Books you read in 2020

Discussion in 'TMB Book Club' started by Kevintensity, Jan 6, 2020.

  1. Kevintensity

    Kevintensity Poster/Posting Game Coordinator
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    1) The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow 8.5/10

    Quick, enjoyable read. Do recommend.
     
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  2. Simon Templar

    Simon Templar Well-Known Member
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    1) Can’t Hurt Me - David Goggins - 8/10

    A memoir of his life and how he became the person he is. Fascinating dude for sure.
     
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  3. Gin Buckets

    Gin Buckets Well-Known Member
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    1) The Institute - Stephen King 9/10 -- First time in a while that a book hasn't felt like a trog. It was the first book in a long time to suck me in as much as it did. That is why it has such a high rating.
     
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  4. joey jo-jo jr shabadoo

    joey jo-jo jr shabadoo you know for me, the action is the juice

    1. Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
    2. Red Cavalry by Isaac Babel
     
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  5. smeegsgreen

    smeegsgreen Big fan of Koalas
    Michigan State Spartans

    This was the book that got me reading again. Agree with your input too but I gave it a 8/10 personally. I really didn’t think the last 20% of the book gave the first 80% of the book justice.
     
  6. Simon Templar

    Simon Templar Well-Known Member
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    1) Can’t Hurt Me - David Goggins - 8/10
    2) Knots and Crosses - Ian Rankin - 5/10
     
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  7. smeegsgreen

    smeegsgreen Big fan of Koalas
    Michigan State Spartans

    1) Pet Sematary - Stephen King - 6/10
     
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  8. Truman

    Truman Well-Known Member
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    1. Black Ops (Expeditionary Force #4) by Craig Alanson (7/10)
    2. The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington, by Brad Meltzer (6/10)

    Black Ops - Liked this one. I still cant figure this series out. It's weird, but an empty action series, but fun, and also funny. I like it more than I feel I should.

    The First Conspiracy - This has been on my list for a while. I saw it on someone else's 2019 list and just decided to read it. It was pretty meh. In the forward, the author described his conversation w another history author about writing the book on this plot to kill GW. The other guy said "good luck, it's impossible"

    This would make a good longform article but they guy just had nothing to work it and it showed. Glad I read it because I learned some things I didnt know, but I didnt think it was a very good book.
     
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  9. The Blackfish

    The Blackfish The Fish in Black
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    1. The Wolf's Call (Raven's Blade #1) - Anthony Ryan 7.5/10

    First book in a new Vaelin al'Sorna trilogy. Not as good as Blood Song but still fun. Looking forward to the next one.
     
  10. TC

    TC Peter, 53, from Toxteth
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    Haven’t finished a book yet this year. That “American Oligarchs” book coming out this week about Trump and Kushner looks good
     
  11. BP

    BP Bout to Regulate.
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    Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.

    Beast of a book and a very complicated figure. Great read.
     
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  12. The Blackfish

    The Blackfish The Fish in Black
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    read this one last year and really enjoyed it
     
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  13. Simon Templar

    Simon Templar Well-Known Member
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    1) Can’t Hurt Me - David Goggins - 8/10
    2) Knots and Crosses - Ian Rankin - 5/10
    3) Saint Death - Mark Dawson - John Milton #2 - 8/10
    4) The Driver - Mark Dawson - John Milton #3 - 7/10
     
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  14. smeegsgreen

    smeegsgreen Big fan of Koalas
    Michigan State Spartans

    2) Dark Matter - Blake Crouch - 9.5/10
    3) Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption - Steven King - 9/10
     
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  15. Gallant Knight

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    Just finished a similar beast of a biography on Churchill. Was fascinating. Think I finished it in five days

    Same author has another 1,000 page book on Napoleon that I’ll start tomorrow.

     
  16. BP

    BP Bout to Regulate.
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    Gonna add that to my list now.
     
  17. The Blackfish

    The Blackfish The Fish in Black
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    1. The Wolf's Call (Raven's Blade #1) - Anthony Ryan 7.5/10
    2. Starsight (Skyward #2) - Brandon Sanderson 7/10

    Solid 2nd book in Sanderson’s YA SF series.
     
