The idea was that I’d write a little something about each book I read this year. Clearly, I wound up writing a lot about a few, and none about most. Oh well.
I implore anybody looking at this to request write-ups on anything not yet written up.
2012
April
15. Beloved, Toni Morrison
14. New York Beautification Project, Ellen Harvey
13. Wittgenstein’s Nephew, Thomas Bernhard
12. Zong!, M. Nourbese Philips
11. Taste of Cherry, Cara Candito
10. If You’re Feeling Sinister, Scott Plagenhoef
9. Hough & Helix & Where & How & You, You, You, Lea Graham
8. The Collected Writings of Joe Brainard, ed. Ron Padgett
7. A Beautiful Marsupial Afternoon: New (Soma)Tics, CA Conrad
6. Spring and All, William Carlos Williams
5. Cymbeline, William Shakespeare
4. The Neighbor: Three Inquiries in Political Theology
3. Notes on Conceptualisms, Vanessa Place/Robert Fritterman
2. Kildare, Stacy Doris
1. The Sonnets, Ted Berrigan
March
22. Giscome Road, C.S. Giscombe
21. The Secular Scripture, Northrop Frye
20. Songs of Innocence, William Blake
19. In the Freud Archives, Janet Malcolm
18. Slur the Point, Steve Orth
17. The Political Theology of Paul, Jakob Taubes
16. Archive Fever, Jacques Derrida
15. transcript, Heimrad Backer
14. Holocaust, Charles Reznikoff
13. If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho, Anne Carson
12. Prairie Style, C.S. Giscombe
11. Predictionary, Mikhail Epstein
10. Meddle English, Caroline Bergvall
9. Trench Town Rock, Kamau Brathwaite
8. Austerlitz, W.G. Sebald
7. Permanence and Change: An Anatomy of Purpose, Kenneth Burke
6. Reign, Kaare Andrews
5. The Mirror of Simple Souls, Marguerite Porete
4. The Tempest, William Shakespeare
3. The Winter’s Tale, William Shakespeare
2. Disneyland of the Gods, John Keel
1. The Vocation of Poetry, Durs Grunbein
February
22. Figure Without Hammer, Donald Food
21. The Sense of an Ending, Frank Kermode
20. Somatic Engagement, Petra Kuppers (ed.)
19. Security Posture, Sarah Dowling
18. The Octagon House, Jonny Lohr
17. Nick Demske, Nick Demske
16. Waveform, Amber Dipietra & Denise Leto
15. Book of Magazine Verse, Jack Spicer
14. Language, jack Spicer
13. The Dome, Jamie Townsend
12. 13, Frank Sherlock
11. Memory Cards: 2001, Susan Schultz
10. The Deleted World, Tomas Transtromer
9. The Turler Losses, Barbara Guest
8. The Countess From Minneapolis, Barbara Guest
7. Tales of Belkin, Alexander Pushkin
6. Symbiosis, Barbara Guest
5. Faith of the Faithless: Experiments in Political Theology, Simon Critchley
4. That This, Susan Howe
3. Miss America, Catherine Wagner
2. Saint Paul: The FOundation of Universalism, Alain Badiou
1. This Can’t Be Life, Dana Ward
January
20. King Lear, William Shakespeare
19. A Strange Wilderness, Amir D. Aczel
18. Whom Shall I Become, Vladimir Mayakovsky
17. Hamlet or Hecubah, Carl Schmitt
16. The Time That Remains, Giorgio Agamben
15. Titan’s Moon, Jaye Harris
14. Shame, Annie Ernaux
13. Politicized Pretty Picture, Stan Apps
12. Memory Cards: 2010-2011, Susan Schultz
11. Dementia Blog, Susan Schultz
10. Macbeth, William Shakespeare
9. Dance Dance Revolution, Cathy Park Hong
8. Almost President, Scott Farris
7. The Fatalist, Lyn Hejinian
6. Kinski!, Sam Stein
5. Marxism and Literary Criticism, Terry Eagleton
4. Nixon’s Shadow: The History of an Image, David Greenberg
3. I Remember, Joe Brainard
2. Songs and Stories of the Ghouls, Alice Notley
1. Augustine in Carthage, Alessandro Porco
2011
December
19. How to Be Perfect, Ron Padgett
18. Amblyopia, Jena Osman
17. My Life, Lyn Hejinian
16. Libertarianism: A Novel, David W. Pritchard
15. Political Theology, Carl Schmitt
14. Essay in Asterisks, Jena Osman
13. The Book of Frank, CA Conrad
12. BFI: Salo, Gary Indiana
11. After Lorca, Jack Spicer
10. Urne-Burial, Thomas Browne
9. The President and the Assassin, Scott Miller
8. Red Shifting, Aleksandr Skidan
7. Money Shot, Rae Armantrout
6. Packaging the Presidency, Kathleen Hall Jamieson
5. As Is, Steve Benson
4. Fred Merkle Makes a Name for Himself, Jonny Lohr
3. Billy the Kid, Jack Spicer
2. The Heads of the Town Up to the Aether, Jack Spicer
1. Myths & Texts, Gary Snyder
November
14. The Truth About Ted, Bruce Boone
13. You, the People,
12. Lamberto, Lamberto, Lamberto, Gianni Rodari
11. Dream A Dream, Samuel Stein
10. Versed, Rae Armantrout
9. The Swerve: How the World Became Modern, Stephen Greenblatt
8. The Rhetorical Tradition
7. Biting the Error
6. Journal of the Plague Year, Daniel Defoe
5. Destiny of the Republic, Candice Millard
4. Reinventing Nixon, Daniel Frick
3. Deeds Done in Words: Presidential Rhetoric and the Genres of Governance, Karolyn Kohrs Campbell & Kathleen Hall Jamieson
