It Chester Brown
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid Bill Bryson
A Walk in the Woods Bill Bryson
Kindred Octavia Butler
Long For This World Michael Byers
In Cold Blood Truman Capote
The Skeptic's Dictionary Robert T. Carroll
Heart, You Bully, You Punk Leah Hager Cohen
Mrs. Bridge Evan S. Connell
Mr. Bridge Evan S. Connell
River Thieves Michael Crummey
My Misspent Youth Meghan Daum
The Quality of Life Report Meghan Daum
The Gift of Fear Gavin de Becker
Burnt Bread and Chutney Carmit Delman
Nothing to Envy Barbara Demick
American Voyeur Benoit Denizet-Lewis
Brother Iron, Sister Steel Dave Draper
Crunchy Cons Rod Dreher
Turbulent Souls Stephen Dubner
House of Sand and Fog Andre Dubus III
Bait and Switch Barbara Ehrenreich
Nickel and Dimed Barbara Ehrenreich
Travels with Lizbeth Lars Eighner
The Marriage Plot Jeffrey Eugenides
The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving Jonathan Evison
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down Anne Fadiman
Beautiful Thing Sonia Faleiro
Kick Me Paul Feig
True Story Michael Finkel
Time and Again Jack Finney
Friends Like Us Lauren Fox
Still Life With Husband Lauren Fox
Bad Times in Buenos Aires Miranda France
The Corrections Jonathan Franzen
Freedom Jonathan Franzen
Jew vs. Jew Samuel G. Freedman
Jews Without Judaism Daniel Friedman
Muscle Samuel Fussell
The Country of Marriage Anthony Giardina
White Guys Anthony Giardina
Baby Proof Emily Giffin
Love the One You're With Emily Giffin
Something Borrowed Emily Giffin
Stumbling on Happiness Daniel Gilbert
Committed Elizabeth Gilbert
The Last American Man Elizabeth Gilbert
Stern Men Elizabeth Gilbert
Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress Susan Jane Gilman
Blink Malcolm Gladwell
How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less Sarah Glidden
The Chairs Are Where the People Go Misha Glouberman
Bee Season Myla Goldberg
The Search for God at Harvard Ari Goldman
Awake Elizabeth Graver
The Curious Incident of the Dog... Mark Haddon
Holy Days Lis Harris
The Believers Zöe Heller
What Was She Thinking? Zöe Heller
The World Without You Joshua Henkin
Confederates in the Attic Tony Horwitz
Waltzing the Cat Pam Houston
Nocturnes Kazuo Ishiguro
The Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro
Le Divorce Diane Johnson
A Death in Belmont Sebastian Junger
John Stuart Mill in Love Josephine Kamm
The Vegetarian Myth Lierre Keith
Subwayland Randy Kennedy
Sideways on a Scooter Miranda Kennedy
The English Teacher Lily King
The Pleasing Hour Lily King
Seven Blessings Ruchama King
Ultimate Fitness Gina Kolata
Admission Jean Hanff Korelitz
Into the Wild Jon Krakauer
Under the Banner of Heaven Jon Krakauer
The Namesake Jhumpa Lahiri
Close to the Bone Jake Lamar
Stuff White People Like Christian Lander
The Girls Lori Lansens
The Devil in the White City Erik Larson
The Body of Jonah Boyd David Leavitt
Random Family Adrian Nicole LeBlanc
Free Food for Millionaires Min Jin Lee
Mystic River Dennis Lehane
The Geography of Time Robert Levine
Indecent Sarah Katherine Lewis
The Inn at Lake Devine Elinor Lipman
Absolutely American David Lipsky
Inconspicuous Consumption Paul Lukas
Lonesome Dove Larry McMurtry
After the Workshop John McNally
The Early Arrival of Dreams Rosemary Mahoney
Shopgirl Steve Martin
Love, Inshallah edited by Ayesha Mattu and Nura Maznavi
The Family That Couldn’t Sleep D.T. Max
Home Comforts Cheryl Mendelson
The Trouble with Diversity Walter Benn Michaels
