Books you’ve read in 2022

1. A Memory of Light (Wheel of Time #14) - Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson (10/10)
2. Reaper (Cradle #10) - Will Wight (8.5/10)
3. The Last Wish (The Witcher #1) - Andrzej Sapkowski (8.5/10)
4. Sword of Destiny (The Witcher #2) - Andrzej Sapkowski (8/10)
5. Blood of Elves (The Witcher #3) - Andrzej Sapkowski (8/10)
6. Time of Contempt (The Witcher #4) - Andrzej Sapkowski (7.5/10)
7. Baptism of Fire (The Witcher #5) - Andrzej Sapkowski (7.5/10)
8. The Tower of the Swallow (The Witcher #6) - Andrzej Sapkowski (8.5/10)

 

1. A Memory of Light (Wheel of Time #14) - Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson (10/10)
2. Reaper (Cradle #10) - Will Wight (8.5/10)
3. The Last Wish (The Witcher #1) - Andrzej Sapkowski (8.5/10)
4. Sword of Destiny (The Witcher #2) - Andrzej Sapkowski (8/10)
5. Blood of Elves (The Witcher #3) - Andrzej Sapkowski (8/10)
6. Time of Contempt (The Witcher #4) - Andrzej Sapkowski (7.5/10)
7. Baptism of Fire (The Witcher #5) - Andrzej Sapkowski (7.5/10)
8. The Tower of the Swallow (The Witcher #6) - Andrzej Sapkowski (8.5/10)
9. Caddisflies - Gary LaFontaine (not really a grading type of book)

 

1. The Mismeasure Of Progress: Economic Growth And Its Critics / Stephen J. Macekura (6.5/10)
2. Guitars: A Celebration Of Pure Mojo / David Schiller (9/10)
3. Mountain Men: The Remarkable Climbers And Determined Eccentrics Who First Scaled The World's Most Famous Peaks / Mick Conefrey and Tim Jordan (9.5/10)
4. The Lost City Of Z: A Tale Of Deadly Obsession In The Amazon / David Grann (10/10)
5. Salt: A World History / Mark Kurlansky (8.5/10)
6. Invisible No More: The African American Experience At The University Of South Carolina (8/10)
7. Roots: The Saga Of An American Family / Alex Haley (10/10)
8. Come As You Are: The Story Of Nirvana / Michael Azerrad (7.5/10)

9. A Brief History Of Indonesia (Sultans, Spices And Tsunamis: The Incredible Story Of Southeast Asia's Largest Island Nation) / Tim Hannigan (7/10)
This is from a series that offers good cliffnotes history of random places like we were discussing recently Cornelius Suttree. I wanted to know more about Indonesia because it seems exotic and because I had been reading some stuff about the Dutch Empire. At first I was like, this shit is too foreign and I can't remember any of it, but it started clicking. It's crazy the impact the World Wars had on the world (duh), but like all the little corners of the globe and not just Europe. Indonesia was Dutch territory all the way to WWII and would have remained so.

Up Next:

 

1- The Big Rock Candy Mountain - Wallace Stegner (8.5/10)
2- Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston (7.5/10)*
3- All the Little Live Things - Wallace Stegner (5/10)
4- The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen (9.5/10)
5- A Burning - Megha Majumdar (9/10)
6- Going After Caciatto - Tim O'Brien (7.5/10)
7- The Ballad of the Sad Cafe - Carson McCullers (7/10)
8- The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers (10/10)*
9- The Field of Vision - Wright Morris (3/10)*
10- The Shipping News - Annie Proulx (9/10)
11- A Death in the Family - James Agee (8.5/10)
12- The Sea - John Banville (8/10)
13- The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes (9/10)
14- Ladder of Years - Anne Tyler (7.5/10)
15- Conversations with Friends - Sally Rooney (10/10)
16- Amsterdam - Ian McEwan (8/10)
17- That Night - Alice McDermott (5.5/10)
18- Salvage the Bones - Jesmyn Ward (10/10)
19- A Thousand Acres - Jane Smiley (9/10)
20- Light Years - James Salter (8/10)
21- The Hours - Michael Cunningham (9/10)
22- Being Dead - Jim Crace (7.5/10)
23- The Book of Evidence - John Banville (6.5/10)

24- A Long Long Way – Sebastian Barry (10/10)
This is the best war book I’ve read. A finalist for the 2005 Booker Prize, it follows an 18-year-old from Dublin, Wille Dunne, who signs up to fight for the Allied forces early in WWI. His innocence and purity reminded me of an Irish John Grady Cole. The majority of the story takes place in the trenches of Belgium and France, but perhaps the most wrenching scenes involve his family and love interest back in Dublin. Simply outstanding

25- Harvest – Jim Crace (5.5/10)
A finalist for the 2013 Booker Prize and winner of a couple major awards, it’s my least favorite of the three Crace novels I’ve now read. Set in a remote English village sometime before the industrial revolution, the story focuses on an idyllic farm community threatened by the forces of economic progress (and the perceived dangers of outsiders)

26- Foe – J.M. Coetzee (3/10)
Coetzee is as accomplished and critically acclaimed as any living author, but this was a bore. Set in 1720, an English woman is castaway from a ship while in search of her missing daughter and washes ashore Robinson Crusoe’s island. That is an interesting plot, but only takes up like 40 pages and the rest of the book focuses on the woman's efforts to get her story published

27- A Visit from the Goon Squad – Jennifer Egan (10/10)
Winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the 2010 National Book Critics Circle Award, this is one of the best books I’ve ever read. It manages to be heartbreaking, hilarious and uplifting throughout. 13 different stories are told involving a host of characters who all have ties to a record label executive and his assistant. It’s got some post-modern elements to it. 70 pages or so are told in the form of PowerPoint slides. It was such a fun read

*denotes a re-read

 

Boo, that would annoy me.

Now that sounds pretty interesting. Has a novel been told entirely in forum posts yet?

 

Sounds like Roth or Updike

 

Same if you listen to his episode on Conan's podcast

 

1. Power and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages - Dan Jones (8/10)
2 Star Wars: The High Republic: The Fallen Star - Claudia Gray (9/10)
3. The Broken Heart of America: St. Louis and the Violent History of the United States - Walter Johnson (9.5/10)
4. Damnation Spring - Ash Davidson 8.5/10
5. Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, the Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America's Empire - Johnathan M Katz (7.5/10)
6. How To Be Perfect: The Correct Moral Answer To Any Question - Michael Schur (7.5/10)
7. Mickey7 - Edward Ashton (8/10)
8.Light Years From Home - Mike Chen (7/10)
9. Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage - Albert Lansing (8/10)
10. The Sins of Our Fathers (The Expanse 9.5) - James S A Corey (8/10)
11. Pachinko - Min Jee Lee (9/10)
12. The Quiet Americans: Four CIA Spies at the Dawn of the Cold War - Scott Anderson (8/10)
13. Don't Know Tough - Eli Cranor (6/10)
14. Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity - David Graeber/David Wengrow (7.5/10)
15. Sea of Tranquility - Emily St. John Mandel (8.5/10)
16.Davos Man: How Billionaires Devoured the World - Peter S Goodman (9/10)
17. The Queen's Hope - EK Johnston (7/10)

Davos Man - How billionaires pull the bullshit they do, everything is to reduce tax liabilities and protect their wealth. Pretty timely with that big Elon/Twitter thread. As it always is with these kinds of books, the people that really need to read them, never will. Eat at Arby's

Queen's Hope - Star wars book about Queen Amedala. Kind of meh but it still star wars

 

1) The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson 9/10
2) The Fires of Vengeance by Evan Winter 8/10
3) Founding Martyr: the life and death of Dr. Joseph Warren by Christian Di Spigna 7.5/10
4) Star Wars Dark Disciple by Christie Golden 8/10
5) The Anomaly by Herve Le Tellier 9/10
6) Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky 7/10

 

1. The power of influence- Robert Cialdini
2. The Republic of Pirates- Colin Woodard
3. Alone on the wall- Alex Honnold Bio about Alex, pre-free solo
4. Shattered Air- Bob Madgic About the 1985 lighting strikes on Half Dome
5. Sandman Act II- Neil Gaiman
6. Hero with 1000 faces- Joseph Campbell
7. Bottle of Lies-Katherine Eban - how generic drugs came about and how deceitful those companies are
8. The Vikings and their Enemies- Phillip Lane
9. Chasing the Scream- Johann Harl Really well done book on how useless the War on drugs is.
10. Darkwater Bride- Marty Ross
11. Black Flags, Blue Waters- Eric Jay Dolin
12. The Outlaw Ocean- Ian Urbina
13. Skeletons of the Zahara- Dean King
14. Meditations- Marcus Aurelius
15. Afghanistan papers - Washington Post
16. Conquistadores: A new History - Fernando Cervantes
17. Sunreach - Sanderson
18. The Art of War - Sun Tsu
19. The Cosmogonic Cycle - Joseph Campbell

 

1) The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson 9/10
2) The Fires of Vengeance by Evan Winter 8/10
3) Founding Martyr: the life and death of Dr. Joseph Warren by Christian Di Spigna 7.5/10
4) Star Wars Dark Disciple by Christie Golden 8/10
5) The Anomaly by Herve Le Tellier 9/10
6) Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky 7/10
7) A Death in the Family by James Agee 8/10

 

1. The Mismeasure Of Progress: Economic Growth And Its Critics / Stephen J. Macekura (6.5/10)
2. Guitars: A Celebration Of Pure Mojo / David Schiller (9/10)
3. Mountain Men: The Remarkable Climbers And Determined Eccentrics Who First Scaled The World's Most Famous Peaks / Mick Conefrey and Tim Jordan (9.5/10)
4. The Lost City Of Z: A Tale Of Deadly Obsession In The Amazon / David Grann (10/10)
5. Salt: A World History / Mark Kurlansky (8.5/10)
6. Invisible No More: The African American Experience At The University Of South Carolina (8/10)
7. Roots: The Saga Of An American Family / Alex Haley (10/10)
8. Come As You Are: The Story Of Nirvana / Michael Azerrad (7.5/10)
9. A Brief History Of Indonesia (Sultans, Spices And Tsunamis: The Incredible Story Of Southeast Asia's Largest Island Nation) / Tim Hannigan (7/10)

10. The Pity Of War: Explaining World War I / Niall Ferguson (DNF)
Just can't follow it. I read "The Ascent Of Money" so I knew what kind of writer Ferguson is, but man is this dense with numbers. Probably only for the person that a) really knows WWI history and b) has a strong taste for figures. He dispels a lot of myth, but after the myth is gone you're like "wait, so what happened again?" WWI was not fought because of imperialism or demographics or technology or diplomacy etc.


