Top Books First Read in 2024

[Peng]

Got started early this year.

1. American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer (Kai Bird & Martin J. Sherwin)
2. Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI (David Grann)
3. The Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro)
4. The Man in the Brown Suit (Agatha Christie)
5. The Sound of the Mountain (Yasunari Kawabata)
6. Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman (Alan Rickman)

[Peng]

1. American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer (Kai Bird & Martin J. Sherwin)
2. Emma (Jane Austen)
3. Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI (David Grann)
4. The Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro)
5. The Lost Leaf (Chiranan Pitpreecha)
6. The People in the Trees (Hanya Yanagihara)
7. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)
8. Silence (Shūsaku Endō)
9. The Man in the Brown Suit (Agatha Christie)
10. The Sound of the Mountain (Yasunari Kawabata)

11. Poirot Investigates (Agatha Christie) (re-read)
12. Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman (Alan Rickman)
13. Bookstore of Romance Novels (Prachakom Lunachai)

[baby doll]

Novels:

• The Adventures of Oliver Twist; or, the Parish Boy's Progress (Charles Dickens, 1837-38, rev. 1846)*
• Flights (Olga Tokarczuk, trans. Jennifer Croft, 2007)

Plays:

• Prometheus Bound and Other Plays (Aeschylus, trans. Philip Vellacott, 472-c.430 BCE)

Nonfiction:

• Critique of Pure Reason (Immanuel Kant, trans. Max Muller and Marcus Weigelt, 1781/87)*
• Revolution and Subjectivity in Postwar Japan (J. Victor Koschmann, 1996)
• V.F. Perkins on Movies: Collected Shorter Film Criticism (ed. Douglas Pye, 2020)

Deutsch als fremdsprache:

• Short Stories in German for Intermediate Learners (Olly Richards, 2021)*

*Started in 2023

[baby doll]

Novels:

• The Adventures of Oliver Twist; or, the Parish Boy's Progress (Charles Dickens, 1837-38, rev. 1846)*
• The Mill on the Floss (George Eliot, 1860)
• Flights (Olga Tokarczuk, trans. Jennifer Croft, 2007)

Plays:

• Prometheus Bound and Other Plays (Aeschylus, trans. Philip Vellacott, 472-c.430 BCE)

Nonfiction:

• Critique of Pure Reason (Immanuel Kant, trans. Max Muller and Marcus Weigelt, 1781/87)*
• The Prison-House of Language: A Critical Account of Structuralism and Russian Formalism (Fredric Jameson, 1972)
• Revolution and Subjectivity in Postwar Japan (J. Victor Koschmann, 1996)
• Seeing Fictions in Films: The Epistemology of Movies (George M. Wilson, 2011)
• V.F. Perkins on Movies: Collected Shorter Film Criticism (ed. Douglas Pye, 2020)

Deutsch als fremdsprache:

• Short Stories in German for Intermediate Learners (Olly Richards, 2021)*

*Started in 2023

[Peng]

1. Giovanni's Room (James Baldwin)
2. American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer (Kai Bird & Martin J. Sherwin)
3. Time (Chart Korbjitti)
4. Emma (Jane Austen)
5. Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI (David Grann)
6. The Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro)
7. The Lost Leaf (Chiranan Pitpreecha)
8. Poor Things (Alasdair Gray)
9. The People in the Trees (Hanya Yanagihara)
10. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)

11. Room to Dream (David Lynch & Kristine McKenna)
12. Silence (Shūsaku Endō)
13. The Man in the Brown Suit (Agatha Christie)
14. The Sound of the Mountain (Yasunari Kawabata)
15. Poirot Investigates (Agatha Christie) (re-read)
16. Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman (Alan Rickman)
17. The Decagon House Murders (Yukito Ayatsuji)
18. The Professor (Charlotte Bronte)
19. Bookstore of Romance Novels (Prachakom Lunachai)
20. A Small Town in Germany (John le Carre)

[baby doll]

Novels:

• The Adventures of Oliver Twist; or, the Parish Boy's Progress (Charles Dickens, 1837-38, rev. 1846)*
• The Mill on the Floss (George Eliot, 1860)
• The Moviegoer (Walker Percy, 1961)
• Flights (Olga Tokarczuk, trans. Jennifer Croft, 2007)

Plays:

• Prometheus Bound and Other Plays (Aeschylus, trans. Philip Vellacott, 472-c.430 BCE)

