Top Books First Read in 2025

[Peng]

1. Far from the Madding Crowd (Thomas Hardy)
2. The Corrections (Jonathan Franzen)
3. Ghostwritten (David Mitchell)
4. Strange Houses (Uketsu)

[Peng]

1. Persuasion (Jane Austen)
2. Dubliners (James Joyce)
3. Bright (Duanwad Pimwana)
4. Far from the Madding Crowd (Thomas Hardy)
5. The Corrections (Jonathan Franzen)
6. Ghostwritten (David Mitchell)
7. To Paradise (Hanya Yanagihara)
8. Strange Houses (Uketsu)
9. It Might Be a Little Spicy Today (Kang Chang-rae)

[baby doll]

Novels:
The Monk: A Romance (Matthew Lewis, 1796)
Pere Goriot (Honore de Balzac, trans. Henry Reed, 1834-35)

Short stories and novellas:
Miss Lonelyhearts & The Day of the Locust (Nathanael West, 1933/39)

Nonfiction:
Ethics (Benedict de Spinoza, trans. Edwin Curley, 1677)
Brecht on Theatre (Bertolt Brecht, 3rd ed., eds. Marc Silberman, Steven Giles, and Tom Kuhn, trans. Jack Davies et al., 1964-2014)
Image and Mind: Film, Philosophy, and Cognitive Science (Gregory Currie, 1995)
Erotic Grotesque Nonsense: The Mass Culture of Japanese Modern Times (Miriam Silverberg, 2006)
The Emancipated Spectator (Jacques Ranciere, trans. Gregory Elliot, 2008)
Moving Viewers: American Film and the Spectator's Experience (Carl Plantinga, 2009)
Lessons in Perception: The Avant-Garde Filmmaker as Practical Psychologist (Paul Taberham, 2018)

[Peng]

1. Persuasion (Jane Austen)
2. The Call of the Wild (Jack London)
3. A Little Princess (Frances Hodgson Burnett)*
4. Dubliners (James Joyce)
5. Bright (Duanwad Pimwana)
6. Far from the Madding Crowd (Thomas Hardy)
7. The Corrections (Jonathan Franzen)
8. Adventures in the Screen Trade (William Goldman)
9. Ghostwritten (David Mitchell)
10. To Paradise (Hanya Yanagihara)

11. Strange Houses (Uketsu)
12. The Body Next Door (Sorachak)
13. Ultra-Processed People (Chris van Tulleken)
14. It Might Be a Little Spicy Today (Kang Chang-rae)
15. Sunrise on the Reaping (Suzanne Collins)
16. Strange Pictures (Uketsu)
17. Bookstore of Romance Path (Prachakom Lunachai)


*=reread

[baby doll]

Novels:
The Monk: A Romance (Matthew Lewis, 1796)
Pere Goriot (Honore de Balzac, trans. Henry Reed, 1834-35)
Kokoro (Soseki Natsume, trans. Meredith McKinney, 1914)
The Crossing (Cormac McCarthy, 1994)

Short stories and novellas:
Miss Lonelyhearts & The Day of the Locust (Nathanael West, 1933/39)

Plays:
The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Bertolt Brecht, trans. James and Tania Stern with W.H. Auden, 1948)

Nonfiction:
Ethics (Benedict de Spinoza, trans. Edwin Curley, 1677)
Brecht on Theatre (Bertolt Brecht, 3rd ed., eds. Marc Silberman, Steven Giles, and Tom Kuhn, trans. Jack Davies et al., 1964-2014)
Image and Mind: Film, Philosophy, and Cognitive Science (Gregory Currie, 1995)
Moving Viewers: American Film and the Spectator's Experience (Carl Plantinga, 2009)
Empathy: Philosophical and Psychological Perspectives (eds. Amy Coplan and Peter Goldie, 2011)
Reinventing Hollywood: How 1940s Filmmakers Changed Movie Storytelling (David Bordwell, 2017)
Lessons in Perception: The Avant-Garde Filmmaker as Practical Psychologist (Paul Taberham, 2018)

Literature and Cinematography (Viktor Shklovsky, trans. Irina Masanovsky, 1923)
Erotic Grotesque Nonsense: The Mass Culture of Japanese Modern Times (Miriam Silverberg, 2006)
The Emancipated Spectator (Jacques Ranciere, trans. Gregory Elliot, 2008)
The Intervals of Cinema (Jacques Ranciere, trans. John Howe, 2011)
Rethinking Brechtian Film Theory and Cinema (Angelos Koutsourakis, 2018)

[Peng]

