Lists
MOVIES
BOOKS
Complete Book List (2001-2021)
2022
The Full List
Fiction
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
The Candy House by Jennifer Egan
The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
Politics
Our Own Worst Enemy by Tom Nichols
Travel
The Rings of Saturn by W.G. Sebald (travel?)
Barbarian Days by William Finnegan
Culture
The Nineties by Chuck Klosterman
Career
From Strength to Strength by Arthur C. Brooks
Essay
Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen by Larry McMurtry
2021
Western: Butcher’s Crossing by John Williams
Classic: East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Horror: The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
Postmodern Fiction: The Lost Book of Adana Moreau by Michael Zapata
Crime Fiction: Green Sun by Kent Anderson
Funny Fiction: The Dog of the South by Charles Portis
Poignant: Bewilderment by Richard Powers
Poetry: Goldenrod by Maggie Smith
History: Forget the Alamo by Bryan Burrough, Chris Tomlinson and Jason Sanford
Personal Essay: This One Will Hurt You by Paul Crenshaw
Humor: A Carnival of Snackery by David Sedaris
Journalism: Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe
Politics & Society: The Death of Expertise by Tom Nichols
2020
Favorite Fiction from 2020
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Deliverance by James Dickey
The Goldfinch by Donna Tart
Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor*
*read review first
Favorite Nonfiction from 2020
Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David Blight
The Unreality of Memory by Elisa Gabbert
Pacific by Simon Winchester
How to Think by Alan Jacobs
2019
Favorite Fiction from 2019
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne
Favorite Nonfiction from 2019
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe
Year of the Monkey by Patti Smith
The Education of an Idealist by Samantha Power
Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
Endurance: My Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery by Scott Kelly
Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11 by Mitchell Zuckoff
The Red Caddy: Into the Unknown with Edward Abbey by Charles Bowden
2018
Favorite Fiction from 2018
Stoner by John Williams
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle
The Overstory by Richard Powers
Favorite Nonfiction from 2018
American Nations by Colin Woodard
The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel
Other Minds by Peter Godfrey-Smith
Educated by Tara Westover
Spy of the First Person by Sam Shepard
A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit
In Praise of Shadows by Jun´ichiro Tanizaki
2017
2017 Fiction Short List
The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
American War by Omar El Akkad
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan
2017 Nonfiction Short List
M Train by Patti Smith
Fantasyland by Kurt Andersen
Sacred Hoops by Phil Jackson
Theft By Finding by David Sedaris
Vacationland by John Hodgman
2016
2016 Fiction Short List
A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
City of Thieves by David Benioff
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
2016 Nonfiction Short List
H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance
Black Flags by Joby Warrick
Rise of the Warrior Cop by Radley Balko
2015
2015 Fiction Short List
Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
West of Sunset by Stewart O’Nan
Sylvia by Leonard Michaels
Redeployment by Phil Kay
2015 Nonfiction Short List
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Chasing the Scream by Johann Hari
Not Impossible by Mick Ebeling
The Wright Brothers by David McCullough
2014
2014 Fiction Short List
Tinkers by Paul Harding
Orfeo by Richard Powers
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
A Good Man Is Hard To Find and Other Stories by Flannery O’Connor
2014 Nonfiction Short List
One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson
Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson by S.C. Gwynne
Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War by Robert Gates
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick
2013
2013 Fiction Short List
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain
Train Dreams by Robert Johnson
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey
2013 Nonfiction Short List
Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi
A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace
Everyone Loves You When You’re Dead by Neil Strauss
Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink
Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon
2012
2012 Fiction Short List
All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
A Hologram For the King by Dave Eggers
The Sooterkin by Tom Gilling
2012 Nonfiction Short List
Travels With Charley by John Steinbeck
El Narco by Ioan Grillo
The Greatest Minds and Ideas of All Time by Will Durant
King of the World by David Remnick
The Big Payback by Dan Charnas
The Heart and the Fist by Eric Greitens
Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne
Disco Demolition Night 