Up Next:


This is the summer reading book for the incoming freshman class at SCAR, gonna go ahead and dive in

 

Nice

 

1. Born to Run - Christopher McDougall (9/10)
2. How the Word is Passed - Clint Smith (9/10)
3. Being Heumann: An Unrepentent Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist - Judith Heumann (6/10)
4. Finding Ultra - Rich Roll (7.5/10)
5. Buddhism for Beginners - Thubten Chodra (6/10)
6. How to be Perfect: The Correct Moral Answer to Every Question - Michael Schur (9/10)
7. The Sanatorium - Sarah Pearse (4/10)
8. Why Buddhism is True - Robert Wright (8/10)
9. The Library at Mount Char - Scott Hawkins (9/10)
10. The Dark Hours (Ballard/Bosch #4) - Michael Connelly (8/10)
11. The Nidderdale Murders (Yorkshire Murder Mystery #5) - J.R. Ellis (5/10)
12. The Whitby Murders (Yorkshire Murder Mystery #6) - J.R. Ellis (5/10)
13. Murder at St. Anne’s (Yorkshire Murder Mystery #7) - J.R. Ellis (5/10)
These are easy, kind of silly English mysteries. I needed something mindless for a while.
14. Soberevolution - Matt Salis (6/10)
15. Dry: A Memoir - Augusten Burroughs (7/10) - pretty wild story about alcoholism and recovery
16. Klara and the Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro (8/10) - I quite enjoyed this book, although the reviews online seem to be polarizing. It is written from the perspective of an Artificial Friend (essentially an AI robot) who is learning about, and ultimately trying to save, her new human friend and discovering the dystopian world they live in. I have never read any Ishiguro prior to this, and one chief complaint of people seems to be that it is not quite up to his usual standard. I thought the writing was beautiful and it was an interesting story.

 

1. A Memory of Light (Wheel of Time #14) - Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson (10/10)
2. Reaper (Cradle #10) - Will Wight (8.5/10)
3. The Last Wish (The Witcher #1) - Andrzej Sapkowski (8.5/10)
4. Sword of Destiny (The Witcher #2) - Andrzej Sapkowski (8/10)
5. Blood of Elves (The Witcher #3) - Andrzej Sapkowski (8/10)
6. Time of Contempt (The Witcher #4) - Andrzej Sapkowski (7.5/10)
7. Baptism of Fire (The Witcher #5) - Andrzej Sapkowski (7.5/10)
8. The Tower of the Swallow (The Witcher #6) - Andrzej Sapkowski (8.5/10)
9. Caddisflies - Gary LaFontaine (not really a grading type of book)
10. The Lady of the Lake (The Witcher #7) - Andrzej Sapkowski (9/10)

 

willing to share any thoughts on the Cervantes book? I've had my eye on it.

 

Very detailed and very dense. Focuses on the political aspects in Europe a good bit too vs other books I’ve read about the conquistadors. This is my 3rd book on the subject and easily the most informative. If you’re interested in a deep dive this is what you want. If you want more of an overarching story or general history I could recommend a few others.

 

1. Born to Run - Christopher McDougall (9/10)
2. How the Word is Passed - Clint Smith (9/10)
3. Being Heumann: An Unrepentent Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist - Judith Heumann (6/10)
4. Finding Ultra - Rich Roll (7.5/10)
5. Buddhism for Beginners - Thubten Chodra (6/10)
6. How to be Perfect: The Correct Moral Answer to Every Question - Michael Schur (9/10)
7. The Sanatorium - Sarah Pearse (4/10)
8. Why Buddhism is True - Robert Wright (8/10)
9. The Library at Mount Char - Scott Hawkins (9/10)
10. The Dark Hours (Ballard/Bosch #4) - Michael Connelly (8/10)
11. The Nidderdale Murders (Yorkshire Murder Mystery #5) - J.R. Ellis (5/10)
12. The Whitby Murders (Yorkshire Murder Mystery #6) - J.R. Ellis (5/10)
13. Murder at St. Anne’s (Yorkshire Murder Mystery #7) - J.R. Ellis (5/10)
14. Soberevolution - Matt Salis (6/10)
15. Dry: A Memoir - Augusten Burroughs (7/10)
16. Klara and the Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro (8/10)

17. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro (9.5/10)

This is a wonderful book. Ishiguro’s way of unfolding a story is so well done in each of his novels that I’ve read. On its face, this is not a book I would be interested in reading but I was hooked on the first page by his incredible writing. It’s relatively short and I finished it in two sittings. The story is told from the perspective of an English butler who, while going to visit a former co-worker in 1950’s England, reminisces about his time serving as butler for an English lord in the buildup to WWII. Beautiful, historical, thought provoking novel. Will be reading more Ishiguro.