  18. TC

    TC Peter, 53, from Toxteth
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    1. The Noonday Demon: An Atlas Of Depression / Andrew Solomon (9/10)
    The book is too long and imposing to be rated a 10 -- took me over a month; granted some of that was holidays. It's great though and worth the read if you want to get a comprehensive picture of this phenomenon that affects so many lives and plays such a big part in the modern world. Some of the most interesting parts are looking at other cultures and their mental health norms, considering poverty and mental illness and what role depression treatments could play in helping that community, and a look back at history (what has been known over the century about depression/melancholia and also an evolutionary perspective on how such personality traits might arise in nature.)
     
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  19. billdozer

    billdozer Well-Known Member
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    1. The Shadow of What Was Lost (Licanius #1) - James Islington (10/10) (reread)
     
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  20. Fusiontegra

    Fusiontegra My life is dope and I do dope shit.#SparedByThanos
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    So, basically, most of King’s books.
     
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  21. smeegsgreen

    smeegsgreen Big fan of Koalas
    Michigan State Spartans

    Fuck!
     
  22. smeegsgreen

    smeegsgreen Big fan of Koalas
    Michigan State Spartans

    Honestly I thought Pet Sematary was the inverse though
     
  23. billdozer

    billdozer Well-Known Member
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    1. The Shadow of What Was Lost (Licanius #1) - James Islington (10/10) (reread)
    2. An Echo of Things to Come (Licanius #2) - James Islington (10/10) (reread)
     
  24. Cornelius Suttree

    Cornelius Suttree the smallest crumb can devour us
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    1. No Country for Old Men - Cormac McCarthy (10/10) (reread)
    2. Child of God - Cormac McCarthy (10/10) (reread)
    3. The Crying of Lot 49 - Thomas Pynchon (5/10)
    4. Fire Sermon - Wright Morris (9/10)

    Wright Morris is one of American literature's truly elite authors. I read this short novel in well under 24 hours. Wonderfully dry humor from start to finish. A stubborn old timer is the guardian of a young boy and they set out to Nebraska from the Bay Area to handle some family business. Along the way they pick up some hippie hitchhikers. Book was published in 1971

    aside from a few lucky finds in used bookstores, the only place I can seem to find Wright Morris books at decent prices are the University of Nebraska press. Would recommend bigly

    https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/search/?contributor=wright morris
     
    #24 Cornelius Suttree, Jan 18, 2020
    Last edited: Jan 24, 2020
  25. Truman

    Truman Well-Known Member
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    1. Black Ops (Expeditionary Force #4) by Craig Alanson (7/10)
    2. The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington, by Brad Meltzer (6/10)
    3. Blood of Elves (The Witcher #1) by Andrzej Sapkowski (8/10)
    4. Time of Contempt (The Witcher #2) by Andrzej Sapkowski (7/10)


    Blood of Elves was really good. After reading the short stories, it was nice to have a linear plot.

    Time of Contempt was more table setting, it seems like.
     
  26. Arrec Bardwin

    Arrec Bardwin La Araña Discoteca
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    1. American Gods - Neil Gaiman

    Really like Gaimans writing style, added a few of his to my list.

    Moving on to Stormlight Archive series.
     
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  27. smeegsgreen

    smeegsgreen Big fan of Koalas
    Michigan State Spartans

    4) Elevation - Stephen King - 7/10
     
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  28. The Blackfish

    The Blackfish The Fish in Black
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    Stardust is probably my favorite
     
  29. Truman

    Truman Well-Known Member
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    American Gods is probably my least favorite Gaiman novel. The premise is awesome, the writing is awesome, but the plot just didnt hit for me. Stardust and Norse Mythology are the best imo
     
  30. Arrec Bardwin

    Arrec Bardwin La Araña Discoteca
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    Stardust is one of my favorite movies, definitely my next book of his to read.
     
