Here’s a list of some of the books I’ve read recently. I’ve starred the ones that I especially liked or that were otherwise special.
2024
Click the fleuron ❧ to read the full review.
- ⭐ Our Strangers by Lydia Davis. Really quite short stories observing everyday life at home, at the airport, and elsewhere.
- Villa Alpha by Arsi Alenius. A novel on being young again.
- Alkoholi by Mika Lietzen. A graphic novel about alcoholism.
- ⭐ Hello, Stranger by Will Buckingham. On strangers, hospitality, travel. The writing style is so cozy.
- Ruukku rubiiniviiniä ja muita runoja by Omar Khayyám, translated by Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila. Quatrains about wine and debauchery. Funny.
- ⭐ Katsotaanhan puhelimiakin by Arsi Alenius. A young literary critic is angry about how literature has lost its social cachet. ❧
Earlier: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018
All-time favorite fiction
I rarely re-read books, but there are some books I keep thinking about.
- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.
- Historias de cronopios y famas by Julio Cortázar.
- The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien.
- Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace.
I look at this list and I realize I must have incredibly ordinary taste. Still, they’re good books.
In April 2020, I filled a social-media bingo card about my favorite books. I’m not sure if they’re my eternal favorites, but they felt like good books at the time. Ask me again in the future.
My reading projects
Lists of books read by other people
I’ve found the following lists especially interesting:
- Alvaro Videla’s Some Books For You Consideration
- Venkatesh Rao’s Now Reading page
- David R. MacIver’s three-book sets and book pairings
- Further reading for Meaningness