Books You've Read in 2024

1. Poverty, by America - Matthew Desmond (8/10)
2. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury (7.5/10)
3. The Wager - David Grann (9/10)
4. Red Rising (Red Rising #1) - Pierce Brown (9.5/10)
5. When These Mountains Burn - David Joy (6/10)
6. Golden Son (Red Rising #2) - Pierce Brown (10/10)
7. Morning Star (Red Rising #3) - Pierce Brown (10/10)

Next up: Iron Gold (Red Rising #4) - Pierce Brown

 

1. Red Rising (Red Rising #1) - Pierce Brown (9/10) (reread)
2. Golden Son (Red Rising #2) - Pierce Brown (9/10) (reread)
3. Morning Star (Red Rising #3) - Pierce Brown (9.5/10) (reread)
4. Iron Gold (Red Rising #4) - Pierce Brown (8.5/10) (reread)
5. Dark Age (Red Rising #5) - Pierce Brown (10/10) (reread)
6. Lightbringer (Red Rising #6) - Pierce Brown (10/10)

 

1) Dune by Frank Herbert 10/10
2) The Wager by David Grann 8/10
3) Wool by Hugh Howey (reread) 9/10
4) Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel 8.5/10
5) When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut 8.25/10
6) Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert 7.5/10
7) The Great Gatsby 8/10
8) The Winners by Fredrick Backman 9.5/10
9) Shift by Hugh Howey 9/10
10) Empire of Silence (Sun Eater #1) by Christopher Ruocchio 10/10
11) Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandel 9.25/10
12) Fairy Tale by Stephen King 6.5/10
13) We Should Not Be Friends by Will Schwalbe 7.5/10
14) Reykjavik: A Crime Story by Ragnar Jonasson/Katrin Jakobsdottir 5/10
15) Revan by Drew Karpyshyn 7.5/10
16) Quantum Radio by AG Riddle 6/10
17) The Lesser Devil (Sun Eater #1.5) by Christopher Ruocchio 8/10
18) The Maniac by Benjamin Labatut 7/10
19) Educated by Tara Westover 9/10

Just wow, her life story is crazy enough, but to think of it taking place in the 90s and 2000s and not decades before is about unbelievable to me.

 

9. How To Change Your Mind: What The New Science Of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, And Transcendence / Michael Pollan (10/10)
Outstanding, especially if you play along at home!

8. Scar Tissue / Anthony Kiedis and Larry Sloman (9/10)
I heard it was "one of the best rock biographies ever." It certainly keeps the pages turning; 500 pages was done in a week. It's essentially a very sordid tale of drug abuse and addiction though. Most of these rock bios are in some way but this one keeps it at the heart of the story like few others. You should be very comfortable with crack smoking and heroin/cocaine injection if you're going to do this one. Also some straight up statutory rape that he is now apologetic for (I guess?)

Fun fact: Know how people always say the RHCP drummer looks like Will Ferrell? That's because he moved to LA to be an actor. Hadn't found a gig yet and Chili Peppers enlisted him for their band. Their lineup has changed a ton outside Flea + Kiedis.

If you're a general fan of RHCP, I'd say read the book. I definitely have a better understanding of their style and history now. 90s kids came in where they had already been through significant changes. There was a lot that led up to "Under The Bridge."

7. Hoops Heist: Seattle, The Sonics, And How A Stolen Team's Legacy Gave Rise To The NBA's Secret Empire / Jon Finkel (8/10)
The title is a stretch. More like "here's a general history of the Sonics franchise and basketball in the PNW." The writer won't be winning any sports journalism awards. But the 90s Sonics fan kid in me ate it up.

Spoiler

6. The Splendid And The Vile: A Saga Of Churchill, Family, And Defiance During The Blitz / Erik Larson (8.5/10)
5. Tao Te Ching / Lao Tzu (10/10)
4. The Creators: A History Of Heroes Of The Imagination / Daniel Boorstin (7/10)
3. King Leopold's Ghost: A Story Of Greed, Terror, And Heroism In Colonial Africa / Adam Hochschild (10/10)
2. Brookgreen Gardens: Ever Changing. Simply Amazing / Paige Kiniry, Dick Rosen, Robin Salmon (8/10)
1. Proust And The Squid: The Story And Science Of The Reading Brain / Maryanne Wolf (7/10)

 