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  31. Gonff

    Gonff Prince of Mousethieves
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    I also enjoyed The Graveyard Book by Gaiman
     
  32. RonBurgundy

    RonBurgundy Well-Known Member

    —2020—
    1. The Tower of Swallows *7.5
    2. How to Live Safely in a Science Fiction Universe *3.0
    3. The Silent Patient *8.0
    4. This is How You Lose the Time War *6.5

    Tower of swallows is Witcher book 6 (or 4 of the 5 full novels.) Got long at parts and didn’t have the same emotional impact for me. Very weirdly set up plot line and his timelines in the different threads are just fucked.

    how to live safely was just not interesting and had shitty characters. Not recommended

    silent patient - I guessed the plot twist in the first 60 pages, but otherwise was a good, hard to put down thriller.

    This is how you lose the time war - 2 time traveling parallel-dimension “thread” hopping spies on warring factions of alien species play a game of catch me if you can and develop an inter species interdimensional lesbian love story spanning several millennia and universes in 200 pages and yet somehow I got bored.very unique and fast read but wasn’t amazing imo.
     
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  33. joey jo-jo jr shabadoo

    joey jo-jo jr shabadoo you know for me, the action is the juice

    1. Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
    2. Red Cavalry by Isaac Babel
    3. Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight
     
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  34. Kevintensity

    Kevintensity Poster/Posting Game Coordinator
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    1) The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow 8.5/10
    2) The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch 8/10

    Felt like part Dark Matter, part Minority Report, part Interstellar. I think if you liked Dark Matter you'd like this, though probably a tier below.

    Currently reading A World Undone, and going to start Atomic Habits next.
     
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  35. smeegsgreen

    smeegsgreen Big fan of Koalas
    Michigan State Spartans

    What other sci-fi books are out there that grabbed you like Dark Matter?
     
  36. Fusiontegra

    Fusiontegra My life is dope and I do dope shit.#SparedByThanos
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    If you haven't read Library at Mount Char, you should. Definitely re-reading it this year.
     
  37. joey jo-jo jr shabadoo

    joey jo-jo jr shabadoo you know for me, the action is the juice

    1. Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
    2. Red Cavalry by Isaac Babel
    3. Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight
    4. Train Dreams by Denis Johnson
     
  38. Fusiontegra

    Fusiontegra My life is dope and I do dope shit.#SparedByThanos
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    1. Dark Age(Red Rising book 5)
    2. Fahrenheit 451
     
  39. BP

    BP Bout to Regulate.
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    Great book about the Spanish explorer. How he made allies and enemies of the indigenous people, the weird relationship he had with Montezuma after he initially took him prisoner. But damn these explorers during this time were just terrible human beings. Mass genocide and raping, Columbus included.
     
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  40. Cornelius Suttree

    Cornelius Suttree the smallest crumb can devour us
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    1. No Country for Old Men - Cormac McCarthy (10/10) (reread)
    2. Child of God - Cormac McCarthy (10/10) (reread)
    3. The Crying of Lot 49 - Thomas Pynchon (5/10)
    4. Fire Sermon - Wright Morris (9/10)
    5. The Field of Vision - Wright Morris (7/10)

    if you have ties to Omaha or rural Nebraska, enjoy Mexican bullfights, or are interested in a 1950s perspective on gender identity, this book might appeal to you. After producing this, Morris was awarded the National Book Award for Fiction in 1957. But I didn't like it nearly as much as his other books I've read. It was very heavy on symbolism. And I get the sense from reading Morris that he had a pretty sheltered life. Kind of prudish
     
    #40 Cornelius Suttree, Jan 26, 2020
    Last edited: Jan 27, 2020
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  41. billdozer

    billdozer Well-Known Member
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    1. The Shadow of What Was Lost (Licanius #1) - James Islington (10/10) (reread)
    2. An Echo of Things to Come (Licanius #2) - James Islington (10/10) (reread)
    3. The Light of All That Falls (Licanius #3) - James Islington (10/10)

    Couldn't ask for a much better trilogy imo.
     
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  42. admiralawesome1

    admiralawesome1 Well-Known Member
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    Love Gaiman. American gods might be my least favorite though. Try neverwhere but make sure you get the authors preferred text.
     