The Outside World Tova Mirvis
Starting Out in the Evening Brian Morton
Short Girls Bich Minh Nguyen
Her Fearful Symmetry Audrey Niffenegger
The Time Traveler's Wife Audrey Niffenegger
The Idiot Girls' Action Adventure Club Laurie Notaro
The Last of Her Kind Sigrid Nunez
Signs and Wonders Alix Ohlin
The Orchid Thief Susan Orlean
The Bigness of the World Lori Ostlund
The Dive From Clausen’s Pier Ann Packer
Truth and Beauty Ann Patchett
The Murder of King Tut James Patterson, Martin Dugan
Little Children Tom Perrotta
The Botany of Desire Michael Pollan
Blue Clay People William Powers
Whispering in the Giant's Ear William Powers
The Wild Trees Richard Preston
Blue Angel Francine Prose
A Changed Man Francine Prose
Music Through the Floor Eric Puchner
Don’t Get Too Comfortable David Rakoff
In the Little World John H. Richardson
Out of America Keith B. Richburg
Stiff Mary Roach
Them Jon Ronson
Mating Norman Rush
Empire Falls Richard Russo
Straight Man Richard Russo
The Israelis Donna Rosenthal
Kissing in Manhattan David Schickler
The Three Weissmanns of Westport Cathleen Schine
Time of My Life Allison Winn Scotch
Me Talk Pretty One Day David Sedaris
A Return to Modesty Wendy Shalit
The Dangerous Husband Jane Shapiro
The Size of the World Joan Silber
American Wife Curtis Sittenfeld
The Man of My Dreams Curtis Sittenfeld
Prep Curtis Sittenfeld
Before the Knife Carolyn Slaughter
Name All the Animals Alison Smith
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Betty Smith
My Old Man Amy Sohn
Prospect Park West Amy Sohn
A Ship Made of Paper Scott Spencer
The Man Who Ate Everything Jeffrey Steingarten
High-Tech Heretic Clifford Stoll
Evening News Marly Swick
The Secret History Donna Tartt
The Mismeasure of Woman Carol Tavris
Blankets Craig Thompson
A Complicated Kindness Miriam Toews
Summer Blonde Adrian Tomine
The Men and the Girls Johanna Trollope
One-L Scott Turow
Working Fire Zac Unger
My Own Country Abraham Verghese
The Tennis Partner Abraham Verghese
The Glass Castle Jeannette Walls
No Cheating, No Dying Elizabeth Weil
Best Friends Forever Jennifer Weiner
Good in Bed Jennifer Weiner
Then Came You Jennifer Weiner
Girls Like Us Sheila Weller
He Is...I Say David Wild
The Right Stuff Tom Wolfe
Old School Tobias Wolff
Marjorie Morningstar Herman Wouk
Youngblood Hawke Herman Wouk
Generation Kill Evan Wright
Archives
2013
Muslim women in love: 2012
Murder, bad dates: 2011
Eating meat, riding a bike: 2010
Mormons, lawyers, King Tut: 2009
Neil Diamond, Laura Bush: 2008
Fatal familial insomnia: 2007
Crunchy conservatives: 2006
China, Africa, bodybuilding: 2005
Skepticism, the subway: 2004
Graphic fiction, Indian Jews: 2003
Dwarfs, extremists: 2002
Poverty in America: 2001
Humor, housekeeping: 2000
Argentina, modesty: 1999
Time Travel, J.S. Mill, Everest: 1998
The Mismeasure of Woman: 1997

“There was so much to read, for one thing, and so much fine health to be pulled down out of the young breathgiving air…I was rather literary in college—one year I wrote a series of very solemn and obvious editorials for the Yale News—and now I was going to bring back all such things into my life and become again that most limited of all specialists, the ‘well-rounded man.’ This isn’t just an epigram—life is much more successfully looked at from a single window, after all.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Copyright © 1996–2011 Erica Avery
Write to me at erica at so much to read dot com