We asked the past year’s podcast-guests for the favorite books they read in 2023 and the books they hope to read in 2024 for our special year-end Guest List episode! Seventeen guests participated, so listen to the show to hear about the books they loved this year, and use this page to check out all the books, as well as their past episodes!

Photo of my 2023 books (not incl. comics & some e-books) by me.

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The Guests

Ho Che Anderson – 27:05

• Heat 2 – Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner
• So Say We All: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Battlestar Galactica – Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman

Ho Che’s 2024 goals

• Blood Meridian – Cormac McCarthy

Josh Bayer – 3:10

• Demons 4 – Hyena Hell

Howard Fishman – 7:35

• Angela’s Ashes – Frank McCourt
• The Train of Small Mercies – David Rowell
• The Mysteries – Marisa Silver
• Rusty Brown – Chris Ware

Howard’s 2024 goals

• Jon Fosse’s novels and plays, and MAYBE Proust

Priscilla Gilman – 14:55

• This Other Eden – Paul Harding

Priscilla’s 2024 goals

• The Bee Sting – Paul Murray
• The Years – Annie Ernaux, tr. Alison L. Strayer
• Septology – Jon Fosse, tr Damion Searls

Bill Griffith – 20:55

• Monica – Daniel Clowes
• Flamed Out: The Underground Adventures of Comix Genius Willy Murphy
• Mutt and Jeff
• Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen

Dean Haspiel – 4:05

• The Wheel of Doll – Jonathan Ames
• Out of My Mind – Alan Arkin
• Being Henry: The Fonz . . . and Beyond – Henry Winkler
• Friday, Book Two: On A Cold Winter’s Night – Ed Brubaker and Marcos Martin
• Batman #130 – Chip Zdarsky and Jorge Jimenez
• Diary Comics – Whitney Matheson
• Orbital Operations newsletter – Warren Ellis

Dino’s 2024 goals

• Monica – Daniel Clowes
• Night Fever – Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips

Sara Lippmann – 17:25

• The World According To Garp – John Irving
• Past Continuous – Yaacov Shabtai
• Tom Lake – Ann Patchett

Sara’s 2024 goals

• The Instructions – Adam Levin
• Plus the stories of Gina Berriault and MAYBE Karl Ove Knausgaard

Patrick McDonnell – 14:20

• Escape From Hawaii – Jack Handey
• I Am That – Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Patrick’s 2024 goals

• I Am That – Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

James McMullan – 20:05

• Democracy Awakening – Heather Cox Richardson
• Uncross Your Legs: A Life In Fashion – Stan Herman
• “In Memory of My Feelings” – Frank O’Hara
• A Likely Story – Leigh McMullan Abramson

James’ 2024 goals

• Worm – Edel Rodriguez

Lisa Morton – 2:15

• The Collective – Kate Maruyama

Lisa’s 2024 goals

• Eric LaRocca, Gwendolyn Kiste, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and Cynthia Pelayo, among others

Jonathan Papernick – 19:20

• Blitzed: Drugs In The Thitd Reich – Normal Ohler
• The Creative Act: A Way Of Being – Rick Rubin

Jonathan’s 2024 goals

• Maybe Paul Bowles on audiobook

Andrew Porter – 15:20

• Transit – Rachel Cusk
• Kudos – Rachel Cusk
• A Frozen Woman – Annie Ernaux, tr. Linda Coverdale
• The Years – Annie Ernaux, tr. Alison L. Strayer
• The Lost Daughter – Elena Ferrante
• My Brilliant Friend – Elena Ferrante, tr. Ann Goldstein
• Revolution: The Year I Fell in Love and Went to Join the Sandanistas – Deb Olin Unferth
• The Critic’s Daughter – Priscilla Gilman
• Something I Might Say – Stephanie Austin
• Brother and Sister Enter the Forest – Richard Mirabella
• Zigzagger – Manuel Munoz
• The Faith Healer of Olive Avenue – Manuel Munoz
• Mississippi River Museum – Keith Pilapil Lesmeister
• What Did You Do Today? – Anthony Varallo
• Beauty Looks Down On Me – Eun Heekyung, tr. Sora Kim Russell, Jae Won Chung, Yoonjin Park, Craig Bott
• Thirst for Salt – Madeline Lucas
• Take What You Need – Idra Novey
• The Best American Essays 2022 – Alexander Chee, ed.
• The Guest – Emma Cline

