Books You've Read in 2024

I have signed first editions of rules of civility, gentleman in Moscow, Lincoln highway, and table for two :)

the rules of civility is really rare. I don’t think the seller knew what he had. I bought it for $86 and it’s probably worth at least a grand.

 

10 implies perfection which doesn’t exist

 

It does. Read parades end

 

Perfection absolutely exists

Read more

 

Damn I went from thinking I’d get cooked for giving something a 10 to getting cooked for not doing so

I’ve read hundreds of books I’ll have you lot know

 

I use to be a bit free, you could say, with my 10s, don't dig up my past, respect my opinions, no interviews

 

Same

 

I’d probably give House of Leaves a 10 which means I’m in no place to criticize anyone on anything

 

Looking back at your old ratings is always scary. I found that I wasnt generous enough to books I really liked or harsh enough to books I didnt.

Giving Hillbilly Elegy 3 stars is probably my most embarrassing rating. Changed it to a 1 star as soon as I noticed.

 

I change ratings too if my impression has changed. Sometimes lowering but sometimes raising

 

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
21) Unguarded by Scottie Pippen 7/10

Nothing really new, nostalgic read as a 90s Bulls fan growing up as a kid.

 

1. The Armour of Light by Ken Follett - 7.5/10
2. Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel - 10/10 (re-read)
3. Essex Dogs by Dan Jones - 8/10
4. The White Ship by Charles Spencer - 8/10
5. The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel - 10/10 (re-read)
6. White Teeth by Zadie Smith - 7.5/10
7. Persuasion by Jane Austen - 8/10
8. Every Day is for the Thief by Teju Cole - 8.5/10
9. Emma by Jane Austen - 8/10
I figured I might as well read the remaining Austen book. I don’t have much profound to say on it, but similar to her other novels it’s an enjoyable read and a cool time capsule of history. Mr. Woodhouse was a hilarious character and probably my favourite from any of her novels.
10. Trust by Hernan Diaz - 8.5/10
Definitely a novel you appreciate more by the end. I was a bit bored during the first “book” which made me feel foolish later on as I continued with the other books within. There are also many passages where you recognize how talented Diaz is as an author. I see that HBO is making a TV adaptation, and I think the novel will translate well to the screen.

 

First post on this board. Really trying to be more intentional about reading and with 2 kids under 4 years old be a Dad that they see with a book in his hand far more than a phone. Not really sure how to rate these, but I'll do an introductory one. Several of the books I have saved to read over the next few years I'm sure I'll read multiple times and my ratings for them will change.

1. The Black Swan - Nassim Nicholas Taleb: (6.5/10) I liked this with first read. Will be something I come back to and read again as I'll be honest, a little of this was over my head and I have a couple more of his books I want to read in the future. I feel like this rating will rise the more I come back and read this one.

2. Meditations - Marcus Aurelius: (9.5/10) Probably going to be a yearly read for me and might try to find some different translations to find one I like the most. Just really enjoyed reading the inner thoughts of someone like this from centuries ago who had similar internal struggles we still see today. I highlighted so much of this book that I felt spoke to me that I'll probably expand this into note taking and coming back to over and over.

3. Siddhartha - Herman Hesse: (7.5/10) Easy read. Probably read this one a few more times.

Currently Reading:

Digital Minimalism - Cal Newport: I really liked one of Newport's other books, Deep Work, a lot. I read that about 18 months ago I'd guess. Can really apply that one to my work day. So far DM has helped open my eyes a little to how much time I spend on the phone at home. So far so good.

Next Up:

Reality is Not What it Seems - Carlo Rovelli: This one came as a suggestion from another book I read last year - The Almanack of Naval Ravikant.

The Rational Optimist - Matt Ridley: See above. Have also heard/seen great reviews of Ridley and looking forward to this one in the coming weeks.

 

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)
11. Escape From the Deep - Alex Kershaw (9/10)

 

Kershaw is pretty good for easy reading historical works. Only one of his books have I not really enjoyed. I haven’t read Escape From the Deep yet but have it already. Will probably try and read it sooner now

 

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

12. City of Ruins by Don Winslow - 7/10. Final in the trilogy. Fun read

 