2. Wars, Threesomes, Drafts & Mothers, Heriberto Yepez
1. My Own Private Germany, Eric Santner
October
20. Culture of One, Alice Notley
19. The Ambassadors, Henry James
18. Flowers for Agamemnon, Samuel Stein
17. The Schreber Case, Sigmund Freud
16. Memoirs of My Nervous Illness, Daniel Paul Schreber
15. The Lamb, Fanny Howe
14. ELEVATORS, Rena Rosenwasser
13. Forming, Jesse Moynihan
12. Ziggurat, Peter Balakian
11. Newcomer Can’t Swim, Renee Gladman
10. Schizophrene, Bhanu Kapil
9. The Wings of the Dove, Henry James
8. The Squeakquel, Part 2, Dana Ward
7. The Squeakquel, Part 1, Dana Ward
6. Typing Wild Speech, Dana Ward
5. Selected Political Speeches, Cicero
4. Asterix the Gaul, Goscinny and Uderzo
3. of Grenada, Chris Gaton
2. Rhetoric, Aristotle
1. thisconnectionofeveryonewithlungs, Juliana Sparh
September
15. Jack the Modernist, Robert Gluck
14. Hundreds of Feet Below Daylight, James Sturm
13. The Sacred Fount, Henry James
12. Bataille Critical Anthology
11. Bataille Reader
10. New Addresses, Kenneth Koch
9. The Duel, Joseph Konrad
8. Sherwood Forest, Camille Roy
7. The Clouds, Aristophanes
6. Ion, Plato
5. Gorgias, Plato
4. Clandestine in Chile, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
3. Story of the Eye, Georges Bataille
2. A’s Dream, Aaron Shurin
1. Each Next, Kathleen Fraser
August
12. Selections from the Greek Anthology, Kenneth Rexroth
11. How to Read Heidegger, Mark Wrathall
10. Century of Clouds, Bruce Boone
9. Guard, Lyn Hejinian
8. Extremities, Rae Armantrout
7. The Waste Land and Other Poems, Joh Beer
6. Sight Map, Brian Teare
5. Confessions of a Young Novelist, Umberto Eco
4. Bestiary, Guillaume Apollinaire
3. Kingdom Animalia, Arcelis Girmay
2. Illuminations, Arthur Rimbaud
1. Contempt, Albert Moravia
July
15. Thinking in an Emergency, Elaine Scarry
14. Supergods, Grant Morrison
13. Flex Mentallo, Grant Morrison
12. Tamura Ryuchi: On the Life and Work of a 20th Century Master, Tamura Ryuchi
11. Rock n’Roll, Tom Stoppard
10. The Bookseller Oustaz Ali, Ahmed Rassim
9. Ad Infinitum: A Biography of Latin, Nicholas Ostler
8. Hough & Helix & Where & Here & You, You, You, Lea Graham
7. Hekabe, Euripides
6. Herakles, Euripides
5. Pure Pagan: Seven Centuries of Greek Poems and Fragments, Burton Raffel (ed.)
4. Squaring the Circle, Tom Stoppard
3. Thread, Michael Palmer
2. America’s Best Comics 2009, Charles Burns (ed.)
1. Aunt Lettuce, I Want To Peek Under Your Skirt, Charles Simic
June
7. Jumpers, Tom Stoppard
6. Negro League Baseball, Harmony Holiday
5. Things are Happening, Joshua Beckman
4. A Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin
3. Fall Higher, Dean Young
2. The Hemlock Cup, Bettany Hughes
1. The Blue Notebook, Daniil Kharms
May
15. Something I Expected to be Different, Joshua Beckman
14. Prison Pit, Johnny Ryan
13. Teratoid Heights, Matt Brinkman
12. Sounds of Your Name, Nate Powell
11. Paying For It, Chester Brown
10. Forming, Jesse Moynihan
9. Batman: Year One, Frank Miller/David Mazuchelli
8. The Marvelous Land of Oz, Frank L. Baum
7. Twenty-Seven Props for a Production of Eine Lebenszeit, Timothy Donnelly
