Susan Orlean Books in Order

An early collection of Orlean’s pieces about New England life, this book celebrates the region’s quirks, from baseball devotion and coastal fishing towns to weather, food, and small local customs that give the Northeast its stubborn, memorable character.

A cross-country portrait of how Americans spend their most charged evening of the week, following teenagers, elders, workers, revelers, and even missile-silo crews through Saturday nights that reveal hopes, boredom, risk, and community in dozens of different places.

Based on her classic magazine profile, this brief book spends time with a single ten-year-old boy named Colin, capturing his obsessions, worries, jokes, and point of view to show what everyday American childhood feels like at that age.

Journalist Susan Orlean follows eccentric plant dealer John Laroche into the Florida swamps, tracing his obsession with the rare ghost orchid and the passionate, sometimes shady world of orchid collectors, poachers, and conservationists.

A collection of Orlean’s most memorable profiles, this book introduces readers to figure skaters, show-dog handlers, teenage athletes, small-town hairdressers, a pioneering female matador, and other vivid characters whose ordinary lives turn out to be anything but.

Gathering travel pieces from around the world, this book finds Orlean climbing Mount Fuji, visiting Bhutanese rituals, hanging out in Texas oil towns and New York high schools, and discovering offbeat people and places that rarely make typical guidebooks.

Written for young readers, this picture book channels an exasperated older sister who wonders why babies get adoration for doing nothing, turning her rant about strollers, naps, and unfair rules into a funny look at sibling rivalry.

In this short memoir, Orlean traces a lifetime of being “animalish,” from childhood longing for pets to the chaotic joy of her own menagerie, reflecting on why animals keep slipping into her reporting and the rhythms of her everyday life.

Orlean uncovers the real story of Rin Tin Tin, from a German shepherd puppy rescued on a World War I battlefield to Hollywood icon, tracing the people who preserved his bloodline and what his legend says about heroism and devotion.

A portrait of Kwabena Oppong, an Ashanti king living in the Bronx and driving a New York taxi, this piece follows his daily juggling of royal duties, family life, and work, revealing a strange, touching mix of power and struggle.

A brief collaborative book pairing Orlean’s nostalgic essay about New York’s disappearing flower district with vivid floral artwork, capturing the bustle, beauty, and fleeting nature of both cut flowers and a once thriving city neighborhood.

Orlean investigates the 1986 fire that devastated the Los Angeles Public Library, weaving the unsolved mystery together with the library’s history, vivid portraits of its staff and patrons, and her own lifelong love of libraries and reading.

Drawing on decades of reporting, this essay collection explores how humans live with and think about animals, from backyard chickens and beloved pets to working donkeys, show dogs, lions, and whales, mixing sharp observation with curiosity and quiet humor.

In this brief audiobook essay, Orlean confronts her fear of flying while on book tour, trying hypnosis and exploring the science of suggestion, anxiety, and control as she learns what it takes to board a plane without panic.

Part memoir and part craft talk, Joyride traces Orlean’s path from Ohio childhood to alt-weekly reporter to New Yorker staff writer, sharing the personal highs and lows behind her stories and practical lessons on building a creative life.

Serving as guest editor, Orlean introduces and curates twenty standout pieces of contemporary science and nature writing from 2024, showcasing writers who explore climate, wildlife, technology, human behavior, and our shifting relationship with the natural world.