What did you read in 2019?

Joshi, John Dickson Carr: A Critical Study -- worth reading if you are already a fan of Carr, but I'd recommend Greene's biography more highly

Knight, Slimer -- fun trashy paperback-original horror, historically interesting for its introduction of genetic engineering tropes that have since been endlessly recycled; a novelized screenplay

Laing, The Cadaver of Gideon Wyck -- 1930s pulp horror written in Golden Age mystery style; it has a few unusually gruesome elements, but I didn't find it memorable

Le Fanu, In a Glass Darkly -- an untouchable classic; Le Fanu is well-known but imo underrated; at his best, more frightening than M.R. James, and a far more innovative influence on subsequent horror

McDowell, Blackwater -- an essential six-book horror soap opera, refreshing as Southern Gothic that never fakes the Southern details; extra points for powerful feminist/queer vibes; a few terrifying scenes, but overall more weird than scary

McDowell, The Amulet -- ultra-black horror comedy that's mainly a succession of imaginative kills; good stuff, but if you want to read one volume of McDowell, a better choice is The Elementals, which is more frightening and closer to Blackwater in its queer/matriarchal themes

I was curious about the Carr study because Joshi can make baffling statements sometimes.

Gideon Wyck used to have a higher reputation but several recent readers have been disappointed, so I'm lowering its priority.

I love Le Fanu, he seems less formulaic and a better prose artist than James, but some say he has a higher percentage of dull stories. I'll see someday.

I wanted to start with McDowell's Elementals but somebody was championing Blackwater above all else recently.

Muriel Spark - The Driver's Seat
Muriel Spark - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Muriel Spark - The Girls of Slender Means
Albert Camus - L'Étranger
Charlotte Bronté - Jane Eyre
Anita Brookner - Hotel du Lac
Dan Hancox - Inner City Pressure: The Story of Grime

My favourites were Jane Eyre and The Girls of Slender Means.

Tao Te Ching - Laozi 2/10

I love this rating.

my goodreads review was "i don't get it."

reminded taht I read the Jorma Kaukonen memoir Been So Long which I think must have been last year.
Would like to read similar from the other members, think I've read at least one of Grace's already.

Augusto Boal Theatre of the Oppressed too.

Enormously late but:
The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea - Yuki Mishima
Ulrich Haarburste's Novel of Roy Orbison Wrapped in Clingfilm - Ulrich Haarburste
Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit - Jeanette Winterson
Murmur - Will Eaves
The Spy and the Traior - Ben MacIntyre
White Jazz - James Ellroy
The Little Disturbances of Man - Grace Paley
Cromwell - CV Wedgwood
The Night Manager - John le Carré
The Bachelors - Muirel Spark
Mouthful of Birds - Samanta Schweblin
The Thirty Years War - CV Wedgwood
And the Wind Sees All - Gudmundur Andri Thorsson
I Think Therefore I Play - Andrea Pirlo
Maybe This Time - Alois Hotsching
The Tunnel - Ernesto Sabato
Chess - Stefan Zweig
The Continental Op - Dashiell Hammett
SPQR - Mary Beard
Reservoir 13 - Jon McGregor
The Line Becomes a River - Francisco Cantu