 

That's been sitting on my shelf for way too long. Really need to read it

 

I read "Never Let Me Go" by Ishiguro and thought it was aight. Might benefit from a reread 10+ years later

 

1. Born to Run - Christopher McDougall (9/10)
2. How the Word is Passed - Clint Smith (9/10)
3. Being Heumann: An Unrepentent Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist - Judith Heumann (6/10)
4. Finding Ultra - Rich Roll (7.5/10)
5. Buddhism for Beginners - Thubten Chodra (6/10)
6. How to be Perfect: The Correct Moral Answer to Every Question - Michael Schur (9/10)
7. The Sanatorium - Sarah Pearse (4/10)
8. Why Buddhism is True - Robert Wright (8/10)
9. The Library at Mount Char - Scott Hawkins (9/10)
10. The Dark Hours (Ballard/Bosch #4) - Michael Connelly (8/10)
11. The Nidderdale Murders (Yorkshire Murder Mystery #5) - J.R. Ellis (5/10)
12. The Whitby Murders (Yorkshire Murder Mystery #6) - J.R. Ellis (5/10)
13. Murder at St. Anne’s (Yorkshire Murder Mystery #7) - J.R. Ellis (5/10)
14. Soberevolution - Matt Salis (6/10)
15. Dry: A Memoir - Augusten Burroughs (7/10)
16. Klara and the Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro (8/10)
17. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro (9.5/10)

18. Mythos - Stephen Fry (8/10)

Book 1 of Fry's trilogy on the Greek myths. A really fun read if you're interested in Greek mythology. If you're not, then definitely not the book for you. If you are interested, the audiobook is worth a try because Stephen Fry reads it and he is awesome.

 

I wanna read that and Florida

 

Nope. I have Fates/Furies and Florida but haven't picked that up

 

1. Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition by Scott Young - 8.5/10
2. You Can't Be Serious by Kal Penn - 9/10
3. Ego is the Enemy: The Fight to Master Our Greatest Opponent by Ryan Holiday - 7.5/10
4. Head Strong by Dave Asprey - 5/10
5. Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and David Evans - 7/10
6. 50 Classic Ski Descents of North America by Chris Davenport - 7.5/10
7. Abundance: The Future Is Better Than you Think by Peter Diamandis - 7/10
8. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini - 8/10
9. Shattered Air: A True Account of Catastrophe and Courage on Yosemite's Half Dome by Bob Madgic - 8/10
10. National Geographic: Complete National Park Guide by Mel White - 6/10
11. When Death Becomes Life: Notes from a Transplant Surgeon - 8.5/10
12.The Power of TED by David Emerald - 4/10
13. Bitcoin Billionaires: A True Story of Genius, Betrayal, and Redemption by Ben Mezrich
14. The Rise of Wolf 8: Witnessing the Triumph of Yellowstone's Underdog by Rick McIntyre - 8.5/10
15. Thinking Basketball by Ben Taylor - 7/10
16. HBR's 10 Must Reads on Managing Yourself - 7/10
17. The Making of a Manager: What to Do When Everyone Looks to You by Julie Zhou - 8/10

really surprised by "The Rise of Wolf 8"; a little too much "daily journal of what the wolves did today" at times yet I think it works to build anthropomorphism-ish characterization that the author I believe is aiming for. "Thinking Basketball" was a little disappointing as I love his stuff; likely just works better in other formats.

 

No rating on bitcoin billionaires?

 

good catch. 7.5/10 - enjoyable story, helped me better understand something I had no prior interest in/knowledge of, and made a flight go by quickly.

 

1- The Big Rock Candy Mountain - Wallace Stegner (8.5/10)
2- Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston (7.5/10)*
3- All the Little Live Things - Wallace Stegner (5/10)
4- The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen (9.5/10)
5- A Burning - Megha Majumdar (9/10)
6- Going After Caciatto - Tim O'Brien (7.5/10)
7- The Ballad of the Sad Cafe - Carson McCullers (7/10)
8- The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers (10/10)*
9- The Field of Vision - Wright Morris (3/10)*
10- The Shipping News - Annie Proulx (9/10)
11- A Death in the Family - James Agee (8.5/10)
12- The Sea - John Banville (8/10)
13- The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes (9/10)
14- Ladder of Years - Anne Tyler (7.5/10)
15- Conversations with Friends - Sally Rooney (10/10)
16- Amsterdam - Ian McEwan (8/10)
17- That Night - Alice McDermott (5.5/10)
18- Salvage the Bones - Jesmyn Ward (10/10)
19- A Thousand Acres - Jane Smiley (9/10)
20- Light Years - James Salter (8/10)
21- The Hours - Michael Cunningham (9/10)
22- Being Dead - Jim Crace (7.5/10)
23- The Book of Evidence - John Banville (6.5/10)
24- A Long Long Way – Sebastian Barry (10/10)
25- Harvest – Jim Crace (5.5/10)
26- Foe – J.M. Coetzee (3/10)
27- A Visit from the Goon Squad – Jennifer Egan (10/10)