1. Let Us Descend - Jesmyn Ward (8/10)
2. The Sun Sets in Singapore - Kehinde Fadipe (6/10)
3. The Marlow Murder Club - Robert Thorogood (6/10)
4. Red Rising - Pierce Brown (9/10)
5. America Fantastica - Tim O'Brien (6/10)
6. Lessons from an American Stoic: How Emerson Can Change Your Life - Mark Matousek (8/10)
7. Player Piano - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (8/10)
8. Damascus Station - David McCloskey (9/10)
9. Trust - Hernan Diaz (8/10)
10. Prophet Song - Paul Lynch (9/10)
11. Razorblade Tears - S.A. Cosby (9/10)
12. The Candy House - Jennifer Egan (7/10)
13. While Idaho Slept: The Hunt for Answers in the Murders of Four College Students - J. Reuben Appelman (1/10)

14. The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires - Grady Hendrix (7/10) Pretty fun read.

15. The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories - Ken Liu (9/10) Very good collection of Asian-inspired short stories. Historical, sci-fi, fantasy elements throughout. Liu is brilliant and a pretty damn good writer to boot.

16. Golden Son (Red Rising Saga #2) - Pierce Brown (9/10) Holy shit - I couldn't put this down. I finished it after midnight and would have immediately started the third book if I had it - I'm waiting on it from the library. What an ending. Can't wait to read the rest of them.

 

1 - Inferno by Max Hastings (8/10)
2 - Avenue of Mysteries by John Irving (8.5/10)
3 - The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (9.5/10)
4 - The Bones of Plenty by Lois Phillips Hudson (9.5/10)...re-read
5 - Flying Blind: The 737 MAX Tragedy and the Fall of Boeing by Peter Robison (8/10)
6 - The Korean War by Max Hastings (8/10)

I knew very little about the Korean War and found this book at the library used book shop. Well written, well researched. My only gripe is that he seemingly blends in personal opinion in a manner that reads as a factual statement. But it's a minor thing

 

1. The Armour of Light by Ken Follett - 7.5/10
2. Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel - 10/10 (re-read)
3. Essex Dogs by Dan Jones - 8/10
4. The White Ship by Charles Spencer - 8/10
5. The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel - 10/10 (re-read)
6. White Teeth by Zadie Smith - 7.5/10
7. Persuasion by Jane Austen - 8/10
8. Every Day is for the Thief by Teju Cole - 8.5/10
9. Emma by Jane Austen - 8/10
10. Trust by Hernan Diaz - 8.5/10
11. This other Eden by Paul Harding - 5.5/10
I was looking through last year’s Booker prize shortlist and this stuck out as an interesting read. It’s a novel based on the early 1900s eviction of a small mixed race community living on Malaga Island off the coast of Maine. I hadn’t heard of this before, so from the jump it was interesting to learn that such a place even existed and the sad history of the government dictated eviction.

I generally enjoy everything I read but this was a massive disappointment. The novel is relatively short but tries to go into detail on many of the island’s fictional residents, which results in the reader not really connecting with any of them. Some of the children attend school taught by a white missionary from the mainland and predictably out of the ~10 students we get a painting prodigy, math prodigy, and Latin prodigy, which makes the story feel a bit condescending. Finally, the author’s prose is ridiculously wordy and reads like a parody of an author with a high opinion of themself.

TLDR - interesting history but a disappointment and baffling how it received so many accolades.

 

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
21) Unguarded by Scottie Pippen 7/10
22) Mickey7 by Edward Ashton 9/10

Pretty good humorous scifi read, similar to Andy Weir novels. Chuckled out loud a few times. Recommend it.

 

12. The Count of Monte Cristo (9/10); not much to add to the well established praise of this book, and it’s a classic for a reason. Definitely took me longer to read than I thought it would, but it’s definitely a lengthy book.

In the queu: The Haunting of Hill House.

 

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)
25. Star Wars: The Living Force - Johnathan Jackson Miller - (7.5/10)
26. Mountain in the Sea - Ray Naylor (8.5/10)
27. Mal Goes to War - Edward Ashton (6.5/10)
28. The Snakehead: An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream - Patrick Radden Keefe (9/10)

The Living Force - Stand alone Star Wars novel that takes place a year before Episode 1. Fun Novel that does some cool things around the friction between how Qui Gon sees the force and the Jedi Counsel does. Good, perfectly average star wars read.

Mountain in the Sea - Sci-fi novel about a scientists discovering uber intelligent octopus. A race to understand them. A really good old school style sci-fi that investigates thought provoking themes with great social commentary on the current times. A bit of a slow burn, but I really liked it.

