Joan Silber Books in Order
Joan Silber has written 11 books, published between 1980 and 2025. The first book is Household Words (1980) and the newest is Mercy (2025). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 11
- Published
- 1980–2025
- Pages on record
- 1,383 in 6 of 11 books
- Reading time
- 23–35 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 1,383 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 6 of 11 titles with a page count on record.
Joan Silber writes novels and short stories, and the catalogue holds 11 books from Household Words (1980) to Mercy (2025). In the City (1987), In My Other Life (2000), Lucky Us (2001), Ideas of Heaven (2005), The Size of the World (2008), As Long as It Takes (2009) and Fools (2013) fill the middle of the list. Improvement (2017) won the fiction prize of the National Book Critics Circle in 2017, and the PEN/Faulkner Award followed in 2018. Secrets of Happiness followed in 2021. Subject headings include American short stories, Jewish women, bohemianism, young women, coming of age and New York City. Silber is an American writer born in 1945.
How many Joan Silber books are there?
Joan Silber has 11 books, released between 1980 and 2025.
Joan Silber Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 11 Joan Silber books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.
- 1Household Words1980 · confirmed 1/41980–1/4
- 2In the City1987 · 246 pages · confirmed 1/419872461/4
- 3In My Other Life2000 · 223 pages · confirmed 1/420002231/4
- 4Lucky Us2001 · confirmed 1/42001–1/4
- 5Ideas of Heaven2005 · 224 pages · confirmed 1/420052241/4
- 6The Size of the World2008 · 288 pages · confirmed 1/420082881/4
- 720091141/4
- 8Fools2013 · confirmed 1/42013–1/4
- 9Improvement2017 · confirmed 1/42017–1/4
- 10Secrets of Happiness2021 · 288 pages · confirmed 1/420212881/4
- 11Mercy2025 · confirmed 1/42025–1/4
Joan Silber books grouped by series
Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.
Art of. in order
1 bookStandalone books
10 books10 Joan Silber titles here are not listed as part of any series.
Do you have to read Joan Silber books in order?
No. No source lists any of the 11 Joan Silber books here as part of a series. The numbered table above gives them by publication date.
Where to start with Joan Silber
Start with Household Words (1980), the earliest published title.
What is the newest Joan Silber book?
Mercy (2025) is the newest Joan Silber book released so far.
Is there a new Joan Silber book coming?
No next Joan Silber book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
Joan Silber at a glance
- Still publishing
- Joan Silber published a book as recently as 2025.
- Release pace
- Joan Silber books have appeared about one every 5 years on average.
- Length
- 1,383 pages across the 6 of 11 books with a recorded length, a median of 235 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Joan Silber books, 5 of 11, were published in the 2000s.
What the Joan Silber books are about
6 of the 11 Joan Silber books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: short stories is tagged on 3 of 6. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Short stories 3 of 6 books