Nonfiction:

• Critique of Pure Reason (Immanuel Kant, trans. Max Muller and Marcus Weigelt, 1781/87)*
• The Prison-House of Language: A Critical Account of Structuralism and Russian Formalism (Fredric Jameson, 1972)
• Basic Writings from Being and Time (1927) to The Task of Thinking (1964) (Martin Heidegger, ed. David Farrell Krell, trans. Krell et al., 1977)
• Allegories of Cinema: American Film in the Sixties (David E. James, 1989)
• Revolution and Subjectivity in Postwar Japan (J. Victor Koschmann, 1996)
• Seeing Fictions in Films: The Epistemology of Movies (George M. Wilson, 2011)
• V.F. Perkins on Movies: Collected Shorter Film Criticism (ed. Douglas Pye, 2020)

Deutsch als fremdsprache:

• Short Stories in German for Intermediate Learners (Olly Richards, 2021)*

*Started in 2023

[Peng]

1. Giovanni's Room (James Baldwin)
2. American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer (Kai Bird & Martin J. Sherwin)
3. Time (Chart Korbjitti)
4. Emma (Jane Austen)
5. Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI (David Grann)
6. The Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro)
7. The Lost Leaf (Chiranan Pitpreecha)
8. Poor Things (Alasdair Gray)
9. The People in the Trees (Hanya Yanagihara)
10. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)

11. The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act (Isaac Butler)
12. Room to Dream (David Lynch & Kristine McKenna)
13. Silence (Shūsaku Endō)
14. All the Light We Cannot See (Anthony Doerr)
15. The Man in the Brown Suit (Agatha Christie)
16. Northanger Abbey (Jane Austen)
17. The Sound of the Mountain (Yasunari Kawabata)
18. Poirot Investigates (Agatha Christie) (re-read)
19. Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman (Alan Rickman)
20. The Decagon House Murders (Yukito Ayatsuji)

21. The Professor (Charlotte Bronte)
22. Bookstore of Romance Novels (Prachakom Lunachai)
23. A Small Town in Germany (John le Carre)
24. Lake of Tears (Veeraporn Nitiprapha)

[baby doll]

Novels:

• The Adventures of Oliver Twist; or, the Parish Boy's Progress (Charles Dickens, 1837-38, rev. 1846)*
• The Mill on the Floss (George Eliot, 1860)
• The Moviegoer (Walker Percy, 1961)
• Gilead (Marilynne Robinson, 2004)
• Flights (Olga Tokarczuk, trans. Jennifer Croft, 2007)

Novellas and short stories:

• Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Tales (Robert Louis Stevenson, ed. Roger Luckhurst, 1882-88)

Plays:

• Prometheus Bound and Other Plays (Aeschylus, trans. Philip Vellacott, 472-c.430 BCE)

Nonfiction:

• Critique of Pure Reason (Immanuel Kant, trans. Max Muller and Marcus Weigelt, 1781/87)*
• The Prison-House of Language: A Critical Account of Structuralism and Russian Formalism (Fredric Jameson, 1972)
• Basic Writings from Being and Time (1927) to The Task of Thinking (1964) (Martin Heidegger, ed. David Farrell Krell, trans. Krell et al., 1977)
• Structure, Sign, and Function: Selected Essays (Jan Mukarovsky, ed. and trans. John Burbank and Peter Steiner, 1977)
• Allegories of Cinema: American Film in the Sixties (David E. James, 1989)
• Revolution and Subjectivity in Postwar Japan (J. Victor Koschmann, 1996)
• Seeing Fictions in Films: The Epistemology of Movies (George M. Wilson, 2011)
• V.F. Perkins on Movies: Collected Shorter Film Criticism (ed. Douglas Pye, 2020)

Deutsch als fremdsprache:

• Short Stories in German for Intermediate Learners (Olly Richards, 2021)*

*Started in 2023

[Peng]

Last update for the year:

1. Giovanni's Room (James Baldwin)
2. One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garc?a M?rquez)
3. American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer (Kai Bird & Martin J. Sherwin)
4. Time (Chart Korbjitti)
5. Emma (Jane Austen)
6. Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI (David Grann)
7. The Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro)
8. The Lost Leaf (Chiranan Pitpreecha)
9. Poor Things (Alasdair Gray)
10. The People in the Trees (Hanya Yanagihara)

11. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)
12. Khunthong, You Will Return at Dawn (Ussiri Thammachote)
13. The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act (Isaac Butler)
14. Room to Dream (David Lynch & Kristine McKenna)
15. Silence (Shūsaku Endō)
16. All the Light We Cannot See (Anthony Doerr)
17. The Man in the Brown Suit (Agatha Christie)
18. Northanger Abbey (Jane Austen)
19. The Sound of the Mountain (Yasunari Kawabata)
20. Poirot Investigates (Agatha Christie) (re-read)

21. Dune Messiah (Frank Herbert)
22. Down and Out in Paris and London (George Orwell)
23. Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman (Alan Rickman)
24. The Decagon House Murders (Yukito Ayatsuji)
25. Chitkathan (Sorajak)
26. The Professor (Charlotte Bronte)
27. Bookstore of Romance Novels (Prachakom Lunachai)
28. A Small Town in Germany (John le Carre)
29. Lake of Tears (Veeraporn Nitiprapha)

[Mysterious Dude]

I read some old-ass books this year. It was the year of "getting these over with."

1. Le Morte d'Arthur (1485, Thomas Malory)
2. Pelle the Conqueror (1906, Martin Anderson Nex?)
3. Hamnet (2020, Maggie O'Farrell)
4. The Way of All Flesh (1903, Samuel Butler)
5. The Odyssey (c. 700 B.C., Homer)
6. Petersburg (1913, Andrei Bely)
7. Harold (2023, Steven Wright)
8. Confessions (378, Augustine of Hippo)
9. The Paul Street Boys (1906, Ferenc Moln?r)
10. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902, Arthur Conan Doyle)
11. The Aeneid (20 A.D., Virgil)
12. Le Grand Meaulnes (1913, Alain-Fournier)
13. Jakob von Gunten (1909, Robert Walser)
14. The Life of Charlemagne (818 A.D., Einhard)

Plays:

1. Medea (Euripides)
2. Antigone (Sophocles)
3. Lysistrata (Aristophanes)

Graphic novels:

1. Celestia (Manuele Fior)
2. The Shadow of a Man (Fran?ois Schuiten)
3. The Tower (Fran?ois Schuiten)
4. Paris 2119 (Zep)

[baby doll]

Novels:

• The Adventures of Oliver Twist; or, the Parish Boy's Progress (Charles Dickens, 1837-38, rev. 1846)*
• The Mill on the Floss (George Eliot, 1860)
• Naomi (Tanizaki Junichiro, trans. Anthony H. Chambers, 1924-25)
• The Moviegoer (Walker Percy, 1961)
• Gilead (Marilynne Robinson, 2004)
• Flights (Olga Tokarczuk, trans. Jennifer Croft, 2007)

Novellas and short stories:

• Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Tales (Robert Louis Stevenson, ed. Roger Luckhurst, 1882-88)

Plays:

• Prometheus Bound and Other Plays (Aeschylus, trans. Philip Vellacott, 472-c.430 BCE)

Nonfiction:

• Critique of Pure Reason (Immanuel Kant, trans. Max Muller and Marcus Weigelt, 1781/87)*
• The Prison-House of Language: A Critical Account of Structuralism and Russian Formalism (Fredric Jameson, 1972)
• Basic Writings from Being and Time (1927) to The Task of Thinking (1964) (Martin Heidegger, ed. David Farrell Krell, trans. Krell et al., 1977)
• Structure, Sign, and Function: Selected Essays (Jan Mukarovsky, ed. and trans. John Burbank and Peter Steiner, 1977)
• Allegories of Cinema: American Film in the Sixties (David E. James, 1989)
• Revolution and Subjectivity in Postwar Japan (J. Victor Koschmann, 1996)
• Melodrama and Modernity: Early Sensational Cinema and its Contexts (Ben Singer, 2001)**
• Seeing Fictions in Films: The Epistemology of Movies (George M. Wilson, 2011)
• Notions of Genre: Writings on Popular Film Before Genre Theory (eds. Barry Keith Grant and Malisa Kurtz, 2016)**
• V.F. Perkins on Movies: Collected Shorter Film Criticism (ed. Douglas Pye, 2020)

[

Show Spoiler

• Translation and Subjectivity: On "Japan" and Cultural Nationalism (Naoki Sakai, 1997)

]

Deutsch als fremdsprache:

• Short Stories in German for Intermediate Learners (Olly Richards, 2021)*

*Started in 2023
**Finished in 2025