1. Red Rising (Red Rising #1) - Pierce Brown (9/10) (reread)
2. Golden Son (Red Rising #2) - Pierce Brown (9/10) (reread)
3. Morning Star (Red Rising #3) - Pierce Brown (9.5/10) (reread)
4. Iron Gold (Red Rising #4) - Pierce Brown (8.5/10) (reread)
5. Dark Age (Red Rising #5) - Pierce Brown (10/10) (reread)
6. Lightbringer (Red Rising #6) - Pierce Brown (10/10)
7. With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa - E. B. Sledge (10/10) (reread)

 

1. Desolation Angels by Jack Kerouac 6/10
2. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman 8/10
3. Telex from Cuba by Rachel Kushner 7/10
4. NW by Zadie Smith 5/10
5. The Wager by David Grann 8/10
6. The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky 9/10
7. The Outlaw Ocean By Ian Urbina 9/10
8. Shogun Part One by James Clavell 8/10
9. Shogun Part Two by James Clavell 6/10
10. Tender Is The Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica 8/10

11. In the American Grain by William Carlos Williams

I don’t even know where to begin with this one. I read it because Kerouac quotes a line I loved from one of the essays in Desolation Angels and because I recently found out Williams, like me, is a half Puerto Rican with family ties to northern New Jersey. This book is a collection of essays about key figures in the founding of America. At times it is incredible and Williams prosaic skill truly shines (Jacataqua is one of the best essays I’ve ever read). Yet a lot of this is confusing or just out right not good, he seems forgiving of early settlers of the “New World” like De Soto and Columbus and blames their acts of violence on the inhospitable and wildness of the lands. He also condenses and demeans the part black people had to play in the building of America to a 3 page essay on how the blacks who come into his clinic make him laugh and he likes them for it.

I notice a lot of early to mid 20th century writers have their racism forgiven because they say they have love for the “common man”. There is an introduction and an afterword by two men telling me this is an integral part of American prose and that I should feel lucky to read this. They go on and on for pages about it. Williams’ essay on Lincoln was one page long.

5/10

Next: The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

 

1. Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica - 7/10
2. Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah - 5/10
3. Flying Blind by Peter Robison - 9.5/10
4. The Orchard Keeper by Cormac McCarthy - 6.5/10
5. Judgement at Tokyo by Gary Bass - 8.5/10
6. As Gods Among Men by Guido Alfano - 7/10
7. Fire Weather by John Vaillant - 8/10

8. Doppelgänger by Naomi Klein - 8/10. Started off a little too online for me, as if written by someone obsessed with Twitter. But the last 2 thirds of the book had me hooked and was super interesting.

9. The Silverado Squatters by Robert Louis Stevenson - 7.5/10. Short 100 page book by Stevenson when he and some friends visited Napa Valley. Just visited there with my wife for a trip and was cool to get that perspective. He visited a winery in 1880 we actually visited, which was pretty cool.

10. Dune by Frank Herbert - 9/10. This was fantastic. Had never read it before. Loved it and all the different ways you can take some of his allegories, staying relevant 60 years later

 

1) Dune by Frank Herbert 10/10
2) The Wager by David Grann 8/10
3) Wool by Hugh Howey (reread) 9/10
4) Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel 8.5/10
5) When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut 8.25/10
6) Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert 7.5/10
7) The Great Gatsby 8/10
8) The Winners by Fredrick Backman 9.5/10
9) Shift by Hugh Howey 9/10
10) Empire of Silence (Sun Eater #1) by Christopher Ruocchio 10/10
11) Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandel 9.25/10
12) Fairy Tale by Stephen King 6.5/10
13) We Should Not Be Friends by Will Schwalbe 7.5/10
14) Reykjavik: A Crime Story by Ragnar Jonasson/Katrin Jakobsdottir 5/10
15) Revan by Drew Karpyshyn 7.5/10
16) Quantum Radio by AG Riddle 6/10
17) The Lesser Devil (Sun Eater #1.5) by Christopher Ruocchio 8/10
18) The Maniac by Benjamin Labatut 7/10
19) Educated by Tara Westover 9/10
20) The Door to Door Bookstore by Carsten Henn 7/10

Was fine, similar to A Man Called Ove, but less memorable.

 

Didn’t that just come out on Tuesday?

I’ll be getting to it soon.

