
For about seven years, I worked as a page at the large, Huron St. branch of the district library in Ypsilanti, MI. At one point in time I had the Dewey Decimal System pretty reasonably memorized, and could lead library patrons to the section of any general knowledge area they were interested without having to look up a computer.
My tenure also taught me the futility of trying to create a perfect classification system. It was a nice lesson to learn early, because it has let me feel much more free in organizing my own bookshelves however I see fit. This is my own, personal collection after all, and it is the privilege and the pleasure of any collector to be able to order it in whatever way gives them the greatest satisfaction.
That said, the purpose of creating this page was so that my friends and family could more confidently buy me books as gifts without having to worry that they were buying me something I already owned. To that end, I’ve tried to structure this list, roughly, in a way that would make it easier for them to find what they’re looking for.
Many of these distinctions are arbitrary, which is to say I’m not interested in debating the finer points of where any particular book should belong. We’ve all got better things to do—like reading a good book.
Fiction
Contemporary
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi
– Americanah
Bennett, Brit
– The Vanishing Half
Bivald, Katarina
– The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend
Cici B.
– Letters to My Ex
Coates, Ta-Nehisi
– The Water Dancer
Cook, Courtney
– The Way She Feels: My Life on the Borderline in Pictures + Pieces
Doerr, Anthony
– All the Light We Cannot See
– Cloud Cuckoo Land
Graff, Andrew J.
– Raft of Stars
Gyasi, Ya
– Transcendent Kingdom
Hudson, Genevieve
– Boys of Alabama
Hunt, Laird
– Zorrie
Ishiguro, Kazuo
– The Buried Giant
Jeffers, Honree Fanonne
– The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois
Kidd, Jess
– Himself
Kitamura, Katie
– Intimacies
Kwak, Chaney
– The Passenger
Lahiri, Jhumpa
– Interpreter of Maladies
Lee, Harper
– Go Set a Watchman
Lee, Min Jin
– Pachinko
Li, Lillian
– Number One Chinese Restaurant
Loedel, Daniel
– Hades, Argentina
Moreno-Garcia, Silvia
– Mexican Gothic
– Velvet Was the Night
Murakami, Haruki
– Norwegian Wood
Ozeki, Ruth
– The Book of Form and Emptiness
Patchett, Ann
– Commonwealth
– The Dutch House
Plett, Casey
– A Dream of a Woman
Pressfield, Steven
– Last of the Amazons
Robinson, Marilynne
– Jack
Rodriques, Elias
– All the Water I’ve Seen Is Running
Quade, Kirsten Valdez
– The Five Wounds
Savit, Gavriel
– Anna and the Swallow Man
Shaffer, Mary Ann, and Annie Barrows
– The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Shipstead, Maggie
– Great Circle
Simmonds, Kevin
– The Monster I Am Today
Smiley, Jane
– Perestroika in Paris
Smith, Zadie
– Swing Time
Sweeney, Cynthia D’aprix
– The Nest
Towles, Amor
– The Lincoln Highway
Vargas, Cyn
– On the Way
Victoria, Elisa
– Oldladyvoice
Vuong, Ocean
– On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
Ward, Jasmyn
– Sing, Umburied, Sing
Walter, Jess
– The Cold Millions
Whitehead, Colson
– Nickel Boys
– The Underground Railroad
Wolitzer, Meg
– The Female Persuasion
20th Century Literature
Achebe, Chinua
– Arrow of God
– No Longer at Ease
– Things Fall Apart
Akutagawa, Ryūnosuke
– The Life of a Stupid Man
Chesterton, G. K.
– Collected Works: Volume VII (The Ball and the Cross, Manalive, The Flying Inn)
– The Coloured Lands
Conrad, Joseph
– Heart of Darkness
C. S. Lewis
– The Screwtape Letters
Du Maurier, Daphne
– Rebecca
Fitzgerald, F. Scott
– The Great Gatsby
Greene, Graham
– The Quiet American
Leroux, Gaston
– The Phantom of the Opera
Mansfield, Katherine
– Miss Brill
McCullers, Carson
– The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
Morrison, Toni
– Beloved
Pelevin, Victor
– Babylon (Generation “P”)
– Omon Ra
Plath, Sylvia
– The Bell Jar
Pynchon, Thomas
– Gravity’s Rainbow
Salinger, J. D.