6. Being or Nothingness, Joe K
5. The Psychopath Test, Jon Ronson
4. Why Marx Was Right, Terry Eagleton
3. Life on Mars, Tracy K. Smith
2. Drawn Inward, Mike Maguire
1. Paul Virilio, Ian James
April
12. Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu
11. Vestments, John Reimringer
10. Paranormal America, Bader, Mencken, and Baker
9. Examined Lives, James Miller
8. The Pale King, David Foster Wallace
7. The Character, Jena Osman
6. Myth of the Blaze, George Oppen
5. Just Kids, Patti Smith
4. How to Read Wittgenstein, Ray Monk
3. Some Ether, Nick Flynn
2. What Does an Elegy Do?, Sharon Olds
1. Bodies, Susie Orbach
March
16. Seascape: Needles’ Eye, George Oppen
15. Download Helvetica For Free, Steve Roggenbuck
14. Vain Art of the Fugue, Dumitru Tsepeneat
13. Dot Dot Dot, Lihan Li
12. You and Three Others Are Approaching a Lake, Anna Moschovakis
11. The Jewish Wife & Other Short Plays, Bertolt Brecht
10. Akira, Katsuhiro Otomo
9. Come on All You Ghosts, matthew Zapruder
8. The Nixon Poems, Eve Merriam
7. Of Being Numerous, George Oppen
6. Ground Zero, Paul Virilio
5. Cosmicomics, Italo Calvino
4. This in Which, George Oppen
3. Humanimal: A Project for Future Children, Bhanu Kapil
2. Things Come On, Joseph Harrington
1. Michael Kohlhaas, Heinrich von Kleist
February
10. Haunted Media: Electronic Presence From Telegraphy to Television, Jeffrey Sconce
9. Erdgeist, Frank Wedeking
8. Selected Poems, Bertolt Brecht
7. Song Without Words, Lynd Ward
6. Prelude to a Million Years, Lynd Ward
5. Discrete Series/ The Materials, George Oppen
4. l’arret de mort, Maurice Blanchot
3. Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love, Andrew Shaffer
2 The Bigger World, Noelle Kocot.
1. The Rest is Noise, Alex Ross
January
17. Wild Pilgrimage, Lynd Ward
16. Madmans’ Drum, Lynd Ward
15. Gods’ Man, Lynd Ward
14. Memoirs of Egotism, Stendhal
13. Perfect Example, John Porcellino
12. Illuminations, Walter Benjamin
11. Your Time Has Come, Joshua Beckman
10. The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Bertolt Brecht
9. Dying, Renee Belletto
8. Leonce and Lena, Georg Buchner
7. Lenz, Georg Buchner
6. Danton’s Tod, George Buchner
5. Woyzeck, Georg Buchner
4.The Atlantic Tunnel: Selected Poems, Paul Farley
3. Final Crisis, Grant Morrison
2. The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler
1. Hicksville, Dylan Horrocks
2010
December
231. What Is An Apparatus?, Giorgio Agamben
230. Lucy, Jean Valentine
229. Boardwalk Empire, Nelson Johnson
228. Lighthead, Terrance Hayes
227. The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, Philip Pullman
226. In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower, Marcel Proust
225. The Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx
224. Master of Disguises, Charles Simic
223. Lucky Fish, Aimee Nezhukumatathil
222. Eros the Bittersweet, Anne Carson
221. Against Which, Ross Gay
220. The Dancing Plague, John Waller
219. The Cosmos Poems, Frederick Seidel
218. Unlikely, Jeffrey Brown
217. Vita Nova, Dante
216. The Push Man and Other Stories, Yohihiro Tatsumi
