2005
December
Honoré de Balzac. The Physiology of Marriage. trans. unknown. New York: Grove, 1932 (1830). [106]
P.G. Wodehouse. Lord Emsworth and Others. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1966 (1937). [105]
Lisa Robertson. Occasional Work and Seven Walks from the Office for Soft Architecture. Astoria: Clear Cut Press, 2003. [104]
P. G. Wodehouse. Summer Moonshine. Harmondsworth: Penguin (). [103]
P. G. Wodehouse. Mulliner Nights. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1971 (1933). [102]
Henry Adams. Democracy: an American Novel. New York: Airmont, 1968 (1880). [101]
Thomas Kinsella, trans. The Tain. Oxford: OUP, 1988 (1969, ca. 8th C). [100]
Oscar Lewis. The Children of Sánchez. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1961. [99]
November
Graham Greene. Brighton Rock. New York: Bantam, 1968 (1938). [98]
Vladimir Nabokov, trans. The Song of Igor’s Campaign. New York: Vintage, 1960. [97]
George MacDonald. Phantastes. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm B Eerdmans, 1981 (1858). [96]
J. M. Barrie. Peter Pan. London: Penguin, 1995 (1911). [95]
Gabriel García Márquez. One Hundred Years of Solitude. trans. Gregory Rabassa. New York: Avon Books, 1971 (1967). [94]
George du Maurier. Trilby. Mineola, NY: Dover, 1994 (1895). [93]
Mervyn Peake. Titus Groan. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1968 (1946).[92]
HD. End to Torment: A Memoir of Ezra Pound. New York: New Directions, 1979 (1958). [91]
October
Nikolai Gogol. The Complete Tales. vol. 1 of 2. trans. Constance Garnett. ed & rev. L. J. Kent. Chicago: UCP, 1985. [90]
Anton Chekhov. Peasants and Other Stories. ed. E. Wilson. New York: Doubleday, . [89]
Vladimir Nabokov. Lectures on Russian Literature. ed. F. Bowers. New York: HBJ, 1981. (All except for part of lecture on Dostoevsky – because I feel I haven’t time or inclination at present to give Dostoevsky the attention he requires.) [88]
Aelian. Historical Miscellany. trans. N. G. Wilson. Cambridge, MA: Loeb, 1997 (ca. 2nd C CE). [87]
Robert Paltock. Peter Wilkins. Oxford: OUP, 1990 (1750). [86]
Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. War and Peace. 2 vols. trans. Rosemary Edmonds. Baltimore: Penguin, 1957 (1869). [85]
September
Virginia Woolf. Flush. A Biography. London: Penguin, 1978 (1933). [84]
Fred Singleton. A Short History of Finland.2 rev. A. F. Upton. Cambridge, UK: CUP, 1998 (1989). [83]
Guillaume Apollinaire. The Poet Assassinated. trans. Matthew Josephson. Cambridge: Exact Change, 2000 (1916, 1921). [82]
Laura (Riding) Jackson. The Progress of Stories. New York: Arno, 1971 (1935). [81]
Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. Anna Karenina. trans. David Magarshack. New York: Signet, 1961 (1877). [80.1]
August
Benjamin Constant. Adolphe & The Red Book. trans. Carl Wildman & Norman Cameron. New York: Signet, 1959 (1806–10). [79]
George Macdonald. At the Back of the North Wind. New York: Puffin, 1984 (1871). [78]
Honoré de Balzac. Lost Illusions. trans. Herbert Hunt. London: Penguin, 1971 (1837–43). [77]
Barry Hughart. Bridge of Birds. New York: DelRey, 1984. [76]
Graham Greene. Our Man in Havana. London: Penguin, 1971 (1958). [75]
Graham Greene. The Lost Childhood. New York: Viking, 1952. [74]
July
E. S. Foster, trans. The Turkish Letters of Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq. Oxford: Clarendon, 1968 (1633). [73]
Graham Greene. The Heart of the Matter. London: Penguin, 1999 (1948). [72]
