Welcome to 2011! What do we call this decade, anyway? Who will win the Super Bowl? What will become of health care reform? How many New York City snowplows does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Some questions are impossible to answer. But we asked our favorite writers an easy one: What book will you read on New Year’s Day? Here are their answers—it’s the Rumpus’s third annual Reading in the New Year:
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2666, by Roberto Bolaño – Doug Dorst
THE ACCIDENT, by Ismail Kadare – Michelle Richmond
THE AIR WE BREATHE, by Andrea Barrett – Robert Boswell
ANNA KARENINA, by Leo Tolstoy – Robin Romm
THE APPOINTMENT, by Herta Müller – Laura van den Berg
AT HOME: A SHORT HISTORY OF PRIVATE LIFE, by Bill Bryson – Mary Roach
BLOOD HORSES: NOTES OF A SPORTSWRITER’S SON, by John Jeremiah Sullivan – Maud Newton
BOTH WAYS IS THE ONLY WAY I WANT IT, by Maile Meloy – Cornelia Nixon
THE BURNING PLAIN, by Juan Rulfo – Joshua Furst
THE CALL OF THE WILD, by Jack London – David Vann
THE COLLECTED STORIES, by William Trevor – Margo Rabb
CROOKED LETTER, CROOKED LETTER, by Tom Franklin – Skip Horack
DEATH ON THE INSTALLMENT PLAN, by Louis Celine – Darcie Dennigan
THE EASY WAY TO STOP DRINKING, by Allen Carr – Kim Addonizio
THE END, by Salvatore Scibona – Brock Clarke
THE EVOLUTION OF BRUNO LITTLEMORE, by Benjamin Hale – Lan Samantha Chang
FOREIGN BODIES, by Cynthia Ozick – Margot Livesey
A FOREIGNER CARRYING IN THE CROOK OF HIS ARM A TINY BABY, by Amitava Kumar – Karan Mahajan
THE GOSPEL OF ANARCHY, by Justin Taylor – Jami Attenberg
GRYPHON: NEW AND SELECTED STORIES, by Charles Baxter – Peter Ho Davies
HOW TO LIVE, OR A LIFE OF MONTAIGNE, by Sarah Bakewell – Carl Phillips
HUNGER, by Knut Hamsun – Lucy Corin
IN A STRANGE ROOM, by Damon Galgut – Paul Yoon
THE INVISIBLE BRIDGE, by Julie Orringer – Edward Schwarzschild
JUST KIDS, by Patti Smith – Marilyn Chin
LADY LAZARUS, by Andrew Foster Altschul – Will Allison
LIKE YOU’D UNDERSTAND ANYWAY, by Jim Shepard – Lisa Dierbeck
LUCKY JIM, by Kingsley Amis – Lauren Grodstein
MADAME BOVARY, by Gustave Flaubert (transl. by Lydia Davis) – Daniel Handler
THE MORAL OBLIGATION TO BE INTELLIGENT, by Lionel Trilling – Andrew Winer
MR. PEANUT, by Adam Ross – Keith Scribner
OBABAKOAK: STORIES FROM A VILLAGE, by Bernardo Atxaga – Matthew Iribarne
“One of the 600 books I have being written for me…” – James Frey
PLEASURE, by Gary Young – Jennifer Richter
THE POSSESSED: ADVENTURES WITH RUSSIAN BOOKS AND THE PEOPLE WHO READ THEM, by Elif Batuman – Padma Viswanathan
THE PROFESSOR AND OTHER WRITINGS, by Terry Castle – Peter Rock
THE REVENGE OF THE RADIOACTIVE LADY, by Elizabeth Stuckey-French – Porter Shreve
ROOM, by Emma Donoghue – Daniel Stolar
THE SPOT, by David Means – Daniel Orozco
TELL ME A RIDDLE, by Tillie Olsen – Melanie Rae Thon
TITUS GROAN, by Mervyn Peake – Edward Carey
TRAVELS IN SIBERIA, by Ian Frazier – David Goodwillie
THE TWIN, by Gerbrand Bakker (transl. by David Colmer) – Lydia Davis
THE UNIVERSE IN MINIATURE IN MINIATURE, by Patrick Somerville – Hannah Tinti
THE VICE CONSUL, by Marguerite Duras – Rebecca Solnit
A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD, by Jennifer Egan – Matthew Pitt
WIDOW, by Michelle Latiolais – Elizabeth Tallent
WITHIN A BUDDING GROVE, by Marcel Proust – Mark Slouka
WORLD’S FAIR, by E. L. Doctorow – Andrew Altschul
YOUR FACE TOMORROW: FEVER AND SPEAR, by Javier Marías – Matthew Zapruder
YOU THINK THAT’S BAD, by Jim Shepard – Stephen Elliott
14 responses
i wish some fundamentalist outfit would make an expurgated version of bolano’s works. i might find that readable.
Code of Trees, Crash of the Titans, other books with the word “of” in the title…
Great list. I especially loved The End and The Air We Breathe. Looking forward to breaking into Shepard’s and Franklin’s. I’ve got three going today (yes three): Petterson’s I Curse the River of Time, Murray Bail’s The Pages, and Gina Ochsner’s The Russian Dreambook of Color & Flight, all published this year.
Planning to read the Autobiography of Mark Twain, Super Sad True Love Story, Anna Karenina and Cane by Jean Toomey.
It’s New Year’s Day, and I’m reading Super Sad True Love Story. So far, I’m loving it. Next up on the Queue is Motherless Brooklyn (only because it’s a library book and I have to return it. That always messes up my queue, lol).
Finally reading The Orange Eats Creeps, as I’ve finally recieved it in the form of a Christmas time gift.
I’m reading Molloy by Samuel Beckett. Shit makes no sense.
For me, it’ll be A Fair Maiden by Joyce Carol Oates. I recently finished her journal but wanted it to keep going forever.
Obviously, they all read “The Adderall Diaries” in 2010. 😉
I just finished Anna Karenina. I believe everyone should have a go at it.
I have a desire to read Room.
Currently reading The Sisters. Will bookmark this list for next book ideas.
James Frey’s answer pretty much insures that I will love him forever now. I love self-depreciation with a slightly pompous twinge. It’s nice.
The Instructions was about my favorite of the year. Really, it was. I’m not kidding.
“Slavery in Florida” by Larry Eugene Rivers, and “The Private Patient” by P.D. James.
Love this list! It’s so refreshing to see a must read list that include something other than the top 10 over promoted usual suspects.
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