THE WAR OF ART / Steven Pressfield
YELLOWFACE / R. F. Kuang
TALES OF BURNING LOVE / Louise Erdrich
ALEXANDER P. ANDERSON / Lydia Hedin, John P. Anderson
THE SEVENTH READER / Alexander P. Anderson
2024
ZAMI / Audre Lorde
THE BOOK OF DELIGHTS / Ross Gay
SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS / Gutterson
AIN’T BURNED ALL THE BRIGHT / Reynolds & Griffin
THIN SKIN / Jenn Shapland
MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF CARSON MCCULLERS / Jenn Shapland
MY BRILLIANT FRIEND / Elena Ferrante
SIGNS: THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF THE UNIVERSE / Laura Lynne Jackson
ClOSE RED WATER / Emma Aylor
WE ARE A HAUNTING / Tyriek White
LOVE MARRIAGE / V.V. Ganeshananthan
THE ART OF REVISION / Peter Ho Davies
GROUND GLASS / Kathryn Savage
SWEET, YOUNG, WORRIED / Blythe Baird
NORTHERN LIGHT / Kazim Ali
I’M GLAD MY MOTHER DIED / Jennette McCurdy
JUDAS GOAT / Gabrielle Bates
HOUSE OF CARAVANS / Shilpi Suneja
START HERE START NOW / Liz Kleinrock
WHERE RIVERS PART / Kao Kalia Yang
TOO MUCH AND NOT THE MOOD / DURGA CHEW-BOSE`
DEAR COMMITTEE MEMBERS / Julie Schumacher
SHIT CASSANDRA SAW / Gwen E. Kirby
TROUBLE WILL SAVE YOU / David Nikki Crouse
QUEER: A GRAPHIC HISTORY / Meg-John Barker & Jules Scheele
CLOSER BABY CLOSER / Savannah Brown
DEW BREAKER / Edwidge Danticat
WE ARE MEANT TO RISE: ANTHOLOGY / Carolyn Holbrook & David Mura
LOSING MUSIC / John Cotter
THE GIRL I AM, WAS, AND WILL NEVER BE / Shannon Gibney
THE IDIOT / Elif Batuman
CONCENTRATE / Courtney Faye Taylor
BRAIDING SWEETGRASS / Robin Wall Kimmerer
CRYING IN H-MART / Michelle Zauner
THE SECRET LIVES OF COLOR / Kassia St. Clair
KLARA AND THE SUN / Kazuo Ishiguro
ASIAN AMERICAN HISTORIES OF THE UNITED STATES / Catherine Ceniza Choy
BAD HOBBY / Kathy Fagan
THE DISORDERED COSMOS / Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
NAMES FOR LIGHT / Thirii Myo Kyaw Myint
OF SILENCE AND SONG / Dan Beachy-Quick
A CARNIVAL OF SLACKERY / David Sedaris
2023
BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS 2022 / Edited by Alexander Chee
THE MAN WHO SOLD AIR IN THE HOLY LAND / Omer Friedlander
EASY BEAUTY / Chloé Cooper Jones
OF SOLIDS AND SURDS / Samuel Delaney
WORLD OF WONDERS / Aimee Nezhukumatathil
ADVANTAGES OF BEING EVERGREEN / Oliver Baez Bendorf
DEAR MEMORY / Victoria Chang
MADE IN CHINA / Anna Qu
W-3 / Bette Howland
TELL ME EVERYTHING / Erika Krouse
ON BECOMING A MAN / P. Carl
IN THE ARMS OF OUR ELDERS / William Henry Lewis
THE ANTI-RACIST WRITING WORKSHOP / Felicia Rose Chavez
THE RED DEVIL / Katherine Russell Rich
WHITE LUNG / Kim O’Connor
SOMEBODY’S DAUGHTER: A MEMOIR / Ashley C. Ford
HOW THE WORD IS PASSED / Clint Smith
PURE COLOUR / Sheila Heti
ON MOTHERHOOD / Sheila Heti
BLUETS / Maggie Nelson (second read)
MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF CARSON MCCULLERS / Jenn Shapland
A TIME OUTSIDE THIS TIME / Amitava Kumar
THE IMMORTAL KING RAO / Vauhini Vara
ATOMIC HABITS / James Clear
MEDICAL MEANINGS / William Haubrich, MD
THE LAST DRAFT / Sandra Scofield
THE IMMORTALISTS / Chloe Benjamin
2022
SISTER OUTSIDER / Audre Lorde
SLOW SEX / Nicole Daedone
BETWEEN TWO KINGDOMS / Suleika Jaouad
THE LAST DRAFT / Sandra Scofield
GIRLHOOD / Melissa Febos
WHITE MAGIC / Elissa Washuta
IN THE CEMETERY WHERE AL JOLSON IS BURIED / Amy Hempel
GOODBYE TO ALL THAT / JOAN DIDION
THE FOUR AGREEMENTS / Don Miguel Ruiz
MINOR FEELINGS / Cathy Park Hong
CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PEDAGOGY & THE BRAIN / Zaretta Hammond
MENTORING MATTERS / Laura Lipton & Bruce Wellman
TATTOOS ON THE HEART / Father Boyle
POEMS FOR THE END OF THE WORLD / Suzi Q. Smith
THE MOST OF IT / Mary Ruefle
PRAU / Jean Vengua
MONSOON MANSION / Cinelle Barnes
FRANKENSTEIN / Mary Shelley
THE CONQUERED SITS AT THE BUS STOP, WAITING / Veronica Montes
METAMORPHOSIS / Franz Kafka
THE NOSE / Nikolai Gogol
LETTER FROM A BIRMINGHAM JAIL / Martin Luther King, Jr.
