All of the Books
These are the books I’ve read since 2000, in approximate chronological order. Maybe we could talk about one someday? The early years might be missing some. The ones in bold I especially loved. The ones with -R I was required to read. The ones with * I didn’t really care for. The ones with ** I didn’t like at all.
Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi
The Red Horizon, by Patrick MacGill
Isaac’s Storm, by Erik Larson
-2022-
All This Could Be Different, by Sarah Thankam Mathews
We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies, by Tsering Yangzom Lama
The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
Parable of the Sower, by Octavia Butler
The Travelers, by Regina Porter
Gideon the Ninth, by Tasmyn Muir
The Gifts of Imperfection, by Brené Brown
Sula, by Toni Morrison
This Is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone
-2021-
Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes
Four Thousand Weeks, by Oliver Burkeman
The Three-Body Problem, by Liu Cixin
Say Nothing, by Patrick Radden Keefe
It Never Ends, by Tom Scharpling
Der Kurier des Zaren, von Jules Verne
A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara*
When Breath Becomes Air, by Paul Kalanithi
Momo, von Michael Ende
The Vanishing Half, by Brit Bennett
-2020-
Sprache und Sein, von Kübra Gümüşay
The Autobiography of Malcolm X, by Malcolm X and Alex Haley
Babel, by Gaston Dorren
Laudato Si’, by Pope Francis
The Overstory, by Richard Powers
How to be an Anticapitalist in the 21st Century, by Erik Olin Wright
The Will to Change, by bell hooks
How We Think, by John Dewey
The Reflective Practitioner, by Donald Schön
-2019-
Die Taube, von Patrick Süskind
How to Change Your Mind, by Michael Pollan
Sincerity and Authenticity, by Lionel Trilling
Encounters with the Archdruid, by John McPhee
The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead
To Shake the Sleeping Self, by Jedediah Jenkins
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Dune, by Frank Herbert
But What If We’re Wrong? by Chuck Klosterman
Postmoderne Ehrnährung, von Annelies Furtmayr-Schuh
The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
The Road Back to You, by Ian Cron & Suzanne Stabile
Long Walk to Freedom, by Nelson Mandela
-2018
Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Go Tell It on the Mountain, by James Baldwin
Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
Language and Reality, by Vilém Flusser
Sprint, by Jake Knapp, et al
Heir to the Empire, by Timothy Zahn*
Children of the Dead End, by Patrick MacGill
Franny and Zooey, by J.D. Salinger
Living Dangerously, by Pádraig Ó Máille
Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah
Symphony for the City of the Dead, by M.T. Anderson
The Ongoing Present, by Micheál Mac Gréil
In Other Words, by Jhumpa Lahiri
Unexpected News: Reading the Bible with Third World Eyes, by Robert McAfee Brown
-2017-
Light in August, by William Faulkner
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, by Marie Kondo
An Interrupted Life, by Etty Hillesum
Before the Fall, by Noah Hawley**
The Art of Loving, by Erich Fromm
The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway
Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace
-2016-
Profit Over People, by Noam Chomsky*
The Wind-Up Girl, by Pablo Bacigalupi
A New Earth, by Eckhart Tolle
Deschooling Society, by Ivan Illich
Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis
Way of the Peaceful Warrior, by Dan Millman
Why Read Moby-Dick?, by Nathaniel Philbrick
Open Veins of Latin America, by Eduardo Galeano
-2015-
Seveneves, by Neal Stephenson
Jonathan Livingston Seagull, by Richard Bach
All About Love, by bell hooks
Introduction to Christianity, by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
Dandelion Wine, by Ray Bradbury (again)
Siddhartha, von Hermann Hesse
Alexander’s Bridge, by Willa Cather
Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, by David Sedaris
The Wild Muir, by John Muir
The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown
-2014-
Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert A. Heinlein*
The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris, by David McCullough
Flatland, by Edwin A. Abbott
The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London
Island, by Aldous Huxley
The Wise Man’s Fear, by Patrick Rothfuss
No god but God, by Reza Aslan
Rich Dad Poor Dad, by Robert Kioysaki
The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss
The Power of Habit, by Charles Duhigg
-2013-
The Yage Letters, by William S. Burroughs & Allen Ginsberg
Homo Faber, von Max Frisch
Irisches Tagebuch, von Heinrich Böll
Emma*, by Jane Austen
Ansichten eines Clowns, von Heinrich Böll
Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson
An Unquiet Mind, by Kay Redfield Jamison
Collapse, by Jared Diamond
The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde
Jurassic Park, by Michael Crichton (again)
A Storm of Swords, by George R.R. Martin
-2012-
Models of God: Theology for an Ecological, Nuclear Age, by Sallie McFague
Into The Wild, by Jon Krakauer
The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
El Túnel, de Ernesto Sabato
A Clash of Kings, by George R.R. Martin
The King David Report, by Stefan Heym
A Game of Thrones, by George R. R. Martin
Guns, Germs, and Steel, by Jared Diamond
Let the Great World Spin, by Collum McCann
-2011-
The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
How to Be Good*, by Nick Hornby
Leisure: The Basis of Culture, by Josef Pieper
Dracula, by Bram Stoker
The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan
Lone Survivor*, by Marcus Luttrell and Patrick Robinson
Steppenwolf, by Hermann Hesse
War as I Knew It, by George S. Patton, Jr.