28- Waiting for the Barbarians – J.M. Coetzee (6/10)
The Nobel Prize committee called Waiting for the Barbarians "a political thriller in the tradition of Joseph Conrad, in which the idealist’s naiveté opens the gates to horror". The story is told through the perspective of a magistrate in a very small settlement in the frontier of an empire that declares a state of emergency due to the perceived threat of the land’s indigenous people

29- Postcards – Annie Proulx (10/10)
Winner of the 1993 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, this Great American Novel was Proulx’s debut. The gothic themes and vividly depicted scenes remind me of a mix between The Orchard Keeper, The Violent Bear It Away and The Big Rock Candy Mountain. But Proulx is so good it’s unfair to compare her to anyone else. It focuses on a Vermont farm family struggling to stay afloat circa WWII and each member’s fate in the years following the war

30- Close Range: Wyoming Stories – Annie Proulx (9.5/10)
Proulx perfectly portrays both the beauty and harshness of the Wyoming landscape and thrusts interesting and unique characters into it in this incredible collection of 11 stories with Brokeback Mountain the most critically acclaimed of the bunch. She writes about the West as well as anyone, McCarthy included. Fuck cattle ranchers, man

31- The New York Trilogy – Paul Auster (3.5/10)
A series of three novels (City of Glass, Ghosts and The Locked Room) combined into one publication offering a postmodern take on detective and mystery fiction. The stories have common themes like obsessive surveillance and a desire to disappear. Very forgettable

32- Metroland – Julian Barnes (7/10)
Barnes' debut novel, it was published in 1980 and is told from the perspective of a man who grows up in the London suburbs. He recounts his time as a teenager, a college student and a young adult. It’s pretty funny and I enjoyed seeing how the protagonist grew and how his values shifted over time. People with an interest in UK culture might especially enjoy it

*denotes a re-read

 

1. Power and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages - Dan Jones (8/10)
2 Star Wars: The High Republic: The Fallen Star - Claudia Gray (9/10)
3. The Broken Heart of America: St. Louis and the Violent History of the United States - Walter Johnson (9.5/10)
4. Damnation Spring - Ash Davidson 8.5/10
5. Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, the Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America's Empire - Johnathan M Katz (7.5/10)
6. How To Be Perfect: The Correct Moral Answer To Any Question - Michael Schur (7.5/10)
7. Mickey7 - Edward Ashton (8/10)
8.Light Years From Home - Mike Chen (7/10)
9. Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage - Albert Lansing (8/10)
10. The Sins of Our Fathers (The Expanse 9.5) - James S A Corey (8/10)
11. Pachinko - Min Jee Lee (9/10)
12. The Quiet Americans: Four CIA Spies at the Dawn of the Cold War - Scott Anderson (8/10)
13. Don't Know Tough - Eli Cranor (6/10)
14. Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity - David Graeber/David Wengrow (7.5/10)
15. Sea of Tranquility - Emily St. John Mandel (8.5/10)
16.Davos Man: How Billionaires Devoured the World - Peter S Goodman (9/10)
17. The Queen's Hope - EK Johnston (7/10)
18. Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas - Jennifer Raff (7.5/10)
19. X-Troop: The Secret Jewish Commandos of WW2 - Leah Garrett (8/10)
20. Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky #1) - Rebecca Roanhorse (9/10)
21. Fevered Star (Between Earth and Sky #2) - Rebecca Roanhorse (9/10)


Origin - IDK how to rate this. This book was sooo interesting. Technology and advancements are crazy and what they can do with them as far as learning about human migration is incredible. I loved the information in this book. Buuuuuut I hated the author. It could have been half as long because she spent so much time making it about her. She spends a lot of time talking about how geneticist need to be mindful of cultural sensitivities of native americans/first nations people. That is important, but instead of discussing the the issues and approaches, it's more - "Look how mindful and sensitive I was, Look at me doing the right thing". It really came off more as performative wokeism than discussing important issues in this kind of work. She also did the same thing when discussing how difficult and tedious is to extract DNA from 10k year old samples. Instead of explaining why it takes hours ect - it was "I was patient and focused enough to do all these things necessary to extract DNA ect". Maybe Im being a bitch about it or was just in a mood, but it was pretty book turn off. But the actual info was really good.
/rant

X-Troop - This is about a unit of German Jews who were plucked out of English refugee camps and turned into spies, interrogators ect because hey spoke German, had knowledge of the geography and whatnot. This troop is what Inglorious Bastards was loosely based on. Really interesting book. It's pretty damn sad there are so many parallels to today with how we treat refugees. We dont trust them. They work their asses, put their lives in peril for their new country that doesnt want them. After years of service they had an incredibly hard time getting naturalized because they still weren't fully trusted.