THE BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS - 2019 / Rebecca Solnit
THE BOYS OF MY YOUTH / Joanne Beard
COMFORT FOOD / edited by Erlinda Enrique Panlilio
SLAUGHTERHOUSE 90210 / Maris Kreizman
STARDUST / Neil Gaiman
CRAFT IN THE REAL WORLD / Matthew Salesses
COURAGEOUS CONVERSATIONS ABOUT RACE / Glenn Singleton
WHY UNIVERSAL LIFE / David Manzler
GHOST BOYS / Jewell Parker Rhodes
AMERICA IS THE HEART / Carlos Bulosan
THE FIRE NEXT TIME / James Baldwin
LET ME TELL YOU WHAT I MEAN / Joan Didion
2021
2020
I AM, I AM, I AM / Maggie O’Farrell
THE BOY WHO HARNESSED THE WIND / William Kamkwamba & Bryan Mealer
I CAN’T TALK ABOUT THE TREES WITHOUT THE BLOOD / Tiana Clark
BECOMING / Michelle Obama
THE ANTHOLOGY OF RAP / Adam Bradley
THE WRITING REVOLUTION / Judith C. Hochman
WEATHER / JENNY OFFILL
SAFEKEEPING / Abigail Thomas
SLAUGHTERHOUSE-5 / Kurt Vonnegut
DUNCE / Mary Ruefle
IN THE DREAM HOUSE / Carmen Maria Machado
THE MAGICAL LANGUAGE OF OTHERS / E.J. Koh
THE BEAUTY IN BREAKING / Michele Harper
SO YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT RACE / Ijeoma Oluo
RAGE BECOMES HER / Soraya Chemaly
LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE / Laura Esquirel
THE RULES DO NOT APPLY / Ariel Levy
THE IDIOT / Elif Batuman
BRIGHT ARCHIVE / Sarah Minor
ALL ABOUT LOVE / bell hooks
2019
BODY PAPERS / Grace Talusan
[LUKAO] / Craig Santos Perez
ON EARTH WE’RE BRIEFLY GORGEOUS / Ocean Vuong
FREE LOLITA / Darcy Steinkie (from FLASH COUNT DIARY)
ON PUDDLING / Jericho Parms (from WAVEFORM: TWENTY FIRST CENTURY ESSAYS BY WOMEN)
LIVING LIKE WEASELS / Annie Dillard
WHITE OLEANDER / Janet Finch
A MORE BEAUTIFUL QUESTION / Warren Berger
WOOL / Hugh Howey
EDUCATED: A MEMOIR / Tara Westover
I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS / Maya Angelou
ENORMOUS CHANGES AT THE LAST MINUTE / Grace Paley
MILK BLACK CARBON / Joan Naviyuk Kane
THE SEA IS MY COUNTRY / Joshua Reid
THE AGE OF LIGHT / Whitney Scharer
THE CONCRETE RIVER / Luis Rodríguez
KUWENTO: LOST THINGS / Rachel Cruz & Melissa Sipin
INTOXICATED BY MY ILLNESS / Anatole Broyard
AS CONSCIOUSNESS IS HARNESSED INTO FLESH / Susan Sontag
EMPEROR OF ALL MALADIES / Siddhartha Mukherjee
THE EMPTY SEASON / Catherine Bresner
2018
HEAVY / Kiese Laymon
HEART BERRIES / Terese Marie Mailhot
NOTHING EVER DIES / Viet Thanh Nyguen
LET’S TAKE THE LONG WAY HOME / Gail Caldwell
THE SUICIDE INDEX / Joan Wickersham
HOW TO WRITE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOVEL / Alexander Chee
MY BODY IS A BOOK OF RULES / Elissa Washita
THE LOVE OF A GOOD WOMAN / Alice Munro
ILLNESS AS METAPHOR & AIDS AND ITS METAPHORS / Susan Sontag
ILLNESS AS NARRATIVE / Ann Jurecic
10 SECONDS / Louis Edwards
TO THE LIGHTHOUSE / Virginia Woolf
CHRONICLE OF A DEATH FORETOLD / Gabriel García Márquez
BELOVED / Toni Morrison (2nd read)
SELECTED TWEETS / Mira Gonzalez & Tao Lin
ONGOINGNESS / Sarah Manguso
TWO KINDS OF DECAY / Sarah Manguso
SICK: A MEMOIR / Porochista Khakpour
IN THE LAND OF PAIN / Alphonse Daudet
THE PHARMACIST’S MATE / Amy Fusselman
BLUETS / Maggie Nelson
ARGONAUTS / Maggie Nelson
HER WILD AMERICAN SELF / M. Evelina Galang
THE CANCER JOURNALS / Audre Lorde
ON BEING ILL / Virginia Woolf
2017
GIOVANNI’S ROOM / JAMES BALDWIN
LIT / Mary Karr
HUNGER / Roxane Gay
IMAGINARY VESSELS / Paisley Rekdal
THINGS SEEN / Annie Ernaux
BORDER STATE / Tônu Õnnepalu
THE SUN ALSO RISES / Ernest Hemingway
DEPARTMENT OF SPECULATION / Jenny Offill
TEETH / Aracelis Girmay
TOO LOUD A SOLITUDE / Bohumil Hrabal
THE DOOR / Magda Szabó
I WORE MY BLACKEST HAIR / Carlina Duan
NIGHT SKY WITH EXIT WOUNDS / Ocean Vuong
BRIGHT HOUR / Nina Riggs