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ReadingA storefront-style log of what I'm reading—cover art, title, author, linked to Bookshop.org and grouped by month. Lately it drifts through sun-drenched territory: Greek novels old and new, Provençal hills and Parisian cafés, Latin American sagas, a mescal-soaked Mexico, with the occasional detour into surrealism or a book about creative constraints. You'll find list or grid view, and no reviews or star ratings—just a running snapshot of what's open on my desk.

Rommy's reading this July has a fevered, sun-struck quality—novels where place presses in on the people who live there, sometimes tenderly and sometimes not. There's Malcolm Lowry's Under the Volcano, with its mescal-soaked day under the Mexican sky, and Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits, where family history and the supernatural braid together across generations. Rural Europe holds the other end of the thread: Jean Giono's Hill imagines a Provençal village where the land itself seems to turn hostile, while Alexandros Papadiamantis's The Murderess follows a darker moral reckoning on a Greek island. Greece appears in gentler light too, in the languid adolescent summers of Margarita Liberaki's Three Summers and in When the Tree Sings. The one urban detour is Patrick Modiano's In the Café of Lost Youth, a hazy Parisian mystery of memory and disappearance that somehow fits the month's mood anyway. Taken together, it's a snapshot of a reader drawn to atmosphere over plot—to heat, haunting, and the stubborn pull of home ground.

  1. 2026-07 Under the Volcano
  2. 2026-07 The House of the Spirits
  3. 2026-07 Three Summers
  4. 2026-07 Hill
  5. 2026-07 When the Tree Sings
  6. 2026-07 In the Café of Lost Youth
  7. 2026-07 The Murderess
  8. 2026-06 Garden by the Sea
  9. 2026-06 The Stone Door
  10. 2026-05 Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better
  11. 2026-05 No Longer Human
  12. 2026-04 Ten Planets: Stories
  13. 2026-03 A Month in the Country

July 2026

Under the Volcano Under the Volcano The House of the Spirits The House of the Spirits Three Summers Three Summers Hill Hill When the Tree Sings When the Tree Sings In the Café of Lost Youth In the Café of Lost Youth The Murderess The Murderess

June 2026

Garden by the Sea Garden by the Sea The Stone Door The Stone Door

May 2026

Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better No Longer Human No Longer Human

April 2026

Ten Planets: Stories Ten Planets: Stories

March 2026

A Month in the Country A Month in the Country

Sorted alphabetically by title rather than ranked, Rommy's Must Reads shelf is less a list than a map of the places fiction can take a reader—the dust and violence of the American West in Blood Meridian and Butcher's Crossing, the neon loneliness of Chandler's Los Angeles in The Big Sleep, the humid magic of Latin America in Pedro Paramo and The House of the Spirits. Translation runs deep here: Rommy's canon reaches from Japan (No Longer Human, The Memory Police) to Greece (Three Summers, The Murderess) to Hungary, Norway, and Egypt, favoring voices rediscovered as often as those long celebrated. He gravitates toward books with a strong interior weather—quiet devastations like Stoner and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter sit comfortably beside the surreal comedy of The Master and Margarita and the sentence-level precision of Carver's What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. Greene's haunted Catholics, Baldwin's aching clarity, Steinbeck's California—what ties it all together is atmosphere and moral seriousness delivered without pretension. Start anywhere; the alphabet is as good a guide as any.