Earth and Sky series - Black Sun was a re-read. I got two chapters into Fevered Star and couldnt remember shit. I hate when that happens. This is a high fantasy series in a Meso-America setting. It's really good, for someone who isnt a huge fantasy fan. It's just really unique and different. The only thing that keeps it from a 10 is it drags just a little bit when setting up the world building. Cant wait to read the 3rd book whenever that comes out .

 

1. Liberty or Death: The French Revolution by Peter McPhee - 8/10
2. The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti - 4/10
3. Henry VIII and the Men Who Made Him - 8/10
4. The 1619 Project created by Nikole Hannah-Jones (with contributions from ~30 others) - 9.5/10
5. Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue - 8.5/10
6. The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers - 9/10
7. Henry V: The Warrior King of 1415 by Ian Mortimer - 8/10

 

1. Born to Run - Christopher McDougall (9/10)
2. How the Word is Passed - Clint Smith (9/10)
3. Being Heumann: An Unrepentent Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist - Judith Heumann (6/10)
4. Finding Ultra - Rich Roll (7.5/10)
5. Buddhism for Beginners - Thubten Chodra (6/10)
6. How to be Perfect: The Correct Moral Answer to Every Question - Michael Schur (9/10)
7. The Sanatorium - Sarah Pearse (4/10)
8. Why Buddhism is True - Robert Wright (8/10)
9. The Library at Mount Char - Scott Hawkins (9/10)
10. The Dark Hours (Ballard/Bosch #4) - Michael Connelly (8/10)
11. The Nidderdale Murders (Yorkshire Murder Mystery #5) - J.R. Ellis (5/10)
12. The Whitby Murders (Yorkshire Murder Mystery #6) - J.R. Ellis (5/10)
13. Murder at St. Anne’s (Yorkshire Murder Mystery #7) - J.R. Ellis (5/10)
14. Soberevolution - Matt Salis (6/10)
15. Dry: A Memoir - Augusten Burroughs (7/10)
16. Klara and the Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro (8/10)
17. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro (9.5/10)
18. Mythos - Stephen Fry (8/10)
19. The Anomaly - Herve Le Tellier (7/10)
20. The Judge's List - John Grisham (6/10)

 

1. The power of influence- Robert Cialdini
2. The Republic of Pirates- Colin Woodard
3. Alone on the wall- Alex Honnold
4. Shattered Air- Bob Madgic
5. Sandman Act II- Neil Gaiman
6. Hero with 1000 faces- Joseph Campbell
7. Bottle of Lies-Katherine Eban -
8. The Vikings and their Enemies- Phillip Lane
9. Chasing the Scream- Johann Harl
10. Darkwater Bride- Marty Ross
11. Black Flags, Blue Waters- Eric Jay Dolin
12. The Outlaw Ocean- Ian Urbina
13. Skeletons of the Zahara- Dean King
14. Meditations- Marcus Aurelius
15. Afghanistan papers - Washington Post
16. Conquistadores: - Fernando Cervantes
17. Sunreach - Sanderson
18. The Art of War - Sun Tsu
19. The Cosmogonic Cycle - Joseph Campbell
20. Fossil Men- Kermit Pattison talks about the fossil discoveries of Lucy and Ardi and our ancestors
21.The Tiger: A true story of vengeance-John Vaillant. A man eater in Russia in the 90s
22. The Witcher: Baptism of Fire- Sapkowski

 

It was really well told. It’s about an Amul Tiger that lives in Siberia near a remote village. Only killed a handful people. But it was wounded and couldnt kill normal food so went after humans. Seemed to make it out that the Tiger hunted specific people, they can recognize by scent as it bypassed other people. At one point it broke into the guys cabin and slept on his bed and would stalk the outside of his cabin. Goes into detail about the hunters, the people that live out there, the Tigers and ecosystem. After they killed the Tiger they found it had been shot like 10 different times so it grew to hate humans. Couldn’t recommend it enough and not a long read.

 

1) The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson 9/10
2) The Fires of Vengeance by Evan Winter 8/10
3) Founding Martyr: the life and death of Dr. Joseph Warren by Christian Di Spigna 7.5/10
4) Star Wars Dark Disciple by Christie Golden 8/10
5) The Anomaly by Herve Le Tellier 9/10
6) Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky 7/10
7) A Death in the Family by James Agee 8/10
8) The Overstory by Richard Powers 8.5/10

 

Powers is on the list of authors I bring to bookstores so I know which authors I wanna KOP

Getting high and walking over to this huge used bookstore and browsing their massive fiction selection with this thing as a guide

Spoiler

 

1. The Mismeasure Of Progress: Economic Growth And Its Critics / Stephen J. Macekura (6.5/10)
2. Guitars: A Celebration Of Pure Mojo / David Schiller (9/10)
3. Mountain Men: The Remarkable Climbers And Determined Eccentrics Who First Scaled The World's Most Famous Peaks / Mick Conefrey and Tim Jordan (9.5/10)
4. The Lost City Of Z: A Tale Of Deadly Obsession In The Amazon / David Grann (10/10)
5. Salt: A World History / Mark Kurlansky (8.5/10)
6. Invisible No More: The African American Experience At The University Of South Carolina (8/10)
7. Roots: The Saga Of An American Family / Alex Haley (10/10)
8. Come As You Are: The Story Of Nirvana / Michael Azerrad (7.5/10)
9. A Brief History Of Indonesia (Sultans, Spices And Tsunamis: The Incredible Story Of Southeast Asia's Largest Island Nation) / Tim Hannigan (7/10)
10. The Pity Of War: Explaining World War I / Niall Ferguson (DNF)

11. Biased: Uncovering The Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think And Do / Jennifer Eberhardt (6.5/10)
I've read most of the info in other books about racism and social psyc before. Brings it all together in easy to read format though. Will definitely be a good conversation vehicle for college students. Praying no one's family is police in my class, cause that could get awkward.

