An absolutely stunning history of the United States. You know how you feel when you listen to Hamilton? Like you are seeing your country for the first time? Yeah, this book is like that.

This memoir hurt me.

If I’d pursued a dissertation, it would have involved the Aubrey/Maturin books, with a particular emphasis on his three major female characters. O’Brian is a master of the anti-climax, and this series is superb.

Initially, Orlean's nonfiction takes us on a search for the arsonist of the Central Library fire in 1986. And then a history of libraries in Los Angeles. And finally an exploration of open spaces in our culture. It is written with so much love and curiosity that I frequently found myself in tears.

The Percy Jackson and the Olympians series is pure pleasure. An updating of Greek myths, the heroes are hilarious, and clever, and in constant peril. I wanted to be these kids, and reading their adventures is the next best thing.

A tautly plotted thriller. Waters explores class and sex in a style uniquely her own.

Money and a solitary place to work. These are still vital for the artist. A Room of One’s Own is a lovely book, and easily read. If you’re able to track down a copy of Eileen Atkins’ monologue, you’ll have a particularly delightful experience of Woolf’s treatise.

My copy of And Her Soul Out Of Nothing is trashed. I’ve read these poems so often that I sometimes dream in Davis’s language.