My lifetime goal is to read all the books.
Haha, just kidding, of course I can’t do that. *sob*
- Reading notes are here
- Completed reading 2020 and 2019 below
- The to-read list is below completed reading
2020
2020 Reading goals: read more (in general); read more fiction; quit reading books I don’t love; remember more of what I read (to this end, I’m taking–and sharing, via newsletter–more reading notes).
Fiction
- Silver Mystic by Loren Andrews
- The Silver Mystic quartet includes City of Husks, Family of Ruin, Champion of Sin, Isle of Before. Andrews is one of my favorite dystopian writers.
- The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
- Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks
- Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski
- Factotum by Charles Bukowski
- The Man in the High Castle by Phillip K. Dick
- On the list
- A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
- American Gods by Neil Gaiman
- Also on the list
- Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
- Also on th elist
- The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin
- Should be on the list. The last of The Broken Earth trilogy. Read all three. Excellent.
- The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
- So good.
- The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu
- I loved this book. It’s the first of a trilogy. The next two are on my list for 2021.
- The Book of Dust by Philip Pullman
- Anthem by Ayn Rand
- Lincoln on the Bardo by George Saunders
- Enjoyed this one.
- East of Eden by John Steinbeck
- Just… uuuuuugh because of the beauty and detail and bleakness and goodness of it.
- The Cabin at the End of the Wood by Paul Tremblay
- The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells
Nonfiction
- Dare to Lead by Brené Brown
- Essential Bukowski: Poetry by Charles Bukowski
- Be Obsessed or Be Average by Grant Cardone
- The Power of the Other by Henry Cloud
- Grist for the Mill by Ram Dass
- Stick Yourself Out There by Scott Ginsberg
- Total Freedom by Krishnamurti
2019
Fiction
The Diamond Age is one of my all-time favorite books, but N.K. Jemisin’s trilogy is amazing. The Bone Clocks is also excellent.
- The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
- Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
- The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe
- East Wind, West Wind by Pearl S. Buck
- The Fifth Season and The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin
- The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish
- The Small Rain by Madeleine L’Engle
- Bird Box by Josh Malerman
- The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
- The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
Nonfiction
If I were going to recommend one book from this list, it would be James Carse’s Finite and Infinite Games.
Andersen, U.S. | The Magic in Your Mind |
Newport, Cal | Deep Work |
brown, adrienne maree | Emergent Strategy |
Clear, James | Atomic Habits |
Dweck, Carol. S. | Mindset |
Ferris, Tim | The 4-Hour Body |
Ferrini, Paul | Love Without Conditions | Notes |
Finkel, David | Build a Business, Not a Job |
Foroux, Darius | Think Straight |
Gall, John | Systemantics: The Systems Bible | Notes |
Gray, Kyle | The Story Engine |
Greene, Robert* | Mastery | Notes |
Hardy, Benjamin P. | Slipstream Time Hacking |Notes |
McKeown, Greg | Essentialism |
Norris, Dan | The 7-Day Startup |
Pearce, Joseph Chilton | The Crack in the Cosmic Egg | Notes |
Waitzkin, Josh | The Art of Learning |
Willink, Jocko | Discipline Equals Freedom |
Cameron, Julia | The Artist’s Way |
Campbell, Joseph | Myths to Live By | Notes |
Carse, James | Finite and Infinite Games | Notes |