215. The Threepenny Opera, Bertolt Brecht
214. Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History, David Aaronovitch
213. Postmortem For a Postmodernist, Arthur Asa Berger
212. Don’t Look Back, D.A. Pennebaker
211. The Network, Jena Osman
210. The Cloud Corporation, Timothy Donnelly
209. Parker: The Outfit, Darwyn Cooke
208. Pnin, Vladimir Nabokov
207. Parker: The Hunted, Darwyn Cooke
206. A Primer of Freudian Psychology, Calvin S. Hall
205. 1234, Grant Morrison
204. Five Moral Pieces, Umberto Eco
203. Euminides, Aeschylus
202. Clockfire, Jonathan Ball
201. Planetary: Crossing Worlds, Warren Ellis
200. Absolute Planetary Vol. 2, Warren Ellis
199. The Splinter Factory, Jeffrey McDaniel
198. The Counterfeiters, Hugh Kenner
197. Listen!: Early POems 1913-1918, Vladimir Mayakovsky
196. Crossing Midnight: Maps of Midnight, Mike Carey
195. Crossing Midnight: Cut Here, Mike Carey
194. Sugarcube, Samuel C. Gaskin
193. Selected Poems of Osip Mandelstam, Osip Mandelstam
192. Choephoroe, Aeschylus
191. Aurorarama, Jean-Christophe Valtat
190. Monsieur Pain, Roberto Bolano
189. Things Are Disappearing Here, Kate Northrop
188. Welcome to the Desert of the Real, Slavoj Zizek
187. A Visit From The Good Squad, Jennifer Egan
186. Ex Machina, Jonathan Ball
185. Microscripts, Robert Walser
184. Agamemnon, Aeschylus
183. Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar, Thomas Cathcart & Daniel Klein
182. Richard Yates, Tao Lin
181. Television, Jean-Philippe Toussaint
180. The Sickness Unto Death, Soren Kierkegaard
179. The Ghost Map, Steven Johnson
178. Supermarket, Brian Wood
177. The Squirrel Mother, Megan Kelso
176. Modern Life, Matthea Harvey
175. The Lichtenberg Figures, Ben Lerner
174. The Spirit of Terrorism, Jean Baudrillard
173. Peurto Rican Obituary, Pedro Pietri
172. K Blows Top, Peter Carlson
171. The Medium is the Massage, Marshall McLuhan
170. I Killed Adolf Hitler, Jason
169. Mean Free Path, Ben Lerner
168. The Symposium, Plato
167. Philosophy in the Present, Alain Badiou & Slavoj Zizek
166. Pocket Pantheon: Figures of Postwar Philosophy, Alain Badiou
165. Good Trembling, Baron Wormser
164. The Invention of Morel, Adolfo Bioy Casares
163. Ex Machina, Bryan K. Vaughan
162. Mother Tongue, Bill Bryson
161. Hegel, Peter Singer
160. Considerations on the Assassination of Gerard Lebovici, Guy Debord
159. A Moment of Bells, Richard C. Raymond
158. I Lost it at the Movies, Pauline Kael
157. Not God After All, Gerald Stern
156. Mindscreen: Bergman, Godard, and First-Person Cinema, Bruce F. Kawin
155. Zeitoun, Dave Eggers
154. The Declarations of Havana, Fidel Castro
153. My Dinner With Andre, Wallace Shaun & Andre Gregory
152. Motherless Brooklyn, Jonathan Lethem
151. Lost in the Funhouse, John Barth
150. Late, Ceclilia Woloch
149. Republican Gomorrah, Max Blumenthal
148. Casanova: Luxuria, Matt Fraction
147. Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour, Bryan Lee O’Malley
146. 03, Jean-Christophe Valtat
145. Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself, David Lipsky
144. The Castle of Otranto, Horace Walpole
