2023 Reading List

A 9 novel challenge.

I like the idea of book clubs. I even like the idea of trying to read the same book with friends. But, in practice, the whole thing always ends up irritating. I either read the selected novel too fast and wait for everyone to catch up or I lose interest in whatever someone else chooses because my taste is erratic.

Instead of attempting to organize an online book club, I’m going to list nine novels I will read in 2023. This is a challenge to myself and anyone who wants to join me. Once I finish reading each one I will go over my thoughts in a Substack and start a chat thread.

The twelve novels I chose, for the most part, are classics that I either read twenty years ago or ones that I’ve never gotten around to reading in the first place.

The Dacian’s 2023 Reading Challange

1. Solenoid by Mircea Cartulescu

2. Crime and Punishment by Fydor Dostoevsky

3. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

4. Swans Way by Marcel Proust

5. The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann

6. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

7. V by Thomas Pynchon

8. Daniel Martin by John Fowles

9. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

The plan is to start the first one at the beginning of the year. The above list is just a challenge to myself so I can organize my reading. My annual average sits around 60 with a 60/40 mix of fiction/non-fiction. On top of the above list, I have a few other novels that I need to read, some are from friends and small presses others are upcoming releases like Bret Easton Ellis’s new book.

So if you are interested in tagging along, I’ll start Selenoid on the 1st.

Happy New Year!