My Reading List
2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012
In 2002 I made a New Year’s resolution: I resolved to keep a list of all the books I read that year. I did it! And I have kept my list ever since.
My top five recommends for each year are highlighted.
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- The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
- Good Eggs by Phoebe Potts
- Mamalita by Jessica O’Dwyer
- China Ghosts by Jeff Gammage
- Short Girls by Bich Minh Nguyen
- The Marriage Bureau for Rich People by Farahad Zama
- Baby, We Were Meant for Each Other by Scott Simon
- Sweet Misfortune by Kevin Alan Milne
- A Fortune Teller Told Me by Tiziano Terzani
- The Breaking of Eggs by Jim Powell
- All the Tea in China by Sarah Rose
- Breakfast with the Pope by Susan Vigilante
- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
- Inside of a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz
- The Wishing Year by Noelle Oxen
- Silent Tears by Kay Bratt
- The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan
- Radio Shangri-La by Lisa Napoli
- Barefoot in Baghdad by Manal Omar
- One More Year by Sana Krasikov
- Little Princes by Conor Grennan
- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
- Lucky Girl by Mei Ling Hopgood
- The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer
- The Early Arrival of Dreams by Rosemary Mahoney
- Painting Chinese by Herbert Kohl
- A Dog’s Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larrson
- Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert
- Born Under a Million Shadows by Andrea Busfield
- Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel
- English by Wang Gang
- The Piano Teacher by Janice Y. K. Lee
- The Tea House Fire by Ellis Avery
- Honeymoon in Purdah by Alison Wearing
- A Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler
- Truck by Michael Perry
- Marry Anita by Anita Jain
- The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
- Bangkok Days by Lawrence Osborne
- An Italian Affair by Laura Fraser
- Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowel
- Queen of the Road by Doreen Orion
- Iraqi Girl: Diary of a Teenage Girl in Iraq
- Some Girls: My Life in a Harem by Jillian Lauren
- Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen
- Harold and the Search for Happiness by Francois Lelord
- The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano
- Japanland by Karin Muller
- Marriage and Other Acts of Charity by Kate Braestrup
- Do Travel Writers Go to Hell? by Thomas Kohnstamm
- On Mexican Time by Tony Cohan
- Hold Me Tight and Tango Me Home by Maria Finn
- Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
- New Moon by Stephanie Meyer
- Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer
- Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer
- The Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto Che Guevara
- The Pakistani Bride by Bapsi Sidhwa
- The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell
- Four-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris
- Bowling Across America by Mike Walsh
- Acqua Alta by Donna Leon
- Haiku Mind by Patricia Donegan
- Haiku Apprentice by Abigail Friedman
- Beside a Burning Sea by John Shors
- True Notebooks: A Writer’s Year in Juvenile Hall by Mark Salzman
- The Natural Laws of Good Luck: A Memoir of an Unlikely Marriage by Ellen Graf
- Love Haiku: Masajo Suzuki’s Lifetime of Love by Masajo Suzuki
- The Haiku Year by Michael Stipe, Grant Lee Phillips, Tom Gilroy, Anna Grace, Rick Roth, Jim McKay and Steve Earle
- Dragon House by John Shors
- The Lost City of Z by David Grann
- Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea
- The Scent of Sake by Joyce Lebra
- Italian for Beginners by Kristin Harmel
- Beneath a Marble Sky by John Shors
- One True Theory of Love by Laura Fitzgerald
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
- Sofi Mendoza’s Guide to Getting Lost in Mexico by Malin Alegria
- Does My Head Look Big in This? Randa Abdel-Fattah
- The Secret Keeper by Mitali Perkins
- The End of the Alphabet by CS Richardson
- Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow by Faiza Guene
- Slant by Laura E. Williams
- Secret Son by Laila Lalami
- The Class by Francois Begaudeau
- Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate
- Haiku by Andrew Vachss
- Blink by Malcom Gladwell
- Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison
- Monique and the Mango Rains: Two Years with a Midwife in Mali by Kris Holloway
- Finding George Orwell in Burma by Emma Larkin
