Andy Dufresne and Anatoli Boukreev walk into a bar

Updated: January 1, 2020
Continuing, for some reason, to chronicle every book and short story I've read since The Lord of the Rings in the Spring of 2017.

Part 1 (2017) | Part 2 (2018) | "Selected readings from the Old Lady Book Club"

Critical remarks are avoided…

Rereads coopt the register-mark symbol…

"Library Book Club" selections are noted in red to represent the spectre of death.

"CSGNFBØQEBCBBL" selections are noted in blue to represent the suffocation that is professional networking.

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Denis Johnson
"The Starlight on Idaho" (2018)

Elizabeth Strout
Anything Is Possible (2017) 👍

John Cleese
So, Anyway… (2014)

Philip K. Dick
"The Days of Perky Pat" (1963)
"Precious Artifact" (1964)
"A Game of Unchance" (1964)

Agatha Christie
Murder on the Orient Express (1934)

Philip K. Dick
"Faith of Our Fathers" (1967)
"The Electric Ant" (1969)
"A Little Something for Us Tempunauts" (1974)
"Rautavaara's Case" (1980)

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
From Welcome to the Monkey House (1968)
"Preface to Welcome to the Monkey House" (1968)
"You've Never Been to Barnstable?" a.k.a. "Where I Live" (1964)

Philip K. Dick
"The Exit Door Leads In" (1979)
"Frozen Journey" (1980)

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
From Welcome to the Monkey House (1968)
"Harrison Bergeron" (1961)

Katy Tur
Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History (2017) 👍

Jeffrey Eugenides
Middlesex (2002)  👍

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
From Welcome to the Monkey House (1968)
"My Name Is Everyone," a.k.a. "Who Am I This Time?" (1961)
"Welcome to the Monkey House" (1968)
"Long Walk to Forever" (1960)
"The Foster Portfolio" (1951)

Owen Beattie/John Geiger
Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition (1987/2017 revision)

Fiona Davis
The Address (2017) 👎

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
From Welcome to the Monkey House (1968)
"Miss Temptation" (1956)

Shirley Jackson
From Come Along With Me (posth.)
"Biography of a Story" (1960)

Frederic Brown
"Hall of Mirrors" (1953)
"Keep Out" (1954)

Charlotte Perkins Gilman
"The Yellow Wall-Paper" (1892)

Wes Moore
The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates (2010) 👎

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
From Welcome to the Monkey House (1968)
"All the King's Horses" (1951)

Shirley Jackson
From Come Along With Me (posth.)
"The Night We All Had Grippe" (1952)
"Experience and Fiction" (1958)
"Notes for a Young Writer" (1962)

Eugene Burdick/Harvey Wheeler
Fail-Safe (1962)

Ambrose Bierce
"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (1890)

Shirley Jackson
From Come Along With Me (posth.)
"Janice" (1938)
"Tootie in Peonage" (1942)
"A Cauliflower in Her Hair" (1944)

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Mother Night (1962)

Andre Dubus III
Townie (2011) 👍

Henry James
The Turn of the Screw (1898/1908 revision)

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
From Welcome to the Monkey House (1968)
"Tom Edison's Shaggy Dog" (1953)
"The Random House Dictionary," a.k.a. "New Dictionary" (1966)
"Next Door" (1955)
"More Stately Mansions" (1951)

Norm Macdonald
Based on a True Story (2016)

Ian McEwan
Nutshell (2016)

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
From Welcome to the Monkey House (1968)
"The Hyannis Port Story" (1963)
"DP" (1953)
"Report on the Barnhouse Effect" (1950)
"The Euphio Question" (1951)
"Go Back to Your Precious Wife and Son" (1962)

Shirley Jackson
From Come Along With Me (posth.)
"I Know Who I Love" (1946)
"The Beautiful Stranger" (1946)
"The Summer People" (1950)
"The Island" (1950)
"The Lovely House," a.k.a. "A Visit" (1952)