Up Next:

 

1. Born to Run - Christopher McDougall (9/10)
2. How the Word is Passed - Clint Smith (9/10)
3. Being Heumann: An Unrepentent Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist - Judith Heumann (6/10)
4. Finding Ultra - Rich Roll (7.5/10)
5. Buddhism for Beginners - Thubten Chodra (6/10)
6. How to be Perfect: The Correct Moral Answer to Every Question - Michael Schur (9/10)
7. The Sanatorium - Sarah Pearse (4/10)
8. Why Buddhism is True - Robert Wright (8/10)
9. The Library at Mount Char - Scott Hawkins (9/10)
10. The Dark Hours (Ballard/Bosch #4) - Michael Connelly (8/10)
11. The Nidderdale Murders (Yorkshire Murder Mystery #5) - J.R. Ellis (5/10)
12. The Whitby Murders (Yorkshire Murder Mystery #6) - J.R. Ellis (5/10)
13. Murder at St. Anne’s (Yorkshire Murder Mystery #7) - J.R. Ellis (5/10)
14. Soberevolution - Matt Salis (6/10)
15. Dry: A Memoir - Augusten Burroughs (7/10)
16. Klara and the Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro (8/10)
17. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro (9.5/10)
18. Mythos - Stephen Fry (8/10)
19. The Anomaly - Herve Le Tellier (7/10)
20. The Judge's List - John Grisham (6/10)

21. Lincoln in the Bardo - George Saunders (9/10)
Winner of the 2017 Booker Prize. I just finished this last night and I think I'll be processing it for a while. It has an entirely different structure than any novel I've read before, but you get used to it pretty quickly. I don't want to say too much for those who haven't read it but may want to do so, but the novel takes place in the aftermath of the death of Abe Lincoln's son, Willie, during the Civil War. It touches on life, death, hope, sorrow, regret, and everything in between.

 

Booker Prize winners

My next installment will have one too

 

1. A Memory of Light (Wheel of Time #14) - Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson (10/10)
2. Reaper (Cradle #10) - Will Wight (8.5/10)
3. The Last Wish (The Witcher #1) - Andrzej Sapkowski (8.5/10)
4. Sword of Destiny (The Witcher #2) - Andrzej Sapkowski (8/10)
5. Blood of Elves (The Witcher #3) - Andrzej Sapkowski (8/10)
6. Time of Contempt (The Witcher #4) - Andrzej Sapkowski (7.5/10)
7. Baptism of Fire (The Witcher #5) - Andrzej Sapkowski (7.5/10)
8. The Tower of the Swallow (The Witcher #6) - Andrzej Sapkowski (8.5/10)
9. Caddisflies - Gary LaFontaine (not really a grading type of book)
10. The Lady of the Lake (The Witcher #7) - Andrzej Sapkowski (9/10)
11. Season of Storms (The Witcher #8) - Andrzej Sapkowski (7/10)

 

1. The Mismeasure Of Progress: Economic Growth And Its Critics / Stephen J. Macekura (6.5/10)
2. Guitars: A Celebration Of Pure Mojo / David Schiller (9/10)
3. Mountain Men: The Remarkable Climbers And Determined Eccentrics Who First Scaled The World's Most Famous Peaks / Mick Conefrey and Tim Jordan (9.5/10)
4. The Lost City Of Z: A Tale Of Deadly Obsession In The Amazon / David Grann (10/10)
5. Salt: A World History / Mark Kurlansky (8.5/10)
6. Invisible No More: The African American Experience At The University Of South Carolina (8/10)
7. Roots: The Saga Of An American Family / Alex Haley (10/10)
8. Come As You Are: The Story Of Nirvana / Michael Azerrad (7.5/10)
9. A Brief History Of Indonesia (Sultans, Spices And Tsunamis: The Incredible Story Of Southeast Asia's Largest Island Nation) / Tim Hannigan (7/10)
10. The Pity Of War: Explaining World War I / Niall Ferguson (DNF)
11. Biased: Uncovering The Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think And Do / Jennifer Eberhardt (6.5/10)

12. The Road / Cormac McCarthy (7.5/10)
There's things to like and dislike about it, but overall I'm landing on positive because the story was "affecting" and "haunting"; seemed to kind of hang with me a bit atmospherically

 

