Susan Orlean

About Susan Orlean A highly regarded American writer of modern fiction, the novelist Susan Orlean has made a strong name for herself throughout the literary industry. Knowing and understanding her craft on an extremely fundamental level, she really gets a feel for her subject matter both inside and out. This has allowed her to write some of the most compelling fiction and non-fiction to date, combining the two to thrilling effect.

The best place to start is the History series, the earliest of Susan Orlean's multi-book series: it opens with Red Sox and Bluefish and Other Things That Make New England New England (1987) and runs to 3 books across 1987–1992, ending with The American Man at Age 10 (1992). Susan Orlean's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.

Susan Orlean has 28 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1987 and 2025. 18 of them belong to 6 named series — the largest being the Funny Women Write from the Road series with 5 books — and 10 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Susan Orlean's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are History (1987–1992, 3 books), Susan Orlean Gardening (1998–2016, 2 books) and Susan Orlean Biographies (2001–2025, 4 books), plus 3 more.

This guide splits Susan Orlean's 28 books into 6 named series and 10 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Funny Women Write from the Road (5 books, 2003–2007); Susan Orlean Biographies (4 books, 2001–2025); Susan Orlean Animal (3 books, 2011–2021); History (3 books, 1987–1992); Susan Orlean Gardening (2 books, 1998–2016), plus 1 further series.