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
From Welcome to the Monkey House (1968)
"Deer in the Works" (1955)
"The Lie" (1962)
"Unready to Wear" (1953)
"The Kid Nobody Could Handle" (1955)

Shirley Jackson
From Come Along With Me (posth.)
"Come Along With Me" (1965)

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
From Welcome to the Monkey House (1968)
"The Manned Missiles" (1958)
"EPICAC" (1950)
"Adam" (1954)

Erik Larson
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania (2015) 👍

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
From Welcome to the Monkey House (1968)
"Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" (1961)

Shirley Jackson
From Come Along With Me (posth.)
"The Rock" (1951)
"A Day in the Jungle" (1952)
"Pajama Party" (1963)
"Louisa, Please Come Home" (1960)
"The Little House" (1964)
"The Bus" (1965)

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
From Bagombo Snuff Box (1999)
"Introduction to Bagombo Snuff Box" (1999)

Arundhati Roy
The God of Small Things (1997) 👎

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
From Bagombo Snuff Box (1999)
"Thanasphere" (1950)
"Mnemonics" (1951)
"Any Reasonable Offer" (1952)
"The Package" (1952)
"The No-Talent Kid" (1952)
"Poor Little Rich Town" (1952)
"Souvenir" (1952)
"The Cruise of the Jolly Roger" (1953)
"Custom-Made Bride" (1954)
"Ambitious Sophomore" (1954)
"Bagombo Snuff Box" (1954)
"The Powder-Blue Dragon" (1954/1999 revision)
"A Present for Big Nick," a.k.a. "A Present for Big Saint Nick" (1954)

Liu Cixin
The Three-Body Problem (2008/2014 translation)

Shirley Jackson
From Let Me Tell You (posth.)
"Paranoia" (c. 1942)

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
From Bagombo Snuff Box (1999)
"Unpaid Consultant" (1955)
"Der Arme Dolmetscher" (1955)
"The Boy Who Hated Girls" (1956/1999 revision)
"This Son of Mine" (1956) ®
"A Night for Love" (1957)

Stephen King
From Different Seasons (1982)
Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption ®

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
From Bagombo Snuff Box (1999)
"Find Me a Dream" (1961)
"Runaways" (1961)
"2 B R 0 2 B" (1962) ®
"Lovers Anonymous" (1963)
"Hal Irwin's Magic Lamp" (1957/1999 revision)
"Coda to My Career As a Writer for Periodicals" (1999)

Shirley Jackson
From Just an Ordinary Day (posth.)
"All I Can Remember" (unk.)
"The Smoking Room" (unk.)
"I Don't Kiss Strangers" (unk.)

Stephen King
From Different Seasons (1982)
Apt Pupil ®

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
From Armageddon in Retrospect (posth.)
"Dear People" (1945)
"At Clowes Hall, Indianapolis" (2007)
"Wailing Shall Be in All Streets" (unk.)
"Great Day" (unk.)
"Guns Before Butter" (unk.)
"Happy Birthday, 1951" (unk.)
"Brighten Up" (unk.)
"The Unicorn Trap" (unk.)
"Unknown Soldier" (unk.)
"Spoils" (unk.)
"Just You and Me, Sammy" (unk.)
"The Commandant's Desk" (unk.)
"Armageddon in Retrospect" (unk.)

Shirley Jackson
From Just an Ordinary Day (posth.)
"Summer Afternoon" (unk.)
"Indians Live in Tents" (unk.)
"The Very Hot Sun in Bermuda" (unk.)
"Nightmare" (unk.)
"Dinner for a Gentleman" (unk.)
"Party of Boys" (unk.)
"Jack the Ripper" (unk.)

