At some point I started keeping a list of books I’ve read. Not necessarily included here are many children’s books, comic books, books that weren’t very memorable, text books and other technical books, re-readings of books, individual essays and short stories, liturgical texts, and the Holy Bible.
Regarding the Bible, I try to read it every day, and I’ve found that following a schedule can be very helpful. Here is the one I use. The whole Bible is read in two years, and the whole New Testament is read every year.
Currently Reading (2025-10-06)
| Title | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| Techniques of Icon and Wall Painting |
|===========>............|
193 / 420 pages read
|
|
| Le Bestiaire du Christ |
|==================>.....|
753 / 973 pages read
|
|
| 射鵰英雄傳 |
|===>....................|
13 / 100 % read
|
Before 2005
| Title | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| My Father’s Dragon | The first “chapter book” I ever read. | |
| various Swallows & Amazons books | ||
| various books | ||
| various Choose Your Own Adventure books | ||
| Just So Stories | ||
| all his children’s books | ||
| various books | ||
| various Horatio Hornblower books | ||
| My Side of the Mountain | ||
| You Can Pick Me Up at Peggy’s Cove | ||
| Out of the Dark | ||
| The Maestro | ||
| The Children’s Illustrated Bible |
ill. Eric Thomas
|
|
| The Chronicles of Narnia | ||
| The Hobbit | ||
| The Lord of the Rings | ||
| The Silmarillion | ||
| The Once and Future King | ||
| The Giver | ||
| Bridge to Terabithia | ||
| The Jungle Book | ||
| Gulliver’s Travels | ||
| Dragonlance Chronicles | ||
| the Asterix books |
tr. Anthea Bell & Derek Hockridge
|
|
| the Tintin books |
tr. Leslie Lonsdale-Cooper & Michael Turner
|
|
| Into the Mummy’s Tomb | ||
| Charlotte’s Web | ||
| Stuart Little | ||
| Little House on the Prairie | ||
| The Ear, the Eye and the Arm | ||
| The Eyes of the Amaryllis | ||
| The Egypt Game | ||
| various Redwall books | ||
| Watership Down | ||
| Shardik | ||
| The Wind in the Willows | ||
| Master Cornhill | ||
| The Trumpeter of Krakow | ||
| the Earthsea books | ||
| Lord of the Flies | ||
| The Great Gatsby | ||
| The Adventures of Tom Sawyer | ||
| The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn | ||
| Hamlet | ||
| Macbeth | ||
| Julius Caesar | ||
| Much Ado About Nothing | ||
| The Merchant of Venice | ||
| Heart of Darkness | ||
| Of Mice and Men | ||
| Tortilla Flat | ||
| The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series | ||
| Dirk Gently’s Hollistic Detective Agency | ||
| The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul | ||
| the Harry Potter books | ||
| Silverwing | ||
| 1984 | ||
| The Metamorphosis |
tr. ???
|
|
| Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance | ||
| The Tao of Pooh | ||
| The Te of Piglet | ||
| The Poisonwood Bible | ||
| How the Irish Saved Civilization | ||
| To Kill a Mockingbrd | ||
| Dune | Notes | |
| Dune Messiah | ||
| Children of Dune | ||
| Salt in His Blood: The Life of Michael De Ruyter | ||
| Le Petit Prince | ||
| Terre des Hommes | ||
| Maria Chapdelaine | ||
| L’Étranger | ||
| Volkswagen Blues | ||
| The Mozart Season | ||
| Sophie’s World |
tr. Paulette Miller
|
|
| the His Dark Materials books | ||
| Guns, Germs, and Steel | ||
| 1421: The Year China Discovered the World | ||
| Slaughterhouse-Five | ||
| Fahrenheit 451 | ||
| Catch-22 | ||
| The Phantom Tollbooth | ||
| No Great Mischief | ||
| Beautiful Losers | ||
| The Commitments | ||
| The Last Samurai | ||
| No Destination: Autobiography of a Pilgrim | ||
| The Remains of the Day | Notes | |
| An Artist of the Floating World | ||
| Roverandom | ||
| The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea |
tr. John Nathan
|
2005 – 2014
| Title | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World |
tr. Alfred Birnbaum
|
|
| 海邊的卡夫卡 |
tr. 林少華
|
|
| The Elephant Vanishes |
tr. Alfred Birnbaum & Jay Rubin
|
|
| The Fountainhead | ||
| The Grapes of Wrath | ||
| King Arthur: The True Story | ||
| Rashomon and Other Stories |
tr. Takashi Kojima
|
|
| various よつばと! books | ||
| various 花田少年史 books | ||
| various 浦安鉄筋家族 books | ||
| 倚天屠龍記 | ||
| 西遊記 | ||
| 80°C | ||
| One Hundred Years of Solitude |
tr. Gregory Rabassa
|
|
| Lord Jim | ||
| The History of Love | ||
| Viroconium | ||
| Light | ||
| The Emperor’s New Mind | ||