– The Cather in the Rye
Smith, Betty
– A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Steinbeck, John
– East of Eden
– Grapes of Wrath
– Of Mice and Men
Solzhenitsyn, Alexander
– One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Welty, Eudora
– Moon Lake
Wilde, Oscar
– The Picture of Dorian Gray
Woolf, Virginia
– Mrs. Dalloway
– The Lady in the Looking-Glass
19th Century Literature
Austen, Jane
– Emma
– Love and Friendship (Sanditon and Collected Works)
– Mansfield Park
– Northanger Abbey
– Persuasion
– Pride and Prejudice
– Sense and Sensibility
Brontë, Charlotte
– Jane Eyre (Missing)
Chekov, Anton
– Best Plays
Crane, Stephen
– The Red Badge of Courage
Dostoevsky, Fyodor
– The Brothers Karamazov
Elliot, George
– The Mill on the Floss
Gaskell, Elizabeth
– North and South
Gogol
– Dead Souls
Hawthorne, Nathaniel
– The Scarlet Letter
Hugo, Victor
– Les Misérables
James, Henry
– Daisy Miller and Other Stories
Kingsley, Mary
– A Hippo Banquet
Kipling, Rudyard
– The Jungle Books
Stevenson, Robert Lewis
– South Sea Tales
Sienkiewich, Henryk
– With Fire and Sword
Tolstoy, Leo
– War and Peace
Twain, Mark
– The Complete Short Stories
Mystery, Horror & Suspense
Christie, Agatha
– Murder on the Orient Express
Doyle, Conan
– The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Furst, Alan
– Dark Star
– Night Soldiers
– The Polish Officer
Galbraith, Robert (J. K. Rowling)
– The Cuckoo’s Calling
Poe, Edgar Allan
– The Complete Tales and Poems
Runcie, James
– Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death (Grantchester 1)
– Sidney Chambers and the Perils of the Night (Grantchester 2)
Stevenson, Robert Lewis
– Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Stoker, Bram
– Dracula
Yeo-Sun Kwon
– Lemon
Science-Fiction & Fantasy
Alderman, Naomi
– The Power
Atwood, Margaret
– The Handmaid’s Tale
– The Testaments
Chiang, Ted
– Stories of Your Life and Others
– Exhalation
Dick, Philip K.
– Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Robinson, Kim Stanley
– Aurora
– Mars Trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars)
Tolkien, J. R. R.
– The Hobbit
– The Fall of House Gondolin
– The Lord of the Rings
– The Silmarilion
Verne, Jules
– Extraordinary Voyages (Around the World in Eighty Days, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea)
Vonnegut, Kurt
– Slaughterhouse-Five
Zamyatin, Yevgeny
– We
Anthology:
– The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy (2021), Veronica Roth (editor)
New Adult
Dabos, Christelle
– A Winter’s Promise (Mirror Visitor, Book 1)
– The Missing of Clairdelune (Mirror Visitor, Book 2)
– The Memory of Babel (Mirror Visitor, Book 3)
– The Storm of Echoes (Mirror Visitor, Book 4)
Morgenstern, Erin
– The Starless Sea
Rowell, Rainbow
– Fangirl
Schwab, V. E.
– The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
Young Adult
Acevedo, Elizabeth
– The Poet X
Adeyemi, Tomi
– Children of Blood and Bone
Brown, Echo
– Black Girl Unlimited
Brown, Roseanne A.
– A Song of Wraiths and Ruin
Caldwell, Patrice (editor)
– A Phoenix First Must Burn
Hale, Shannon
– The Goose Girl
– Princess Academy
Henderson, Alexis
– The Year of the Witching
Ifueko, Jordan
– Raybearer
Nix, Garth
– Old Kingdom Trilogy (Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen)
– Across the Wall (Stories set in the Old Kingdom)
– Clariel (A prequel to the Old Kingdom series)
– Goldenhand (Old Kingdom book 5?)
– Terciel & Elinor (A prequel to Old Kingdom series)
– Newt’s Emerald (Missing)
Ono, Fumi
– The Twelve Kingdoms: Skies of Dawn
– The Twelve Kingdoms: The Vast Spread of the Seas
McKillip, Patricia A.
– Moon Flash
– The Moon and the Face
Pearson, Mary E.
– The Kiss of Deception
– The Heart of Betrayal
– The Beauty of Darkness
– Dance of Thieves
Poston, Ashley
– Among the Beasts and Briars
– Geekerella (Geekerella 1)
– The Princess and the Fangirl (Geekerella 2)
– Bookish and the Beast (Geekerella 3)
Rowling, J. K.
– Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Harry Potter 1)
– Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter 2)
– Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter 3)
– Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter 4)
– Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter 5)
– Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter 6)
– Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter 7)
– Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
– Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Thomas, Angie
– The Hate You Give
Weymouth, Laura E.
– Rush of Wings
Wrede, Patrica C.