- Elephant Run by Roland Smith
- The White Masai: An Exotic Tale of Love and Adventure by Corinne Hofmann
- Salty by Mark Haskell Smith
- Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper by Diablo Cody
- A Beginner’s Guide to Changing the Universe: A True Life Adventure Story by Isabel Losada
- Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell
- The Art of French Kissing by Kristin Harmel
- The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food by Jennifer 8. Lee
- The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner
- The Blue Sky by Galsan Tschinag
- Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America by Firoozeh Dumas
- Laughing Without an Accent: Adventures of an Iranian American at Home and Abroad by Firoozeh Dumas
- Atonement by Ian McEwan
- Surprise Me: a 30-Day Faith Experiment by Terry Esau
- Petite Anglaise by Catherine Sanderson
- Vertical Ethiopia by Majka Burhardt
- Atonement by Ian McEwan
- The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
- On a Hoof and a Prayer: Exploring Argentina at a Gallop by Polly Evans
- Lulu in Marrakech by Diane Johnson
- Rosewater and Soda Bread by Marsha Mehran
- The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
- Arlington Parkby Rachel Cusk
- Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
- Marco Polo Didn’t Go There by Rolf Potts
- Fidel’s Last Days by Roland Merullo
- Here at the End of the World We Learn to Dance by Lloyd Jones
- The House of Paper by Carlos María Domínguez
- The River of Doubt by Candice Millard
- A Good Dog: The Story of Orson, Who Changed My Life by Jon Katz
- Grayson by Lynne Cox
- Waking: A Memoir of Trauma and Transcendence by Matthew Sanford
- When Heaven Fell by Carolyn Marsden
- Child of the Jungle by Sabine Kuegler
- The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant
- Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
- Sula by Toni Morrison
- Kabul Beauty School for Women by Deborah Martinez
- River Queen by Mary Morris
- Bangkok Haunts by John Burdett
- Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
- Bad Karma: Confessions of a Reckless Traveller in Southeast Asiaby Tamara Sheward
- Veil of Roses by Laura Fitzgerald
- Across a Hundred Mountains by Reyna Grande
- Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: The Diary of Dang Thuy Tramtranslated by
Andrew X. Pham - Sold by Patricia McCormick
- Adventures of an Ice Princess by Liz Maverick
- A Year in Japan by Kate T. Williamson
- Home on the Road by Catherine Watson
- The Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo
- Digging to America by Anne Tyler
- Buenos Aires Broken Heart Club by Jessica Morrison
- Stalking the Wild Dik Dik by Marie Javins
- Minaret by Leila Aboulela
- All the Fishes Come Home to Roost by Rachel Manija Brown
- Two in a Boat: The True Story of a Marital Rite of Passage by Gwyneth Lewis
- The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
- Tess of the D’Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy
- Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides
- Bangkok 8 by John Burdett
- Old Filth by Jane Gardam
- Shibumi by Trevanian
- The Tree of Red Stars by Tessa Bridal
- Backpack by Emily Barr
- Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos
- Five Quarters of the Orange by Joann Harris
- Saturday by Ian McEwan
- The Last Song of Dusk by Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi
- Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits by Laila Lalami
- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
- Someone Else by Tonio Benacquista
- Let Me Go by Helga Schneider
- Burning the Map by Laura Caldwell
- Losing Gemma by Katy Gardner
- Es Cuba: Life and Love on an Illegal Island by Lea Aschkenas
- Angles and Demons by Dan Brown
- Lost Girls & Love Hotels by Catherine Hanrahan
- Bangkok Tatoo by John Burdett
- Blood Orange Brewing by Laura Childs
- What Color is Your Jockstrap? Edited by Jen Leo
- Lost and Found by Carolyn Parkhurst
- The Dancing Girls of Lahore by Louise Brown
- The Almond Picker by Simonetta Agnello Hornby
- Frangipani by Celestine Hitiura Vaite
- The Unwanted by Kien Nguyen
- The Ganster We Are All Looking For by Le Thi Diem Thuy
- Cuba Diaries: An American Housewife in Havana by Isadora Tattlin
- The Lucky Ones by Rachel Cusk
- The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander
- Welcome to My Planet by Shannon Olson
- Children of God Go Bowling by Shannon Olson
- Honeymoon with my Brother by Franz Wisner
- French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano
- In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson
- The Bitch in the House Edited by Cathi Hanuer
- The Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea
- Cuba 15 by Nancy Osa
- Revenge by Marry Morris
- Maya Running by Anjali Banerjee
- Whose Panties are These? edited by Jen Leo
- Easter Island by Jennifer Vanderbes
- Night of the Radishes by Sandra Benitez
- They Poured Fire On Us From the Sky by Alephonsion Deng, Benson Deng, Benjamin Ajak, Judy A. Bernstein
- Around the Bloc by Stephanie Elizondo Griest
- A Way to See the World by Thomas Swick
- The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
- Lucky Girls by Nell Freudenberger
- Best American Travel Writing 2004 edited by Pico Iyer
- Roads Less Traveled Catherine Watson
- The Sex Lives of Cannibals by J. Maarten Troost
- Holy Smoke by Tonio Benacquista
- The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason
- The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
- Whiteout by Ken Follet
- A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
- Trading Up by Candace Bushnell
- Digital Fortress by Dan Brown
- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
- Avoiding Prison and Other Noble Vacation Goals by Wendy Dale
- The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean
- The Translator by John Crowley
- Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros
- Bad Times in Buenos Aires by Miranda France
- Along the Inca Road by Karin Mulle
- Reading Lolita in Terhan by Azar Nafisi
- Priority by Iselin C. Hermann
- The Stone Boudoir by Teri Maggio
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon
- The Ladies’ Coupe by Anita Nair
- The Mango Season by Amulya Mallad
- A Good Year by Peter Mayle
- Almost French by Sarah Turnbul
- High Tide by Mark Lynas
- The Food of Love by Anthony Capella
- Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
- The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad
- The Book of Salt by Monique Truong
- The Quiet American by Graham Greene
- The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
- The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst
- The Leaf Storm by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- Yoga for People Who Can’t Be Bothered to Do It by Geoff Dyer
- Eva Peron by Alicia Dujorne Ortiz
- Reviving Ophelia by Mary Piphen
- A Multitude of Sins by Richard Ford
- Iron and Silk by Mark Salzman
- Travelers’ Tales: Cuba Edited by Tom Miller
- Islands in the Stream by Ernest Hemingway
- Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
- Memoirs of a Geisha by Aurthur Golden
- The Life of Pi by Yann Martel
- The Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
- Cane River Lalita Tademy
- A Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul
- All the Names by Jose Saramago
- Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner
- Travels in a Thin Country by Sara Wheeler
- Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene
- No Horizon is So Far by Ann Bancroft
- The War of the Beavers by Verena Andermatt Conley
- Waiting with Gabriel by Amy Kuebelbeck
- The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
- Dakota by Kathleen Norris
- Frida by Barbara Mujica
- Never Again a World Without Us by Teresa Ortiz
- Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat
- Lying Awake by Mark Salzman
- Daughter of the Queen of Sheba by Jacki Lyden
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
- Where She Came From by Helen Epstein
- Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
- The Old Man Who Read Love Stories by Luis Sepulveda
- Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson
- Prague by Arthur Phillips
- The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Anne Brashares
- The Art of Travel by Alain de Bottom
- The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall
- The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera
- Mr. Maybe by Jane Green
- Tales of a Female Nomad by Rita Golden Gelman
- The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman
- The Death of Vishnu by Manie Suri
- How Proust Can Change Your Life by Alain de Bottom
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
- Lucky by Alice Sebold
- The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino
- Making Sense of Life’s Changes: Transitions by William Bridges
- Daughter of Fortune by Isabelle Allende
- The Snake Charmer by Sanjay Nigam
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
- The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