143. First As Tragedy, Then As Farce, Slavoj Zizek
141. Or To Begin Again, Ann Lauterbach
140. Save the Last Dance, Gerald Stern
139. Violence, Slavoj Zizek
138. Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual, Michael Pollan
137. The Invention of Air, Steven Johnson
136. Pussey!, Daniel Clowes
135. Tumult, Botho Strauss
134. Eating the Dinosaur, Chuck Klosterman
133. 99 Ways To Tell A Story: Exercises in Style, Matt Madden
132. Existentialism is a Humanism, Jean-Paul Sartre
131. Maurice Blanchot, Ulriche Haase
130. The Stranger, Albert Camus
129. Why People Believe Weird Things, Michael Shermer
128. Scott Pilgrim vs. The Universe, Bryan Lee O’Malley
127. Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together, Bryan Lee O’Malley
126. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Bryan Lee O’Malley
125. Scott Pilgrim and the Infinite Sadness, Bryan Lee O’Malley
124. Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life, Bryan Lee O’Malley
123. Vacation, Deb Olin Unferth
122. Last Looks, Last Books, Helen Vendler
121. A Scattering of Salts, James Merrill
120. The Wandering Scholars, Helen Waddell
119. The Whole Five Feet, Christopher R. Beha
118. Fix Bayonets!, John W. Thomason Jr.
117. Geography III, Elizabeth Bishop
116. Feminism: A Very Short Introduction, Margaret Walters
115. Day By Day, Robert Lowell
114. Three Philosophical Poets, George Santayana
113. The Plague Widow, Brian Wood
112. Delta of Venus, Anais Nin
111. Vive Le Revolution, Mark Steel
110. Tyrannosaurus Rex vs. The Corduroy Kid, Simon Armitage
109. Zenobia, Gellu Naum
108. Elegy, Larry Levis
107. Engels, Terrell Carver
106. The Eternal Smile, Gene Yang
105. Poets in a Landscape, Gilbert Highet
103. King City, Vol. 1, Brandon Graham
102. David Boring, Daniel Clowes
100. What Work Is, Philip Levine
99. The Thin Man, Dashiel Hammett
98. Wrecking Crew, Larry Levis
97. Logicomix, Apostolos Dioxiadis, Christos Padadimitriou, Alecos Papadatos, Annie Di Donna
96. The Mothman Prophecies, John Keel
95. The First World War, Michael Howard
94. A Very Short Introduction to Music, Nicholas Cook
93. The Last Lonely Saturday, Jordan Crane
92. The Clouds Above, Jordan Crane
91. This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald
90. Meditations and Other Metaphysical Writing, Rene Descartes
89. The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins
88. Other Lives, Peter Bagge
87. Curses, Kevin Huizenga
86. Shortcomings, Adrian Tomine
85. Ariel, Sylvia Plath
84. The Rock, Wallace Stevens
83. does Your House have Lions?, Sonia Sanchez
82. The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, Douglas Adams
81. Nox, Anne Carson
80. The Third Man/The Fallen Idol, Graham Greene
79. Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, Douglas Adams
78. Rabbit Run, John Updike
77. The Art of Country Grain Elevators, Jon Volkmer
76. Sunset Gun, Dorothy Parker
75. Pluto, Naoki Urasawa
74. How To Talk About Books You Haven’t Read, Pierre Bayard
73. Spring Awakening, Frank Wedekind
72. yes I said yes I will yes, Nola Tully (ed.)