1. Persuasion (Jane Austen)
2. The Call of the Wild (Jack London)
3. A Little Princess (Frances Hodgson Burnett)*
4. Dubliners (James Joyce)
5. Bright (Duanwad Pimwana)
6. Far from the Madding Crowd (Thomas Hardy)
7. Passing (Nella Larsen)
8. The Corrections (Jonathan Franzen)
9. Adventures in the Screen Trade (William Goldman)
10. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)

11. Ghostwritten (David Mitchell)
12. To Paradise (Hanya Yanagihara)
13. Strange Houses (Uketsu)
14. The Body Next Door (Sorachak)
15. Ultra-Processed People (Chris van Tulleken)
16. It Might Be a Little Spicy Today (Kang Chang-rae)
17. Sunrise on the Reaping (Suzanne Collins)
18. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (Milan Kundera)
19. Strange Pictures (Uketsu)
20. The Black Cat Mansion Murders (Yukito Ayatsuji)

21. Bookstore of Romance Path (Prachakom Lunachai)
22. number9dream (David Mitchell)


*=reread

[Peng]

1. Persuasion (Jane Austen)
2. The Call of the Wild (Jack London)
3. Mike Nichols: A Life (Mark Harris)
4. Misery (Stephen King)
5. A Little Princess (Frances Hodgson Burnett)*
6. Dubliners (James Joyce)
7. Bright (Duanwad Pimwana)
8. Far from the Madding Crowd (Thomas Hardy)
9. Passing (Nella Larsen)
10. The Corrections (Jonathan Franzen)

11. Strange Houses 2 (Uketsu)
12. Cat's Message Under the Tree (Michiko Aoyama)
13. Adventures in the Screen Trade (William Goldman)
14. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
15. Ghostwritten (David Mitchell)
16. Love and Freindship: Juvenilia and Other Short Stories (Jane Austen)
17. To Paradise (Hanya Yanagihara)
18. Strange Houses (Uketsu)
19. The Body Next Door (Sorachak)
20. Ultra-Processed People (Chris van Tulleken)

21. It Might Be a Little Spicy Today (Kang Chang-rae)
22. Sunrise on the Reaping (Suzanne Collins)
23. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (Milan Kundera)
24. Strange Pictures (Uketsu)
25. The Black Cat Mansion Murders (Yukito Ayatsuji)
26. Bookstore of Romance Path (Prachakom Lunachai)
27. number9dream (David Mitchell)



*=reread

[baby doll]

Novels:
The Monk: A Romance (Matthew Lewis, 1796)
Pere Goriot (Honore de Balzac, trans. Henry Reed, 1834-35)
Kokoro (Soseki Natsume, trans. Meredith McKinney, 1914)
Nightmare in Pink (John D. MacDonald, 1964)
The Crossing (Cormac McCarthy, 1994)

Short stories and novellas:
The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. (Washington Irving, 1819-20, rev. 1848)
Miss Lonelyhearts & The Day of the Locust (Nathanael West, 1933/39)

Plays:
The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Bertolt Brecht, trans. James and Tania Stern with W.H. Auden, 1948)

Nonfiction:
Ethics (Benedict de Spinoza, trans. Edwin Curley, 1677)
Brecht on Theatre (Bertolt Brecht, 3rd ed., eds. Marc Silberman, Steven Giles, and Tom Kuhn, trans. Jack Davies et al., 1964-2014)
Image and Mind: Film, Philosophy, and Cognitive Science (Gregory Currie, 1995)
Moving Viewers: American Film and the Spectator's Experience (Carl Plantinga, 2009)
Empathy: Philosophical and Psychological Perspectives (eds. Amy Coplan and Peter Goldie, 2011)
Reinventing Hollywood: How 1940s Filmmakers Changed Movie Storytelling (David Bordwell, 2017)
Lessons in Perception: The Avant-Garde Filmmaker as Practical Psychologist (Paul Taberham, 2018)

On the Soul and Other Psychological Works (Aristotle, trans. Fred D. Miller, Jr., c.350 BCE)*
Literature and Cinematography (Viktor Shklovsky, trans. Irina Masanovsky, 1923)
The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences (Michel Foucault, 1966)*
Erotic Grotesque Nonsense: The Mass Culture of Japanese Modern Times (Miriam Silverberg, 2006)
The Emancipated Spectator (Jacques Ranciere, trans. Gregory Elliot, 2008)
The Intervals of Cinema (Jacques Ranciere, trans. John Howe, 2011)
Rethinking Brechtian Film Theory and Cinema (Angelos Koutsourakis, 2018)

* Finished in 2026.