Andrew’s 2024 goals

• The Vulnerables – Sigrid Nunez
• The Story of a New Name – Elena Ferrante, tr. Ann Goldstein
• Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay – Elena Ferrante, tr. Ann Goldstein
• The Story of The Lost Child – Elena Ferrante, tr. Ann Goldstein
• Blackouts – Justin Torres
• Wandering Stars – Tommy Orange
• We Were the Universe – Kimberly King Parson
• 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem – Nam Le
• Couplets: A Love Story – Maggie Miler
• Our Narrow Hiding Places – Kristopher Jansma

Dawn Raffel – 6:35

• Indeterminate Inflorescence – Lee Seong-bok, tr. Anton Hur

Dawn’s 2024 goals

• Revelation at the Food Bank – Merrill Joan Gerber

Paul B. Rainey – 9:00

• The Periwinkle Perspective: The Giant Step – Paul Eccentric
• Seeds and Stems – Simon Hanselmann
• Monica – Daniel Clowes
• I Am Stan: A Graphic Biography of the Legendary Stan Lee – Tom Scioli
• Judge Dredd Complete Casefiles – John Wagner, et al. (as in ALL)

Paul’s 2024 goals

• EC Archives – too many writers and artists to mention

Peter Rostovsky – 21:40

• Night Fever – Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
• The Pill – Meg Elison

Peter’s 2024 goals

• Number One Fan – Meg Elison
• Radio Silence: Book of Walks – Deb Todd Wheeler

Scott Samuelson – 24:00

• Crabcakes: A Memoir – James Alan McPherson

Karl Stevens – 26:35

• Same Bed, Different Dreams – Ed Park
• The Slip: The New York City Street That Changed American Art Forever – Prudence Peiffer
• Dear Mini – Natalie Norris
• Why Don’t You Love Me? – Paul B. Rainey

Karl’s 2024 goals

• The Power Broker – Robert Caro
• Moby-Dick – Herman Melville

Gil Roth – 28:00

• Faith, Hoipe, & Carnage – Nick Cave & Seán O’Hagan
• Piranesi – Susanna Clarke
• The Haunting of Hill House – Shirley Jackson
• Three Rocks – Bill Griffith
• Why Don’t You Love Me? – Paul B. Rainey
• The Super Hero’s Journey – Patrick McDonnell
• Francis Rothbart! The Tale of a Fastidious Feral – Thomas Woodruff
• Ravage & Son – Jerome Charyn
• The Destroyer of Worlds: A Return To Lovecraft Country – Matt Ruff
• To Any One Who Ever Asks: The Life, Music, and Mystery of Connie Converse – Howard Fishman
• Nothing Stays Put: The Life and Poetry of Amy Clampitt – Willard Spiegelman
• The Secret Life of John Le Carré – Adam Sisman
• A Year And A Day: An Experiment In Essays – Phillp Lopate
• Goodbye to Clocks Ticking: How We Live While Dying – Joseph Monninger
• On Christopher Street: Life, Sex, and Death After Stonewall – Michael Denneny
• Valid Until Sunset – Jarrett Earnest
• My Bright Abyss: Meditation of a Modern Believer – Christian Wiman
• He Held Radical Light: The Art of Faith, the Faith of Art – Christian Wiman
• Zero At The Bone: Fifty Entries Against Despair – Christian Wiman

Gil’s 2024 goals

• The Snow Leopard – Peter Matthiessen
• The Transit of Venus – Shirley Hazzard
• The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson – Jerome Charyn
• A Loaded Gun: Emily Dickinson for the 21st Century – Jerome Charyn
• We Have Always Lived In The Castle – Shirley Jackson
• All my 2024 guests’ books!

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