Updated: January 2, 2021
Continuing, for some reason, to chronicle every book and short story I’ve read since The Lord of the Rings in the spring of 2017.

Volume 1 (2017) | Volume 2 (2018) | Volume 3 (2019) | “Selected readings from the Old Lady Book Club”

Critical remarks are avoided while ratings are reserved for “Library Book Club” selections and other significant achievements/shame spirals. Rereads coopt the register mark and establish that “rereads” and “coopt” are not to be hyphenated.

“Library Book Club” selections are noted in red to represent the spectre of death.

“CSGNFBØQEBCBBL” selections are noted in purple to represent the suffocation of professional networking.

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Gabrielle Zevin
The Storied Life of AJ Fikry (2014)
⭐⭐⭐

Charles Dickens
A Christmas Carol (1843)

Jac Jemc
The Grip of It (2017)

George Saunders
Lincoln in the Bardo (2017)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Aldous Huxley
Brave New World (1932) Ⓡ

Margaret Atwood
The Handmaid’s Tale (1985)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Scott Conroy
Vote First or Die: The New Hampshire Primary—America’s Discerning, Magnificent and Absurd Road to the White House (2017)

Steven Millhauser
Voices in the Night (stories, 2015)

Margaret Atwood
The Testaments (2019)
⭐⭐⭐

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Yes, 2020 in the workplace kicked off with The Handmaid’s Tale and its inferior sequel. Just give Aunt Lydia the whole second narrative—then you won’t have to worry about readers anticipating “big reveals” a couple hundred pages in advance. And the mansplaining symposium postscripts? And the mansplaining symposium postscripts! Minus one star.

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Philip K. Dick
“Fair Game” (1959)
“The Eyes Have It” (1953)
“The Father-Thing” (1954)
“Null-O” (1958)
“To Serve the Master” (1956)
“Pay for the Printer” (1956)
“War Veteran” (1955)
“The Chromium Fence” (1955)

Agatha Christie
Ten Little N______, a.k.a. And Then There Were None (1939/1940 revision)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Diane Cook
Man v. Nature (stories, 2014)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Simon Winchester
The Surgeon of Crowthorne: A Tale of Murder, Madness and the Love of Words, a.k.a. The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary (1998)
⭐⭐⭐

Don DeLillo
White Noise (1985)

Ellen Lupton
Thinking With Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors and Students (2004)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Kimberly King Parsons
Black Light (stories, 2019)

Tana French
In the Woods (2007)
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Robert Kurson
Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II (2004)
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Stephen King
The Outsider (2018)

John Updike
Rabbit, Run (1960)

Aaron James Draplin
Pretty Much Everything (2016)

Karen Russell
Vampires in the Lemon Grove (stories, 2013)

Stanley Booth
Dance With the Devil: The Rolling Stones and Their Times, a.k.a. The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones (1984/2000 revision)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Charles Williams
Dead Calm (1963)

Greg Egan
Axiomatic (stories, 1995)

George Saunders
Pastoralia (stories, 2000)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Robert Penn Warren
All the King’s Men (1946)

Delia Owens
Where the Crawdads Sing (2018)
⭐⭐⭐

Philip K. Dick
“The Commuter” (1953)
“The Impossible Planet” (1953)
“The Hood Maker” (1955)
“Stability” (1947)
“The Little Movement” (1952)

Andy Weir
Artemis (2017)
“The Economics of Artemis” (2017)

Stephen King
The Colorado Kid (2005)

Philip K. Dick
“Jon’s World” (1954)
“Progeny” (1954)
“Of Withered Apples” (1954)
“James P. Crow” (1954)
“Souvenir” (1954)
“The Infinites” (1953)
“The Preserving Machine” (1953)
“Expendable” (a.k.a. “He Who Waits”) (1953)
“The Indefatigable Frog” (1953)
“The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford” (1954)
“The Builder” (1953)
“The Great C” (1953)
“Out in the Garden” (1953)
“Colony” (1953)
“Prize Ship” (a.k.a. “Globe From Ganymede”) (1954)
“Nanny” (1955)

Michael Crichton
Jurassic Park (1990) Ⓡ

Hilary Leichter
Temporary (2020)

James McBride
Five-Carat Soul (stories, 2017)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Philip K. Dick
“Planet for Transients,” a.k.a. “The Itinerants” (1953)
“The Cookie Lady” (1953)
“Prominent Author” (1954)
“Small Town” (1954)
“Survey Team” (1954)
“War Game” (1959)
“Waterspider” (1964)
“Oh, to Be a Blobel!” (1964)

George Saunders
CivilWarLand in Bad Decline (stories, 1996)

Stephen King
From If It Bleeds (2020)
Mr. Harrigan’s Phone
The Life of Chuck
If It Bleeds
Rat

George Saunders
“Fox 8″ (2013)
“A Two-Minute Note to the Future” (2014)

Karen Russell
St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves (stories, 2006)

Tara Westover
Educated (2018)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Elmore Leonard
Killshot (1989)

Karen Russell
Sleep Donation (2014)

Barry Hannah
Airships (stories, 1978)

Hunter S. Thompson
Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ’72 (1973) Ⓡ
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

John Steinbeck
The Pearl (1947)

Kurt Vonnegut (Jr.)
Timequake (1997)

Andy Weir
“The Chef” (2010)
“Yuri Gagarin Saves the Galaxy” (2016)
“Antihypoxiant” (2014)
“The Real Deal” (2012)
“Annie’s Day” (2011)
“The Midtown Butcher” (2014)
“Meeting Sarah” (2010)
“Access” (2010)
“Bored World” (2013)
“Twarrior” (2015)
“The Egg” (2009)
“Digitocracy” (2018)

Jeff Pearlman
Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s (2013)

Ninni Holmqvist
The Unit (2006/2009 translation)
⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Thus ends the great Book Club Experiment, for now at least. The “Library Book Club” was, erm, put to sleep for much of 2020, just in time for March’s scheduled and then canceled discussion of my selected The Professor and the Madman. It’s just as well, since many of the Ladies’ choices didn’t appeal to me enough to read, other than The Dinner (which I read two years ago) and In the Woods. The group has rebounded over Zoom and these three titles are revived for 2020/2021, though I see limited participation in my future. As for CSGNFBØQEBCBB, it’s time to move on and the eerie, contemplative The Unit was a fine way to end. Look for a reranking of all red and blue titles come the new year—in the meantime, I will read whatever the hell I want in a deadline-free and eventually vaccinated 2021.

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Albert Camus
The Stranger (1942/1989 translation)

Helen Fielding
Bridget Jones’s Diary (1996) Ⓡ

George Saunders
Congratulations, by the Way: Some Thoughts on Kindness (2014)