 

1. Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica - 7/10
2. Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah - 5/10
3. Flying Blind by Peter Robison - 9.5/10
4. The Orchard Keeper by Cormac McCarthy - 6.5/10
5. Judgement at Tokyo by Gary Bass - 8.5/10
6. As Gods Among Men by Guido Alfano - 7/10
7. Fire Weather by John Vaillant - 8/10
8. Doppelgänger by Naomi Klein - 8/10
9. The Silverado Squatters by Robert Louis Stevenson - 7.5/10
10. Dune by Frank Herbert - 9/10

11. 3 Shades of Blue by James Kaplan - 9.5/10. Inhaled this one and really didn’t want it to end. Basically a 3 person biography of Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Bill Evans leading to Kind of Blue album. Takes you back into the 1950s New York jazz scene, and doesn’t hide any of the warts on Davis and the rest. So much heroin between them all, it’s really sad. All 3 of them died essentially from drug usage, just at different times. Richly detailed based on interviews with Davis himself and others, I loved it.

 

Added to list, sounds great

 

Anybody know a good book about Motown/the Jacksons?

 

10. Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid / Douglas Hofstadter (DNF)
You're a better man than I if you make it to the end of this one. (You should probably also apply for a job as a logic or computer science professor). This is the Infinite Jest/House of Leaves of nonfiction. I know a ton about music, a good bit about art, a little about math but that was not enough to carry me through.

(One interesting thing learned: German music notation calls B natural "B" and B flat "H". So Bach was able to use B-A-C-H as a melodic figure and he "hid" it in a lot of his music.)

Spoiler

9. How To Change Your Mind: What The New Science Of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, And Transcendence / Michael Pollan (10/10)
8. Scar Tissue / Anthony Kiedis and Larry Sloman (9/10)
7. Hoops Heist: Seattle, The Sonics, And How A Stolen Team's Legacy Gave Rise To The NBA's Secret Empire / Jon Finkel (8/10)
6. The Splendid And The Vile: A Saga Of Churchill, Family, And Defiance During The Blitz / Erik Larson (8.5/10)
5. Tao Te Ching / Lao Tzu (10/10)
4. The Creators: A History Of Heroes Of The Imagination / Daniel Boorstin (7/10)
3. King Leopold's Ghost: A Story Of Greed, Terror, And Heroism In Colonial Africa / Adam Hochschild (10/10)
2. Brookgreen Gardens: Ever Changing. Simply Amazing / Paige Kiniry, Dick Rosen, Robin Salmon (8/10)
1. Proust And The Squid: The Story And Science Of The Reading Brain / Maryanne Wolf (7/10)

 

New amor towles dropped Tuesday

 

I loved A Gentleman in Moscow. I should probably read his other books

 

Rules of civility is elite

the new book is six short stories and a novella. I’ve read four of the short stories and they’re very good.

best book of short stories I’ve ever read in the New York review of books collection of Edith whartons short stories focused on New York. All of y’all should order that it’s so good

 

Need to read some Towles. Have it on my kindle but always end up picking something else

 

Whenever someone asks me for a book rec my first is always gentleman in Moscow. Everyone has loved it

 

funny you mention Wharton, I read House of Mirth in my college days and was just recently thinking I should try Age of Innocence

 

Definitely do it. Age of innocence is great

 

11. Swan Song by Robert Mccammon (9/10); The similarities to the Stand are obvious, but I think I actually liked this better. A fairly long read, but remained relatively fast paced. If you enjoy Apocalyptic Horror books, you can’t do a whole let better than this one.

In the queu - The Count of Monte Cristo.

 

The 5th short story, the bootlegger, is maybe the best short story Ive ever read.

 

1. Red Rising (Red Rising #1) - Pierce Brown (9/10) (reread)
2. Golden Son (Red Rising #2) - Pierce Brown (9/10) (reread)
3. Morning Star (Red Rising #3) - Pierce Brown (9.5/10) (reread)
4. Iron Gold (Red Rising #4) - Pierce Brown (8.5/10) (reread)
5. Dark Age (Red Rising #5) - Pierce Brown (10/10) (reread)
6. Lightbringer (Red Rising #6) - Pierce Brown (10/10)
7. With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa - E. B. Sledge (10/10) (reread)
8. Helmet For My Pillow - Robert Leckie (7/10)

 