– The Enchanted Forest Chronicles
Yoon, Nicola
– Everything, Everything
Youth
Adams, Richard
– Watership Down
American Girl
– Meet Josefina
– Josefina Learns a Lesson
– Josefina’s Surprise
– Happy Birthday Josefina!
– Josefina Saves the Day
– Changes for Josefina
Andersen, Hans Christian
– Andersen’s Fairy Tales
Atwater, Richard and Florence
– Mr. Popper’s Penguins
Bauer, Joan
– Hope Was Here
Brink, Carol Ririe
– Caddie Woodlawn
Carroll
– Through the Looking Glass
Gaiman, Neil
– The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Grimm, J. L. C. & W. C.
– Grimm’s Fairy Tales
Jaques, Brian
– The Bellmaker
Jones, Diana Wynne
– Howl’s Moving Castle (Howl 1)
– Castle in the Air (Howl 2)
– House of Many Ways (Howl 3)
Kendall, Carol
– The Gammage Cup
L’Engle, Madeleine
– A Wrinkle in Time
Lewis, C. S.
– The Chronicles of Narnia
Selznick, Brian
– The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Picture
Fleischman, Paul
– The Animal Hedge
Godin, Seth
– V Is for Vulnerable
Hoban, Russell
– Bread and Jam for Frances
Kellogg, Steven
– The Mysterious Tadpole
Lowrey, Janette Sebring
– The Poky Little Puppy
Matthews, Caitlin
– How to Be a Princess
McCloskey, Robert
– Blueberries for Sal
– Lentil
– One Morning in Maine
Moulton, Mark Kimball
– Everyday Angels
Patience, John
– The Brassband Robbery: Tales from Fern Hollow
– Muddles at the Manor: Tales from Fern Hollow
– Parson Dimly’s Treasure Hung: Tales from Fern Hollow
Petersen, David
– Snowy Valentine
Seuss, Dr.
– Fox in Socks
– Green Eggs and Ham
– Horton Hatches the Egg
Tan, Shaun
– Lost & Found
Tazewell, Charles
– The Littles Angel
Twiss, Jill
– A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo
Unknown
– The Little Clay Hut: Russian Folk Tails about Animals
Willems, Mo
– Knuffle Bunny
Graphic Novels
Spiegelman, Art
– Maus
Wang, Jen
– The Prince and the Dressmaker
More coming soon.
Poetry
Angelou, Maya
– The Complete Poetry
Keats, John
– The Eve of St. Agnes
Rossetti, Christina
– Goblin Market
More coming soon.
Classics
The Dhammapada
Aeshylus
– The Oresteia
Euripides
– The Bacchae and Other Plays
Heroditus
– The Histories
Tacitus
– The Agricola and the Germania
Polo, Marco
– Travels in the Land of Serpents and Pearls
Non-Fiction
History
Alexievich, Svetlana
– Secondhand Time
More coming soon.
Political Science
Du Mez, Kristin Kobes
– Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation
Coming soon.
Essays
Anthologies:
The Best American Essays: 2021
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi
– We Should All Be Feminists
Patchett, Ann
– These Precious Days
More coming soon.
Language
McWhorter, John
– Nine Nasty Words
More coming soon.
Religion & Philosophy
Coming soon.
Art
Coming soon.
Cooking
– Baking and Pastry: Mastering the Art and Crafy
– Baking Illustrated by the editors of Cook’s Illustrated Magazine
– Bar Tartine: Techniques & Recipes, by Nicolaus Balla and Courtney Burns
– Berliner Küche
– Cooking for One (America’s Test Kitchen)
– Death & Co: Modern Classic Cocktails, by David Kaplan, Nick Fauchauld, and Alex Day
– English Teatime Recipes: Traditional Cakes from around the Shires
– From Emeril’s Kitchen, by Emeril Lagasse
– Foolproof Preserving (America’s Test Kitchen)
– Japanese Cooking, by Emi Kazuko
– Land of Plenty, by Patricia Dunlop
– Mezcal: The History, Craft & Cocktails of the World’s Ultimate Artisanal Spirit, by Emma Janzen
– Modern Scandinavian Baking: A Cookbook of Sweet Treats and Savory Bakes, by Daytona Strong
– Professional Baking (4th Edition), Gisslen
– The Professional Pastry Chef: Fundamentals of Baking and Pastry
– Просим к русскому столу
Coffee Table Books
– Call of the Desert: The Sahara
– A Book of Old Maps Deliniating American History
– Decorating with Plants: What to Choose, Ways to Style, and How to Make Them Thrive, by Baylor Chapman
– Пермь
– Your Visit to Orsay
Foreign Language
Russian
Coming soon.
German
Coming soon.
French
Coming soon.
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