graciela

library

graciela's library

faves

mar 2026

rebecca solnit

about the invention of instantaneous photography and railroad travel and how that shaped the broader narrative of the bay area, california, and the west.

jan 2026

wuthering heights

Emily Brontë

read bc of the new movie adaptation. truly amazing how bad the characters suck and how much you end up rooting for their downfall

jan 2026

Larry McMurtry

wow. story of cowboys moving their cattle from texas to california at the precipice of change in the west. you're just along for the ride then suddenly sobbing at the end 900 pages later.

dec 2025

recursion, dark matter, upgrade

blake crouch

fun sci-fi quick reads

oct 2025

rejection

Tony Tulathimutte

if you are like me and spend way too much time on the internet you will recognize every single character in this book and also yourself a little bit and that will make you sick to your stomach.

oct 2025

in universes

emet north

still thinking about the universe where the women become hordes of animals

oct 2025

the lathe of heaven

ursula k. le guin

sep 2025

the employees

olga ravn

jul 2025

sally rooney

liked more than her other books (aside from normal people) because it's finally a different story. endearing characters

jul 2025

richard powers

ultimate book about trees. classic richard powers.

may 2025

candy house

jennifer egan

continues the thread of the goon squad with more of a modern technological angle/commentary on social media.

may 2025

a visit from the goon squad

Jennifer Egan

i love a good book with multiple characters and perspectives and timelines that all lightly touch each other. such a fun read.

apr 2025

martyr!

Kaveh Akbar

mar 2025

Walt Whitman

read on cross country amtrak at the recommendation of patrick bringley who kindly responded to my email.

dec 2024

patrick bringley

memoir from a guy who loses his brother and decides to become a security guard at the met and his notes on the art and the people he watches. loved going to the met after and hunting down all his references. also i emailed the author after reading because it was such a good book and he responded in a day with such kindess.

dec 2024

benjamin hoff

sweet nuggets of wisdom about play and simplicity but i never really read pooh as a kid so didn't stick as much as it could've.

dec 2024

never let me go

kazuo ishiguro

sep 2024

richard powers

i dont think richard powers believes in happy endings. book was a little too real and i almost threw up crying at the end.

sep 2024

ithaca, house of odysseus, the last song of penelope

claire north

greek mythology always a place in my heart. great trilogy from perspective of penelope waiting on ithaca for odysseus.

aug 2024

muriel barbery

aug 2024

thich nhat hanh

made me want to become a buddhist. great material on my great shelf of post-catholicism spirtituality

jul 2024

severance

ling ma

jul 2024

1Q84

haruki murakami

read on trip through japan with now ex. somehow kept me hooked for 1100 pages and motivated enough to carry around this brick everywhere.

mar 2024

the first fifteen lives of harry august, the gameshouse

claire north

quick read recommendations from papa

mar 2024

i who have never known men

jaqueline harpman

now this book is blowing up. was engrossed in the world but a little disappointed by the ending. maybe that's how it goes.

mar 2024

an immense world

ed yong

fun fact central on every page. like walking through a museum with thousands of perfectly fascinating plaques on the wall. think of it all the time.

jan 2024

saving time

jenny odell

jenny odell is my bible and everything she writes is profound

jan 2024

How to Tell a Story

the moth

jan 2024

The Death and Life of Great American Cities

Jane Jacobs

dec 2023

david hockney and Martin Gayford

dec 2023

stay true

hua hsu

nov 2023

john berger

oct 2023

writing a woman's life

carolyn heilbrun

aug 2023

matthew desmond

aug 2023

emotion by design

greg hoffman

aug 2023

the mountain in the sea

ray nayler

aug 2023

killers of the flower moon

david grann

aug 2023

tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow

gabrielle zevin

jul 2023

cultish

amanda montell

jul 2023

maus

art spiegelman

jul 2023

stories of your life and others

ted chiang

arrival is my favorite movie of all time so it's fitting that i also loved the short story it was based on. faves were thus "Story of Your Life" but also "Hell Is the Absence of God"

jun 2023

the guest

emma cline

apr 2023

klara and the sun

kazuo ishiguro

apr 2023

exhalation

ted chiang

fave story was "Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom" and "the great silence"

dec 2022

untamed

glennon doyle

some good nuggets to take away but overall not sure you can trust advice from someone writing about how they've abandoned all their previous advice.

dec 2022

erich fromm

dec 2022

the three body problem

cixin liu

sep 2022

daniel quinn

aug 2022

marcus aurelius

jul 2022

the unbearable lightness of being

milan kundera

jul 2022

first person singular

haruki murakami

fave story is the one about the monkey in the hot springs that steals people's names.

apr 2022

jia tolentino

jaya recommended this to me and i'm immediately obsessed with everything jia tolentino will ever write or recommend ever again.

mar 2022

jenny odell

the book that got me hooked on jenny odell and the concept of attention.

mar 2022

bad feminist

roxane gay

feb 2022

madeline miller

feb 2022

bell hooks

feb 2022

paul kalanithi

i finished this right before a class and walked in with mascara stains covering my mask from crying in the d.school. the ending ripped me in half.

jan 2023

maggie nelson

jan 2022

song of achilles

madeline miller

jan 2022

the body keeps the score

bessel van der kolk

dec 2021

normal people

sally rooney

dec 2021

simone de beauvoir

nov 2021

yuval noah harari

sep 2021

deepak chopra

aug 2021

daniel boorstin

insanely relevant predictions from the 1960s about images and the synthesis and commodification of experience that i think about literally every day