Jonathan Ames Books in Order
Jonathan Ames has written 14 books, published between 1989 and 2025. The first book is I Pass Like Night (1989) and the newest is Karma Doll (2025). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 14
- Published
- 1989–2025
- Pages on record
- 2,397 in 9 of 14 books
- Reading time
- 40–60 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 2,397 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 9 of 14 titles with a page count on record.
Jonathan Ames, born March 23, 1964, is an American writer of novels and comic memoirs. The catalogue holds 14 books from I Pass Like Night (1989) to Karma Doll (2025), including the Happy Doll series. Ames created two television series, Bored to Death for HBO and Blunt Talk for Starz. The Extra Man became a 2010 film that Ames co-wrote, and You Were Never Really Here became a 2017 film with Ames as executive producer. Ames also wrote a column for the New York Press and has stepped into the boxing ring as The Herring Wonder.
How many Jonathan Ames books are there?
Jonathan Ames has 14 books, released between 1989 and 2025. 3 of them belong to the Happy Doll series.
Jonathan Ames Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 14 Jonathan Ames 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.
- 1I Pass Like Night1989 · 176 pages · confirmed 1/419891761/4
- 2The Extra Man1998 · 366 pages · confirmed 1/419983661/4
- 3What's Not to Love?2000 · 288 pages · confirmed 1/420002881/4
- 4My Less Than Secret Life2002 · 397 pages · confirmed 1/420023971/4
- 5Wake Up, Sir!2004 · 352 pages · confirmed 1/420043521/4
- 6Sexual Metamorphosis2005 · 319 pages · confirmed 1/420053191/4
- 7I Love You More Than You Know2005 · 266 pages · confirmed 1/420052661/4
- 820081361/4
- 9Bored to Death2009 · confirmed 1/42009–1/4
- 10The Double Life is Twice as Good2009 · confirmed 1/42009–1/4
- 11You Were Never Really Here2013 · 97 pages · confirmed 1/42013971/4
- 122021–1/4
- 132022–1/4
- 142025–1/4
Jonathan Ames 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.
Happy Doll in order
3 booksGraphic Standalone Novels
1 book1 title published under this heading without a numbered place in a series.
Standalone books
10 books10 Jonathan Ames titles here are not listed as part of any series.
Do you have to read Jonathan Ames books in order?
You only need to read Jonathan Ames books in order within the Happy Doll series, which holds 3 of the 14 Jonathan Ames books listed here. The numbered table above gives every book in publication order.
Where to start with Jonathan Ames
Start with I Pass Like Night (1989), the earliest published title.
What is the newest Jonathan Ames book?
Karma Doll (2025) is the newest Jonathan Ames book released so far.
Is there a new Jonathan Ames book coming?
No next Jonathan Ames book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
Awards Jonathan Ames has won
Wikidata records 1 award for Jonathan Ames. Each row states whether the title won or was shortlisted, and the year the award was given.
- Shamus Award2023Won
Jonathan Ames at a glance
- Still publishing
- Jonathan Ames published a book as recently as 2025.
- Release pace
- Jonathan Ames books have appeared about one every 3 years on average.
- Length
- 2,397 pages across the 9 of 14 books with a recorded length, a median of 288 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Jonathan Ames books, 8 of 14, were published in the 2000s.
What the Jonathan Ames books are about
10 of the 14 Jonathan Ames books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: biography is tagged on 3 of 10. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Biography 3 of 10 books
- Alcoholics 2 of 10 books
- Authors 2 of 10 books
- Humor 2 of 10 books
- Humor, form, essays 2 of 10 books
- New York (N.Y.) 2 of 10 books
- Social life and customs 2 of 10 books