Recommended Reading List 2015

Books are my drug of choice. That being the case, my friends tend to appreciate my book recommendations and devour my reading lists. The following is the sum of a year of literary indulgence, not ranked in any particular order. The only books on the list I would not advise reading are Go Set a Watchman and I Wrote This for You and Only You. For the sake of analysis, devout Harper Lee fans should read Go Set a Watchman, but you will be left bored and disenchanted by the protracted end. All sociological qualms aside, it’s a rough, poorly written story, understandably rejected by her publishers. The juxtaposition of this poor cousin to To Kill a Mockingbird is that of the sacred to the profane.  The book of poetry, I Wrote This for You and Only You, is a mawkish, lazy attempt of a book. I would like to give special recognition to Haruki Murakami, whose incomparable opus, 1Q84, restored my faith in contemporary literature when I read it in 2014. I would also point out that Natasha Pulley’s The Watchmaker of Filigree Street was the most underrated and overlooked work of genius of the 2015 new releases.

1. The Goldfinch-Donna Tartt
2. Colorless Tsukuru Tszaki and his Years of Pilgrimage-Haruki Murakami
3. After Dark-Haruki Murakami
4. After the Quake-Haruki Murakami
5. Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World-Haruki Murakami
6. Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman-Haruki Murakami
7. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle-Haruki Murakami
8. The Strange Library-Haruki Murakami
9. Sputnik Sweetheart-Haruki Murakami
10. South of the Border, West of the Sun-Haruki Murakami
11. The Fuck-Up-Arthur Nersesian
12. Gladyss of the Hunt-Arthur Nersesian
13. The Secret History-Donna Tartt
14. The Elephant Vanishes-Haruki Murakami
15. Euphoria-Lily King
16. The Little Friend-Donna Tartt
17. Neverwhere-Neil Gaiman
18. Dance Dance Dance-Haruki Murakami
19. The Night Circus-Erin Morgenstern
20. The Graveyard Book-Neil Gaiman
21. Perfume: The Story of a Murder-Patrick Suskind
22. Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore-Robin Sloan
23. Kafka on the Shore-Haruki Murakami
24. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry-Gabrielle Zevin
25. Suicide Casanova-Arthur Nersesian
26. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell-Susanna Clarke
27. All the Light We Cannot See-Anthony Doerr
28. To Kill a Mockingbird-Harper Lee
29. Go Set a Watchman-Harper Lee
30. The Windup Girl- Paolo Bacigalupi
31. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay-Michael Chabon
32. The Devil in the White City-Erik Larson
33. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children-Ransom Riggs
34. Hollow City-Ransom Riggs
35. The Library of Souls-Ransom Riggs
36. The Ocean at the End of the Lane-Neil Gaiman
37. Hear the Wind Sing-Haruki Murakami
38. Pinball, 1973-Haruki Murakami
39. The Watchmaker of Filigree Street-Natasha Pulley
40. A Wild Sheep Chase-Haruki Murakami
41. American Gods-Neil Gaiman
42. The Halloween Tree-Ray Bradbury
43. The Supernatural Enhancements-Edgar Cantero
44. A Monster Calls-Patrick Ness
45. The Once and Future King-T.H. White
46. We Have Always Lived in the Castle-Shirley Jackson
47. Ghostly-an anthology compiled by Audrey Niffenegger
48. Something Wicked This Way Comes-Ray Bradbury
49. Cleoopatra, A Life-Stacy Schiff
50. The Haunting of Hill House-Shirley Jackson
51. The Shadow of the Wind-Carlos Ruiz Zafon
52. Norwegian Wood-Haruki Murakami
53. The Lodger-Marie Belloc Lowndes
54. The Angel’s Game-Carlos Ruiz Zafon
55. I Wrote This for You and Only You-anonymous
56. The Cure for Dreaming-Cat Winters
57. Kitchen-Banana Yoshimoto
58. Hyde-Daniel Levine
59. Night Shift-Steven King
60. The Golem and the Jinni-Helene Wecker
61. Hell House-Peter Matheson
62. The Perks of Being a Wallflower-Stephen Chbosky
63. On the Road, the Original Scroll-Jack Kerouac
64. The Magicians-Lev Grossman
65. Chinese Takeout-Arthur Nersesian