Library | Antilibrary

an·ti·li·brar·y | noun | \ˌan-tē-ˈlī-ˌbrer-ē, ˌan-ˌtī-\

  1. A collection of unread books, kept as a reminder of what one does not yet know; the assembly of volumes acquired but not yet consumed

  2. The private collection of books one intends to read, standing in deliberate opposition to the notion that a library represents only what has been read.

Anthropology & Cultural Studies

Non-Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity Marc Augé (1992)
Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concept of Pollution and Taboo Mary Douglas (2002)
The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing (2021)
We Have Never Been Modern Bruno Latour (2012)

Biography & Memoir

Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace David Lipsky (2010)
Holy Man: Father Damien of Molokai Gavan Daws (1973)
Humanly Possible Sarah Bakewell (2023)
Last Words George Carlin (2009)
Not Fade Away: A Short Life Well Lived Laurence Shames (2003)
Revelations of Divine Love Julian of Norwich (1393)
The Empathy Diaries: A Memoir Sherry Turkle (2021)
The Making of Prince of Persia: Journals 1985-1993 Jordan Mechner (2011)
Virginia Woolf Hermione Lee (1996)

Classic Literature

Death Comes for the Archbishop Willa Cather (1927)
Don Quixote de La Mancha Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1605)
East of Eden John Steinbeck (1952)
Independent People Halldór Laxness (1934)
Madonna in a Fur Coat Sabahattin Ali (1943)
Middlemarch George Eliot (1872)
The Anatomy of Melancholy Robert Burton (1621)
The Betrothed Alessandro Manzoni (1827)
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter Carson McCullers (1940)
The Human Comedy William Saroyan (1943)
Trilby George du Maurier (1894)

Consciousness Studies

Dark Night, Early Dawn: Steps to a Deep Ecology of Mind Christopher M. Bache (2000)
LSD and the Mind of the Universe: Diamonds from Heaven Christopher M. Bache (2019)
Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness Peter Godfrey-Smith (2016)
Prometheus Rising Robert Anton Wilson (1983)
The Living Classroom: Teaching and Collective Consciousness Christopher M. Bache (2008)

Contemporary Literary Fiction

Atonement Ian McEwan (2001)
Circe Madeline Miller (2018)
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead Olga Tokarczuk (2009)
Either/Or Elif Batuman (2022)
Flesh David Szalay (2025)
Ghost Wall Sarah Moss (2018)
Gilead Marilynne Robinson (2004)
James Percival Everett (2024)
Lies and Sorcery Elsa Morante (1948)
Middlesex Jeffrey Eugenides (2002)
My Brilliant Friend Elena Ferrante (2011)
My Name Is Asher Lev Chaim Potok (1972)
Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro (2005)
No One Is Talking About This Patricia Lockwood (2021)
North Woods Daniel Mason (2023)
Notes of a Crocodile Qiu Miaojin (1994)
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous Ocean Vuong (2019)
Pachinko Min Jin Lee (2017)
Rejection Tony Tulathimutte (2024)
Sea of Tranquility Emily St. John Mandel (2022)
Sister Deborah Scholastique Mukasonga (2022)
Small Things Like These Claire Keegan (2021)
Station Eleven Emily St. John Mandel (2014)
The Barracks John McGahern (1963)
The Book of Disquiet Fernando Pessoa (1982)
The Coin Yasmin Zaher (2024)
The Glass Hotel Emily St. John Mandel (2020)
The Largesse of the Sea Maiden Denis Johnson (2018)
The Library at Mount Char Scott Hawkins (2015)
The Membranes Chi Ta-wei (1995)
The Mezzanine Nicholson Baker (1988)
The Name of the Rose Umberto Eco (1980)
The Passion According to G.H. Clarice Lispector (1964)
The Sea John Banville (2005)
The Sea, the Sea Iris Murdoch (1978)
The Sellout Paul Beatty (2015)
The Unbearable Lightness of Being Milan Kundera (1984)
The Underground Railroad Colson Whitehead (2016)
Tropic of Cancer Henry Miller (1934)
Under the Net Iris Murdoch (1954)
Will There Ever Be Another You Patricia Lockwood (2025)
Yellowface R.F. Kuang (2023)

