2022 Reading List:

• The Best American Travel Writing… 2000-22
• The Best American Food Writing… 2000-22
• The Best American Essay Writing… 2020 & 2021
• Poor White Trash… Nancy Isenberg
• The Vanderbilts… Katherine Howe
• Much Depends on Dinner… Margaret Visser
• The Rituals of Dinner… Margaret Visser

2023 Reading List:

• Barrel Fever… David Sedaris
• Le’s Explore Diabetes with Owls… David Sedaris
• Calypso… David Sedaris
• Lies My Teacher Told Me… James Loewen
• The Silk Roads… Peter Frankopan
• The Rise & Fall of Adam & Eve… Stephen Greenblatt
• Big Magic… Elizabeth Gilbert
• 101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think… Brianna Wiest
• The History of a Temptation: Spice… Jack Turner
• Salt: A World History… Mark Kurlansky
• Orwell’s Roses… Rebecca Solnit
• The Encyclopedia of Trouble & Spaciousness… Rebecca Solnit
• From Here to Eternity… Caitlin Doughty
• Trickster Makes This World… Lewis Hyde
• At Home… Bill Bryson
• Wanderlust… Rebecca Solnit
• The Last Madam: A Life in the Underworld of New Orleans… Christine Wiltz
• The Accidental City: Improvising New Orleans… Lawrence N Powell
• The Astrological Houses… Dane Rudhyar
• The Mother Tongue… Bill Bryson
• Neither Here No There… Bill Bryson
• Nine Lives.;.. Dan Baum
• American Nations… Colin Woodward
• One Summer: America in 1928… Bill Bryson
• Consider the Lobster… David Foster Wallace
• A Primer for Forgetting: Getting Past the Past… Lewis Hyde
• In the Devil’s Garden… Stewart Lee Allen
• Reporting Always… Lillian Ross
• The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell… Mark Kurlansky
• An Edible History of Humanity… Tom Standage
• Where I Was From… Joan Didion
• The American Miracle… Michael Medved
• These Truths… Jill Lepore
• The Problem of Democracy… Nancy Isenburg & Andrew Burstein
• In My Own Way… Alan Watts
• The Best American Essays for 2000
• The Best American Essays for 2001
• The Best American Essays for 2002
• The Best American Essays for 2003
• The Best American Essays for 2004
• Power Through Metaphysics… Conny Mendez
• The Book… Alan Watts
• The Discoverers… Danial J Boorstin
• The Creators… Danial J Boorstin
• The Seekers… Danial J Boorstin
• Who Moved My Cheese?… Spencer Johnson
• Devil in the White City… Eric Larson
• Thunderstruck… Eric Larson
• In the Garden of Beasts… Eric Larson
• The Splendid and the Vile… Eric Larson
• Isaac’s Storm… Eric Larson
• Dead Wake… Eric Larson
• Don’t Know Much About History… Kenneth Davis
• The Americans: the Colonial Experience… Danial J Boorstin
• The Americans: the Democratic Experience… Danial J Boorstin
• The Americans: the National Experience… Danial J Boorstin
• A Nation Rising… Kenneth Cole
• The Men Who United the States… Simon Winchester
• Empires, Nations & Families: a New History of the North American West… Anne Hyde
• Don’t Know Much About the American Presidents… Kenneth C Davis