Kirstin Downey
The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience (2009) 👍

Franz Kafka
The Metamorphosis (1915/2002 translation)

Andy Weir
The Martian (2011)
"How Science Made Me a Writer" (2014)
"Diary of an AssCan" (2015)

Shirley Jackson
From Just an Ordinary Day (posth.)
"The Honeymoon of Mrs. Smith" (unk.)
"The Mystery of the Murdered Bride" (unk.)

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
From Look at the Birdie (posth.)
"Dear Miller" (1951)

Shirley Jackson
We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962)

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
From Look at the Birdie (posth.)
"Confido" (unk.)
"Fubar" (unk.) ®
"Shout About It From the Housetops" (unk.)
Ed Luby's Key Club (unk.)

Stephen King
From Different Seasons (1982)
The Body ®
The Breathing Method

Shirley Jackson
From Just an Ordinary Day (posth.)
"The Sister" (unk.)
"Arch-Criminal" (unk.)
"Mrs. Anderson" (unk.)
"Come to the Fair" (unk.)
"Portrait" (unk.)
"Gnarly the King of the Jungle" (unk.)
"The Good Wife" (unk.)
"Devil of a Tale" (unk.)
"The Mouse" (unk.)
"My Grandmother and the World of Cats" (unk.)

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
From Look at the Birdie (posth.)
"A Song for Selma" (unk.)
"Hall of Mirrors" (unk.)
"The Nice Little People" (unk.)
"Hello, Red" (unk.)

Shirley Jackson
From Just an Ordinary Day (posth.)
"Maybe It Was the Car" (unk.)
"Lovers Meeting" (unk.)
"My Recollections of SB Fairchild" (unk.)
"Deck the Halls" (unk.)
"Lord of the Castle" (unk.)
"What a Thought" (unk.)
"When Barry Was Seven" (unk.)
"Before Autumn" (unk.)

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
From Look at the Birdie (posth.)
"Little Drops of Water" (unk.)
"The Petrified Ants" (unk.)
"The Honor of a Newsboy" (unk.)

Shirley Jackson
From Just an Ordinary Day (posth.)
"The Story We Used to Tell" (unk.)
"My Uncle in the Garden" (unk.)
"On the House" (1943)
"Little Old Lady in Great Need" (1944)
"When Things Get Dark" (1944)

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
From Look at the Birdie (posth.)
"Look at the Birdie" (unk.)
"King and Queen of the Universe" (unk.)
"The Good Explainer" (unk.)

Shirley Jackson
From Just an Ordinary Day (posth.)
"Whistler's Grandmother" (1945)
"Family Magician" (1949)

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson
"The Father" (1860/1881 translation)

Jon Krakauer
Into Thin Air (1997) ® 👍
"Postscript to Into Thin Air" (1999)

Shirley Jackson
From Just an Ordinary Day (posth.)
"The Wishing Dime" (1949)
"About Two Nice People" (1951)

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
"The Big Space Fuck" (1972)
"Atrocity Story" (unk.)
"Eden by the River" (unk.)
"Between Timid and Timbuktu" (unk.)
"Rome" (unk.)
"Miss Snow, You're Fired" (unk.)
"Paris, France" (unk.)
"The City" (unk.)
"Sucker's Portfolio" (unk.)
"The Drone King" (unk.)
"Requiem for Zeitgeist" (unk.)
"And on Your Left" (unk.)

Shirley Jackson
From Just an Ordinary Day (posth.)
"Mrs. Melville Makes a Purchase" (1951)
"Journey With a Lady" (1952)
"The Most Wonderful Thing" (1952)
"The Friends" (1953)
"Alone in a Den of Cubs" (1953)
"The Order of Charlotte's Going" (1954)
"One Ordinary Day, With Peanuts" (1955)
"The Missing Girl" (1957)
"The Omen" (1958)
"Strangers in Town," a.k.a. "The Very Strange House Next Door" (1959)

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
From While Mortals Sleep (posth.)
"Jenny" (unk.)
"The Epizootic" (unk.)
"Hundred-Dollar Kisses" (unk.)
"Guardian of the Person" (unk.)
"With His Hand on the Throttle" (unk.)
"Girl Pool" (unk.)
"Ruth" (unk.)