Creativity & Innovation

Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre Keith Johnstone (1979)
The Act of Creation Arthur Koestler (1964)

Economics & Social Theory

Private Truths, Public Lies: The Social Consequences of Preference Falsification Timur Kuran (1997)
Slow Down: The Degrowth Manifesto Kōhei Saitō (2020)
Status and Culture: How Our Desire for Social Rank Creates Taste, Identity, Art, Fashion, and Constant Change W. David Marx (2022)
The Economics of Non-Human Societies Gordon Tullock (1994)
The Weirdest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous Joseph Henrich (2020)

Essays & Creative Nonfiction

Feel Free: Essays Zadie Smith (2018)
For the Time Being Annie Dillard (1999)
My Bright Abyss: Meditation of a Modern Believer Christian Wiman (2013)
Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters Annie Dillard (1982)
The Empathy Exams Leslie Jamison (2014)
When I Was a Child I Read Books Marilynne Robinson (2012)

Historical Fiction

Hild Nicola Griffith (2013)
Jerusalem Delivered Torquato Tasso (1581)
The Satanic Verses Salman Rushdie (1988)
The Secret History Donna Tartt (1992)

History & Politics

Blank Space: A Cultural History of the Twenty-First Century W. David Marx (2025)
Boom Town: The Fantastical Saga of Oklahoma City Sam Anderson (2018)
Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism George Monbiot (2024)
The Eye of the Master: A Social History of Artificial Intelligence Matteo Pasquinelli (2023)
The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York Robert A. Caro (1974)
Tower of Basel: The Shadowy History of the Secret Bank that Runs the World Adam LeBor (2013)

Japanese Literature & Culture

All the Lovers in the Night Mieko Kawakami (2011)
Breasts and Eggs Mieko Kawakami (2008)
Convenience Store Woman Sayaka Murata (2016)
Lost Japan Alex Kerr (1993)
Sisters in Yellow Mieko Kawakami (2023)
Six Records of a Floating Life Shěn Fù (1877)
Sources of Japanese Tradition: Volume I/II William Theodore de Bary (1964)
Strange Weather in Tokyo Hiromi Kawakami (2001)
The Catalpa Bapan Carmen Blacker (1999)
The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea Yukio Mishima (1963)
The Samurai Shūsaku Endō (1980)
Tokyo Ueno Station Yū Miri (2014)

Latin American Literature

One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel García Márquez (1967)
The Savage Detectives Roberto Bolaño (1998)
2666 Roberto Bolaño (2004)

Literary Experimental

let me tell you and let me go on Paul Griffiths (2025)

Literary Theory & Criticism

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain George Saunders (2021)
How to Be Alone Jonathan Franzen (2002)
Moments of Being: A Collection of Autobiographical Writing Virginia Woolf (1976)
Serious Noticing: Selected Essays, 1997-2019 James Wood (2019)
Ways of Seeing John Berger (1972)

Masculinity & Men's Studies

Iron John: A Book About Men Robert Bly (1990)
The Sibling Society: An Impassioned Call for the Rediscovery of Adulthood Robert Bly (1996)

Modernist Literature

Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism Sarah Wynn-Williams (2025)
Stoner John Williams (1965)
We Were the Mulvaneys Joyce Carol Oates (1996)

Music

Conversations Steve Reich (2022)
Silences So Deep: Music, Solitude, Alaska John Luther Adams (2020)

Neuroscience & Cognitive Science

Active Inference: The Free Energy Principle in Mind, Brain, and Behavior Thomas Parr (2022)
Being No One: The Self-Model Theory of Subjectivity Thomas Metzinger (2003)
Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason and the Human Brain António Damásio (1994)
The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World Iain McGilchrist (2009)

Philosophy & Continental Thought

Anarchy, State, and Utopia Robert Nozick (1974)
Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia Gilles Deleuze (1972)
Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil Hannah Arendt (1963)
MORALITY OF HAPPINESS Julia Annas (1993)
The Complete Essays Michel de Montaigne (1580)
What We Owe to Each Other T.M. Scanlon (1999)

