I read many more books this year than in recent, past years. Although this was intentional, I’m glad it worked out. I really cut back on my various internet feeds, so that I was less distracted away from books. Purchasing a Kobo and connecting it to the local public library was also helpful. The most influential non-fiction book for me this year was Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman. Plenty of practical and insightful advice in this book.
Finished reading: Network Effect by Martha Wells. Murderbot is great! I’ll happily keep reading any books in this series 📚
Finished reading: The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson. This series has been really entertaining so far📚
Finished reading: I wanted to like The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen by Linda Colley. The main thesis is that as societies became more complex and conflicts more intense, governments needed to develop written constitutions to cede rights to their citizens and keep them participating in wars. I found getting through the details a tough slog that distracted from the broader narrative. 📚
Finished reading: A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin. Well worth reading. I appreciated the absence of giant, apocalyptic battles and the focus on the maturation of a single wizard📚
Finished reading: The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark. A fun, short story📚
Finished reading: Marooned in Realtime by Vernor Vinge. A fun mix of murder mystery and sci-fi, in which groups of people emerge from thousands of years in stasis to find human civilization has vanished📚
Finished reading: A Short History of Canada by Desmond Morton. Somewhat like vegetables, I know that reading about national history is good for me, just not that exciting. That said, this book was well written and interesting. Now, back to sci-fi 📚
Finished reading: Tiamat’s Wrath by James S. A. Corey. I’ve enjoyed each book in the series and this one was not an exception 📚
Finished reading: Life’s Edge: The Search for What It Means to Be Alive by Carl Zimmer. A really interesting book that explores the surprisingly difficult problem of defining what it means to be alive📚
Finished reading: Mistborn: The Final Empire (Mistborn, 1) by Brandon Sanderson. I really enjoyed this one. An interesting origins mystery, well conceived magical powers, and good world building 📚
Finished reading: Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke. A classic sci-fi story. Hard to believe it was written in 1953 📚
Finished reading: Shift by Hugh Howey. I’m not sure that Wool needed this prequel. Part of the enjoyment of the first book was the mystery of how people ended up living underground after an apocalypse. That said, I’ll read the last book in the series 📚
Finished reading: Exit Strategy: The Murderbot Diaries (The Murderbot Diaries, 4) by Martha Wells. I’ve enjoyed each of these novellas, though the first one is a standout 📚
Finished reading: A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers is a charming story about a human and a robot on a quest to find purpose 📚
Finished reading: Plague Birds by Jason Sizemore is quite the story: advanced AIs living in people’s blood, genetic manipulation run amok, the collapse of civilization, and a mysterious alien. A fun read 📚
Finished reading: Among Others by Jo Walton is very good. A celebration of SF, despite being about magic and fairies📚
As a follow up to my earlier post, now that I’m on the eleventh book of my vacation, I can confirm that the Kobo Libra 2 is exactly what I’d hoped. The screen has been easy to read in all lighting (especially bright sunlight on the dock), the page turn buttons are reliable, and the public library integration has been seamless. Perfect for cottage reading!
Finished reading: Although the book is unfinished, I enjoyed Starlight by Richard Wagamese. The theme of appreciating the land resonates well with my cottage vacation. I also found the themes of fatherhood and adopted families compelling 📚
Finished reading: Tunnel 29 by Helena Merriman is an engrossing book about students that escaped from East Germany during the Cold War, only to then tunnel back under the wall to help more people escape 📚
Finished reading: The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan was a perfect vacation read. A long and immersive fantasy story with both familiar elements and novel ideas📚
Finished reading: Although I was initially confused by the plot of Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki, once I got into the story I enjoyed it. A nice mix of humour, honouring your identity, immigrating, and classical music 📚
Finished reading: Arriving Today by Christopher Mims is a very interesting look into the logistics network that we all take for granted with an emphasis on Amazon. A fascinating mix of robotics, AI, and labour laws📚
Finished reading: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke is a delight. A strange and fascinating story that is unlike anything that I’ve read recently 📚
Finished reading: Persepolis Rising by James S. A. Corey is a solid start to a new Expanse story. Although I like the mystery surrounding the alien artifacts, Expanse is at its best when focused on the people📚
Finished reading: The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson is a fun parallel worlds story with lots of plot twists 📚
Finished reading: Shipstar by Gregory Benford isn’t nearly as ambitious as Bowl of Heaven, the first book in the series. Although there are several big ideas in the book, they didn’t really connect well together. 📚
Finished reading: I enjoyed The Golem and the Jinni: A Novel by Helene Wecker. Great writing and interesting characters, set in 19th century New York, that explores immigration and finding your purpose 📚
Finished reading: The Nova Incident by Dan Moren is an entertaining mix of espionage, action, and sci-fi. I’ve enjoyed all of the books in this series 📚
Finished reading: Although I was already familiar with many of the details, A Series of Fortunate Events by Sean B. Carroll was a brief and entertaining overview of the role of chance in biology. Both humbling and inspiring to think about how contingent everything is📚