1. Desolation Angels by Jack Kerouac 6/10
2. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman 8/10
3. Telex from Cuba by Rachel Kushner 7/10
4. NW by Zadie Smith 5/10
5. The Wager by David Grann 8/10
6. The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky 9/10
7. The Outlaw Ocean By Ian Urbina 9/10
8. Shogun Part One by James Clavell 8/10
9. Shogun Part Two by James Clavell 6/10
10. Tender Is The Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica 8/10
11. In the American Grain by William Carlos Williams 5/10

12. The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

It’s been awhile since a book fucked me up like this, but man this was incredibly sad to read. In short, the story alternates between Chicago in the 1980s as AIDS epidemic takes off in full and Paris in 2015 as someone who lived through the epidemic is reliving all the death and grief of it all. It’s pretty historically accurate both with how America handled the epidemic as well as a focus on some artists living in Paris in the 1920s. Can’t recommend this enough, but it’s a tough read at points and is a heartbreaking story.

9/10

 

Already 100 pages into The Lincoln Highway god damn it’s very good

 

1. Red Rising (Red Rising #1) - Pierce Brown (9/10) (reread)
2. Golden Son (Red Rising #2) - Pierce Brown (9/10) (reread)
3. Morning Star (Red Rising #3) - Pierce Brown (9.5/10) (reread)
4. Iron Gold (Red Rising #4) - Pierce Brown (8.5/10) (reread)
5. Dark Age (Red Rising #5) - Pierce Brown (10/10) (reread)
6. Lightbringer (Red Rising #6) - Pierce Brown (10/10)
7. With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa - E. B. Sledge (10/10) (reread)
8. Helmet For My Pillow - Robert Leckie (7/10)
9. Islands of the Damned - R. V. Burgin (6/10)

 

2024
Hell is a World Without You by Jason Kirk - 6/10
Masters of the Air by Donald L. Miller - 8/10
Blackout by Sarah Hepola - 9/10
Mortal Error by Sonar Menninger - 8/10
The Trinity Six by Charles Cumming - 7/10
The Moroccan Girl by Charles Cumming - 7/10
Dragon Teeth by Michael Crichton - 7/10
Never Mind by Edward St Aubyn - 6/10
Bad News by Edward St Aubyn - 7/10
Some Help by Edward St Aubyn - 6/10
Mothers Milk by Edward St Aubyn - 5/10
At Last by Edward St Aubyn - 8/10
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown - 9/10
Red Rising by Pierce Brown 8/10
The Underground Railroad by Colton Whitehead 3/10
My Best Friends Exorcism by Grady Hendrix 4/10
The Scarlet Papers by Matthew Richardson 6/10

 

What didnt you like about The Underground Railroad?

 

This one really that bad? Was planning to read at some point

 

We jumped all over his ass

 

Probably rated it harshly because I expected it to be really really good.

I was really put off by it being so factually inaccurate on a subject that I don't think should be told inaccurately.

Obviously it's an unpopular opinion since it won a pulitzer

 

It's been a while since Ive read it, but what were the inaccurate parts?

 

the most blatant was actual underground trains

 

I think you may have missed the point of the book. Or at least it's intent. The whole point of making the Underground railroad real is to make it more of an allegory/fable. Using magical realism or whatever. To explore different areas of the south/expressions of slavery/white supremacy. Also as a vehicle (figuratively and literally) to move back and forward in time ect

 

Trust by Hernan Diaz 8.5/10
Bad News by Edward St. Aubyn 7.5/10
Some Hope by Edward St. Aubyn 7.5/10
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray 9/10
Mother's Milk by Edward St. Aubyn 6.5/10
King, Queen, Knave by Vladimir Nabokov 6.5/10
Venusburg by Anthony Powell 7/10
Transit by Anna Seghers 9/10
At Last by Edward St. Aubyn 7/10
Transcription by Kate Atkinson 3/10
Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman 9.5/10
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro 7.5/10
O How the Wheel Becomes It by Anthony Powell 6/10
A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes 5/10
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen 8/10
The Death of Napoleon 6.5/10
Home of the Gentry by Ivan Turgenev 9/10
Red Widow by Alma Katsu 7/10
The New York Stories of Edith Wharton by Edith Warton 9/10
Red London by Alma Katsu 8.5/10
One Fat Englishman by Kingsley Amis 5/10
Beirut Station by Paul Vldich 6/10
A Meaningful Life by LJ Davis 6/10
Alias Emma by Ava Glass 8.5/10
Memories from Moscow to the Black Sea by Teffi 8.5/10
Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn 6/10
Free Day by Ines Carnatic 7.5/10
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov 8.5/10
The Traitor by Ava Glass 8.5/10
Madame de Pompadour by Nancy Mitford 8/10
All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West 9/10
The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford 6/10
The Faithful Spy by Alex Berenson 710
The Dud Avocado by Elain Dundy 7/10

The Ghost War by Alex Berenson 7/10
The Silent Man by Alex Berenson 7/10
An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser 9/10
Grand Hotel by Vicki Baum 8/10
The Midnight House by Alex Berenson 7/10
The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford 8/10
The Secret Soldier by Alex Berenson 7/10
Agostino by Alberto Moravia 6/10
The Shadow Patrol by Alex Berenson 7/10
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen 9/10
The Night Ranger by Alex Berenson 7/10

I started reading the John Wells books by Alex Berenson before I discovered how terrible his politics are. There are 12 of them, they are all basically the same, and I dunno what to say I enjoy them. I guess I do take some solace knowing that I bought them all second hand so he won't be profiting from any money I spent unless he is selling his own used books on ebay for 3 to 5 dollars each.

An American Tragedy shows up on a ton of lists for best books of the 20th century and it's easy to see why. 900 pages, so it's a commitment, but I cant imagine anyone not liking this. It's the fourth book I've read that Dreiser has written, and I think I've given them all a 9+ rating.

After I finished the Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford, I immediately ordered three more of her books. From the forward, it sounds like this is somewhat biographical. About a landowning family in the interwar period in england and the sort of things that went on trying to marry off four daughters. it's really good.

I also ordered a few more Jane Austen books after reading Mansfield Park. I think this is the third one of her that I've read over the last 16 months or so. I'm guessing that I'll have read all of her novels by the end of next year. Easy to see why these have stood the test of time.

 

i think i would hate this

 

I liked it, but not for everyone. I remember being really thrown off by it at first, then getting it, and appreciating the book. I think appreciate is a better adjective than like. It was not a fun hang, but a good one. If that makes sense.

 

Maybe that was the intent. But the book would have been infinitely better without a fictitious railroad.

 

https://medium.com/book-shrink/the-underground-railroad-a-historical-blend-of-fantasy-and-fact-8ca8428a3c4d#:~:text=Whitehead's apparent reason for making,literal subway beneath the earth.

 

1. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexander Dumas (9.5/10)
2. Birnam Wood - Eleanor Catton (9/10)
3. Jade Shards (Green Bone Saga) - Fonda Lee (9/10)
4. Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings - Neil Price (8.5/10)
5. Tusks of Extinction - Ray Nayler (6.5/10)
6. Moon of the Turning Leaves by Waubgeshig Rice - (8/10)
7. Essex Dogs (Essex Dogs #1) - Dan Jones (8/10)
8. Let Us Descent - Jesym Ward - (7/10)
9. Meru (The Alloy Era #1)- SB Divya (6.5/10)
10. The Black Count - Thomas Reiss (9/10)
11. The Grand Game (Grand Game #1) - Tom Elliott (6/10)
12. The Recital (Orphan X 8.5) - Gregg Hurwitz (7/10)
13. Lone Wolf (Orphan X 9) - Gregg Hurwitz (8.5/10)
14. Combat Codes (Combat Codes #1) - Alexander Darwin (7/10)
15. UnSouled (Cradle #1) - Will Wight
16. Grievar's Blood (Combat Codes #2) - Alexander Darwin (7.5/10)
17. Blacklight Born (Combat Codes #3) - Alexander Darwin (7/10)
18. Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World - Mary Beard (7.5/10)
19. Shogun - James Clavell (9/10)
20. Starter Villain - John Scalzi (7.5/10)
21. Star Wars: The High Republic: Defy The Storm - Justina Ireland (6.5/10)
22. James - Percival Everett (10/10)
23. Wolves of Winter (Essex Dogs #2) - Dan Jones (7.5/10)
24. City in Ruin (Danny Ryan #3) - Don Winslow (8/10)


James - A Huckleberry Finn retelling from Jim's POV. Except it's not really a retelling. Anyway - it was sensational. Short, punchy read that does social commentary in the best way.

Wolves of Winter - Second book about a group of mercenaries fighting for England in the 100 Years' War. Liked it a little less than the first book, but still enjoyed it. Looking forward to the finale in the trilogy.

