Hi! I’ve loved books for as long as I can remember (I just turned 45 last week). Over the past couple of years I’ve made reading a bigger priority in my life (instead of scrolling on my phone or watching a TV show before going to sleep, I’ll read, and it’s helped me sleep better and become happier overall). Goodreads says I read 82 books in 2023. So far, in January, I’ve read One Hundred Years of Solitude, Blood Meridian, and Lincoln in the Bardo (among others).
I’ve been trying to read a mixture of classics and contemporary books (lots classic novels and contemporary nonfiction). I’d like to read more new and recent fiction but there aren’t a ton of authors I enjoy and would love some suggestions of others I might like. Here are the contemporary authors I do really love: Megan Abbott, Michael Chabon, James Ellroy, Katie Kitamura, Rachel Kushner, Jonathan Lethem, Ottessa Moshfegh, Joyce Carol Oates, Tea Obreht, Karen Russell, George Saunders, Zadie Smith, and Colson Whitehead. That, though, seems paltry compared the amount of fiction that is being published right now. I only finished one 2023 novel last year (All-Night Pharmacy) and DNF The Biography of X.
I think I read an interesting and diverse collection of books but feel overwhelmed whenever I walk into a bookstore.
by xstitchxchris