Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | I Pass Like Night | 1989 | Jonathan Ames | Buy |
| 2 | The Extra Man | 1998 | Jonathan Ames | Buy |
| 3 | Wake Up, Sir! | 2004 | Jonathan Ames | Buy |
Jonathan Ames’s standalone novels are exercises in confessional fiction, following narrators who are thinly veiled versions of the author himself. His debut I Pass Like Night (1989) introduced readers to his raw, candid style with a story of a young man drifting through New York’s nightlife.
The Extra Man (1998) follows a struggling young writer who becomes the companion of a flamboyant older gentleman in Manhattan, blending screwball comedy with genuine pathos. Wake Up, Sir! (2004) sends its protagonist, a young alcoholic novelist named Alan Blair, to an artists’ colony in upstate New York, where his dependence on his imaginary valet Jeeves leads to increasingly absurd situations. All three novels share Ames’s talent for finding humor in vulnerability and chaos.