71. The Dialogue of the Dogs, Miguel Cervantes
70. Edison’s Eve, Gaby Wood
69. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Tao Lin
68. my favorite apocalypse, Catie Rosemurgy
67. To Repel Ghosts, Kevin Young
66. Nine Stories, J.D. Salinger
65. The World of Perception, Maurice Merleau-Ponty
64. The Interrogative Mood, Padgett Powell
63. want/need, CL Bledsoe
62. Notes From Underground, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Ex Machina, Jonathan Ball
60. Sum, David Eagleman
59. The Society of the Spectacle, Guy Debord
58. The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery
57. A Single Man, Christopher Isherwood
56. Swann’s Way, Marcel Proust
55. Foucault For Beginners, Lydia Alex Fillingham
54. Introducing Lacan, Darian Leader
53. Story of the Eye, Georges Bataille
52. It’s A Good Life, If You Don’t Weaken, Seth
51. Poetry as Insurgent Art, Lawrence Ferlinghetti
50. A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway
49. Shoplifting From American Apparel, Tao Lin
48. The Left Bank Gang, Jason
47. The Stranger Manual, Catie Rosemurgy
46. Eugene Onegin, Pushkin (trans. Stanley Mitchell)
45. Phonogram: The Singles Club, Kieran Gillen and Jamie McKelvie
44. The Tao Te Ching (trans. Ron Hogan)
43. A Universal History of the Destruction of Books, Fernando Baez
42. The Possessed, Elif Batuman
41. Camera, Jean-Philippe Toussaint
40. Wittgenstein’s Poker, David Edmonds and John Eidinow
38. Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned, Wells Tower
36. Blood in the Snow, Brian Wood
35. The Cross + The Hammer, Brian Wood
34. Sven the Returned, Brian Wood
32. Novels in Three Lines, Felix Feneon
31. The Earliest English Poems, ed. Michael Alexander
30. The Magus of the North, Isaiah Berlin
28. Life On Another Planet, Will Eisner
26. Fagin the Jew, Will Eisner
24. The Last Interview, Roberto Bolano
23. Distant Star, Roberto Bolano
22. Ooga Booga, Frederick Seidel
21. The Savage Detectives, Roberto Bolano
20. this emotion is a little ebook, Tao Lin
19. Blood Dazzler, Patricia Smith
18. Rapture Ready! Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop Culture, Daniel Radosh
17. The New Kings of Nonfiction, ed. Ira Glass
16. The World Doesn’t End, Charles Simic
15. The Kingdom of Ordinary Time, Marie Howe
14. Antipoetry: How to Look Better & Feel Good, Nicanor Parra
13. Evening Man, Frederick Seidel
12. Self Portrait in a Convex Mirror, John Ashbery
11. Eating Animals, Jonathan Safron-Foer
10. Transparent Things, Vladimir Nabokov
9. Codex Seraphinianus, Luigi Serafini
8. Lessons in Virtual Tour Photography, Chris Bachelder
6 (??). Fear and Trembling, Soren Kierkegaard
