Susan Orlean Books in Order
Susan Orlean has written 17 books, published between 1987 and 2025. The first book is Red Sox and Bluefish and Other Things That Make New England New England (1987) and the newest is Joyride (2025). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 17
- Published
- 1987–2025
- Pages on record
- 2,591 in 10 of 17 books
- Reading time
- 43–65 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 2,591 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 10 of 17 titles with a page count on record.
Susan Orlean, born on 31 October 1955, is an American journalist, television writer and bestselling author of The Orchid Thief and The Library Book. Orlean has been a New Yorker staff writer since 1992, has written for Vogue, Rolling Stone, Esquire and Outside, and joined the writers of How To with John Wilson in 2021. The Orchid Thief (1998) became the film Adaptation (2002), earning Meryl Streep an Oscar nomination for playing Orlean. The catalogue holds 17 Orlean books, from Red Sox and Bluefish (1987) through Saturday Night (1990) and Rin Tin Tin (2011) to Joyride (2025). Subjects include plant collectors, Florida and Hollywood.
How many Susan Orlean books are there?
Susan Orlean has 17 books, released between 1987 and 2025. They include 4 series and 3 titles listed outside any series.
Susan Orlean Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 17 Susan Orlean 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.
- 1Red Sox and Bluefish and Other Things That Make New England New EnglandHistory #11987 · 94 pages · confirmed 2/41987942/4
- 219902642/4
- 31992–2/4
- 419982842/4
- 5The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup: My Encounters with Extraordinary PeopleSusan Orlean Biographies #12001 · 313 pages · confirmed 2/420013132/4
- 6My Kind of Place: Travel Stories from a Woman Who's Been EverywhereSusan Orlean Biographies #22004 · 320 pages · confirmed 2/420043202/4
- 72005–2/4
- 8Lazy Little Loafers2008 · confirmed 2/42008–2/4
- 92011–2/4
- 1020113522/4
- 112016362/4
- 122016–2/4
- 1320183362/4
- 14You Are Ready For Takeoff: A Short Trip2021 · confirmed 2/42021–2/4
- 1520212562/4
- 16The Best American Science and Nature Writing 20252025 · confirmed 2/42025–2/4
- 1720253362/4
Susan Orlean 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.
Susan Orlean Biographies in order
4 booksHistory in order
3 booksSusan Orlean Animal in order
3 books- 1. Animalish
- 2. Rin Tin Tin
- 3. On Animals
Susan Orlean Gardening in order
2 booksLibrary Science in order
1 bookFunny Women Write from the Road in order
1 bookStandalone books
3 books3 Susan Orlean titles here are not listed as part of any series.
Do you have to read Susan Orlean books in order?
You only need to read Susan Orlean books in order within each series: the books listed here span 4 separate series, and each series has its own publication order.
Where to start with Susan Orlean
Start with Red Sox and Bluefish and Other Things That Make New England New England (1987), the earliest published title.
What is the newest Susan Orlean book?
Joyride (2025) is the newest Susan Orlean book released so far.
Is there a new Susan Orlean book coming?
No next Susan Orlean book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
Susan Orlean at a glance
- Still publishing
- Susan Orlean published a book as recently as 2025.
- Release pace
- Susan Orlean books have appeared about one every 2 years on average.
- Length
- 2,591 pages across the 10 of 17 books with a recorded length, a median of 298 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Susan Orlean books, 5 of 17, were published in the 2010s.
What the Susan Orlean books are about
9 of the 17 Susan Orlean 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 9. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Biography 3 of 9 books
- History 2 of 9 books
- Social life and customs 2 of 9 books