Author: christophgreen

I read 25 books in 2017, marking the third time in the last four years that I have read an average of two books a month. My tilt toward fiction continued. I read 11 fiction books, six non-fiction books and eight anthologies. Here’s the list: Granta No. 137: Autumn 2016. “The Gloaming” by Melanie Finn.… Continue reading My Year in Books: 2017

Perhaps it is a commentary on how difficult and chaotic real life felt during the year that I found myself turning to fiction more often in 2016. Of the 25 books I ended up reading, 16 were works of fiction. But far from representing an escape route from everyday strife, they often seemed to echo the… Continue reading My Year in Books: 2016

Very long and very short. My year of reading in 2015 included finishing both expansive novels — David Mitchell’s “The Bone Clocks” and Eleanor Catton’s “The Luminaries” — and memorable short reads, such as Ta-Nehisi Coates’ arresting “Between the World and Me” and Teju Cole’s vivid fictional return to Nigeria, “Every Day is for the… Continue reading My Year in Books: 2015

I did something today that I haven’t done in years. I wrote a letter. Not a card or a note, mind you. But a bonafide, handwritten, four-page letter that I intend to drop off in a mailbox tomorrow so that it can begin a snail mail journey to my aunt and uncle in northern California.… Continue reading Chain of letters

In recent years, most of my reading time has been devoted to non-fiction books. In 2014, I made a conscious effort to read more fiction, a quest I documented here. Of the 19 books I read in 2014, 11 of them were fiction. I also read six issues of Granta, a quarterly magazine of new… Continue reading My year in books: 2014

Two thousand thirteen marked a year a big change for me: a new job, a new city and a new house. But through all the transitions, I still found time to read in full 15 books, eight non-fiction and seven fiction, and four issues of Granta, a quarterly magazine of new writing. Here’s the list:… Continue reading My year in books: 2013

I read 20 books in all during 2012. Four fiction and 16 non-fiction. Plus four issues of Granta, cover to cover. When I think about what books will stick me for awhile, “Behind the Beautiful Forevers” by Katherine Boo was by far the most moving and meaningful. Here’s the full list: “The Innocent” by Ian… Continue reading My year in books, 2012 edition

New years are supposed to bring new starts. So, I suppose it’s only fitting that I will begin 2013 with a significant transition of my own. For the last three-and-a-half years, I’ve worked as an independent writer, editor and researcher, doing much of my work for the Kansas Leadership Center in Wichita. A week from… Continue reading Transitions