Richard Seltzer's home page
Publishing home READING 2011
Attached is a list of the books I read in 2011.
Sometimes I add markers like (*) to indicate books I particularly
like. I also try to keep track of how many books of a particular
kind (novel, etc.) and from a given country and century (Eng.
19th, etc.), I read each year. For the complete list of my reading
since 1958, see
http://www.seltzerbooks.com/readall.html Richard Seltzer seltzer@seltzerbooks.com January
1 Neil Gaiman 1 American Gods
AMERICAN 21st 1 NOVEL 1 2 Paul Auster 8 ** Moon Palace
AMERICAN 20th 1 NOVEL 2 3 Rex Sexton 5 *** Night Without
Stars AMERICAN 21st 2 SHORT STORIES 1 POETRY 1
February
4 Tom Rachman 1 **** The Imperfectionists
AMERICAN 21st 3 NOVEL 3 5 Elena Mauli Shapiro 1 **** 13 Rue
Therese AMERICAN 21st 4 NOVEL 4
March
6 Nicola Barker 1
Darkmans BRITISH 21st 1 NOVEL 5 7 Michael David Lukas 1 *The Oracle of
Stamboul AMERICAN 21st 5 NOVEL 6 8 Anna Akhmatova 1 (trans. Judith
Hemschemeyer) Selected Poems RUSSIAN 20th 1 POETRY 2 9 Marshall Wilder (editor) 3 ***The Wit
and Humor of American, volume 3 AMERICAN 20th 2 SHORT STORIES
2 -- 2011 10 Tea Obreht 1 ****The Tiger's Wife
SERBIAN 21st 1 NOVEL 7 11 Diane Setterfield 1 ***The Thirteenth
Tale BRITISH 21st 2 NOVEL 8 12 Alexander McCall Smith 14 **The
Double Comfort Safari Club BOTSWANA 21st 1 NOVEL 9 13 Ladcadio Hearn 3 Kwaidan: Stories
and Studies of Strange Things JAPANESE 20th 1 ESSAYS 1 14 Alexander McCall Smith 15 **The
Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party BOTSWANA 21st 2 NOVEL 10 15 Yann Martel 3 Beatrice and
Virgil CANADIAN 21st 1 NOVEL 11 16 Joanne Harris 3 ****The Girl With No
Shadow BRITISH 21st 3 NOVEL 12 17 Michael Gruber 1 ****The Forgery of
Venus AMERICAN 21st 6 NOVEL 13 18 Joseph Strayer 1 Western Europe
in the Middle Ages AMERICAN 20th 3 HISTORY 1
April
19 Arthur Koestler 3 **Dialogue with Death
HUNGARIAN 20th 1 BIOGRAPHY 1 20 Brian Greene 3 *****The Hidden Reality
AMERICAN 21st 4 SCIENCE 1 21 David Foster Wallace *****The Pale King
AMERICAN 21st 5 NOVEL 14 22 Tracy Barrett 1 Anna of Byzantium
AMERICAN 20th 3 NOVEL 15 23 Tana French 2 ****In the Woods IRISH
21st 1 NOVEL 16 24 Arthur Koestler 4 The Gladiators
HUNGARIAN 20th 2 NOVEL 17
May
25 Kate Maloy 1 Every Last Cuckoo AMERICAN
21st 6 NOVEL 18 26 Hugh Thomas 1 The Spanish Civil War
BRITISH 20th 1 HISTORY 1 27 H.G. Wells 7 The Invisible
Man BRITISH 20th 2 NOVEL 19 28 Marco Polo 1 Travels of Marco Polo
volume 1 ITALIAN 13th 1 BIOGRAPHY 2 29 G.K. Chesterton 7 All Things Considered
BRITISH 20th 3 ESSAYS 2 30 G.K. Chesterton 8 A Short History of
England BRITISH 20th 4 HISTORY 2 31 Benvenuto Cellini 1 The Autobiography
of Benvenuto Cellini, Part 1 ITALIAN 16th 1 BIOGRAPHY 3 32 Benvenuto Cellini 2 The Autobiography
