Chairs&Water 2xI read a boatload of nonfiction, especially memoirs, from 2005 to 2012 as I was writing a memoir, but I’m reading more fiction again. And when I come across novels and short story collections that please and amaze me—or when I recall beloved ones—I’m adding them to this list.

Berry, Wendell. Jayber Crow. (Slow at first but intensely rewarding.)

Black, Alethea. I Knew You’d Be Lovely (Stories. Review & Q&A.)

Blackburn-Smith, Jefferson. Forgiveness

Coetzee, J. M. Disgrace

Chabon, Michael. Wonder Boys

Conrad, Joseph. Lord Jim

Dexter, Pete. Paris Trout

Diaz, Junot. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Noted.)

Dickey, James. Deliverance

Dillard, Annie. The Maytrees. (A shimmering work of art. Reviewed.)

Doctorow, E.L. Ragtime

Dubus III, Andre. Gone So Long

Egan, Jennifer. A Visit From the Goon Squad

Erdrich, Louise. The Round House

Faulkner, William. Light in August (Reviewed.)

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby (Discussed and Discussed.)

Ford, Richard. Canada. (Mesmerizing. Reviewed.)

Franzen, Jonathan. Freedom. (Truly a great novel; amazing.)

——. Purity (Reviewed.)

Gardner, John. Nickel Mountain

Guest, Judith. Ordinary People

Hamilton, Jane. A Map of the World

Heller, Joseph. Catch-22

Irving, John. A Prayer for Owen Meany

——. The World According to Garp

Joyce, James. The Dubliners

Klinkenborg, Verlyn. Timothy; or, Notes of an Abject Reptile

Krauss, Chris. I Love Dick

Marchart, Bruce. The Wake of Forgiveness

Martel, Yann. Life of Pi

Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick

McCarthy, Cormac. Blood Meredian. (Astonishing, prose, story.)

——No Country for Old Men.

Meloy, Maile. Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It: Stories

Morrison, Toni. Beloved (Harrowing insight into people traumatized by slavery.)

Oates, Joyce Carol. Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars. (Absorbing story of a marriage, sibling dynamics, grief, racism.)

——. Wonderland (The long shadow cast by trauma. Riveting.)

Percy, Walker. The Last Gentleman

Perrotta, Tom. Mrs. Fletcher

Persig, Robert M. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values

Piazza, Tom. City of Refuge

Potok, ChaimMy Name is Asher Lev (Spooky great on artistry.)

Powers, Kevin. The Yellow Birds (Reviewed.)

Powers, Richard. The Overstory

Proulx, Annie. The Shipping News

Rash, Ron. Something Rich and Strange (short stories)

Roth, Philip. The Human Stain

—,—. The Plot Against America

Styron, William. The Confessions of Nat Turner. (Reviewed & Reviewed.)

Tolstoy, Leo. Anna Karenina. (Discussed and Reviewed.)

Updike, John. Rabbit, Run

Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse Five

Wallace, David Foster. Infinite Jest (Review 1, Review 2.)

Welty, Eudora. A Curtain of Green (Reviewed.)

Williams, John. Butcher’s Crossing

——. Stoner

Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse