Books You’ve Read in 2023

1. How To Do the Work by Nicole LaPera - 8/10
2. Dead in the Water by Matthew Campbell & Kit Chellel - 8/10
3. In the Distance by Hernan Diaz - 9/10
4. Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling by Ross King - 6.5/10
5. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George RR Martin - 9/10
6. Call For The Dead by John Le Carré - 8/10
7. A Murder of Quality by John Le Carré - 6/10
8. We Don’t Know Ourselves by Finan O’Toole - 7.5/10
9. Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey - 8.5/10
10. The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland - 9/10
11. The Guest Lecture by Martin Riker - 7/10
12. The Measure by Nikki Erlick - 8/10
13. SPQR by Mary Beard - 6.5/10
14. Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber - 8/10
15. Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond - 9.5/10
16. How to do Nothing by Jenny Odell - 6.5/10
17. The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy - 9/10
18. Outlive by Peter Attia - 8/10
19. We Were Once a Family - 7.5/10
20. The Wager by David Grann - 8.5/10
21. Notes from an Apocalypse by Mark O’Connell - 8/10
22. City of Dreams by Don Winslow - 7/10
23. King: A Life by Jonathan Eig - 9/10
24. Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy - 9.5/10
25. Down the River Unto the Sea by Walter Mosley - 5/10
26. No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy - 9.5/10
27. Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang - 7/10
28. All the Sinners Bleed by SA Cosby - 8/10
29. Rebel Yell by SC Gwynne - 4/10
30. Drowning by TJ Newman -8/10
31. Dead Wake by Erik Larson - 7/10
32. American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin - 9/10
33. The Heat Will Kill You First by Jeff Goodell - 7.5/10
34. Red Rising by Pierce Brown - 9.5/10
35. The Militia House by John Milas - 8/10
36. If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery - 6/10
37. Golden Son by Pierce Brown - 9.5/10
38. Child of God by Cormac McCarthy - 8/10
39. A Thread of Violence by Mark O’Connell - 6/10
40. Holly by Stephen King - 7/10
41. How To Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney - 9/10
42. Morning Star by Pierce Brown - 9/10
43. American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15 - 9/10
44. When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut. - 8.5/10

45. The Road by Cormac McCarthy - 10/10. Outstanding. I loved every second of it.

46. Iron Gold by Pierce Brown - 8/10. Probably my least favorite of the series thus far. At times felt like a setup for the next book, which is rough given it’s 625 pages lol

 

Iron Gold can be a slog the first time. I was very bummed when I read it the first time. However after reading Dark Age, and re-reading Iron Gold - you appreciate it much more.

 

1. The Trees - Perceval Everette (7/10)
2. Stranded - Sarah Goodman (7.5/10)
3. American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy's Forgotten Crisis - Adam Hochschild (10/10)
4. Ninth House (Alex Stern #1) - Leigh Bardugo (9/10)
5. Hell Bent (Alex Stern #2) - Leigh Bardugo (7.5/10)
6. Age of Vice - Deepti Kapoor (8/10)
7. In the Distance - Hernan Diaz (7.5/10)
8. Myth America: Historians Take on The Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past - Kevin Kruse (6.5/10)
9. Guns of the Dawn - Adrian Tchaikovsky (9/10)
10. Everybody Knows - Jordan Harper (7.5/10)
11. The Light Pirate - Lilly Brooks-Dalton (8/10)
12. The Library at Mount Char - Scott Hawkins (7/10)
13. The Measure - Nikki Erlick (9/10)
14. The Terraformers - Annalee Newitz (6.5/10)
15. The Last Orphan (Orphan X #8) (8/10)
16. The Wolf (Under The Northern Sky #1) - Leo Carew (7/10)
17. The Spider (Under The Northern Sky #2) - Leo Carew (8/10)
18. The Passenger - Cormac McCarthy - 4/10
19. Daisy Jones and The Six - Taylor Jenkins Reid (7/10)
20. The Cuckoo (Under the Northern Sky #3) - Leo Carew (8.5/10)
21. Poverty, by America - Matthew Desmond (9.5/10)
22. Waco Rising: David Koresh, the FBI, and the Birth of America's Modern Militias - Kevin Cook (7.5/10)
23. Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingslover (9/10)
24. Star Wars: The High Republic: Cataclysm - Lydia Kang (9/10)
25. Star Wars: The High Republic: Quest for Planet X - Tessa Gratton (6.5/10)
26. Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time - Ira Katznelson (8/10)
27. Antimatter Blues (Mickey 7 #2) - Edward Ashton (7.5/10)
28. The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder - David Grann (8.5/10)
29. The Resort - Sarah Goodwin (5.5/10)
30. The Ferryman - Justin Cronin (8.5/10)
31. Untethered Sky - Fonda Lee (7/10)
32.City of Dreams (Danny Ryan #2) - Don Winslow (8/10)
33. Empire of Blue Water: Captain Morgan's Great Pirate Army - Stephan Talty (8/10)
34. Yellowface - RF Kuang (8.5/10)
35. Chain-Gang All-Stars - Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (8/10)
36. Rubicon - J.S. Dewes (6.5/10)
37. Drowning: The Rescue of Flight 1421 - TJ Newman (8.5/10)
38. The Survivalists -Kaushana Cauley (6/10)
39. Gates of Fire - Steven Pressfield (7/10)
40. Star Wars: The High Republic: Path of Vengeance -Cavan Scott (7/10)
41. Will of the Many (Hierarchy #1) - James Islington (9/10)
42. All Sinners Bleed - S A Cosby (8.5/10)
43. Bad Jews: A History of American Jewish Politics and Identities - Emily Tamkin (7.5/10)
44. King: A Life - Jonathan Eig
45. Iron Gold (Red Rising #4) - Pierce Brown (9/10)
46. Red Rising (Red Rising #1) - Pierce Brown (9/10)
47. Golden Son (Red Rising #2) - Pierce Brown (10/10)
48. Morning Star (Red Rising #3) - Pierce Brown (10/10)
48. Dark Age (Red Rising #5) - Pierce Brown (10/10)
49. Freedom's Dominion: A Saga of White Resistance to Federal Power - Jefferson Cowie (7.5/10)
50. Star Wars: Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade - Deliliah S Dawson (8/10)
51. The Collector (Gabriel Allon #23) - Daniel Silva (7.5/10)
52. Light Bringer (Red Rising #6) - Pierce Brown (12/10)
53. Hidden Pictures - Jason Rekulak (6.5/10)
54. Last Summer on State Street - Toya Wolfe (8/10)
55. The Last Ranger - Peter Heller (7.5/10)
56. Portnoy's Complaint - Phillip Roth (8.5/10)
57. Children of Time (Children of Time #1) - Adrian Tchiakovsy (8.5/10)
58. Children of Ruin (Children of Time #2) - Adrian Tchiakovsy (7.5/10)
59. Children of Memory (Children of Time #3) - Adrian Tchiakovsy (6.5/10)
60. Ascension - Nicholas Binge (7/10)
61. The Republic of Pirates - Colin Woodward (8.5/10)
62. Holly - Stephen King (6.5/10)
63. Gods of the Wyrdwood (The Forsaken Trilogy) - RJ Barker (9.5/10)
64. The Adventures of Amina Al Sirafi - SA Chakraborty (7.5/10)
65. Code Red (Mitch Rapp #22) - Kyle Mills - (6/10)
66. All Systems Red (MurderBot#1) Martha Wells (7.5/10)
67. Tender is the Flesh - Agustina Bazterrica (9/10)

Adventures of Amina Al Sirafi - This was a lot of fun. Kind of like if Indiana Jones was Middle Eastern aging female pirate. Lots of fun adventure, tracking down artifacts with some mysticism mixed in. Some good humor ect.

Code Red - Typical guilty pleasure type read. Although this one was more guilt than pleasure. Series is about a CIA assassin. Usually I can separate the problematic aspects of that from just enjoying the story, but there was a bit too much boring American Exceptionalism in this one. Apparently this is the last in the series, or the guy as taking a break from it. All is well because I think this one has run it's course for me.

All Systems Red - About an security robot trained to kill has hacked it's own system and just wants to be a couch potato and watch tv. More thoughts in the Book Club thread. It's a good, fun story.

Tender is the Flesh - Just finished this and holy shit. This book will stick with me. It's not an enjoyable read but a good one. It's a short, fast read. One of the more thought provoking books I’ve read in a while. Highly recommend.

 

1. Golden Son (Red Rising 2) 7/10
2. Morning Star (Red Rising 3) 7/10
3. The Last Kingdom 6/10
4. Dark Matter 8/10
5. The Measure 5/10 (TMB book club)
6. The Passenger 2/10 (TMB book club)
7. Mr. New Orleans - 6/10
8. Demon Copperhead - 7/10 (TMB Book Club)
9. City of Thieves - 7/10
10. The Ferryman - 8/10 (TMB book club)
11. Small Mercies - 6/10
12. Iron Gold (Red Rising 4) 8/10
13. Dark Age (Red Rising 5) 7.5/10
14. Light Bringer (Red Rising 6) 10/10

15. Holly - 6/10 (TMB Book Club)

 

1. Pond by Claire-Louise Bennett - 8.5/10
2. Fire and Blood by George R.R. Martin - 9/10
3. Normal People by Sally Rooney - 8/10
4. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen - 8/10
5. Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh - 2/10
6. Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout - 8.5/10
7. Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe - 9/10
8. The Survival of the Princes in the Tower: Murder, Mystery and Myth by Matthew Lewis - 8.5/10
9. How to Survive in Ancient Rome by LJ Trafford - 7/10
10. How to Survive in Ancient Greece by Robert Garland - 7/10
11. Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson - 8/10
12. Apeirogon, A Novel by Colum McCann - 8/10
13. TransAtlantic by Colum McCann - 8.5/10
14. Family Life by Akhil Sharma - 7/10
15. The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid - 8/10
16. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka - 9/10
17. The Rise and Fall of a Medieval Family: The Despensers by Kathryn Warner - 7/10
18. Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy - 7.5/10
19. Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond - 8/10
20. No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy - 8/10
21. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen - 8.5/10
22. Days Without End by Sebastian Barry - 8/10
23. Thirteen Ways of Looking by Colum McCann - 8.5/10
24. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan - 8.5/10
25. The Promise by Damon Galgut - 8/10
26. A Passage North by Anuk Arudpragasam - 8.5/10
27. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen - 8/10
28. Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo - 7.5/10
29. 1177 B.C. The Year Civilization Collpased by Eric H. Cline - 8/10
30. The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell - 8/10
31. Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout - 8/10
32. Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin - 8/10
Enjoyable and impressive, though some of the religious passages were a bit of a slog to read through.
33. Power and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages by Dan Jones - 8.5/10
An easy-to-read but informative history book, which quite impressively covers ~1000 years without feeling too rushed or too drawn out. I personally went in with a good grasp on European medieval history but I still learned quite a bit, especially regarding the fall of the Roman empire, the birth of Islam, and the Mongol invasions.
Dan Jones is one of the best at writing history in a way that is gripping and entertaining while still being historically accurate and informative. His TV programs and podcasts are similarly enjoyable.

 

1. Inhibitor Phase (Revelation Space #5) - Alastair Reynolds (7.5/10)
2. Tress of the Emerald Sea - Brandon Sanderson (8.5/10)
3. The Alloy of Law (Mistborn Era 2, #1) - Brandon Sanderson (9.5/10) (reread)
4. Shadows of Self (Mistborn Era 2, #2) - Brandon Sanderson (9.5/10) (reread)
5. The Bands of Mourning (Mistborn Era 2, #3) - Brandon Sanderson (8/10) (reread)
6. The Lost Metal (Mistborn Era 2, #4) - Brandon Sanderson (9.5/10)
7. Starfish (Rifters, #1) - Peter Watts (6/10)
8. Maelstrom (Rifters, #2) - Peter Watts (6/10)
9. Behemoth (Rifters, #3) - Peter Watts (8/10)
10. A River Runs Through It and Other Stories - Norman Maclean (9/10)
11. All Fishermen are Liars - John Gierach (7/10)
12. The Will of the Many (Hierarchy #1) - James Islington (8.5/10)
13. Trout Bum - John Gierach (8.5/10)
14. The Longest Silence - Thomas McGuane (8.5/10)
15. Yumi and the Nightmare Painter - Brandon Sanderson (9/10)
16. The Frugal Wizard's Handbook For Surviving Medieval England - Brandon Sanderson (7/10)
17. The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century - Kirk Johnson (9.5/10)
18. At the Grave of the Unknown Fisherman - John Gierach (8.5/10)
19. Dumb Luck and the Kindness of Strangers - John Gierach (8/10)

 

1. Inhibitor Phase (Revelation Space #5) - Alastair Reynolds (7.5/10)
2. Tress of the Emerald Sea - Brandon Sanderson (8.5/10)
3. The Alloy of Law (Mistborn Era 2, #1) - Brandon Sanderson (9.5/10) (reread)
4. Shadows of Self (Mistborn Era 2, #2) - Brandon Sanderson (9.5/10) (reread)
5. The Bands of Mourning (Mistborn Era 2, #3) - Brandon Sanderson (8/10) (reread)
6. The Lost Metal (Mistborn Era 2, #4) - Brandon Sanderson (9.5/10)
7. Starfish (Rifters, #1) - Peter Watts (6/10)
8. Maelstrom (Rifters, #2) - Peter Watts (6/10)
9. Behemoth (Rifters, #3) - Peter Watts (8/10)
10. A River Runs Through It and Other Stories - Norman Maclean (9/10)
11. All Fishermen are Liars - John Gierach (7/10)
12. The Will of the Many (Hierarchy #1) - James Islington (8.5/10)
13. Trout Bum - John Gierach (8.5/10)
14. The Longest Silence - Thomas McGuane (8.5/10)
15. Yumi and the Nightmare Painter - Brandon Sanderson (9/10)
16. The Frugal Wizard's Handbook For Surviving Medieval England - Brandon Sanderson (7/10)
17. The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century - Kirk Johnson (9.5/10)
18. At the Grave of the Unknown Fisherman - John Gierach (8.5/10)
19. Dumb Luck and the Kindness of Strangers - John Gierach (8/10)
20. The Sunlit Man - Brandon Sanderson (8/10)

 

1- The Master – Colm Tóibín (1/10)
2- Crime and Punishment – Dostoevsky (5/10)*
3- Mao II – Don DeLillo (8/10)*
4- Last Night – James Salter (8.5/10)
5- A Piece of My Heart – Richard Ford (8.5/10)*
6- Cosmopolis – Don DeLillo (5.5/10)*
7- Dusk and Other Stories – James Salter (8.5/10)*
8- The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter – Carson McCullers (10/10)*
9- No Country for Old Men – Cormac McCarthy (10/10)*
10- Blood Meridian – Cormac McCarthy (10/10)*
11- Carpenter’s Gothic – William Gaddis (9.5/10)*
12- The Rabbit Hutch – Tess Gunty (8/10)
13- Hamnet – Maggie O’Farrell (7.5/10)
14- Fishing the Sloe-Black River – Colum McCann (6.5/10)
15- How to Get Filthy Rich In Rising Asia – Mohsin Hamid (6/10)
16- A Thousand Moons – Sebastian Barry (10/10)
17- How German Is It – Walter Abish (8/10)
18- In Paradise – Peter Matthiessen (5.5/10)
19- Foster – Claire Keegan (8.5/10)
20- Life & Times of Michael K – J.M. Coetzee (7/10)
21- Old God’s Time – Sebastian Barry (8/10)
22- TransAtlantic – Colum McCann (6/10)
23- Union Atlantic – Adam Haslett (5/10)
24- Timbuktu – Paul Auster (0/10)
25- Child of God – Cormac McCarthy (10/10)*
26- The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida – Shehan Karunatilaka (9/10)
27- The Road – Cormac McCarthy (10/10)*
28- Goodbye, Columbus – Philip Roth (7/10)
29- Portnoy’s Complaint – Philip Roth (3/10)
30- Trust – Hernan Diaz (8.5/10)
31- Far Tortuga – Peter Matthiessen (8/10)
32- Freedom – Jonathan Franzen (4/10)
33- Moth Smoke – Mohsin Hamid (6.5/10)
34- All the Light We Cannot See – Anthony Doerr (9/10)
35- On Chesil Beach – Ian McEwan (5/10)
36- That Old Ace In The Hole – Annie Proulx (0.5/10)
37- Outer Dark – Cormac McCarthy (10/10)*
38- England Made Me – Graham Greene (6/10)
39- Small Things Like These – Claire Keegan (8.5/10)
40- The Last White Man – Mohsin Hamid (6.5/10)
41- Florida – Lauren Groff (8/10)
42- Matterhorn – Karl Marlantes (9.5/10)
43- Remembering Laughter – Wallace Stegner (7/10)
44- As I Lay Dying – William Faulkner (7.5/10)
45- Rabbit, Run – John Updike (8/10)*
46- In the Distance – Hernan Diaz (9/10)
47- The Stonemason – Cormac McCarthy (10/10)
48- Butcher’s Crossing – John Williams (9/10)
49- The Wapshot Chronicle – John Cheever (4/10)
50- All the Pretty Horses – Cormac McCarthy (10/10)*
51- Train Dreams – Denis Johnson (8.5/10)
52- A High Wind In Jamaica – Richard Hughes (6/10)
53- Warlock – Oakley Hall (4.5/10)
54- Grendel – John Gardner (5/10)
55- Station Eleven – Emily St. John Mandel (7/10)
56- Hard Rain Falling – Don Carpenter (8.5/10)
57- The Maltese Falcon – Dashiell Hammett (6/10)
58- The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien (5/10)*
59- A Frolic of His Own – William Gaddis (9/10)
60- Stoner – John Williams (8/10)
61- Antarctica – Claire Keegan (9/10)
62- The Siege of Krishnapur – J.G. Farrell (6.5/10)
63- Heart Songs and Other Stories – Annie Proulx (3/10)
64- Women with Men – Richard Ford (7/10)
65- Falling Man – Don DeLillo (8.5/10)*
66- Walk the Blue Fields – Claire Keegan (8/10)
67- The Stars at Noon – Denis Johnson (7.5/10)
68- The Promise – Damon Galgut (8/10)

69- Great Jones Street – Don DeLillo (7.5/10)*
Published in 1973, it was DeLillo’s third novel and revolves around a rock star who tires of the demands of global fame. Hoping to regain control of his life, he retreats to a shithole apartment in NYC before getting involved with a wide array of characters, ranging from drug dealers to music industry figures and people with violent political agendas

70- End Zone – Don DeLillo (9/10)*
Published in 1972, it was DeLillo’s second novel and it follows a West Texas college football team over the course of their first season post-integration. It’s about football as an outlet for violence and a substitute for warfare. I love this book

71- True Grit – Charles Portis (6/10)
Published in 1968, it’s a classic Western about a 14-year-old girl who hires an ornery US Marshal to accompany her from Fort Smith, AR into Indian Territory in search of the man who killed her father. It’s a fun and uncomplicated read

72- The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro (8/10)
Winner of the 1989 Booker Prize, it’s told from the perspective of an English butler in the 1950s as he reflects on his career and the nature of the man he served for most of it. It’s exquisitely written and packed with wry humor that sheds light on early 20th-century English social ideals and values

73- The Actual – Saul Bellow (1/10)
Published in 1997, it’s a novella about a successful Chicago businessman who gets befriended by a billionaire and then rekindles a relationship with a woman he knew in high school. Congrats to the protagonist on all his success in life

74- Sorry for Your Trouble – Richard Ford (7/10)
Published in 2020, it’s a collection of stories about middle-aged, middle-class people learning to accept the melancholy nature of life. The prose is lyrical and the dialogue is about perfect, so it’s another Ford book where the writing quality makes up for the heavy emphasis on estrangement and lost love

75- Rabbit Redux – John Updike (8.5/10)
Published in 1971 and set in 1969, Updike takes Rabbit’s character flaws from Rabbit, Run and shows their destructive power as a series of poor decisions plunges his life deeper into chaos. Rabbit is a racist, misogynistic, Vietnam War supporter that is serially unfaithful to his wife but is made to see how fortunate he’s been compared to people the American system truly oppresses. It's gritty as hell and emotionally devastating

* = re-read

 

1. Leonardo Da Vinci- Walter Isaacson
2. Becoming Dr. Seuss- Brian Jay Jones
3. Manson- Jeff Guinn
4. Destiny of the Republic- Candice Millard
5. Mayflower- Nathaniel Philbrick
6. Travels With George- Nathaniel Philbrick
7. The Escape Artist- Jonathan Freeland
8. Survival In Auschwitz- Primo Levi
9. The Road to Jonestown- Jeff Guinn
10. Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution- Nathaniel Philbrick
11. Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution- Nathaniel Philbrick
12. In The Hurricane's Eye: The Genius of George Washington and the Victory at Yorktown- Nathaniel Philbrick
13. The Library At Mount Char- Scott Hawkins
14. Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring- Alexander Rose
15. The Guest List- Lucy Foley
16. All That Is Wicked-Kate Winkler Dawson
17. The Making Of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece- Tom Hanks
18. Walt Disney: The Triump Of American Imagination- Neal Gabler
19. Buying Disney's Land- Aaron Goldberg
20. Peter Pan- JM Barie
21. Countdown 1945- Chris Wallace
22. Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fifty-year Fight to Exonerate An Innocent Man- Lynn Vincent
23. Death On The Nile- Agatha Christie
24. American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer- Kai Bird
25. The Paris Apartment- Lucy Foley
26. Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and a Legacy of Rage- Jeff Guinn
27. Stranded- Sarah Goodwin
28. American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing- Lou Michel & Dan Herbeck
29. Oona Out of Order- Margarita Montimore
30. A Year of Playing Catch: What A Simple Daily Experiment Taught Me About Life- Ethan Bryan
31. Wrong Place, Wrong Time- Gillian McAllister
32. The Sight- Melanie Golding

Didnt realize I hadn't updated in a while.

 

1. Golden Son (Red Rising 2) 7/10
2. Morning Star (Red Rising 3) 7/10
3. The Last Kingdom 6/10
4. Dark Matter 8/10
5. The Measure 5/10 (TMB book club)
6. The Passenger 2/10 (TMB book club)
7. Mr. New Orleans - 6/10
8. Demon Copperhead - 7/10 (TMB Book Club)
9. City of Thieves - 7/10
10. The Ferryman - 8/10 (TMB book club)
11. Small Mercies - 6/10
12. Iron Gold (Red Rising 4) 8/10
13. Dark Age (Red Rising 5) 7.5/10
14. Light Bringer (Red Rising 6) 10/10
15. Holly - 6/10 (TMB Book Club)

16. All Systems Red - 7/10 (TMB Book Club)

Next up: 17 Tender is the Flesh (TMB Book Club)

 

41. The Right Stuff / Tom Wolfe (10/10)
Followed the many recommendations on here and came away agreed. This book rules. Book is about military pilots.

40. Winning Every Day: The Game Plan For Success / Lou Holtz (4/10)
The coachspeak is laughably bad. I enjoyed the football stories.

39. Kon-Tiki: By Raft Across The South Seas / Thor Heyerdahl (9/10)
Great read. These fuckers made a raft and sailed it from Peru to Oceania to prove native people maybe possibly could have done the same thing.

38. Roll Me Up And Smoke Me When I Die: Musings From The Road / Willie Nelson (4/10)
A jumble of randomness, but I like Willie's spirit.

37. Zen Guitar / Philip Toshio Sudo (10/10)
Reread.

Spoiler

36. The Dharma Bums / Jack Kerouac (10/10)
35. A Sand County Almanac And Sketches Here And There / Aldo Leopold (9.5/10)
34. Tao Te Ching / Lao Tzu (10/10)
33. Caste: The Origins Of Our Discontents / Isabel Wilkerson (10/10)
32. Daytripper / Fabio Moon (9/10)
31. The Song Of The Machine: From Disco To DJs To Techno, A Graphic Novel Of Electronic Music / David Blot (9/10)
30. They Wore Garnet And Black: Inside Carolina's Quest For Gridiron Glory / Don Barton (5/10)
29. My Career, My Life / Bob Fulton (6/10)
28. The Genius Of Birds / Jennifer Ackerman (9/10)
27. Ninety Percent Of Everything: Inside Shipping, The Invisible Industry That Puts Clothes On Your Back, Gas In Your Car, And Food On Your Plate / Rose George (7/10)
26. The Storyteller: Tales Of Life And Music / Dave Grohl (9.5/10)
25. Saluda County In Story And Scene (2/10)
24. The Birth Of Loud: Leo Fender, Les Paul, And The Guitar-Pioneering Rivalry That Shaped Rock N Roll / Ian S. Port (10/10)
23. A People's History Of The United States / Howard Zinn (10/10)
22. Center Field Grasses: Poems From Baseball / Gene Fehler (4/10)
21. A Cook's Tour: In Search Of The Perfect Meal / Anthony Bourdain (9/10)
20. Welcome To The Circus Of Baseball: A Story Of The Perfect Summer At The Perfect Ballpark At The Perfect Time / Ryan McGee (7/10)
19. Saucerful Of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey / Nicholas Shaffner (6/10)
18. Heaven And Hell: My Life In The Eagles 1974-2001 / Don Felder and Wendy Holden (8/10)
17. How To Be Perfect: The Correct Answer To Every Moral Question / Michael Schur (6.5/10)
16. High Seas Confederate: The Life And Times Of John Newland Maffitt / Royce Shingleton (6/10)
15. Heart Of Darkness / Joseph Conrad (6/10)
14. Poverty, By America / Matthew Desmond (10/10)
13. The Beach: The History Of Paradise On Earth / Lena Lencek and Gideon Bosker (8/10)
12. From Russia, With Love (James Bond #5) / Ian Fleming (5/10)
11. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side Of The American Meal / Eric Schlosser (9.5/10)
10. The Shallows: What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains / Nicholas Carr (7.5/10)
9. Nickel And Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America / Barbara Ehrenreich (9/10)
8. Through The Looking Glass / Lewis Carroll (7/10)
7. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland / Lewis Carroll (6/10)
6. The Gene: An Intimate History / Siddhartha Mukherjee (8/10)
5. Journey Of The Universe / Brian Thomas Swimme and Mary Evelyn Tucker (9/10)
4. The Tao Of Physics / Fritjof Capra (7.5/10)
3. The Corner: A Year In The Life Of An Inner-City Neighborhood / David Simon and Ed Burns (10/10)
2. Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto / Chuck Klosterman (7/10)
1. Will In The World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare / Stephen Greenblatt (8.5/10)

 

Currently reading Empire of Pain by Patrick Raden Keefe

Man the Sacklers really are the scum of the earth

 

That book was extremely eye opening

 

1. Golden Son (Red Rising 2) 7/10
2. Morning Star (Red Rising 3) 7/10
3. The Last Kingdom 6/10
4. Dark Matter 8/10
5. The Measure 5/10 (TMB book club)
6. The Passenger 2/10 (TMB book club)
7. Mr. New Orleans - 6/10
8. Demon Copperhead - 7/10 (TMB Book Club)
9. City of Thieves - 7/10
10. The Ferryman - 8/10 (TMB book club)
11. Small Mercies - 6/10
12. Iron Gold (Red Rising 4) 8/10
13. Dark Age (Red Rising 5) 7.5/10
14. Light Bringer (Red Rising 6) 10/10
15. Holly - 6/10 (TMB Book Club)
16. All Systems Red - 7/10 (TMB Book Club)

17. Tender is the Flesh (TMB Book Club) (7/10) - Thought about going 8/10, but it did feel to drag at some points.

Next up: The Bread Will Rise - a book one of my friends just published, it should be going up on Audible today - once it does I'll jump into that one.

 

Read more Portis if you haven't. Really great writer. True Grit is actually the weakest book I've read from him.

You've also reminded me that I need to finish the Rabbit Angstrom series, only have the last to go.

 

1. Golden Son (Red Rising 2) 7/10
2. Morning Star (Red Rising 3) 7/10
3. The Last Kingdom 6/10
4. Dark Matter 8/10
5. The Measure 5/10 (TMB book club)
6. The Passenger 2/10 (TMB book club)
7. Mr. New Orleans - 6/10
8. Demon Copperhead - 7/10 (TMB Book Club)
9. City of Thieves - 7/10
10. The Ferryman - 8/10 (TMB book club)
11. Small Mercies - 6/10
12. Iron Gold (Red Rising 4) 8/10
13. Dark Age (Red Rising 5) 7.5/10
14. Light Bringer (Red Rising 6) 10/10
15. Holly - 6/10 (TMB Book Club)
16. All Systems Red - 7/10 (TMB Book Club)
17. Tender is the Flesh (TMB Book Club) (7/10)

18. Fourth Wing - Did not finish. I was going to read this one, then the sequal once my wife was finished with it. About halfway in I wasn't really enjoying it, she finished the 2nd one and said it sucked so I gave up on it. Too young adult for me.

Currently reading - All the Sinners Bleed

 

LMAO. Good of you to read something with your wife, but dragon smut is pretty hilarious. I wish you would have read all of it and given a long detailed review. Would have been hilarious.

All the Sinners Bleed is pretty good.

 

I thought if I could go with some dragon smut she may just may start Red Rising.

 

Valiant efffort.

 

Reading Americana by Delillo right now. Beautifully written but god damn I cannot stand the main character what an asshole.

This is only the 11th book I’ve read this year where usually around 20. Been a banger year for video games and I had some personal stuff going on but still 11 is a small number

gonna try and bang out as many as I can between now and end of year. Finally going to read White Teeth next.

 

1. Golden Son (Red Rising 2) 7/10
2. Morning Star (Red Rising 3) 7/10
3. The Last Kingdom 6/10
4. Dark Matter 8/10
5. The Measure 5/10 (TMB book club)
6. The Passenger 2/10 (TMB book club)
7. Mr. New Orleans - 6/10
8. Demon Copperhead - 7/10 (TMB Book Club)
9. City of Thieves - 7/10
10. The Ferryman - 8/10 (TMB book club)
11. Small Mercies - 6/10
12. Iron Gold (Red Rising 4) 8/10
13. Dark Age (Red Rising 5) 7.5/10
14. Light Bringer (Red Rising 6) 10/10
15. Holly - 6/10 (TMB Book Club)
16. All Systems Red - 7/10 (TMB Book Club)
17. Tender is the Flesh - 7/10 (TMB Book Club
18. Fourth Wing - DNF

19. All the Sinners Bleed - 9/10, really enjoyed it. Not sure what it was but just the writing had me hooked early, the way the characters talked / thought just felt very real

Currently Reading: The Only One Left - Riley Sager

 

For a debut novel the writing really is amazing. Have only read it once but agree dude was a huge jackass

 

I am so bad at reading for enjoyment, read so much work shit, WSJ, etc. Have to get better at reading more fiction.
Anyhow, just finished All the light we cannot see. 8/10. Good read.

next up, Beneath a Scarlet Sky, Mark Sullivan.

 

1. Hell of a Book - 7/10 (might have finished this last year - can't remember)
2. Sea of Tranquility - 8/10
3. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck - 5/10 (just didn't really resonate)
4. Mickey7 - 7/10
5. It Ends with Us - 5/10 (just randomly grabbed off amazon best seller - not a genre for me)
6. The Alloy of Law (Mistborn 4) - 8/10
7. Shadows of Self (Mistborn 5) - 710
8. Demon Copperhead - 7/10 (TMB Book Club)
9. The Ferryman - 9/10 (TMB Book Club)
10. The Will of Many - 10/10 (TMB Book Club)
11. The Bands of Mourning (Mistborn 6) - 7/10
12. The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny & Murder - 8/10
13. The Lost Metal (Mistborn 7) - 7/10
14. Light Bringer (Red Rising 6) - 10/10
15. Hidden Pictures - 6/10 (TMB Book Club)
16. Holly - 6/10 (TMB Book Club)
17. Killers of the Flower Moon - 8/10
18. In the Distance - 9/10

going to start Tender is the Flesh now... been putting it off lol

 

Perfect book for thanksgiving!

 

I loved In the Distance

And after reading it I looked up books similar to it and that has really shaped my 2023 list

John Williams ()
Denis Johnson ()
Richard Hughes
Oakley Hall
Don Carpenter ()
Dashiell Hammett
Charles Portis
Elliott Chaze ()
Chester Himes
Jim Thompson

All authors I've read since then because of some connection I was able to make to that book

 

1. Leonardo Da Vinci- Walter Isaacson
2. Becoming Dr. Seuss- Brian Jay Jones
3. Manson- Jeff Guinn
4. Destiny of the Republic- Candice Millard
5. Mayflower- Nathaniel Philbrick
6. Travels With George- Nathaniel Philbrick
7. The Escape Artist- Jonathan Freeland
8. Survival In Auschwitz- Primo Levi
9. The Road to Jonestown- Jeff Guinn
10. Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution- Nathaniel Philbrick
11. Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution- Nathaniel Philbrick
12. In The Hurricane's Eye: The Genius of George Washington and the Victory at Yorktown- Nathaniel Philbrick
13. The Library At Mount Char- Scott Hawkins
14. Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring- Alexander Rose
15. The Guest List- Lucy Foley
16. All That Is Wicked-Kate Winkler Dawson
17. The Making Of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece- Tom Hanks
18. Walt Disney: The Triump Of American Imagination- Neal Gabler
19. Buying Disney's Land- Aaron Goldberg
20. Peter Pan- JM Barie
21. Countdown 1945- Chris Wallace
22. Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fifty-year Fight to Exonerate An Innocent Man- Lynn Vincent
23. Death On The Nile- Agatha Christie
24. American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer- Kai Bird
25. The Paris Apartment- Lucy Foley
26. Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and a Legacy of Rage- Jeff Guinn
27. Stranded- Sarah Goodwin
28. American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing- Lou Michel & Dan Herbeck
29. Oona Out of Order- Margarita Montimore
30. A Year of Playing Catch: What A Simple Daily Experiment Taught Me About Life- Ethan Bryan
31. Wrong Place, Wrong Time- Gillian McAllister
32. The Sight- Melanie Golding
33. Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution- Mike Duncan
34. The Midnight Library- Matt Haig
35. The Book of Charlie: Wisdom From the Remarkable American Life Of a 109 Year Old Man- David Von Drehle
36. Yellowface- RF Kuang
37. The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and The Natural History Heist of the Century- Kirk Johnson
38. 1776- David McCollugh

 

1. Pond by Claire-Louise Bennett - 8.5/10
2. Fire and Blood by George R.R. Martin - 9/10
3. Normal People by Sally Rooney - 8/10
4. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen - 8/10
5. Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh - 2/10
6. Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout - 8.5/10
7. Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe - 9/10
8. The Survival of the Princes in the Tower: Murder, Mystery and Myth by Matthew Lewis - 8.5/10
9. How to Survive in Ancient Rome by LJ Trafford - 7/10
10. How to Survive in Ancient Greece by Robert Garland - 7/10
11. Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson - 8/10
12. Apeirogon, A Novel by Colum McCann - 8/10
13. TransAtlantic by Colum McCann - 8.5/10
14. Family Life by Akhil Sharma - 7/10
15. The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid - 8/10
16. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka - 9/10
17. The Rise and Fall of a Medieval Family: The Despensers by Kathryn Warner - 7/10
18. Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy - 7.5/10
19. Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond - 8/10
20. No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy - 8/10
21. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen - 8.5/10
22. Days Without End by Sebastian Barry - 8/10
23. Thirteen Ways of Looking by Colum McCann - 8.5/10
24. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan - 8.5/10
25. The Promise by Damon Galgut - 8/10
26. A Passage North by Anuk Arudpragasam - 8.5/10
27. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen - 8/10
28. Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo - 7.5/10
29. 1177 B.C. The Year Civilization Collpased by Eric H. Cline - 8/10
30. The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell - 8/10
31. Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout - 8/10
32. Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin - 8/10
33. Power and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages by Dan Jones - 8.5/10
34. The Road by Cormac McCarthy - 8/10
35. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy - 8/10

 

1. How To Do the Work by Nicole LaPera - 8/10
2. Dead in the Water by Matthew Campbell & Kit Chellel - 8/10
3. In the Distance by Hernan Diaz - 9/10
4. Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling by Ross King - 6.5/10
5. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George RR Martin - 9/10
6. Call For The Dead by John Le Carré - 8/10
7. A Murder of Quality by John Le Carré - 6/10
8. We Don’t Know Ourselves by Finan O’Toole - 7.5/10
9. Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey - 8.5/10
10. The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland - 9/10
11. The Guest Lecture by Martin Riker - 7/10
12. The Measure by Nikki Erlick - 8/10
13. SPQR by Mary Beard - 6.5/10
14. Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber - 8/10
15. Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond - 9.5/10
16. How to do Nothing by Jenny Odell - 6.5/10
17. The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy - 9/10
18. Outlive by Peter Attia - 8/10
19. We Were Once a Family - 7.5/10
20. The Wager by David Grann - 8.5/10
21. Notes from an Apocalypse by Mark O’Connell - 8/10
22. City of Dreams by Don Winslow - 7/10
23. King: A Life by Jonathan Eig - 9/10
24. Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy - 9.5/10
25. Down the River Unto the Sea by Walter Mosley - 5/10
26. No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy - 9.5/10
27. Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang - 7/10
28. All the Sinners Bleed by SA Cosby - 8/10
29. Rebel Yell by SC Gwynne - 4/10
30. Drowning by TJ Newman -8/10
31. Dead Wake by Erik Larson - 7/10
32. American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin - 9/10
33. The Heat Will Kill You First by Jeff Goodell - 7.5/10
34. Red Rising by Pierce Brown - 9.5/10
35. The Militia House by John Milas - 8/10
36. If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery - 6/10
37. Golden Son by Pierce Brown - 9.5/10
38. Child of God by Cormac McCarthy - 8/10
39. A Thread of Violence by Mark O’Connell - 6/10
40. Holly by Stephen King - 7/10
41. How To Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney - 9/10
42. Morning Star by Pierce Brown - 9/10
43. American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15 - 9/10
44. When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut. - 8.5/10
45. The Road by Cormac McCarthy - 10/10
46. Iron Gold by Pierce Brown - 8/10

47. How to Hide an Empire by Daniel Immerwahr - 8/10. History of the “colonized” United States and the impacts of being a member of the US empire. History includes Phillipines, Puerto Rico, and valuable bird shit located on the Guano Islands.

48. North Woods by Daniel Mason - 9/10. Picked this up in an awesome book store in the mountains of NC. The history of a small cottage in New England, from being first settled by two runaway Puritans and ending in 2019. 12 separate “stories” of inhabitants that is tied together at the end in a moving way. Unique book with cool pictures, journals entries, poems and songs in between the 12 stories.

 

What town?

 

Plott Hound Books in Burnsville

 

John Adams by David McCullough 9.5/10
A Tale or Two Cities by Charles Dickens 7/10
The Marquis; Lafayette Reconsidered by Laura Auricchio 8/10
The Turmoil by Booth Tarkington 10/10
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir 10/10
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch 9/10
Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews 9.5/10
Palace of Treason by Jason Matthews 9.5/10
The Kremlin's Candidate by Jason Matthews 9/10
Call for the Dead by John le Carre 6.5/10
Empire of Lies by Raymond Khoury 8.5/10
Taking Paris by Martin Dugard 7/10
Less by Andrew Sean Greer 3/10
The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe 9/10
Don't Eat the Bruises by Keith Mitnik
The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury 8/10
At Risk by Stella Rimington 8/10
The Sign by Raymond Khoury 7.5/10
Secret Asset by Stella Rimington 7/10
Main Street by Sinclair Lewis 9/10
City of Thieves by David Benioff 8/10
The Measure by Nikki Erlick 6.5/10
Illegal Action by Stella Rimington 7.5/10
Present Danger by Stella Rimington 7.5/10
Rip Tide by Stella Rimington 8/10
The Templar Salvation by Raymond Khoury 8/10
The Picture of Dorian Gray 6.5/10
The Geneva Trap by Stella Rimington 8/10
Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth 9.5/10
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles 10/10
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley 7/10
The Devil's Elixer by Raymond Khoury 6.5/10
The Damnation of Theron Ware by Harold Frederic 9/10
Close Call by Stella Rimington 7/10
Breaking Cover by Stella Rimington 8/10
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles 10/10
Franny and Zooey by JD Salinger 5/10
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain 7.5/10
A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle 8.5/10
The Moscow Sleepers by Stella Rimington 7/10
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen 8.5/10
Dead Line by Stella Rimington 7/10
Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson 8.5/10
George III by Christopher Hibbert 8/10
Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev 9.5/10
The Ghost Writer by Philip Roth 8.5/10
Zuckerman Unbound by Philip Roth 8/10
The Expats by Chris Pavone 7/10
The Late George Apley by John Marquand 9.5/10
Appointment in Samarra by John O'Hara 7.5/10
The Anatomy Lesson by Philip Roth 6/10
The Paris Diversion by Chris Pavone 7/10
The Prague Orgy by Philip Roth 8.5/10
Your Turn, Mr. Moto by John Marquand 8/10
First Love by Ivan Turgenev 8/10
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson 9/10
H.M. Pulham, Esquire by John Marquand 9.5/10
Miss Buncle's Book by D.E. Stevenson 6.5/10
Gorsky Park by Martin Cruz Smith 7.5/10
Thank you, Mr. Moto by John Marquand 7.5/10
The Financier by Theodore Dreiser 8.5/10
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami 8.5/10
A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh 8.5/10
A Hero of our Time by Mikhail Lermontov 6/10
Rudin by Ivan Turgenev 5.5/10
Wickford Point by John Marquand 9/10
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck 7/10
Think Fast, Mr. Moto by John Marquand 7.5/10
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion 9.5/10
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh 8.5/10
Trilby by George Du Maurier 2/10
Porterhouse Blue by Tom Sharpe 7.5/10
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene 8.5/10
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis 7.5/10
Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton 9.5/10
Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh 6.5/10
After Dark by Haruki Murakami 6.5/10
Point of No Return by John Marquand 10/10
The Setting Sun by Osamu Dazai 6.5/10
A Room with a View by E.M. Forster 4.5/10
Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh 7.5/10
Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote 10/10
The Titan by Theodore Dreiser 9/10
The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham 9/10
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao 8/10
The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham 8/10
The Magnificent Ambersons 8/10
The Counterlife by Philip Roth 7/10
The Able McLaughlins 4.5/10
Men at Arms by Evelyn Waugh 7.5/10
The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder 6.5/10
The Devil's Bargain by Stella Rimington 7.5/10
Up at the Villa by W. Somerset Maugham 8.5/10
Paradise by Donald Barthelme 6.5/10
The Edwardians by Vita Sackville-West 8.5
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee 7.5/10
Officers and Gentlemen by Evelyn Waugh 5.5/10
Mr. Barnes of New York by Archibald Clavering Gunter 7.5/10
Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore 6/10
Two Serious Ladies by Jane Bowles 5/10
The Moon and Sixpence by W. Someret Maugham 7/10
Theophilus North by Thornton Wilder 8/10
Queen Lucia by E.F. Benson 3/10
Scoop by Evelyn Waugh 8/10
Parade's End by Ford Maddox Ford 10/10
Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene 8.5/10
The End of the Battle by Evelyn Waugh 7.5/10
The Man of Feeling by Henry Mackenzie 1/10
Grantchester Grind by Tom Sharpe 7.5/10
The Quiet American by Graham Greene 8/10
Of Human Bondage by W. Someset Maughan 10/10
A Question of Upbringing by Anthony Powell 7.5/10
A Buyer's Market by Anthony Powell 6.5/10
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel 6/10
On the Eve by Ivan Turgenev 7.5/10
The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene 8/10
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller 8.5/10
Mr. Moto is so Sorry by John Marquand 5/5/10
The Acceptance World by Anthony Powell 8.5/10
The Stoic by Theodore Dreiser 8/10
At Lady Molly's by Anthony Powell 8.5/10
Goodby to All That by Robert Graves 8.5/10
A Gun for Sale by Graham Greene 6/10
Epitaph for a Spy by Eric Ambler 6.5/10
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami 9.5/10
Casanova's Chinese Restaurant by Anthony Powell 5.5/10
Travels with my Aunt by Graham Greene 8.5/10
The Kindly Ones by Anthony Powell 7.5/10
Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth 4.5/10
The Valley of Bones by Anthony Powell 7.5/10
Melville Goodwin, USA by John Marquand 8.5/10
The Soldier's Art by Anthony Powell 7.5/10
Brighton Rock by Graham Greene 5.5/10
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy 10/10
Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham 8.5/10

Box 88 by Charles Cumming 7.5/10
Judas 62 by Charles Cumming 8/10
The Military Philosophers 7/10
American Pastoral by Philip Roth 5/10
Books do Furnish a Room by Anthony Powell 7/10
Kennedy 35 by Charles Cumming 7/10
From a View to a Death by Anthony Powell 8/10
Slaughterhouse Five 9/10
Christmas Holiday by W. Somerset Maugham 8/10
Temporary Kings by Anthony Powell 7.5/10
Hearing Secret Harmonies by Anthony Powell 8/10
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky 9/10
Haven's End by John Marquand 8/10
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury 6/10

Finally finished the 12 volume series by Anothony Powell, collectively called A Dance to the Music of Time. It was really, really good. Someone, I think Cornelius Suttree, posted a link to an interview with Stephen King about his library and what he was reading, and he recommended it as well. Kind of fun to read something that you are pretty sure no one you know has ever heard of, and then to hear someone like that say that he also liked it.

Fahrenheit 451 really didn't hold up for me. I felt like I was being hit over the fucking head by all the symbolism. I can see why they have high school kids read it to learn about that type of stuff. But bleh, no thanks.

A lot of people say that you can like learn everything there is to know about humankind from reading The Brothers Karamazov. I don't believe that, but it is pretty profound. It's kind of a slog though. I was happy when it was over.

Slaughterhouse Five was great. Not sure how I never read that.

If you're looking for fun spy thrillers, the Charles Cumming books are pretty easy reads. Thanks to Truman for the recommendation.

 

1- The Master – Colm Tóibín (1/10)
2- Crime and Punishment – Dostoevsky (5/10)*
3- Mao II – Don DeLillo (8/10)*
4- Last Night – James Salter (8.5/10)
5- A Piece of My Heart – Richard Ford (8.5/10)*
6- Cosmopolis – Don DeLillo (5.5/10)*
7- Dusk and Other Stories – James Salter (8.5/10)*
8- The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter – Carson McCullers (10/10)*
9- No Country for Old Men – Cormac McCarthy (10/10)*
10- Blood Meridian – Cormac McCarthy (10/10)*
11- Carpenter’s Gothic – William Gaddis (9.5/10)*
12- The Rabbit Hutch – Tess Gunty (8/10)
13- Hamnet – Maggie O’Farrell (7.5/10)
14- Fishing the Sloe-Black River – Colum McCann (6.5/10)
15- How to Get Filthy Rich In Rising Asia – Mohsin Hamid (6/10)
16- A Thousand Moons – Sebastian Barry (10/10)
17- How German Is It – Walter Abish (8/10)
18- In Paradise – Peter Matthiessen (5.5/10)
19- Foster – Claire Keegan (8.5/10)
20- Life & Times of Michael K – J.M. Coetzee (7/10)
21- Old God’s Time – Sebastian Barry (8/10)
22- TransAtlantic – Colum McCann (6/10)
23- Union Atlantic – Adam Haslett (5/10)
24- Timbuktu – Paul Auster (0/10)
25- Child of God – Cormac McCarthy (10/10)*
26- The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida – Shehan Karunatilaka (9/10)
27- The Road – Cormac McCarthy (10/10)*
28- Goodbye, Columbus – Philip Roth (7/10)
29- Portnoy’s Complaint – Philip Roth (3/10)
30- Trust – Hernan Diaz (8.5/10)
31- Far Tortuga – Peter Matthiessen (8/10)
32- Freedom – Jonathan Franzen (4/10)
33- Moth Smoke – Mohsin Hamid (6.5/10)
34- All the Light We Cannot See – Anthony Doerr (9/10)
35- On Chesil Beach – Ian McEwan (5/10)
36- That Old Ace In The Hole – Annie Proulx (0.5/10)
37- Outer Dark – Cormac McCarthy (10/10)*
38- England Made Me – Graham Greene (6/10)
39- Small Things Like These – Claire Keegan (8.5/10)
40- The Last White Man – Mohsin Hamid (6.5/10)
41- Florida – Lauren Groff (8/10)
42- Matterhorn – Karl Marlantes (9.5/10)
43- Remembering Laughter – Wallace Stegner (7/10)
44- As I Lay Dying – William Faulkner (7.5/10)
45- Rabbit, Run – John Updike (8/10)*
46- In the Distance – Hernan Diaz (9/10)
47- The Stonemason – Cormac McCarthy (10/10)
48- Butcher’s Crossing – John Williams (9/10)
49- The Wapshot Chronicle – John Cheever (4/10)
50- All the Pretty Horses – Cormac McCarthy (10/10)*
51- Train Dreams – Denis Johnson (8.5/10)
52- A High Wind In Jamaica – Richard Hughes (6/10)
53- Warlock – Oakley Hall (4.5/10)
54- Grendel – John Gardner (5/10)
55- Station Eleven – Emily St. John Mandel (7/10)
56- Hard Rain Falling – Don Carpenter (8.5/10)
57- The Maltese Falcon – Dashiell Hammett (6/10)
58- The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien (5/10)*
59- A Frolic of His Own – William Gaddis (9/10)
60- Stoner – John Williams (8/10)
61- Antarctica – Claire Keegan (9/10)
62- The Siege of Krishnapur – J.G. Farrell (6.5/10)
63- Heart Songs and Other Stories – Annie Proulx (3/10)
64- Women with Men – Richard Ford (7/10)
65- Falling Man – Don DeLillo (8.5/10)*
66- Walk the Blue Fields – Claire Keegan (8/10)
67- The Stars at Noon – Denis Johnson (7.5/10)
68- The Promise – Damon Galgut (8/10)
69- Great Jones Street – Don DeLillo (7.5/10)*
70- End Zone – Don DeLillo (9/10)*
71- True Grit – Charles Portis (6/10)
72- The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro (8/10)
73- The Actual – Saul Bellow (1/10)
74- Sorry for Your Trouble – Richard Ford (7/10)
75- Rabbit Redux – John Updike (8.5/10)

76- Black Wings Has My Angel – Elliott Chaze (7.5/10)
Published in 1953, it’s a noir novel about a man who escapes from a MS prison, takes up with a prostitute and drives to Denver to pull off a heist that will set him up for life. It’s got emotional depth and prose I wasn’t expecting from a crime book. The NYRB Classics series gets my 2023 MVP vote. They’ve given readers access to so many works that were previously out of print or unavailable in English

77- White Noise – Don DeLillo (9/10)*
Winner of the 1985 National Book Award, it revolves around a professor and his quirky family in a small Midwestern town in the leadup to and aftermath of an airborne toxic event. It’s extremely witty and deals with the anxieties and societal forces that shape average Americans. My appreciation for it grows with each read

78- The Killer Inside Me – Jim Thompson (4.5/10)
Published in 1952, it’s a hard-boiled crime novel told from the perspective of a sadomasochistic deputy sheriff in a West Texas oil town who becomes a serial killer. There’s some focus on the psychology behind why the protagonist is wired to hurt others but much of it was too simplistic and expressed in cliché language. It’s a West Texas version of American Psycho

79- A Rage in Harlem – Chester Himes (5/10)
Published in 1957, it’s a crime novel about a Harlem man who is conned out of his life savings. You then go on a grimly comic tour of 1950’s Harlem as the protagonist attempts to get payback. He encounter addicts, bookies, murderers and prostitutes at every turn. Samuel L Jackson apparently narrated the audiobook

80- So Late in the Day – Claire Keegan (7/10)
It’s a recently published triptych of stories about the dynamics between men and women. The title story ran in The New Yorker in 2022 but this was my first time reading it. The other two originally appeared in her earlier story collections and I’d already read them. So not as much new content as I’d been hoping for, but I’ll read (and re-read) anything Keegan puts out

81- Death Valley – Melissa Broder (0/10)
Recently published, it’s about a LA-based novelist who goes to the Mojave Desert in search of respite from the grief she is experiencing in her personal life. It’s a metafictional dark comedy loaded with surreal desert scenes but reads like a first draft or a dream journal. There are tons of parentheticals (I counted seven in one paragraph alone) and the unnamed protagonist continually makes irrational decisions and has dialogues with inanimate objects. If you told me Broder wrote this in a couple days I’d believe it

* = re-read

 

Lol at the 0/10

 

I gave Timbuktu by Paul Auster a 0/0 too

I tried tearing that book in half while reading it

 

How do you even finish it? That’s just hate reading.

 

1. How To Do the Work by Nicole LaPera - 8/10
2. Dead in the Water by Matthew Campbell & Kit Chellel - 8/10
3. In the Distance by Hernan Diaz - 9/10
4. Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling by Ross King - 6.5/10
5. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George RR Martin - 9/10
6. Call For The Dead by John Le Carré - 8/10
7. A Murder of Quality by John Le Carré - 6/10
8. We Don’t Know Ourselves by Finan O’Toole - 7.5/10
9. Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey - 8.5/10
10. The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland - 9/10
11. The Guest Lecture by Martin Riker - 7/10
12. The Measure by Nikki Erlick - 8/10
13. SPQR by Mary Beard - 6.5/10
14. Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber - 8/10
15. Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond - 9.5/10
16. How to do Nothing by Jenny Odell - 6.5/10
17. The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy - 9/10
18. Outlive by Peter Attia - 8/10
19. We Were Once a Family - 7.5/10
20. The Wager by David Grann - 8.5/10
21. Notes from an Apocalypse by Mark O’Connell - 8/10
22. City of Dreams by Don Winslow - 7/10
23. King: A Life by Jonathan Eig - 9/10
24. Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy - 9.5/10
25. Down the River Unto the Sea by Walter Mosley - 5/10
26. No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy - 9.5/10
27. Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang - 7/10
28. All the Sinners Bleed by SA Cosby - 8/10
29. Rebel Yell by SC Gwynne - 4/10
30. Drowning by TJ Newman -8/10
31. Dead Wake by Erik Larson - 7/10
32. American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin - 9/10
33. The Heat Will Kill You First by Jeff Goodell - 7.5/10
34. Red Rising by Pierce Brown - 9.5/10
35. The Militia House by John Milas - 8/10
36. If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery - 6/10
37. Golden Son by Pierce Brown - 9.5/10
38. Child of God by Cormac McCarthy - 8/10
39. A Thread of Violence by Mark O’Connell - 6/10
40. Holly by Stephen King - 7/10
41. How To Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney - 9/10
42. Morning Star by Pierce Brown - 9/10
43. American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15 - 9/10
44. When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut. - 8.5/10
45. The Road by Cormac McCarthy - 10/10
46. Iron Gold by Pierce Brown - 8/10
47. How to Hide an Empire by Daniel Immerwahr - 8/10
48. North Woods by Daniel Mason - 9/10

49. Dark Age by Pierce Brown - 9.5/10

 

1. A Darker Domain (Karen Pirie #2) - Val McDermid (6/10)
2. An Immense World - Ed Yong (9/10)
3. How to Do the Work - Nicole LePera (8/10)
4. The Investigator (Letty Davenport #1) - John Sandford (7/10)
5. Remarkably Bright Creatures - Shelby Van Pelt (8/10)
6. A Heart That Works - Rob Delaney (9/10)
7. One Summer: America, 1927 - Bill Bryson (9/10)
8. The Hive - Gregg Olsen (4/10)
9. The Crossing (DI Louise Blackwell #1) - Matt Brolly (6/10)
10. Hide (Detective Harriet Foster #1) - Tracy Clark (7/10)
11. Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland - Patrick Radden Keefe (9/10)
12. Exhalation: Stories - Ted Chiang (8/10)
13. Invisible Storm: A Soldier's Memoir of Politics and PTSD - Jason Kander (7/10)
14. The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors - Dan Jones (8/10)
15. The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself - Michael A. Singer (9/10)
16. The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon - David Grann (7/10)
17. The Nickel Boys - Colson Whitehead (9/10)
18. Shadows Reel (Joe Pickett #22) - C.J. Box (7/10)
19. The Maidens - Alex Michaelides (7/10)
20. Essex Dogs - Dan Jones (8/10)
21. Storm Watch (Joe Pickett #23) - C.J. Box (6/10)
22. Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages - Dan Jones (9/10)
23. The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World - Dalai Lama XIV and Desmond Tutu with Douglas Abrams (9/10)
24. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida - Shehan Kaunatilaka (9/10)
25. The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth's Past #1) - Liu Cixin (8/10)
26. Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism - Jeffrey Toobin (8/10)
27. Age of Vice - Deepti Kapoor (7/10)
28. Two Nights in Lisbon - Chris Pavone (6/10)
29. Sparring Partners - John Grisham (7/10)
30. Righteous Prey (Lucas Davenport #32) - John Sandford (7/10)
31. Lost Empire (A Fargo Adventure #2) - Clive Cussler
32. The Solomon Curse (A Fargo Adventure #7) - Clive Cussler
33. Central Park West - James Comey
34. Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation - Kristin Kobes Du Mez
35. Pirate (A Fargo Adventure #8) - Clive Cussler
36. The Man Who Died Twice (Thursday Murder Club #2) - Richard Osman
37. The Bullet That Missed (Thursday Murder Club #3) - Richard Osman
38. Casino Royale - Ian Fleming
39. Yellowface - R.F. Kuang
40. The Kingdom (A Fargo Adventure #3) - Clive Cussler
41. Foundation - Isaac Asimov

42. Spartan Gold (A Fargo Adventure #1) - Clive Cussler
43. The Tombs (A Fargo Adventure #4) - Clive Cussler
44. The Mayan Secrets (A Fargo Adventure #5) - Clive Cussler
45. The Eye of Heaven (A Fargo Adventure #6) - Clive Cussler
46. The Romanov Ransom (A Fargo Adventure #9) - Clive Cussler
47. The Gray Ghost (A Fargo Adventure #10) - Clive Cussler

These are easy, treasure hunting/adventure novels. A bit silly at times, but good escapism. And I'm a sucker for a treasure hunt.

48. The Art Thief - Michael Finkel (8/10)

Pretty wild story about Stephane Breitwieser who pulled off hundreds of heists over a decade+ in art museums in Western Europe. He and his girlfriend kept all the art in their attic bedroom at his mother's house.

49. Red Sparrow (Red Sparrow Trilogy #1) - Jason Matthews (9/10)

Great spy novel. Haven't seen the movie.

50. A Shining - Jon Fosse (5/10)

Debated whether to include this as it's a short story, but the author just won the Nobel Prize for Literature so it makes the cut. It's strange and unsettling. The prose was kind of stream of consciousness writing, which isn't my favorite style.

 

1. The Trees - Perceval Everette (7/10)
2. Stranded - Sarah Goodman (7.5/10)
3. American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy's Forgotten Crisis - Adam Hochschild (10/10)
4. Ninth House (Alex Stern #1) - Leigh Bardugo (9/10)
5. Hell Bent (Alex Stern #2) - Leigh Bardugo (7.5/10)
6. Age of Vice - Deepti Kapoor (8/10)
7. In the Distance - Hernan Diaz (7.5/10)
8. Myth America: Historians Take on The Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past - Kevin Kruse (6.5/10)
9. Guns of the Dawn - Adrian Tchaikovsky (9/10)
10. Everybody Knows - Jordan Harper (7.5/10)
11. The Light Pirate - Lilly Brooks-Dalton (8/10)
12. The Library at Mount Char - Scott Hawkins (7/10)
13. The Measure - Nikki Erlick (9/10)
14. The Terraformers - Annalee Newitz (6.5/10)
15. The Last Orphan (Orphan X #8) (8/10)
16. The Wolf (Under The Northern Sky #1) - Leo Carew (7/10)
17. The Spider (Under The Northern Sky #2) - Leo Carew (8/10)
18. The Passenger - Cormac McCarthy - 4/10
19. Daisy Jones and The Six - Taylor Jenkins Reid (7/10)
20. The Cuckoo (Under the Northern Sky #3) - Leo Carew (8.5/10)
21. Poverty, by America - Matthew Desmond (9.5/10)
22. Waco Rising: David Koresh, the FBI, and the Birth of America's Modern Militias - Kevin Cook (7.5/10)
23. Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingslover (9/10)
24. Star Wars: The High Republic: Cataclysm - Lydia Kang (9/10)
25. Star Wars: The High Republic: Quest for Planet X - Tessa Gratton (6.5/10)
26. Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time - Ira Katznelson (8/10)
27. Antimatter Blues (Mickey 7 #2) - Edward Ashton (7.5/10)
28. The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder - David Grann (8.5/10)
29. The Resort - Sarah Goodwin (5.5/10)
30. The Ferryman - Justin Cronin (8.5/10)
31. Untethered Sky - Fonda Lee (7/10)
32.City of Dreams (Danny Ryan #2) - Don Winslow (8/10)
33. Empire of Blue Water: Captain Morgan's Great Pirate Army - Stephan Talty (8/10)
34. Yellowface - RF Kuang (8.5/10)
35. Chain-Gang All-Stars - Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (8/10)
36. Rubicon - J.S. Dewes (6.5/10)
37. Drowning: The Rescue of Flight 1421 - TJ Newman (8.5/10)
38. The Survivalists -Kaushana Cauley (6/10)
39. Gates of Fire - Steven Pressfield (7/10)
40. Star Wars: The High Republic: Path of Vengeance -Cavan Scott (7/10)
41. Will of the Many (Hierarchy #1) - James Islington (9/10)
42. All Sinners Bleed - S A Cosby (8.5/10)
43. Bad Jews: A History of American Jewish Politics and Identities - Emily Tamkin (7.5/10)
44. King: A Life - Jonathan Eig
45. Iron Gold (Red Rising #4) - Pierce Brown (9/10)
46. Red Rising (Red Rising #1) - Pierce Brown (9/10)
47. Golden Son (Red Rising #2) - Pierce Brown (10/10)
48. Morning Star (Red Rising #3) - Pierce Brown (10/10)
48. Dark Age (Red Rising #5) - Pierce Brown (10/10)
49. Freedom's Dominion: A Saga of White Resistance to Federal Power - Jefferson Cowie (7.5/10)
50. Star Wars: Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade - Deliliah S Dawson (8/10)
51. The Collector (Gabriel Allon #23) - Daniel Silva (7.5/10)
52. Light Bringer (Red Rising #6) - Pierce Brown (12/10)
53. Hidden Pictures - Jason Rekulak (6.5/10)
54. Last Summer on State Street - Toya Wolfe (8/10)
55. The Last Ranger - Peter Heller (7.5/10)
56. Portnoy's Complaint - Phillip Roth (8.5/10)
57. Children of Time (Children of Time #1) - Adrian Tchiakovsy (8.5/10)
58. Children of Ruin (Children of Time #2) - Adrian Tchiakovsy (7.5/10)
59. Children of Memory (Children of Time #3) - Adrian Tchiakovsy (6.5/10)
60. Ascension - Nicholas Binge (7/10)
61. The Republic of Pirates - Colin Woodward (8.5/10)
62. Holly - Stephen King (6.5/10)
63. Gods of the Wyrdwood (The Forsaken Trilogy) - RJ Barker (9.5/10)
64. The Adventures of Amina Al Sirafi - SA Chakraborty (7.5/10)
65. Code Red (Mitch Rapp #22) - Kyle Mills - (6/10)
66. All Systems Red (MurderBot#1) Martha Wells (7.5/10)
67. Tender is the Flesh - Agustina Bazterrica (9/10)
68. Devil Makes Three - Ben Fountain (7.5/10)
69. The Secret (Jack Reacher #28) - Lee Child & Andrew Child (6/10)
69. Three Body Problem (Three Body Problem #1) - Cixin Liu (8.5/10)
70. The Dark Forest (Three Body Problem #2) - Cixin Liu (9.5/10)
71. Death's End (Three Body Problem #3) - Cixin Lui (8/10)

Devil Makes Three - Novel about 1990s Haiti. Takes place during and right after the military coup. Covers the CIA spooks that helped the coup, tried to foster in a new government, regular American expats, Haitan people ect. Just a really good story in a unique setting. One of those books that makes you spend time on wikipedia looking up events. Good social commentary ect. Liked it quite a bit. Only complaint is it felt a little long.

The Secret - Idk if it's because the series is getting stale or more likely because he's trying to bring his son into to pass it off, but the past few joint writing books have been bad. The dialogue sucks, the plot is paint by numbers. It's like theyre mailing it in. Kind of a bummer.


3BP - Chinese Sci-fi. Read it the first time when it was first translated and didnt care for it at all. I was a pretty novice reader back then. I just didnt get it. Struggled to follow. This is basically China's GoT as far as huge cultural hit goes and they're making it into a TV show on a streaming service (cant remember which). Absolutely loved it this time around. Still a challenging read, but it was so good. Second book blew my mind. Third book was really good, but probably should have been two books. Had quite a bit of fatigue towards the end.

 

Timbuktu
Death Valley
The Actual
That Old Ace In the Hole

All made it physically painful to move my eyes across the pages. But my OCD compelled me to soldier through them

At least The Master was well written, even if the story/subject matter didn't appeal to me at all

Those are definitely my bottom 5 reading experiences of 2023

 

I used to be this way. Life’s too short