City in Ruin - Pretty good finale for the series and Winslows writing Career. It truly is a bummer he quit writing to essentially become a resistance lib reply guy. IMO the Border Trilogy was his best. I'll miss his crime/mob books.

 

1. Usher’s Passing by Robert McCammon - 8.5/10
2. Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons - 8/10
3. Blindsight by Peter Watts - 7.5/10
4. Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery by Brom - 8/10
5. I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes - 8.5/10
6. Satan’s Burnouts Must Die! by David Sodergren - 6.5/10
7. Mystery Walk by Robert McCammon - 7.5/10

8. Dead Silence by SA Barnes - I really wanted to like this, but just didn’t. It’s a fun concept (luxury space liner found mysteriously abandoned) and had some good scenes but the main character was extremely whiny and unlikable and the big reveal fell quite flat for me. 5/10

9. The Navajo Nightmare by David Sodergren and Steve Stred - Pulpy, ultraviolent novellas like this are a real guilty pleasure of mine. Written in two parts, one by each author, the storyline is nothing new but the writing is engaging and there’s a lot of violence. Like, a lot. 6.5/10

10. The Necromancer’s House by Christopher Buehlman - I absolutely loved this book and everything about it. Empathetic, tragic, and relatable characters, incredible world building, awesome magic, and some really visceral terror. Themes of addiction, grief, trauma, and love all hit home and hit home hard. I couldn’t put it down. 9.5/10.

11. The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman - I think this book’s biggest issue is that I read it immediately following The Necromancer’s House. I enjoyed it, and found it to have highly developed characters, fantastic worlds, and very mystical journeys but it never really caught on with me and maybe it’s not it’s fault. I told myself I’d reread in the future because I think I set too lofty of an expectation on this one. 7/10.

 

I didnt love Dead Silence either. I was going to say something when you mentioned you were reading it, but didnt want to poison the well. There was enough there to keep in interested but the end was pretty meh for me too.

 

1. Red Rising (Red Rising #1) - Pierce Brown (9/10) (reread)
2. Golden Son (Red Rising #2) - Pierce Brown (9/10) (reread)
3. Morning Star (Red Rising #3) - Pierce Brown (9.5/10) (reread)
4. Iron Gold (Red Rising #4) - Pierce Brown (8.5/10) (reread)
5. Dark Age (Red Rising #5) - Pierce Brown (10/10) (reread)
6. Lightbringer (Red Rising #6) - Pierce Brown (10/10)
7. With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa - E. B. Sledge (10/10) (reread)
8. Helmet For My Pillow - Robert Leckie (7/10)
9. Islands of the Damned - R. V. Burgin (6/10)
10. Battleground Pacific: A Marine Rifleman's Combat Odyssey in K/3/5 - Sterling Mace (7/10)

Memoir of a rifleman in Eugene Sledge's platoon.

 

1. Desolation Angels by Jack Kerouac 6/10
2. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman 8/10
3. Telex from Cuba by Rachel Kushner 7/10
4. NW by Zadie Smith 5/10
5. The Wager by David Grann 8/10
6. The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky 9/10
7. The Outlaw Ocean By Ian Urbina 9/10
8. Shogun Part One by James Clavell 8/10
9. Shogun Part Two by James Clavell 6/10
10. Tender Is The Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica 8/10
11. In the American Grain by William Carlos Williams 5/10
12. The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai 9/10

13. The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towels

Holy shit what a joy this book was to read. I just put it down a few minutes ago and it is probably recency bias but this is one of my favorite books I have ever read. It is outrageously entertaining. Towels does so well with not only telling an incredible story that feels at times like the Odyssey, a Jules Verne novel and a Cohen Brothers movie all at once, but also with bringing this diverse cast of characters to life with great detail.

I felt like each POV character was a real person talking to me. I cannot recommend this book enough and I am at a loss as to why it didn’t get any serious award considerations, not that it matters.

I adore the hell out of this book. It is rare that I immediately finish a book and know I will read it again one day. Just so damn good.

9.5/10

And with that, I have read as many books so far this year as I did all of 2023.

 

Was that the first of his that you read? If so, go get gentleman in Moscow tomorrow

 

I’ve read A Gentleman in Moscow and loved it. I am now considering the purchase of Rules of Civility, as much as I hate buying books online I think I want it for my trip to West Palm this Sunday.

 

It’s also, unsurprisingly, excellent.