Mal Goes to War - A satirical take on AI and tribalism. I dont want to say this is bad, but it didnt hit for me. Also maybe a victim of higher expectations. I really enjoyed Mickey7 & AntiMatter Blues by the same author. This one fell flat. Still looking forward to the next book by this author

The Snakehead - Had no idea this book existed until I randomly saw it mentioned on twitter. PRK is one of my favorite authors, so I picked it up immediately. He is so good in the investigative narrative non fiction space. About the rise of Chinatown in NYC and the underworld, primarily the human smuggling bringing people in from China. Book was written in 2009, events mostly take place during the Clinton admin. One of those books that remind everything is the same as it always is . This time regarding immigration, how to treat refugees, how to handle the influx, why we care depending on what part of the world they come from ect. Great stuff as always from Radden-Keefe.

 

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 10/10

14. Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond

In just 200 pages Desmond dives into the often unseen poor workers of America who have ground up and left behind by American capitalism. He’s made it his life’s work to study the causes and stories of such people and the most frustrating part of it all is he has the numbers to show how we could solve poverty in America without much pain to those of us lucky to not be poor. 8/10

15. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

The first novel of Faulkner I’ve read in probably over a decade. I forgot how hard it can be to follow along with the stories he’s telling and it’s difficult to delineate where the character ends and Faulkner begins sometimes. This book tells the story of a hopelessly incompetent family in rural Mississippi who has to carry the body of their mother 40 miles to bury her in another town to follow her dying wish. At times darkly hilarious and at times frustrating. Faulkner remains one of the most unique writers I’ve ever come across. 9/10

 

Thank you for validation. I've read the beginning of "Light in August" a few times but never get hooked because of that. Gotta push through one of these days

 

it’s not just you man, I took a 400 level lit class on Faulkner my senior year of college and still have no idea what the fuck happened in The Sound and the Fury.

Even his editors struggled to make his writings work, there’s a part in As I Lay Dying where a sentence stops and is just a giant space because no one could figure out what he was trying to say

 

Also I let you people bully me into giving The Lincoln Highway a 10

 

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)
8. Iron Gold (Red Rising #4) - Pierce Brown (9/10)

Next up: Dark Age (Red Rising #5 - Pierce Brown)

 

Is this your first read through the series?

 

Yep first time through. Going to be weird once I finish Lightbringer and have to wait until he’s done with the last book

 

Nice. I really struggled with Iron Gold my first read through. I was kind of disappointed, but then grew to really like after reading Dark Age, and re-reading IG.

I feel like IG is a bit of road bump for the first read through. Glad you liked it on first read.

 

To be honest I think I graded it generously simply because I love the series and I’m reading it with no wait in between books. It’s my least favorite of the four so far and had I read the books as they were released I think I would’ve thought less of it.

I think he did a good job overall of switching the narrative and introducing new perspectives and storylines but the first half of the book was a bit of a drag. Excited to jump into Dark Age as I’ve heard great things.

 

1- Cassandra at the Wedding – Dorothy Baker (8/10)
2- Trespasses – Louise Kennedy (9/10)
3- Emerald City – Jennifer Egan (8.5/10)
4- Olive Kitteridge – Elizabeth Strout (5.5/10)
5- Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont – Elizabeth Taylor (6.5/10)
6- Jesus’ Son – Denis Johnson (8.5/10)
7- Child of God – Cormac McCarthy (10/10)*
8- Angels – Denis Johnson (8/10)
9- The End of the World Is a Cul de Sac – Louise Kennedy (9.5/10)
10- Airships – Barry Hannah (0/10)
11- Rabbit Is Rich – John Updike (9/10)
12- The Name of the World – Denis Johnson (7.5/10)
13- The Ghost Writer – Philip Roth (6/10)
14- Jurassic Park – Michael Crichton (6/10)*
15- Fat City – Leonard Gardner (8.5/10)
16- Nobody Move – Denis Johnson (7.5/10)
17- Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club – Benjamin Alire Sáenz (8/10)
18- Country – Michael Hughes (9/10)
19- Sea of Tranquility – Emily St. John Mandel (7.5/10)

20- Fiskadoro – Denis Johnson (4/10)
Published in 1985, it’s a post-apocalyptic story about an enclave of people surviving in the Florida Keys decades after a global nuclear event. They lack historical knowledge about society, culture, and their origins. It’s an ambitious look at the cycle of life and death, but the prose was long-winded and digesting the dialogue was a constant grind because the characters speak broken English/Spanish

21- The Power and the Glory – Graham Greene (8.5/10)*
Published in 1940, it follows an alcoholic priest on the run from authorities in 1930’s Mexico after the state’s governor ordered the military to wipe out all vestiges of the Catholic Church. It’s about suffering, faith, and redemption. Easily my favorite Greene book

