My 2010 Book List

When possible, I’ll try to include an abbreviated explanation for why I read the books that I read. Stay tuned in the coming days for a list of my favorites from this list. For now, here they are, in order…[click “READ MORE”]

 Call it North Country by John Bartlow Martin (to learn about Michigan)

Lake Effect by Erika Alin (to learn about Michigan)


In the Heart of the Heart of the Country by William Gass (recommended by my writing mentor Claire Davis)


Angus by Charles Siebert (to study the novella)


Duchess of Nothing by Heather McGowan (recommended by author David Long


The Killing Zone by Frederick Downs (to study war


Micro Fiction: An Anthology of Really Short Stories edited by Jerome Stern (to study short-shorts)


Meditation in Action by Chogyam Trungpa (spiritual development)


Tabloid Dreams by Robert Olen Butler (recommended by my writing mentor Claire Davis)


The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (because Dad said to, of course)


Refresh, Refresh by Benjamin Percy (because of hearing rave reviews and meeting him in person convinced me I’d want to read it)


The Coast of Nowhere by Michael Delp (written by an Interlochen colleague)


Uncoded Woman by Anne-Marie Oomen (written by an Interlochen colleague)


House of Fields by Anne-Marie Oomen (written by an Interlochen colleague)


As if We Were Prey by Michael Delp (written by an Interlochen colleague)


Harbor by Loraine Adams (to study characterization of a twenty-something Middle Eastern man)


River Notes by Barry Lopez (audio with celloist David Darling)


Watermark by Joseph Brodsky (in search of a meditative essay)


The Things They Carried by Tom O’Brien (to study war)


Food Rules by Michael Pollan (to recover from Interlochen’s cafeteria food)


The Living Great Lakes by Jerry Dennis (to study Michigan)


Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton (to study war)


Tunnels of Cu Chi by Tom Mangold and John Penycate (to study war)


Go With Me by Castle Freeman, Jr. (because Dad said to, of course)


Caught Up in Time: Oral History Narratives of Appalachian Vietnam Veterans by John Hennen (to study war)


Break It Down by Lydia Davis (to study short-shorts)


Vacation by Deb Olin Unferth (because her short-shorts are memorable and I wanted to see what her writing was like in novel form)


Electric Literature volumes 1, 2, 3 by various authors (because they’re the envy of many writers and editors alike)


We Were One: Shoulder to Shoulder with the Marines Who Took Fallujah by Patrick K. O’Donnell (to study war)

17 various short stories from Harper’s and Atlantic Monthly magazines (because Dad said to, of course)

Cold Flashes: Literary Snapshots of Alaska edited by Michael Engelhard (to study Alaska)
Wilderness: A Journal of Quiet Adventure in Alaska by Rockwell Kent (to study Alaska)


Heroes Among Us: Firsthand Accounts of Combat from America’s Most Decorated Warriors in Iraq and Afghanistan edited by Major Chuck Larson (to study war)


You Can’t Meet Jesus Wearing Sneakers by Kevin Morgan Watson (to study the publisher)


Springtime on Mars by Susan Woodring (to study the publisher)


Bad Monkey by Curtis Smith (to study the publisher)


The Hours by Michael Cunningham (because Specimen Days blew my mind)


In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway (because Dad said to, of course)


The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller (complete trash; a total mistake)


Point of Sand by Jamien Delp (written by an Interlochen colleague)


New Poets Short Books IV: Abby E. Murray, Jesse S. Fourmy, Karen Holman edited by Marvin Bell (because I know 2 of the authors, the editor, and the publisher)


Operation Homecoming: Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Home Front in the Words of US 
Troops and Their Families edited by Andrew Carroll (to study war)


Male of the Species by Alex Mindt (because most of my stories are from the male perspective)


Claiming Ground by Laura Bell (to study Wyoming)


The Good Soldiers by David Finkel (to study war)


At the Jim Bridger by Ron Carlson (to study Wyoming)


River Styx 83, Nano Fiction v.4 n.1, Black Warrior Review 37.1 by various authors (to study the editors, the competition, and the publishers)