Skinny Legs and All, by Tom Robbins
-2010-
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Sirens of Titan, by Kurt Vonnegut
Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Reluctant Fundamentalist, by Mohsin Hamid
Anathem, by Neal Stephenson
The Extra Man, by Jonathan Ames
Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie
The Sound and the Fury, by William Faulkner
My Stroke of Insight, by Jill Bolte Taylor
Life on the Mississippi, by Mark Twain
Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro
The History of Love, by Nicole Krauss
The Gunslinger*, by Stephen King
Crime & Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Candide, by Voltaire
-2009-
The Kite Runner*, by Khaled Hosseini
Moby-Dick, by Herman Melville
The Miracle Letters of T. Rimberg, by Geoff Herbach
1984, by George Orwell
In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell**, by Tucker Max
A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
-2008-
In Patagonia, by Bruce Chatwin
The Crying of Lot 49, by Thomas Pynchon
The Johnstown Flood, by David McCullough
Sense & Sensibility, by Jane Austen
The Diamond Age, by Neal Stephenson
The Songlines, by Bruce Chatwin
Born Standing Up, by Steve Martin
Atonement, by Ian MacEwen
-2007-
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald (again)
Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling
Mi País Inventado, de Isabel Allende
Mornings On Horseback, by David McCullough
Mala Onda, de Alberto Fuguet
Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
Memoirs of a Geisha**, by Arthur Golden
Pride & Prejudice, by Jane Austen
A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole
-2006-
The Hotel New Hampshire, by John Irving
Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse
The Professor & the Madman, by Simon Winchester
Please Kill Me, by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain
Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster (again)
Brokeback Mountain, by Annie Proulx
Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli
-2005-
A Long Way Down*, by Nick Hornby
The World According to Garp, by John Irving
The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
The Master & Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, by J.K. Rowling
Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, by Chuck Klosterman
1776, by David McCullough
Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein
About A Boy, by Nick Hornby
Dead-Eye Dick, by Kurt Vonnegut
Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing*, by Benjamin Nugent
Fugitives and Refugees, by Chuck Palahniuk
The DaVinci Code, by Dan Brown
Hamlet, by William Shakespeare -R
King Lear, by William Shakespeare -R
The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka -R
Beloved, by Toni Morrison -R
Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
-2004-
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, by Mark Twain
The Shipping News, by Annie Proulx -R
Fight Club, by Chuck Palahniuk
Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser
Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess -R
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley -R
-2003-
Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley R (again)
Macbeth, by William Shakespeare -R
John Adams, by David McCullough
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy*, by Douglas Adams
Children of the Mind, by Orson Scott Card
High Fidelity, by Nick Hornby
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by J.K. Rowling
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain -R
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald -R
-2002-
Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad -R
Xenocide, by Orson Scott Card
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey
Speaker for the Dead, by Orson Scott Card
The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger -R
-2001-
Death Comes for the Archbishop, by Willa Cather
Dandelion Wine, by Ray Bradbury -R
The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding -R
Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
-2000-
Romeo & Juliet, by William Shakespeare -R
Life of Pi, by Yann Martel -R
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by J.K. Rowling
Animal Farm, by George Orwell -R
Abandoned Books:
The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
The World is Flat, by Thomas Friedman
Fourth Thing 
Ich auch mag Siddartha, aber Steppenwolf – nicht so viel. Nur der erste Teil hat mir gefallen. Aber es scheint, dass du einmal Demian lesen sollst, mein Lieblingsbuch. Es ist natürlich besser auf Deutsch als auf Englisch. In die englisch Übersetzung gibt es viele Fehler, zum beispiel das Wort Egel (louse), das in einer Übersetzung als “angel” falsch übergesetzt war, und viele Sätze, die überhaupt nicht übersetzt wurden, ich weiß nicht warum. Vielleicht gibt’s eine gute Übersetzung, aber wenn man Deutsch kann, braucht man das nicht.