of Benvenuto Cellini Part 2 ITALIAN 16th 2 BIOGRAPHY 4 33 Ambrose Bierce 4 A Cynic Looks at
Life AMERICAN 20th 4 ESSAYS 3 34 Mark Twain 21 American Claimant
AMERICAN 19th 1 NOVEL 20 35 H.G. Wells 8 Anticipations
BRITISH 20th 5 ESSAYS 4 36 G.K. Chesterton 9 What's Wrong with the
World BRITISH 20th 6 ESSAYS 5 37 Ibanez 1 **The Blood of the Arena
SPANISH 20th 1 NOVEL 21 38 Montaigne 1 Essays Volume 1
FRENCH 16th 1 ESSAYS 6
June
39 Henry James 10 **** Portrait of a Lady,
Volume 1 AMERICAN 19th 1 NOVEL 22 40 Henry James 11 **** Portrait of a
Lady, Volume 2 AMERICAN 19th 2 NOVEL 23 41 Ferdinand Gregorovius 1 Lucretia Boria
ITALIAN 16th 3 BIOGRAPHY 5 42 Raphael Sabatini 1 The Life of Cesare
Borgia ITALIAN 16th 4 BIOGRAPHY 6 43 Theodore Roosevelt 1 The Winning of the
West, Volume 1 AMERICAN 19th 3 HISTORY 1 44 David McCullough 1 [awful] The Great
Journey AMERICAN 21st 6 HISTORY 2 45 Jerome Tuccille 1 * A Portrait of
Hemingway as a Young Man AMERICAN 20th 5 BIOGRAPHY 7 46 Malcolm Cowley 1 *** Exile's Return
AMERICAN 20th 6 HISTORY 3 47 Humphrey Carpenter 2 ** Geniuses
Together: American Writers in Paris in the 1920s AMERICAN 20th
7 HISTORY 4 48 Kathy Flower 1 Culture Smart:
China AMERICAN 21st 6 TRAVEL 1 49 Ernest Hemingway **** The Sun
Also Rises [third time] AMERICAN 20th 8 NOVEL 24 50 Ernest Hemingway **** A Moveable
Feast [second time] AMERICAN 20th 9 BIOGRAPHY 8 51 Ernest Hemingway 8 To Have
and To Have Not AMERICAN 20th 10 NOVEL 25 52 Ernest Hemingway ****A Farewell to Arms
[second time] AMERICAN 20th 11 NOVEL 26
July
53 F. Scott Fitzgerald 4 *** Tender
is the Night AMERICAN 20th 12 NOVEL 27 54 F. Scott Fitzgerald 5 * This Side
of Paradise AMERICAN 20th 13 NOVEL 28 55 F. Scott Fitzgerald ****
The Great Gatsby [second time] AMERICAN 20th 14 NOVEL 29 56 Malcolm Gladwell 1 *** Blink AMERICAN
21st 7 ESSAYS 7 57 Jennifer Egan 1 A Visit from the Goon
Squad AMERICAN 21st 9 NOVEL 30 58 Joseph Campbell 1 The Hero with a
Thousand Faces AMERICAN 20th 15 ESSAYS 8 59 Malcolm Gladwell 2 ** The Tipping Point
AMERICAN 21st 10 ESSAYS 9 60 William Kennedy 1 *****Ironweed
AMERICAN 20th 16 NOVEL 31 61 Harold Bloom 1 *** The Western Canon
AMERICAN 21st 11 ESSAYS 10 62 Ernest Hemingway 9 True at
First Light AMERICAN 20th 17 NOVEL 32 63 Primo Levi 1 The Monkey's Wrench
ITALIAN 20th 1 NOVEL 33 64 George Bernard Shaw 10 Preface to Back
to Methusaleh BRITISH 20th 7 ESSAYS 11 65 George Bernard Shaw 11 Back to to
Methusaleh BRITISH 20th 8 DRAMA 1 66 John Bryan Starr 1 ***
Understanding China AMERICAN 21st 12 ESSAYS 12 67 Euripides Iphigenia
in Tauris [third time] ANCIENT GREEK 1 DRAMA 2
August
68 Abraham Verghese 1 ***** Cutting for
Stone (reminds me of John Irving and is at least as good as