22- The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway (5/10)*
I enjoyed this much more when I read it in HS. Published in 1926, it revolves around a group of expats living in Paris who visit Spain to watch bullfights. The characters are alcoholic and directionless wanderers damaged by war. There are aspects I still enjoyed. The prose is spare and influenced a wave of future American writers. Really like a line about how you can’t get away from yourself by moving from one place to another. And I appreciated the emphasis on the restorative power of nature. But Hemingway was antisemitic. It’s impossible to look past that even if it was a reflection of the times

23- The Invisible Circus – Jennifer Egan (5.5/10)
Published in 1994, it was Egan’s first novel and focuses on an 18-year-old San Francisco girl who travels around Europe while trying to come to grips with the death of an older sister she idolized. I liked how the first quarter of the story unfolds across SF, but I wasn’t in the right mental state to process the emotionally draining remainder. I’ve now read every Egan book and this is my least favorite

24- The Moviegoer – Walker Percy (10/10)*
Winner of the 1962 National Book Award, it’s an existential Southern classic about a young stockbroker from a wealthy New Orleans family who is prone to depression. He sees the world through a detached gaze and subjects ordinary everyday experiences to philosophical inquiry while searching for authenticity and spiritual redemption. I doubt anyone here would like it as much as I do. But I love it and Percy’s writing generally

25- Rabbit at Rest – John Updike (9.5/10)
The final installment in the Rabbit series, it won the 1990 National Book Critics Circle Award, the 1991 Pulitzer Prize, and the 1995 William Dean Howells Medal. Set in 1988 & 1989, we find Rabbit morbidly obese in his mid-50’s and upholding the values of your average Republican. Updike uses elegiac prose, intensely descriptive passages, and gritty realism to craft a domestic-crisis story where Rabbit’s decline coincides with that of the US under Reagan and Bush. An exceptional series

26- Lord of the Flies – William Golding (6/10)*
Everyone knows this. The 1954 young adult classic about boys stranded on an island who see their efforts to govern themselves and establish order devolve into chaos and violence. The fear of the jungle beast is used to exert control over others. First time reading it since I believe 7th grade, it has good insight for young readers with a story unique enough to keep older folks engaged

27- The Glass Hotel – Emily St. John Mandel (7/10)
Longlisted for the 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence, it’s basically a summary of public and personal events over the course of 20 years. But as usual St. John Mandel pieces together a narrative puzzle using interlocking strands. The two most prominent storylines are about a woman who goes missing at sea and a con artist running an international Ponzi scheme. There are some supernatural elements that emphasize how precarious life is

* = re-read

 

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 10/10
14. Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond 8/10
15. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner 9/10

16. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

This is the first reread of a book I’ve done since Cloud Atlas a few years back. Originally, I read this in a college course I took on literature that takes place in New York. I was one of two men in a class of eighteen and I just kind of went with the flow because I was a dumb 21 year old too busy drinking, but I remember enjoying it.

A slightly autobiographical novel dealing with her earlier battles with depression, Plath had a gift and there are parts where the poet in her just screams off the pages, but it’s much more bleak than I remember. Parts are tough to swallow in that the men in her life from doctors to would be lovers were garbage people. It’s a shame she died so young and we are worse off for it.

9/10

 

12. The Age Of Greed: The Triumph Of Finance And The Decline Of America, 1970-Present / Jeff Madrick (6.5/10)
I struggled to understand the hardcore economic discussions. (Which is ok, because one theme of the book is that stuff is fiction designed to prop up whoever is making decisions. No one actually understands how it works.) But I liked the personal profiles of the traders/managers/tycoons and the story of how each thing became commonplace (junk bonds, hedge funds, mortgage backed securities etc.)

11. The Nineties: A Book / Chuck Klosterman (90/100)
Really good. I've read 2 by him now. First one I thought was meh. Now I think this is either his best book or I need to read some more by him. It's nice to get a perspective on the 90s from someone just a little older because I remember the things he's talking about but he's explaining what my kid brain missed.

Spoiler

10. Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid / Douglas Hofstadter (DNF)
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)

 

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

12. City of Ruins by Don Winslow - 7/10

13. A Gentleman in Moscow - 10/10. I loved this. The layers Towles places throughout the novel are spectacular and loved the themes he explored. Also some of the best food and wine writing/descriptions I've ever read.