Ferris, Tim | Tools of Titans | Notes |
Ferris, Tim | The 4-Hour Workweek | Notes |
Ferris, Tim | Tribe of Mentors | Notes |
Greene, Robert | 48 Laws of Power |
Hill, Napoleon | Truthful Living: The First Writings of Napoleon Hill |
Jerzak vel Dobosz, Konrad | The Secrets of Polyglots |
Moran, Brian P. | The 12-Week Year |
Pirsig, Robert M. | Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance | Notes |
Sowell, Thomas | A Conflict of Visions |
Sunzi | The Art of War |
Tadd, Ellen | The Infinite View |
Watts, Alan W. | The Wisdom of Insecurity | Notes |
Yudkowsky, Eliezer | Map and Territory | Notes |
The ever-expanding list of books I want to read
Fiction
Asimov, Isaac | The Foundation Trilogy | |
Bradbury, Ray | Fahrenheit 451 | |
Burgess, Anthony | A Clockwork Orange | |
Busby, F.M. | Rissa Kerguelen | |
Clarke, Susanna | Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell | |
Dick, Phillip K. | Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? | |
Eddings, David | The Belgariad | |
Erikson, Steven | The Malazan Book of the Fallen series | |
Gaiman, Neil | The Sandman Series | |
Gibson, William | Neuromancer | |
Haldeman, John | The Forever War | |
Heinlein, Robert A. | The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress | |
Heinlein, Robert A. | Starship Troopers | |
Herbert, Frank | Dune: Messiah | |
Jemisin, N.K. | The Inheritance Trilogy | |
King, Stephen | The Stand | |
Le Guin, Ursula K. | The Left Hand of Darkness | |
Matheson, Richard | I Am Legend | |
Miller, Walter M. Jr. | A Canticle for Leibowitz | |
Niven, Larry | Ringworld | |
Rand, Ayn | The Fountainhead | |
Sagan, Carl | Contact | |
Scalzi, John | Old Man’s War | |
Shepherd, Peng | The Book of M | |
Stephenson, Neal | Cryptonomicon | |
Stephenson, Neal | Seveneves | |
Stephenson, Neal | Snow Crash | |
Thomas, Angie | The Hate U Give | |
Vonnegut, Kurt | Cat’s Cradle | |
Vonnegut, Kurt | Slaughterhouse-Five |
Nonfiction
Adler, Alfred | What Life could Mean to You | |
Arendt, Hannah | The Life of the Mind | |
Bach, Richard | Illusions | |
Campbell, Joseph | The Hero with a Thousand Faces | |
Dalio, Ray | Principles: Life and Work | |
Damasio, Antonio | The Strange Order of Things | |
Davidson, James Dale | The Sovereign Individual | |
Deutsch, David | The Beginning of Infinity | |
Dyson, Freeman | Disturbing the Universe | |
Edwards, Betty | Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain | |
Feynman, Richard P. | Six Easy Pieces | |
Gardner, Martin | Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science | |
Gleick, James | Chaos: Making a New Science | |
Gornick, Vivian | The Situation and the Story | |
Harari, Yuval Noah | Sapiens | |
Hartley, Nina | Nina Hartley’s Guide to Total Sex | |
Herrigel, Eugen | Zen in the Art of Archery | |
Jaynes, Julian | The Origin of Consciousness | |
Klosterman, Chuck | But What If We’re Wrong? | |
Koestler, Arthur | The Act of Creation | |
Leonard, George | Mastery | |
Miller, John H. | A Crude Look at the Whole | |
Murdoch, Iris | Existentialists and Mystics | |
Musashi, Miyamoto | The Book of Five Rings | |
Nietzsche, Friedrich | Ecce Homo: How One Becomes What One Is | |
Palmer, Amanda | The Art of Asking | |
Peterson, Jordan B. | 12 Rules for Life | |
Pinker, Steven | The Better Angels of Our Nature | |
Pollan, Michael | How to Change Your Mind | |
Powys, John Cowper | The Meaning of Culture | |
Ridley, Matt | The Rational Optimist | |
Smith, Adam | The Wealth of Nations | |
Sowell, Thomas | Economic Facts and Fallacies | |
Spinoza, Benedictus | Ethics | |
Stone, Hal and Sidra | Partnering | |
Taleb, Nassim Nicholas | Antifragile or Fooled by Randomness | |
Watts, Alan W. | Become What You Are | |
West, Geoffrey | Scale |