the best of Irving) AMERICAN 21st 12 NOVEL 34 69 Jean Fritz 2 * Homesick CHINESE 20th
1/AMERICAN 20th 18 BIOGRAPHY 9 70 Walt Whitman 1 Leaves of
Grass AMERICAN 19th 4 POETRY 1 71 Tana French 3 **** Faithful Place
IRISH 21st 2 NOVEL 35 72 William Kennedy 2 ***Legs AMERICAN 20th
19 NOVEL 36 73 Theodore Roosevelt 2 The Winning
of the West, volume 2 AMERICAN 19th 5 HISTORY 4 74 Theodore Roosevelt 3 The Winning
of the West, volume 3 AMERICAN 19th 6 HISTORY 5 75 Theodore Roosevelt 4 The Winning
of the West, volume 4 AMERICAN 19th 7 HISTORY 6 76 H. G. Wells 9 The Island of
Dr. Moreau BRITISH 20th 9 NOVEL 37 77 George R. R. Martin 4 A Game of
Thrones AMERICAN 20th 20 NOVEL 38 78 George R. R. Martin 5 A Clash of
Kings AMERICAN 20th 21 NOVEL 39
September
79 George R. R. Martin 6 A Storm of
Swords AMERICAN 21st 13 NOVEL 40 80 George R. R. Martin 7 A Feast of
Crows AMERICAN 21st 14 NOVEL 41 81 Gibson, William 6 Zero History
AMERICAN 21st 15 NOVEL 42
October
82 Ellen Sussman 1 French Lessons
AMERICAN 21st 16 NOVEL 43 83 Julia Stuart 1 The Tower, the
Zoo, and the Tortoise BRITISH 21st 4 NOVEL 44 84 Ian McEwan 9 ***The Child in Time
BRITISH 20th 10 NOVEL 45 85 Neal Stephenson 10
*****Reamde AMERICAN 21st 17 NOVEL 46
November
86 Sebastian Barry 1 *****The Secret
Scripture IRISH 21st 3 NOVEL 47 87 Mavis Gallant 1 ***Paris Stories
CANADIAN 21st 1 SHORT STORIES 3 88 P. D. James 6 **The Lighthouse
BRITISH 21st 5 NOVEL 48 89 William Kennedy 3 ****Billy Phelan's
Greatest Game AMERICAN 20th 22 NOVEL 49 90 George R.R. Martin 8 A Dance with
Dragons AMERICAN 21st 18 NOVEL 50 91 Stieg Larsson 1 *****The Girl With the
Dragon Tatoo SWEDISH 21st 1 NOVEL 51 92 Colm Toibin 2 ****Brooklyn IRISH 21st 4
NOVEL 52 93 Paul Auster 9 **Sunset Park
AMERICAN 21st 19 NOVEL 53 94 James Gleick 5 ***The Information
AMERICAN 21st 20 COMPUTING 1
December
95 Stieg Larsson 2 *****The Girl Who
Played with Fire SWEDISH 21st 2 NOVEL 54
96 Julia O'Faolain 1 ***No Country for
Young Men IRISH 20th 1 NOVEL 55
97 Steig Larsson 3 *****The Girl Who
Kicked the Hornet's Nest SWEDISH 21st 3 NOVEL 56
98 William Kennedy 4 Quinn's Book
AMERICAN 20th 23 NOVEL 57
99 Cormac McCarthy 10 The Sunset
Unlimited AMERICAN 20th 24 NOVEL 58
100 Julian Barnes 11 The Sense of Ending
BRITISH 21st 12 NOVEL 59
101 William Kennedy 5 **Roscoe AMERICAN
21st 21 NOVEL 60
102 Jeffrey Eugenides 3 ***The Marriage
Plot AMERICAN 21st 22 NOVEL 61
103 Michael Ondaatje 6 The Cat's
Table CANADIAN 21st 3 NOVEL 62
104 Julian Barnes 12 Pulse BRITISH 21st 13
SHORT STORIES 4
105 Sebastian Barry 2 **On Canaan's Side
IRISH 21st 5 NOVEL 63
106 Geoffrey Chaucer 1 Canterbury
Tales ENGLISH 14th 1 SHORT STORIES 5
seltzer@seltzerbooks.com
privacy
statement