2009 Reading List

Every year my goal is to read at least fifty-two books, the majority of them novels and new to me (with a few favourites thrown in for good measure).

* – indicates books I highly recommend (whether for great stories, great writing, or both).

** – indicates books read for research.

  1. Steven Emerson, Secret Warriors **
  2. Thomas Pynchon, Vineland
  3. Jess Walter, Citizen Vince *
  4. Stephen Wright, Meditations in Green *
  5. Lawrence Durrell, Justine *
  6. Lawrence Durrell, Balthazar *
  7. Lawrence Durrell, Mountolive *
  8. Lawrence Durrell, Clea *
  9. Ernest L Martin, The Temples That Jerusalem Forgot **
  10. James Grady, Six Days of the Condor
  11. Felix Gilman, Thunderer
  12. Robert Stone, Outerbridge Reach *
  13. John Burdett, Bangkok Tattoo
  14. Joe Haldeman, The Forever War *
  15. Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace *
  16. Eric Ambler, Epitaph for a Spy *
  17. Catherynne M Valente, Palimpsest
  18. Donald Bain, The CIA’s Control of Candy Jones **
  19. Friedrich Dürrenmatt, The Assignment: or, On the Observing of the Observer of the Observers *
  20. Joel Stone, The Jerusalem File *
  21. Ian McEwan, Atonement *
  22. Richard Russo, Nobody’s Fool *
  23. Flannery O’Connor, Wise Blood *
  24. James M Cain, The Postman Always Rings Twice *
  25. Graham Greene, The Honorary Consul *
  26. Domenico Starnone, First Execution *
  27. George Orwell, Nineteen Eight-Four *
  28. Yoshihiro Tatsumi, A Drifting Life *
  29. Ursula K Le Guin, The Dispossessed *
  30. Hannah Berry, Britten and Brülightly *
  31. Iain M Banks, Against a Dark Background
  32. China Miéville, The City & The City *
  33. Daniel Silva, The Kill Artist
  34. Erskine Childers, The Riddle of the Sands *
  35. Edward Whittemore, Sinai Tapestry *
  36. Edward Whittemore, Jerusalem Poker *
  37. Edward Whittemore, Nile Shadows *
  38. Edward Whittemore, Jericho Mosaic *
  39. Lamar Herrin, House of the Deaf *
  40. Lawrence Thornton, Under the Gypsy Moon *
  41. Peter Ford, Around the Edge **
  42. Howard Chaykin, American Flagg! Volume 1 Hardcover Collection *
  43. Thomas Pynchon, Inherent Vice *
  44. Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier, The Morning of the Magicians **
  45. Bill Willingham, Mike Allred, and Mark Buckingham, Fables Volume 12: The Dark Ages
  46. Richard Condon, Winter Kills
  47. Ford Madox Ford, Parade’s End *
  48. Michael Moorcock, The Final Programme
  49. Michael Moorcock, A Cure for Cancer
  50. Michael Moorcock, The English Assassin
  51. Michael Moorcock, The Condition of Muzak
  52. Justina Robson, Mappa Mundi
  53. John Le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy *
  54. John Le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy *
  55. John Le Carré, Smiley’s People *
  56. Lewis Carroll, John Tenniel, Martin Gardner, The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition *
  57. Franz Kafka, The Trial *
  58. Robert Stone, Damascus Gate *
  59. Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita *
  60. David Quammen, The Soul of Viktor Tronko *
  61. Holy Bible *
  62. Oriana Fallaci, Inshallah *
  63. Robert Silverberg, Dying Inside *
  64. Charles McCarry, Shelley’s Heart *
  65. Hans Fallada, Every Man Dies Alone *
  66. Richard Stark, The Hunter *
  67. Joel Townsley Rogers, The Red Right Hand
  68. Brian Francis Slattery, Spaceman Blues: A Love Song *
  69. Carlos Fuentes, Terra Nostra
  70. Richard Stark, The Man with the Getaway Face *
  71. Robert Wilson, A Small Death in Lisbon
  72. John Brunner, Stand on Zanzibar
  73. Ken MacLeod, The Execution Channel
  74. Samuel R. Delany, Nova *
  75. William Gibson, Pattern Recognition
  76. Richard Stark, The Outfit *