Andrew Schulman
Waking the Spirit: A Musician's Journey Healing Body, Mind and Soul (2016)

Shirley Jackson
"A Great Voice Stilled" (1960)
"All She Said Was Yes" (1962)
"Home" (1965)
"IOU" (1965)
"The Possibility of Evil" (1965)
"Fame" (1948)

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
From While Mortals Sleep (posth.)
"While Mortals Sleep" (unk.)
"Out, Brief Candle" (unk.)
"Tango" (unk.)
"Bomar" (unk.)
"The Man Without No Kiddleys" (unk.)

Diane Ackerman
The Zookeeper's Wife (2007) 👍

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
From While Mortals Sleep (posth.)
"Mr. Z" (unk.)
"$10,000 a Year, Easy" (unk.)
"Money Talks" (unk.)
"The Humbugs" (unk.)

HP Lovecraft
"Nyarlathotep" (1920)
"Polaris" (1920)
"The Statement of Randolph Carter" (1920)
"From Beyond" (1934)
"The Temple" (1925)
"The Other Gods" (1933)
"The Hound" (1924)
"The Unnamable" (1925)
"He" (1926)
"In the Vault" (1925)
"The Descendant" (c. 1927)
"The Book" (1933)
"The Very Old Folk" (1927)
"The Lurking Fear" (1923)
"The Horror at Red Hook" (1927)
"The Thing on the Doorstep" (1937)
Herbert West—Reanimator (1922)

Philip K. Dick
The Man in the High Castle (1962)

HP Lovecraft
The Shunned House (1924)
"The Silver Key" (1929)

Agatha Christie
From "The Witness for the Prosecution" and Other Stories (1948)
"Traitor's Hands," a.k.a. "The Witness for the Prosecution" (1925)
"The Red Signal" (1924)
"The Fourth Man" (1925)
"SOS" (1926)
"Wireless," a.k.a. "Where There's a Will" (1926)
"The Mystery of the Blue Jar" (1924)

Henry Rollins
Get in the Van: On the Road With Black Flag (1994/2004 revision)

Agatha Christie
From "The Witness for the Prosecution" and Other Stories (1948)
"Sing a Song of Sixpence" (1929)
"Mr. Eastwood's Adventure" (1924)
"Philomel Cottage" (1924)
"The Uncrossed Path," a.k.a. "Accident" (1929)
"The Second Gong" (1932)

Oscar Wilde
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890)

Carl Bernstein/Bob Woodward
All the President's Men (1974) 👍
"Afterword to All the President's Men: Marking the Fortieth Anniversary of Watergate" (2012)

Shirley Jackson
From Let Me Tell You (posth.)
"Still Life With Teapot and Students" (unk.)
"The Arabian Nights" (unk.)
"Mrs. Spencer and the Oberons" (unk.)
"It Isn't the Money I Mind" (1945)
"Company for Dinner" (unk.)
"I Cannot Sing the Old Songs" (unk.)

Ottessa Moshfegh
McGlue (2014)

Shirley Jackson
From Let Me Tell You (posth.)
"The New Maid" (unk.)
"French Is the Mark of a Lady" (unk.)
"Gaudeamus Igitur" (unk.)

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[A third year with the Ladies, thought to have expired in August, instead continues at a more relaxed pace as I anticipate six skipped titles after only two and then two more (Jhumpa Lahiri's The Lowland and Chris Bohjalian's Before You Know Kindness last season). "One book" abounds…]

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David Sheff
Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction (2008) 👍
"Afterword to Beautiful Boy: Hope for an Addicted Nation" (2009)
"New Afterword to Beautiful Boy" (2018)

The Jesus Lizard
Book (2014)

Shirley Jackson
From Let Me Tell You (posth.)
"The Lie" (unk.)
"She Says the Damnedest Things" (unk.)
"Remembrance of Things Past" (unk.)

Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page (2014)

Shirley Jackson
From Let Me Tell You (posth.)
"Let Me Tell You" (unk.)
"Bulletin" (1954)
"Family Treasures" (unk.)
"Showdown" (unk.)
"The Trouble With My Husband" (unk.)
"Six AM Is the Hour" (unk.)
"Root of Evil" (1953)
"The Bridge Game" (unk.)
"The Man in the Woods" (unk.)
"Autobiographical Musing" (unk.)
"A Garland of Garlands" (unk.)
"Hex Me, Daddy, Eight to the Bar" (unk.)

Georgia Hunter
We Were the Lucky Ones (2017) 👍

Autumn de Wilde
Elliott Smith (2007)

Shirley Jackson
From Let Me Tell You (posth.)
"Clowns" (1949)
"A Vroom for Dr. Seuss" (unk.)
"Notes on an Unfashionable Novelist: Samuel Richardson, 1689–1761" (unk.)
"Private Showing" (unk.)
"Good Old House" (1952)
"The Play's the Thing" (unk.)
"The Ghosts of Loiret" (unk.)
"Well?" (unk.)
"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (unk.)
"Period Piece" (unk.)
"4-F Party" (unk.)
"The Paradise" (unk.)
"Homecoming" (1945)
"Daughter, Come Home" (1944)
"As High as the Sky" (unk.)
"Murder on Miss Lederer's Birthday" (unk.)
"Here I Am, Washing Dishes Again" (unk.)
"In Praise of Dinner Table Silence" (1960)
"Questions I Wish I'd Never Asked" (1961)
"Mother, Honestly!" (1959)
"How to Enjoy a Family Quarrel" (1957)
"The Pleasures and Perils of Dining Out With Children" (1957)
"Out of the Mouths of Babes" (1960)
"The Real Me" (unk.)
"On Girls of Thirteen" (unk.)
"What I Want to Know Is, What Do Other People Cook With?" (1961)
"About the End of the World" (unk.)
"Memory and Delusion" (unk.)
"On Fans and Fan Mail" (unk.)
"How I Write" (unk.)
"Garlic in Fiction" (unk.)

Mick Farren/Dennis Loren
Classic Rock Posters: Sixty Years of Posters and Flyers, 1952 to 2012 (2012)

Joe Hill (Joseph King)
The Fireman (2016)

Richard Lacayo/George Russell
Eyewitness: 150 Years of Photojournalism (1995)

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (1965)

Jim Krause
Layout Index (2001)

Beryl Evans (Stephen King)
Charlie the Choo-Choo (2016)

Stephen King
The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (1997) ®

Legs McNeil/Gillian McCain
Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk (1996)

Colin Barrett
From Young Skins (2014)
"The Clancy Kid"
"Bait"
"The Moon"

Alex W. White
The Elements of Graphic Design: Space, Unity, Page Architecture and Type (2002)

Colin Barrett
From Young Skins (2014)
"Stand Your Skin"
"Calm With Horses"
"Diamonds"
"Kindly Forget My Existence"

Muriel Spark
The Driver's Seat (1970)

Karen Russell
From "Orange World" and Other Stories (2019)
"The Prospectors" (2015)
"The Bad Graft" (2014)
"Bog Girl" (2016)

William Carlsen
Jungle of Stone: The Extraordinary Journey of John L. Stephens and Frederick Catherwood and the Discovery of the Lost Civilization of the Maya (2016)

Edgar Allan Poe
"Review of Incidents of Travel in Egypt, Arabia Petraea and the Holy Land" (1837)
"Review of Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatán" (1841)

Karen Russell
From "Orange World" and Other Stories (2019)
"Madame Bovary's Greyhound" (2013)
"The Tornado Auction" (2017)
"Black Corfu" (2018)
"The Gondoliers" (2019)
"Orange World" (2018)