Deborah Baker. In Extremis: The Life of Laura Riding. New York: Grove, 1993. [71]
Flann O’Brien. The Poor Mouth: A Bad Story About the Hard Life. trans. Patrick Power. Normal, IL: Dalkey Archive, 1996 (1941, 1973). [70]
Graham Greene. The Ministry of Fear. London: Penguin, 1973 (1943). [69]
Robert Graves. Collected Short Stories. London: Penguin, 1968 (1964; 1924–1962). [68]
Rose Macaulay. The Towers of Trebizond. New York: Carroll & Graf, 1995 (1956). [67]
June
Laura Riding. Four Unposted Letters to Catherine. New York: Persea Books, 1993 (1930). [66]
Richard Perceval Graves. Robert Graves, The Years with Laura: 1926–1940. New York, Viking: 1990. [65]
Richard Perceval Graves. Robert Graves, The Assault Heroic: 1895–1926. New York: Penguin, 1986. [64]
Soren Kierkegaard. The Journals. trans. Alexander Dru. London: Fontana, 1958 (1834–1854). [63]
Denis Diderot. Jacques the Fatalist & His Master. trans. J. Robert Loy. New York: Norton, 1959 (1773). [62]
James Murray. The Evolution of English Lexicography. Oxford: OUP, 1900. [61]
Vladimir Nabokov. Pnin. New York: Avon Book, 1963. [60.2]
William Blake. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. ed. Geoffrey Keynes. Oxford: OUP, 1975 (1790). [59]
Madeleine L’Engle. Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art. New York: FSG, 1980. [58]
George Gissing. The Paying Guest. ed. Ian Fletcher. Brighton, UK: Harvester Press, 1982 (1895). [57]
Ernst Jünger. Storm of Steel. trans. Michael Hoffman. London: Penguin, 2004 (1920). [56]
T. S. Eliot. Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. New York: Harcourt, 1982 (1939). [55]
May
Robert Graves. Good-bye To All That. New York: Doubleday, 1957 (1929). [54.1]
Hugh Kenner. Joyce’s Voices. Berkeley: UCP, 1978. [53]
Iris Murdoch. The Sea, the Sea. New York: Penguin, 2001 (1978). [52]
Jorge Luis Borges & Margartia Guerrero. The Book of Imaginary Beings. trans. Norman Thomas di Giovanni. New York: Avon, 1969 (1967). [51]
Edmund Blunden. Undertones of War. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1965. [50]
Marjane Satrapi. Emroideries. trans. Anjali Singh. New York: Pantheon, 2005 (2003). [49]
Elaine Showalter. Faculty Towers. Philadelphia: UPP, 2005. [48]
Gabriel de Lavergne, Vicomte de Guilleragues. The Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun. trans. Guido Waldman. London: Harvill, 1996 (1669). [47]
Earl R. Smith. The Days of My Years. Portland: OHS, 1968. [46]
Thomas Pynchon. The Crying of Lot 49. New York: Bantam, 1966. [45]
Nicholson Baker. Vox. New York: Vintage, 1992. [44]
Brian Ames. Eighty-sixed. Middleton, NJ: Word Riot Press, 2004. [43]
Kathryn R. King. Jane Barker, Exile: A Literary Career, 1675–1725. Oxford: Clarendon, 2000. [42]
Linda Bree. Sarah Fielding. New York: Twayne, 1996. [41]
April
Christian Bök. Eunoia. Toronto: Coach House, 2001. [40]
Faruk Sümer, Ahmet E Uysal, & Warren S. Walker, trans & ed. The Book of Dede Korkut. AustinL: UTP, 1972 (ca. 16th C). [39]
Jonathan Haynes. The Humanist as Traveler: George Sandys’s Relation of a journey begun an. Dom. 1610. Cranbury, NJ : Associated University Presses, 1986.[–]
Mary Hearne // Jane Barker. The Lover’s Week & The Female Deserters // Love Intrigues. New York: Garland, 1973 (1718, 1719 // 1713). [38]
F. M. Dostoyevsky. The Double. trans. George Bird. Bloomington, IN: Indiana UP, 1958. [37]
Pierre Gilles. The Antiquities of Constantinople. trans. John Ball. ed. Ronald G. Musto. New York: Italica Press, 1988 (1729; 1555). [36]
Bernard Lewis. Istanbul and the Civilization of the Ottomans. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1963. [35]
March
Errol Flynn. My Wicked, Wicked Ways. New York: Putnam, 1959. [34]
Marcu Beza. Byzantine Art in Roumania. New York: Scribner’s, 1940. [33]
Raymond Chandler. The Big Sleep in Everyman’s Library vol. 255. New York: Knopf, 2002 (1939). [32]
John Freely. Istanbul: The Imperial City. New York: Penguin, 1998 (1996). [31]
Raymond Chandler. Farewell, My Lovely. Москва: Издательство „Менеджер“, 2000 (1940). [30]
Dan Savage. The Kid. New York: Penguin, 1999. [29]
Edmund Gosse. Father and Son. London: Penguin, 1949 (1906). [28]
Nathanael West. Miss Lonelyhearts & The Day of the Locust. New York: New Directions, 1962 (1933). [27]
Hugh Kenner. The Counterfeiters: An Historical Comedy. New York: Doubleday-Anchor, 1973 (1968). [26]
Cao Xueqin & Gao E. The Story of the Stone: The Dreamer Wakes. (vol. 5) trans. John Minford. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1986 (c. 1760). [25]
Cao Xueqin & Gao E. The Story of the Stone: The Debt of Tears. (vol. 4) trans. John Minford. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1982 (c. 1760). [24]
Cao Xueqin. The Story of the Stone: The Warning Voice. (vol. 3) trans. David Hawkes. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1980 (c. 1760). [23]
February
Cao Xueqin. The Story of the Stone: The Crab-Flower Club. (vol. 2) trans. David Hawkes. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1977 (c. 1760). [22]
Dashiell Hammett. The Thin Man. New York: Vintage, 1972 (1933). [21]
George Meredith. The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. New York: Dover, 1983 (1859, 1888). [20]
Ford Madox Ford. The Good Soldier. Mineola, NY: Dover, 2001 (1915). [19]
Djuna Barnes. Ladies Almanack. Normal, IL: Dalkey Archive, 1992 (1928). [18]
Neil Gaimon. Coraline. New York: HarperTrophy, 2002. [17]
Émile Zola. Nana. trans. George Holden. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1972 (1888). [16]
January
Henry James. The Reverberator. New York: Grove, 1979. (1888). [15.2]
Honoré de Balzac. Cousin Bette. trans. M. A. Crawford. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1965 (1847). [14]
Harman Pálsson, trans. Hrafnkel’s Saga and Other Stories. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1971 (13th C.). [13]
C. P. Snow. The Masters. New York: Doubleday-Anchor, 1959 (1951). [12]
Honoré de Balzac. Père Goriot. trans. Henry Reed. New York: Signet, 1962 (1834). [11]
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. The Waste Books. trans. R. J. Hollingdale. New York: NYRB, 2000 (1990; 1765–99). [10]
Okakura Kakuzo. The Book of Tea. Philadelphia, PA: Running Press, 2002 (1906). [9]
M. R. James. Casting the Runes and Other Ghost Stories. Oxford: OUP, 2002 (ca. 1903). [8]
Snorri Sturluson. King Harald’s Saga (from Heimskringla). trans. Magnus Magnusson & Hermann Pálsson. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1966 (13th C.). [7]
I. Grekova. The Ship of Widows. trans. Cathy Porter. Evanstown, IL: NWUP, 1994 (1981). [6]
Edward Gorey, ed. The Haunted Looking Glass. New York: NYRB, 2001 (1959). [5]
Darcy O’Brien. A Way of Life, Like Any Other. New York: NYRB, 2001 (1997). [4]
Honoré de Balzac. The Unknown Masterpiece (and Gambara). trans. Richard Howard. New York: NYRB, 2001 (1832, 1837). [3]
Donald Barthelme. Sadness. New York: Pocket Books, 1970–2. [2]
John Milton. ‘Samson Agonistes’ in Stephen Orgel & Jonathan Goldberg, ed. The Oxford Authors: John Milton. Oxford: OUP, 1991: pp. 671–715 (1671). [1]