Poetry

Bright Dead Things Ada Limon (2015)
Decreation: Poetry, Essays, Opera Anne Carson (2005)
Eros the Bittersweet Anne Carson (1986)
The Beauty of the Husband: A Fictional Essay in 29 Tangos Anne Carson (2001)
The Wild Iris Louise Glück (1992)
Walking to Martha's Vineyard: Poems Franz Wright (2003)

Postmodern & Maximalist Fiction

Gravity's Rainbow Thomas Pynchon (1973)
House of Leaves Mark Z. Danielewski (2000)
J R William Gaddis (1975)
My Struggle Karl Ove Knausgård (2009)
On the Calculation of Volume Solvej Balle (2020)
Solenoid Mircea Cărtărescu (2015)
The Instructions Adam Levin (2010)
The Last Samurai Helen DeWitt (2000)
The Recognitions William Gaddis (1955)
The Tunnel William H. Gass (1995)
Underworld Don DeLillo (1997)
V. Thomas Pynchon (1963)
Wittgenstein's Mistress David Markson (1988)

Psychology

The Burnout Society Byung-Chul Han (2010)
The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting up a Generation for Failure Jonathan Haidt (2018)

Religion & Spirituality (Literary)

Gravity and Grace Simone Weil (1947)
Waiting for God Simone Weil (1951)

Russian Literature

A Hero of Our Time Mikhail Lermontov (1839)
Life and Fate Vasily Grossman (1960)
Notes from Underground Fyodor Dostoevsky (1864)
Pale Fire Vladimir Nabokov (1962)
The Brothers Karamazov Fyodor Dostoevsky (1880)

Science & Physics

Seven Brief Lessons on Physics Carlo Rovelli (2014)
The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World David Deutsch (2011)
The New Breed: What Our History with Animals Reveals about Our Future with Robots Kate Darling (2021)

Science Fiction & Speculative Fiction

Project Hail Mary Andy Weir (2021)
The Fifth Season N.K. Jemisin (2015)
The Martian Andy Weir (2011)
The Sword of Kaigen M.L. Wang (2019)
Wool Omnibus Hugh Howey (2012)

Short Stories

Birds of America Lorrie Moore (1998)
The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis Lydia Davis (2009)
The Visiting Privilege: New and Collected Stories Joy Williams (2015)
Your Duck Is My Duck Deborah Eisenberg (2018)

Spirituality & Religious Studies

All Things Are Full of Gods: The Mysteries of Mind and Life David Bentley Hart (2024)
How the Swans Came to the Lake: A Narrative History of Buddhism in America Rick Fields (1981)
Kumano Kodo: Pilgrimage to Powerspots J. Christian Greer (2022)
Mountain Mandalas: Shugendo in Kyushu Allan G. Grapard (2016)
Protocol of the Gods: A Study of the Kasuga Cult in Japanese History Allan G. Grapard (1992)
The Art of Pilgrimage: The Seeker's Guide to Making Travel Sacred Phil Cousineau (1998)
The Making of Modern Buddhism David L. McMahan (2008)
The Zen Teaching of Homeless Kodo Kosho Uchiyama (1981)

Sports Writing

This Bloody Mary is the Last Thing I Own: A Journey to the End of Boxing Jonathan Rendall (1997)

Technology & Digital Culture

Blockchain Chicken Farm, And Other Stories of Tech in China's Countryside Xiowei Wang (2020)
Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture Kyle Chayka (2024)
Superbloom: How Technologies of Connection Tear Us Apart Nicholas Carr (2025)
The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World Christine Rosen (2024)
The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource Christopher L. Hayes (2025)

Theater & Drama

4.48 Psychosis Sarah Kane (2000)
Endgame Samuel Beckett (1957)
Krapp's Last Tape Samuel Beckett (1958)
The Cherry Orchard Anton Chekhov (1904)
The Seagull Anton Chekhov (1896)
Three Sisters Anton Chekhov (1901)
Top Girls Caryl Churchill (1982)

Travel & Nature Writing

A Time of Gifts: On Foot to Constantinople - from the Hook of Holland to the Middle Danube Patrick Leigh Fermor (1977)
A Time to Keep Silence Patrick Leigh Fermor (1953)
Annals of the Former World John McPhee (2000)
Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life William Finnegan (2015)
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek Annie Dillard (1974)
The Tree John Fowles (1979)
The Writing Life Annie Dillard (1989)