2024 Reading List:

• First Ladies… Betty Boyd Carol
• Astoria… Peter Stark
• America’s Hidden History… Kenneth C Davis
• Ramp Hollow… Steven Stoll
• South to America… Imani Perry
• Don’t Know Much About Literature… Kenneth C Davis
• The Best American Essays for 2005
• Land… Simon Winchester
• The National Road… Tom Zoellner
• American Character… Colin Woodard
• State by State… 50 Writers on 50 States
• The Best American Essays for 2006
• Deep South… Paul Theroux
• 1491… Charles C Mann
• 1493… Charles C Mann
• The Best American Essays for 2007
• The Best American Essays for 2008
• The Best American Essays for 2009
• The Best American Essays for 2010
• The Best American Essays for 2011
• The Best American Essays for 2012
• The Best American Essays for 2013
• The Best American Essays for 2014
• The Best American Essays for 2019?
• A Voyage Long & Strange… Tony Horwitz
• Spying on the South… Tony Horwitz
• The Last Empty Places… Peter Stark
• Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing… Matthew Perry
• For Her Own Good… Barbara Ehrenreich & Deirdre English
• 1984… George Orwell
• Animal Farm… George Orwell
• Hollywood Park… Mikel Jollett
• Breakfast at Tiffany’s… Truman Capote
• Answered Prayers… Truman Capote
• In Cold Blood… Truman Capote
• How Democracies Die… Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt
• Flappers… Judith Mackrell
• The Secret of Life… Elizabeth Wurtzel
• Creatocracy… Elizabeth Wurtzel
• The Wisdom of the Myths… Luc Ferry
• The Power of Place… Winifred Gallagher
• The Demon of Unrest… Erik Larson
• More, Now, Again… Elizabeth Wurtzel
• Kitchen Confidential… Anthony Bourdain
• Hidden Valley Road… Robert Kolker
• The Astrology of America’s Destiny… Dany Rudhyar
• Rich People Things… Chris Lehman
• Wild Card… Jen Cownie & Fiona Lensvelt
• Nasty Bits: Anthony Bourdain
• Medium Raw… Anthony Bourdain
• Knowing What We Know… Simon Winchester
• The Hltons… J Randy Tarraborelli
• The Grass Harp… Truman Capote
• Music for Christmas… Truman Capote
• Summer Crossing… Truman Capote
• Astor… Anderson Cooper
• Gilded… Deborah Davis
• Ben & Me… Eric Weiner
• Prozac Nation… Elizabeth Wurtzel
• The Plaza… Julie Satow
• The Mansion of Happiness… Jill Lapore
• Figures in a Landscape… Paul Theroux
• Sex With Presidents… Eleanor Herman
• Three-Martini Afternoons at the Ritz… Gail Crowther
• Al the Living & the Dead… Hayley Campbell
• The Royal Art of Poison… Eleanor Herman
• The Astor Orphan… Alexandra Aldrich
• 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos… Jordon Peterson
• The Fourth Turning is Here… Neil Howe
• Beyond Oder: 12 More Rules for Life… Jordan Peterson
• Goddesses in Older Women… Jean Shinoda Bolen MD
• The Best American Magazine Writing for 2022
• The Best American Magazine Writing for 2023
• The Best American Essays for 2023
• Other Voices, Other Rooms… Truman Capote
• The Best American Spiritual Writing for 2006
• The Best American Food Writing for 2023
• A Room of One’s Own… Virginia Woolf
• A Walking the Woods… Bill Bryson
• Jitterbug Perfume… Tom Robbins
• The Know-It-All… AJ Jacobs

2025 Reading List:

• Book of Useless Information… the Useless Information Society
• Word by Word… Kory Stamper
• On Tyranny… Timothy Snyder
• Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates… Tom Robbins
• On Our Best Behavior… Elize Loehmen
• Say Everything… Ione Skye
• A Cook’s tour… Anthony Bourdain
• Sex With Kings… Eleanor Herman
• The Best American Science & Nature of 2023
• Sex With the Queen… Eleanor Herman
• Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs… Chuck Klosterman
• Killing Yourself to Live… Chuck Klosterman
• IV… Chuck Klosterman
• But What If We’re Wrong?… Chuck Klosterman
• X… Chuck Klosterman
• The Nineties… Chuck Klosterman
• Looking for Miss America… Margot Mifflin
• A Carnival of Snackery… David Sedaris
• Millennium… Ian Mortimer
• 10 Birds That Changed the World… Stephen Moss
• First Women… Kate Anderson Brower
• Inner Work… Robert A Johnston
• Contentment… Robert A Johnston
• Sociopath: A Memoir… Patric Gagne
• The End of Woman… Carrie Gross
• The Best American Food & Travel Writing of 2024
• The Best American Food & Travel Writing of 2025
• Villa Incognito… Tom Robbins
• Drawing Down the Moon… Margot Adler
• Atlas of Unexpected Places… Travis Elborough
• Atlas of Vanishing Places… Travis Elborough
• Atlas of Forgotten Places… Travis Elborough
• Atlas of Improbable Places… Travis Elborough
• The Inner Life of Cats… Thomas Mcnamee
• Living Your Unlived Life… Robert A Johnson
• The Ego Is Not the Real You… David Hawkins PhD
• The Myth of American Idealism… Noam Chomsky
• It Can’t Happen Here… Sinclair Lewis

2026 Reading List:

• Prisoners of Geography… Tim Marshall
• Signing Their Lives Away… Denise Kiernan & Joseph D’Agnese
• Signing Their Rights Away… Denis Kiernan & Joseph D’Agnese
• A Year of Living Curiously… E Foley & B Coates
• A Brief History of the World in 47 Borders… John Elledge
• Mind Your Business… Ilana Griffo
• First in the Morning… OSHO
• Women Who Run With The Wolves… Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estes
• The Art of Seduction… Robert Greene
• The Alchemist… Paulo Coelho
• Mary Magdalene Revealed… Meghan Watterson
• The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity…
• The Big Book of the Dead…Marion Winik
• A History of the World in 100 Objects… Neil MacGregor
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2027 Reading List: