October + November + December
92. The Anthropologists – Ayşegül Savaş
“The lesson is to live.” — Ayşegül Savaş, The Anthropologists
90. A Knight in the Panther’s Skin – Shota Rustaveli
89. The Pass of the Persecuted – Guram Odisharia
88. The Death of Bagrat Zakharych and Other Stories – Vazha-Pshavela
87. For Her Dark Skin – Percival Everett
85. Young Stalin – Simon Sebag Montefiore
84. Pushkin’s Children – Tatyana Tolstaya
83. Stories I Stole from Georgia – Wendell Steavenson
82. For the Love of Wine: My Odyssey Through the World’s Most Ancient Wine Culture – Alice Feiring
“He’s a man who needs books the way an alcoholic needs liquor.” — Alina Bronsky, Baba Dunja’s Last Love
81. A Re-reading: Like Water for Chocolate – Laura Esquivel
80. Dogs in Philippine History – Ian Christopher B. Alfonso
79. The Mask of Dimitrios – Eric Ambler
78. Baba Dunja’s Last Love – Alina Bronsky
September
“I believe that the books and stories we fall in love with make us who we are, or, not to claim too much, that the act of falling in love with a book or story changes us in some way, and the beloved tale becomes a part of our picture of the world, a part of the way in which we understand things and make judgments and choices in our daily lives.” — Salman Rushdie, Languages of Truth
74. Languages of Truth – Salman Rushdie
73. May the Tigris Grieve for You – Emilienne Malfatto
72. My Friends – Hisham Matar
71. From the Holy Mountain – William Dalrymple
70. The Power Above Us All – Ronaldo Vivo Jr.
67. This Tilting World – Colette Fellous
August: Women in Translation Month
“That’s why we need to read women. What does that have to do with it? It has everything to do with it.” – Claudia Piñeiro, Time of the Flies
64. Sky of Red Poppies – Zohreh Ghahremani
63. There are Rivers in the Sky – Elif Shafak
Women in Translation
62. The Lost Word – Oya Baydar
61. Time of the Flies – Claudia Piñeiro
60. Happiness, as Such – Natalia Ginzburg
58. We Wrote in Symbols: Love and Lust by Arab Women Writers
June and July
“A small bookcaseful of the right books, and you are set for life.” — Rohinton Mistry, Such a Long Journey
51 – 54. The Raj Quartet – Paul Scott
48. Jaipur Nama – Giles Tillotson
47. All You Who Sleep Tonight – Vikram Seth
46. Nine Lives – William Dalrymple
45. Such a Long Journey – Rohinton Mistry
44. Jigsaw Pieces: An Oxford Flash Fiction Prize Anthology
43. So Late in the Day – Claire Keegan
42. Foster – Claire Keegan
41. Small Things Like These – Claire Keegan
June and July saw me through several airport layovers that called for shorter works. Jigsaw Pieces: An Oxford Flash Fiction Prize Anthology because it features a piece called Haunting by Ex Libris pal, Jen Chan (and it happens to be the most beautiful story of a haunting I have ever read). Claire Keegan because the slimmer her volumes, the fewer her words, the more she says. 🤍
May
“This, too, was something I had learned in the markets of Azemmur: a good story can heal.” — Laila Lalami, The Moor’s Account
40. Bite by Bite: Nourishments and Jamborees – Aimee Nezhukumatathil
39. Queridas de Rizal – Ambeth Ocampo
38. Three Horses – Erri de Luca
37. Game of the Gods – Paolo Maurensig
36. To Hell With Poets – Baqytgul Sarmekova
35. The Moor’s Account – Laila Lalami
April
“Every beautiful poem is an act of resistance.” — Mahmoud Darwish, A River Dies of Thirst
32. Why Did You Leave the Horse Alone? – Mahmoud Darwish
31. Banyaga: A Song of War – Charlson Ong
30. In the Presence of Absence – Mahmoud Darwish
29. A Dictator Calls – Ismail Kadare
28. Journal of an Ordinary Grief – Mahmoud Darwish
27. Theory of Shadows – Paolo Maurensig
March: Women’s Month
“And literature was a criticism of one’s own reality, in the light of a better standard.” — Susan Sontag, At the Same Time: Essays and Speeches
24. The Juniper Tree – Barbara Comyns
23. The Singularity – Balsam Karam
22. The Three-Cornered Sun – Linda Ty-Casper
21. Two Women in One – Nawal El Saadawi
20. My Pen is the Wing of a Bird: New Fiction by Afghan Women
February
“But words and creative phrases — they have power, Cristian. Explore this power in your mind.” — Ruta Sepetys, I Must Betray You
16. Ali and Nino – Kurban Said
15. Frederick the Great – Nancy Mitford
14. But for the Lovers – Wilfrido D. Nolledo
13. I Must Betray You – Ruta Sepetys
12. The Man Who Counted – Malba Tahan
January
“The less love you put into things the more they resemble one another. The same goes for stories.” — Andrés Neuman, Traveler of the Century
9. Traveler of the Century – Andrés Neuman
8. Cabinet of Curiosities – Ambeth Ocampo
7. The Sun King – Nancy Mitford
6. Voices in the Evening – Natalia Ginzburg
The Book-Butterfly 