| Sons and Lovers | ||
| Danziger’s Britain: A Journey to the Edge | ||
| Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village | ||
| Lolita | ||
| The Selfish Gene | ||
| The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz | ||
| The Crossing | ||
| No Country for Old Men | ||
| The Road | ||
| The End of the Affair | ||
| The Power and the Glory | ||
| Father Brown Stories | ||
| The Little World of Don Camillo |
tr. Una Vincenzo, Lady Troubridge
|
|
| Orthodoxy | ||
| The Confessions |
tr. Frank J. Sheed
|
|
| Apologia pro Vita Sua | ||
| Wise Blood | ||
| Brideshead Revisited | ||
| Collapse | ||
| The Song of the Dodo | ||
| The Norse Atlantic Saga | ||
| Heroic Song and Heroic Legend |
tr. B. J. Timmer
|
|
| Tolkien, Artist and Illustrator |
ill. J. R. R. Tolkien
|
|
| Father Christmas Letters | ||
| Unfinished Tales | ||
| Theology for Beginners | ||
| American Gods | I had heard lots of good things about Neil Gaiman, and looked forward to reading something by him, but was disappointed by this. There were fun parts in it, but mostly I found it was a book that kept saying, “Look at me, I’m being clever!” and I actually found it was quite predictable in parts and lacked overall cohesion. | |
| The Worm Ouroboros | ||
| Alice in Wonderland | ||
| Crossing to Safety | ||
| The Code Book | ||
| The Mountains of Madness | ||
| various short stories | ||
| The Bugnini-Liturgy and the Reform of the Reform | ||
| Parzival auf der Suche nach dem Gral | ||
| Lord of the World | ||
| Out of the Silent Planet | ||
| Gödel, Escher, Bach | ||
| From Beirut to Jerusalem | ||
| Why Catholics Can’t Sing | ||
| The Romance of Tristan & Iseult |
tr. Hillaire Belloc
|
|
| Temple Theology: An Introduction | ||
| Humanae generis |
tr. ???
|
|
| Deutsche Sagen | ||
| The Wood Beyond the World | ||
| The Well at the World’s End |
2015
| Title | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| The Sleepwalkers | ||
| Introduction to Christianity | ||
| The Red Book of Chinese Martyrs |
ed. Gerolamo Fazzini
|
|
| The Religious Sense | ||
| A Rabbi Speaks to Jesus | ||
| The Way of a Pilgrim |
tr. R. M. French
|
|
| How the Reformation Happened | ||
| In the Steps of the Master | ||
| Sir Gawain and the Green Knight | ||
| East of the Sun and West of the Moon |
ill. Kay Nielsen
|
2016
| Title | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| Norse Legends | ||
| Beowulf |
tr. J. R. R. Tolkien
|
|
| Kateri Tekakwitha | ||
| Treasure Island | ||
| The Book of the New Sun | ||
| Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City |
tr. Helge Dascher
|
|
| Living the Mystery | ||
| Life-Giving Love | ||
| Three to Get Married | ||
| Deep River |
tr. Van C. Gessel
|
|
| House Rules | ||
| A Canticle for Leibowitz | ||
| As You Like It | ||
| The Path to Rome | ||
| The Life of Thomas More | ||
| Star-Spangled Crown | ||
| Der Komet |
2017
| Title | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| In Search of London | ||
| Into the Silent Land | Notes | |
| Dialogue concerning Heresies | ||
| With God in Russia | ||
| The Fathers: Part I | ||
| The Green Fairy Book | ||
| The Left Hand of Darkness | ||
| Ficciones | ||
| The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath | ||
| The Cleaving of Christendom | ||
| Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town | ||
| Liturgical Latin: Its Origins and Character | ||
| The World’s Oldest Church | ||
| Leaf by Niggle | ||
| Norwegian Wood |
tr. Jay Rubin
|
Having read some previous Murakami books, I was expecting more of the whimsical, supernatural elements, but instead found this a bit boring and depressing. I enjoyed parts of it, and I found especially memorable the character Nagasawa’s advice about only reading books whose authors have died at least 30 years ago, but otherwise wouldn’t recommend. |
| Shane Leslie’s Ghost Book | ||
| The Brothers Karamazov |
tr. Constance Garnett
|
|
| The Dictator Pope |
2018
| Title | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| A Christmas Carol | ||
| Mary Tudor: England’s First Queen Regnant | ||
| De Imitatione Christi | ||
| Time and the Gods (Fantasy Masterworks collection) | ||
| Journal d’un cure de campagne | ||
| The Fifth Head of Cerberus | ||
| Rerum novarum | ||
| Seven Secrets of the Eucharist | ||
| Kidnapped | ||
| Legenda Aurea |
ed. Rainer Nickel
|
|
| Quadragesimo anno |
tr. ???