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  43. Truman

    Truman Well-Known Member
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    1. Black Ops (Expeditionary Force #4) by Craig Alanson (7/10)
    2. The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington, by Brad Meltzer (6/10)
    3. Blood of Elves (The Witcher #1) by Andrzej Sapkowski (8/10)
    4. Time of Contempt (The Witcher #2) by Andrzej Sapkowski (7/10)
    5. Family Secrets: The Case That Cripled the Chicago Mob, by Jeff Coen (8/10)
    6. Baptism by Fire (The Witcher #3) by Andrzej Sapkowsi (7/10)
    7. Lock Every Door by Riley Sager (7.5/10)
    8. Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi (6/10)


    Family Secrets - This was really good. Ive read a lot of mafia stuff, but nothing that had to do w the modern mob. Also living in Chicago, know some of the locations discussed made it cool.

    Baptism by Fire - I struggled w how to rate this book. Im not a huge fantasy guy, but try to get into it. I enjoy the book when it's pushing the main plot forward, but there are a ton fo side stories and adventures that build character development, but dont push the plot through, that bore me a little bit. Liked it but also got bored at times

    Lock Every Door - Second book Ive read by Sager. I like his books. Just good 'scary movie' type thriller. It's about a girl who gets hired as an apartment sitter is a super swanky NYC building, that has a history of people dying, arson ect.

    Riot Baby - Cool premise, poor execution. It's about two siblings. The older sister has psychic powers, the younger brother, who was born during the Rodney King Riots (riot baby) grows up to get incarcerated due to racial profiling. She can connect w him and feel his experience. She also has the power to destroy the world. Obvious social commentary, but the book made little sense. It was really short. Probably considered a novella, so not too bummed I read it. Didnt take up too much time
     
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  44. smeegsgreen

    smeegsgreen Big fan of Koalas
    Michigan State Spartans

    You guys are animals lol either you read super quick or the books are not lengthy or all you do is read
     
  45. Truman

    Truman Well-Known Member
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    None of the books Ive read so far are all that long. But I just started Last of the Mohicans yesterday. It's pretty long and the old timey writing style is taking a little bit to get use to.
     
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  46. TC

    TC Peter, 53, from Toxteth
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    Some are mowing them down via audiobook or e-reader on work travel. I shoot for a book a week which is doable for something 200-300 pages but not a big 500+
     
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  47. smeegsgreen

    smeegsgreen Big fan of Koalas
    Michigan State Spartans

    I totally get the reading on planes. I was not a reader until thanksgiving 2019 and since going on multiple flights since then, reading on a plane is so much more fun than watching a movie on a 4 inch screen
     
  48. CBH

    CBH Well-Known Member
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    The Russian Five: A Story of Espionage, Defection, Bribery and Courage by Keith Grave 6/10 This book was an enjoyable read, especially for a Red Wings fan but was not the best written book ever. It jumped around too much for me but the stories were great.

    An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States
    by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz 4/10 This book was interesting and was something that I wanted to enjoy and learned a lot about parts of history that aren't covered significantly in American history. It was a little too much though without a single good thing or much exploration of the people for who the book was wrote.

    Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
    by Patrick Radden Keefe 8/10 A very good book and something that was extremely fun to read. I did have a few issues with the way that the book jumped around between years and people and thought that it could have been woven together better possibly. Was still very informative and a fun read.

    Daughter of War (Pike Logan #13) by Brad Taylor 7/10 Not as good or entertaining as some of the books in the series but another decent installment in the series.

    Failing Up: How to Take Risks, Aim Higher, and Never Stop Learning
    by Leslie Odom Jr. 8/10 Different from most books that I read but was very enjoyable. I liked reading about Odom's upbringing and really enjoyed all the information about Hamilton. Type of book that I think I could enjoy reading more often.
     
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  49. Arrec Bardwin

    Arrec Bardwin La Araña Discoteca
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    1. American Gods - Neil Gaiman
    2. The Way of Kings (Stormlight Archive #1)- Brandon Sanderson

    Oh hell yeah that book was awesome. Sanderson is a genius when it comes to character development. About to burn through these next two.
     
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  50. Gonff

    Gonff Prince of Mousethieves
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    I read during lunch at work and listen to books on my commute. Knock out ~50 a year that way. And I read a lot of long books.