This page contains a list of books I have read. They aren't listed in any particular order except roughly chronologically based on when I finished them. If a book left an exceptional impression (usually positive), I will mark its entry with a + and sometimes a link to a summary or review. If I didn't finish a book the entry will be marked with DNF. I try to engage with a book for ~100 pages or half its length (whichever is shorter) before DNF-ing.
This page exists mainly so I can remember what I've read over time, and so friends can check if I've read something without spoiling the surprise of a book they want to gift me. But, maybe you'll find a new book to read or see one you've read before and want to talk about. Or maybe it will remind you of a book you think I might like. In all of those cases I hope you'll let me know!
2025
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson DNF
Man, lately I've consistently been striking out on biographies about important people. I had some reasonable momentum going on this one about Franklin, but ran out of steam about halfway through and kept getting distracted whenever I sat down to read it. I blame Robert Caro for this. His four-volume series about Lyndon Johnson set a bar for readability that nothing else in this genre has been able to match. Isaacson seems really enamored with Franklin, which is a little distracting. The book does have lots of fun facts sprinkled throughout, though. For example; until lightning rods were widespread, apparently church steeples were constantly getting struck by lightning and burning cities to the ground.
Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid +
I enjoyed this book. Kincaid does a great job of illustrating how disorienting and uncomfortable puberty is. She also tells a compelling story about the relationship between the narrator and her mother. I wish I had read this before I read Lucy— it feels like a fitting prologue.
Mr. Potter by Jamaica Kincaid
At the Bottom of the River by Jamaica Kincaid
Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid +
A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid
The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley
Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico
All Fours by Miranda July
According to Mark by Penelope Lively
Transcription by Kate Atkinson
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston +
The Beast Must Die by Nicholas Blake +
The Body in Question by Jill Ciment
The Myth of the Machine: Technics and Human Development by Lewis Mumford
The Master Key by Masako Tagowa
Women, Race & Class by Angela Y. Davis +