|
|
| The Prisoner of Zenda | ||
| Jesus of Nazareth: Part I |
2019
| Title | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| The Best of Gene Wolfe | ||
| The Grace of Enough | ||
| Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts | ||
| Splintered Light: Logos & Language in Tolkien’s World | ||
| Jesus of Nazareth: Part II | ||
| The Secret of the Rosary | ||
| English Fairy Tales | ||
| The Screwtape Letters | ||
| The Cousins’ Wars | ||
| The Picture of Dorian Gray | ||
| Trolle, Wichtel, Königskinder |
ill. John Bauer
|
|
| From Jerusalem to Rome: The Jewish Origins and Catholic Tradition of Liturgy | ||
| The Story of a Soul |
tr. Fr. Michael Day Cong. Orat.
|
|
| 61 Minutes to a Miracle | ||
| John Henry Newman: A Biography | ||
| The Thirty-Nine Steps | ||
| Did Jesus go to school? | ||
| Jesus of Nazareth: Part III |
2020
| Title | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| The Secret History | ||
| Henry VI: A Good, Simple and Innocent Man | ||
| Tolkien’s Gedling | ||
| Meditations and Devotions |
ed. Ian Ker
|
|
| The Code of the Woosters | ||
| Regula Monachorum | ||
| Three Great Novels | ||
| Magnus | ||
| The Making of Martin Luther | Notes | |
| A Gentleman in Moscow | ||
| Anne of Green Gables | ||
| Peace | ||
| Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Stories | ||
| Anne of Avonlea | ||
| Before Church and State | Notes |
2021
| Title | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell | I was a bit disappointed. I found this novel just okay. There were interesting and fun and funny parts in it, but it was probably too long and didn’t make for a very cohesive whole. | |
| Anne of the Island | ||
| The Blue Fairy Book | ||
| Celibacy in Context | Notes | |
| Under the Laurel Tree | ||
| Utopia | Notes | |
| Always Coming Home | ||
| The Iliad |
tr. William Cullen Bryant
|
Notes |
| The Martian Chronicles | ||
| Loss and Gain | Notes | |
| Bluenose Ghosts | ||
| The Quest of the Holy Grail |
tr. Pauline M. Matarasso
|
Notes |
2022
| Title | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| Laurus |
tr. Lisa C. Hayden
|
Notes |
| The Euthyphro |
tr. G. M. A. Grube
|
|
| Black Colossus | ||
| Rogues in the House | ||
| Red Nails | ||
| The Laches |
tr. Rosamond Kent Sprague
|
|
| The Lysis |
tr. Stanley Lombardo
|
|
| The Phoenix on the Sword | ||
| The Ion |
tr. Paul Woodruff
|
|
| The Apology |
tr. G. M. A. Grube
|
|
| The Language of Creation: Cosmic Symbolism in Genesis | ||
| Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? | ||
| Very Good, Jeeves | ||
| Prisoners of Time: Prussians, Germans and Other Humans | ||
| St. Francis of Assisi | ||
| Tempus Adventus | ||
| Christ the Eternal Tao | Notes | |
| The Willows | ||
| The Mysteries of the Shroud | ||
| Meditations for Advent |
tr. Christopher Blum
|
|
| Anne of Windy Poplars | ||
| Neuromancer |
2023
| Title | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| The Divine Comedy |
tr. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
|
|
| Moominvalley in November |
tr. Kingsley Hart
|
|
| From the Holy Mountain | ||
| Klara and the Sun | Notes | |
| The Master and Margarita |
tr. Michael Glenny
|
|
| The Island of Doctor Moreau | ||
| The Deep Enders | ||
| The Virgin and the Grail | ||
| The Emperor |
tr. William R. Brand & Katarzyna Mroczkowska-Brand
|
|
| The Hole |
tr. David Boyd
|
|
| The Urth of the New Sun | ||
| Days of Fire | ||
| Demon Ex Machina | ||
| Our Private Kingdom | ||
| After Supper Ghost Stories | ||
| Eyes in the Walls | Really enjoyed this. Good suspense throughout as you try to figure out the nature of the threat: is there something criminal, psychological, or supernatural going on? I liked the understated nostalgia of the setting, and the the description of the father’s city apartment as a kind of sanctuary. The protagonist’s resourcefulness and the girl’s loyalty are very endearing. Some good horror with a satisfying ending. | |
| The Wasting Desert | ||
| The China Convergence | ||
| The Man in the High Castle |
2024
| Title | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| The Princess and the Goblin | ||
| Burning Chrome | ||
| Kingdom of Characters | An interesting book, albeit sometimes not very well written. I especially enjoyed learning about Chinese typewriters. | |
| Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves | ||
| Earthen Vessels |
tr. Michael J. Miller
|
Notes |
| The Spirit of the Liturgy |
tr. John Saward
|
Notes |
| Tales of the Dying Earth | ||
| Frankenstein | Notes | |
| Midnight Blue |
tr. Jenny Watson
|
|
| Piranesi | Notes | |
| Christmas: The Original Story |
2025
| Title | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| Gardens of the Moon | Notes | |
| Blessed Charles of Austria | ||
| The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien |
ed. Humphrey Carpenter, with the assistance of Christopher Tolkien
|
Notes |
| She | ||
| Darwin’s Doubt | Very compelling. A lot of things I wish I had known when I was in university and talking to neo-Darwinists. | |
| The Secret Garden | Notes | |
| The Martian |