1- The Big Rock Candy Mountain - Wallace Stegner (8.5/10)
2- Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston (7.5/10)*
3- All the Little Live Things - Wallace Stegner (5/10)
4- The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen (9.5/10)
5- A Burning - Megha Majumdar (9/10)
6- Going After Caciatto - Tim O'Brien (7.5/10)
7- The Ballad of the Sad Cafe - Carson McCullers (7/10)
8- The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers (10/10)*
9- The Field of Vision - Wright Morris (3/10)*
10- The Shipping News - Annie Proulx (9/10)
11- A Death in the Family - James Agee (8.5/10)
12- The Sea - John Banville (8/10)
13- The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes (9/10)
14- Ladder of Years - Anne Tyler (7.5/10)
15- Conversations with Friends - Sally Rooney (10/10)
16- Amsterdam - Ian McEwan (8/10)
17- That Night - Alice McDermott (5.5/10)
18- Salvage the Bones - Jesmyn Ward (10/10)
19- A Thousand Acres - Jane Smiley (9/10)
20- Light Years - James Salter (8/10)
21- The Hours - Michael Cunningham (9/10)
22- Being Dead - Jim Crace (7.5/10)
23- The Book of Evidence - John Banville (6.5/10)
24- A Long Long Way – Sebastian Barry (10/10)
25- Harvest – Jim Crace (5.5/10)
26- Foe – J.M. Coetzee (3/10)
27- A Visit from the Goon Squad – Jennifer Egan (10/10)
28- Waiting for the Barbarians – J.M. Coetzee (6/10)
29- Postcards – Annie Proulx (10/10)
30- Close Range: Wyoming Stories – Annie Proulx (9.5/10)
31- The New York Trilogy – Paul Auster (3.5/10)
32- Metroland – Julian Barnes (7/10)

33- The Sellout – Paul Beatty (7/10)
Winner of the 2016 Booker Prize, Beatty was the first American author to receive the prestigious award. It also won the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction. And it might be the most absurd book I’ve read. It’s an extremely satirical examination of race and identity in America from the perspective of a black LA man who wants to reinstate segregation and slavery. Whereas Pynchon’s satire comes off as (extremely) forced, you get the sense Beatty has experienced many of the situations in which his characters find themselves

34- Run – Ann Patchett (5/10)
The story revolves around an over-protective former Boston mayor and his adopted twin boys in the years after their mother’s death. Patchett focuses on notions of family, race, and sacrifice while introducing their biological mother and her daughter. It wasn’t very enjoyable, especially compared to Bel Canto or State of Wonder

35- The Candy House – Jennifer Egan (9/10)
A companion piece to Goon Squad, many characters return and new ones are introduced. Their paths and stories are all expertly connected along the way with technology being the main theme linking everyone instead of punk rock. Egan again shows off with postmodern narrative approaches that make 20% of it absolutely fly by. Hopefully we get a third installment with many of the same characters down the road because I love reading about everyone in this literary universe

36- The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty – Sebastian Barry (9.5/10)
A young Irishman joins the British-led police after WWI and in doing so loses his connection to everything, including his family, home and the woman he loves. Given a death sentence by the IRA, he bounces around the world and tries to reclaim his stolen life. When they talk about lyrical prose, they’re talking about Sebastian Barry

*denotes a re-read

 

Border Trilogy is the GOAT trilogy and it's not even close

I worship John Grady Cole

 

1. Born to Run - Christopher McDougall (9/10)
2. How the Word is Passed - Clint Smith (9/10)
3. Being Heumann: An Unrepentent Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist - Judith Heumann (6/10)
4. Finding Ultra - Rich Roll (7.5/10)
5. Buddhism for Beginners - Thubten Chodra (6/10)
6. How to be Perfect: The Correct Moral Answer to Every Question - Michael Schur (9/10)
7. The Sanatorium - Sarah Pearse (4/10)
8. Why Buddhism is True - Robert Wright (8/10)
9. The Library at Mount Char - Scott Hawkins (9/10)
10. The Dark Hours (Ballard/Bosch #4) - Michael Connelly (8/10)
11. The Nidderdale Murders (Yorkshire Murder Mystery #5) - J.R. Ellis (5/10)
12. The Whitby Murders (Yorkshire Murder Mystery #6) - J.R. Ellis (5/10)
13. Murder at St. Anne’s (Yorkshire Murder Mystery #7) - J.R. Ellis (5/10)
14. Soberevolution - Matt Salis (6/10)
15. Dry: A Memoir - Augusten Burroughs (7/10)
16. Klara and the Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro (8/10)
17. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro (9.5/10)
18. Mythos - Stephen Fry (8/10)
19. The Anomaly - Herve Le Tellier (7/10)
20. The Judge's List - John Grisham (6/10)
21. Lincoln in the Bardo - George Saunders (9/10)

22. The Lincoln Highway - Amor Towles (7.5/10)

Overall I enjoyed this one. It would have been a 9/10 but it is about 150 pages too long. It just seems like it will never end at parts in the second half of the book. This is the first Towles book I've read, so I don't know if that is a bug or a feature with his writing. The characters are great and I loved the story, but it drags.