  1. A Confederacy of Dunces
  2. All the Pretty Horses
  3. An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter
  4. Arthur Rimbaud
  5. Between the World and Me
  6. Big Sur
  7. Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch
  8. Blood Meridian
  9. Butcher's Crossing
  10. Cannery Row
  11. Chronicle of a Death Foretold
  12. Civilwarland in Bad Decline
  13. Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands
  14. East of Eden
  15. French Perfume
  16. Garden by the Sea
  17. Giovanni's Room
  18. Growth of the Soil
  19. Hard Rain Falling
  20. Hill
  21. Hopscotch
  22. In a Lonely Place
  23. In Cold Blood
  24. James Baldwin: A Biography
  25. Jim Henson: The Biography
  26. Jitterbug Perfume
  27. Kafka on the Shore
  28. Last Exit to Brooklyn
  29. Life with Picasso
  30. Moravagine
  31. No Longer Human
  32. Pachinko
  33. Pastoralia
  34. Pedro Paramo
  35. Stoner
  36. The Baron in the Trees
  37. The Bell Jar
  38. The Big Sleep
  39. The Diesel
  40. The Door
  41. The End of the Affair
  42. The Great Bridge
  43. The Hearing Trumpet
  44. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
  45. The Heart of the Matter
  46. The High Window
  47. The House of the Spirits
  48. The Lady in the Lake
  49. The Long Goodbye
  50. The Master and Margarita
  51. The Memory Police
  52. The Murderess
  53. The Old Man and the Sea
  54. The Power and the Glory
  55. The Quiet American
  56. The Savage Detectives
  57. The Unbearable Lightness of Being
  58. Their Eyes Were Watching God
  59. Three Summers
  60. Tortilla Flat
  61. Tropic of Cancer
  62. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
  63. When the Tree Sings
  64. Will You Please be Quiet, Please?
  65. Woman at Point Zero
A Confederacy of Dunces A Confederacy of Dunces All the Pretty Horses All the Pretty Horses An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter Arthur Rimbaud Arthur Rimbaud Between the World and Me Between the World and Me Big Sur Big Sur Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch Blood Meridian Blood Meridian Butcher's Crossing Butcher's Crossing Cannery Row Cannery Row Chronicle of a Death Foretold Chronicle of a Death Foretold Civilwarland in Bad Decline Civilwarland in Bad Decline Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands East of Eden East of Eden French Perfume French Perfume Garden by the Sea Garden by the Sea Giovanni's Room Giovanni's Room Growth of the Soil Growth of the Soil Hard Rain Falling Hard Rain Falling Hill Hill Hopscotch Hopscotch In a Lonely Place In a Lonely Place In Cold Blood In Cold Blood James Baldwin: A Biography James Baldwin: A Biography Jim Henson: The Biography Jim Henson: The Biography Jitterbug Perfume Jitterbug Perfume Kafka on the Shore Kafka on the Shore Last Exit to Brooklyn Last Exit to Brooklyn Life with Picasso Life with Picasso Moravagine Moravagine No Longer Human No Longer Human Pachinko Pachinko Pastoralia Pastoralia Pedro Paramo Pedro Paramo Stoner Stoner The Baron in the Trees The Baron in the Trees The Bell Jar The Bell Jar The Big Sleep The Big Sleep The Diesel The Diesel The Door The Door The End of the Affair The End of the Affair The Great Bridge The Great Bridge The Hearing Trumpet The Hearing Trumpet The Heart is a Lonely Hunter The Heart is a Lonely Hunter The Heart of the Matter The Heart of the Matter The High Window The High Window The House of the Spirits The House of the Spirits The Lady in the Lake The Lady in the Lake The Long Goodbye The Long Goodbye The Master and Margarita The Master and Margarita The Memory Police The Memory Police The Murderess The Murderess The Old Man and the Sea The Old Man and the Sea The Power and the Glory The Power and the Glory The Quiet American The Quiet American The Savage Detectives The Savage Detectives The Unbearable Lightness of Being The Unbearable Lightness of Being Their Eyes Were Watching God Their Eyes Were Watching God Three Summers Three Summers Tortilla Flat Tortilla Flat Tropic of Cancer Tropic of Cancer What We Talk About When We Talk About Love What We Talk About When We Talk About Love When the Tree Sings When the Tree Sings Will You Please be Quiet, Please? Will You Please be Quiet, Please? Woman at Point Zero Woman at Point Zero