Haha ein “Egel” hat nicht so viel mit einem “Angel” zu tun… Vielleicht gibt es eine bessere Übersetzung irgendwo? Ich habe eigentlich Narziss und Goldmund gerade angefangen, nach viele Freunde es mir empfohlen haben (witzigerweise hat die Freundin, die mir es geschenkt hat, mich GERADE angerufen! Verrückt! Sie ist leider von ihrem zuhause ohne Schlüssel rausgeschlossen… ich bin aber leider nicht da, um sie reinzulassen. Blöd.) Aber naja, vielen vielen Dank, dass du dich gemeldet hast! Ich habe auch dein Blogpost gelesen… sehr schön geschrieben. Wie cool, dass du alle Folgen angeschaut hast! Und du hast Recht, es fehlt ein Paar Episodes, oder? Vielleicht finden sie der “Licht des Tages” irgendwann… Stay tuned!
Es freut mich, dass du meinen Blogpost gelesen und toll gefunden hast.
Narziss und Goldmund habe ich im Mai gelesen, es ist bestimmt lesenswert, aber vielleicht zwei oder dreimal größer als Demian und hat mir weniger gefallen…es war schwieriger, und die Hauptpersonen weniger glaubhaft. Und es gibt auch zu viele Namen von Bäumen. Baumnamen und Blumennamen überall.
Es scheint, dass es gibt sehr viele Zufälle in deinem Leben, auch heute. Und ganz züfallig (!) gibt es viele Sätze in Demian darüber, die sagen, dass Zufälle existieren gar nicht! Zum Beispiel:
“Eine eigentümliche Zuflucht fand ich damals – durch einen »Zufall«, wie man sagt.
Es gibt aber solche Zufälle nicht.
Wenn der, der etwas notwendig braucht, dies ihm Notwendige findet, so ist es nicht
der Zufall, der es ihm gibt, sondern er selbst, sein eigenes Verlangen und Müssen
führt ihn hin.”
und:
In jenen Wochen hatte ich eine Lektüre begonnen, die mir tieferen Eindruck machte
als alles, was ich früher gelesen…Es war ein Band Novalis, mit Briefen und Sentenzen,
von denen ich viele nicht verstand und die mich doch alle unsäglich anzogen und
umspannten. Einer von den Sprüchen fiel mir nun ein. Ich schrieb ihn mit der Feder
unter das Bildnis: »Schicksal und Gemüt sind Namen eines Begriffes.« Das hatte ich
nun verstanden.
Und ja, es gibt eine bessere Übersetzung, weil ich es gemacht habe:
Ich hat es getan, obwohl mein Deutsch noch nicht fließend ist, wegen Liebe des Buches.
Weil dein Show mir so viele Freude gegeben hat, schicke ich es dir als pdf. Schicke mir ein email und ich werde es dir geben.
Wow awesome! Ich interessiere mich voll für deine Übersetzung. Ich schick dir gleich ein Mail, dann hoffentlich können wir in ein Paar Monate darüber reden… (meine Liste ist gerade noch lang, aber ich krieg es irgendwie hin!) Vielen Dank! Hesse hat schon eine sehr schöne, einsigartige Perspektiv am Leben. Danke auch für die Zitate… Ich stimme ihm zu! Weisst du, in einem früheren Schnitt meines Videos, gab es eine Progression von Momenten wo ich das Wort “Zufall” über die Zeit gesagt hatte…
Glad to know I’m not the only book abandoner in the world.
Not all books are created equal.
If you liked Snow Crash and Diamond Age, I recommend Cryptonomicon.
I think I am definitely going to use some of these recommendations since I like your taste based on the books we have both read.
What was the first book you read in German?
Cool! I’ve been meaning to read that. I loved Anathem, too. The first book I finished in German was Ansichten eines Clowns, and I loved it. I tried reading Siddhartha before that but it was too hard. I think I could handle it now though. I recently finished Homo Faber by Max Frisch, and I think that is a good book to read for someone learning German, too.