The year 2017 marks when I caved and got a smartphone. Nevertheless, I still found time to read ordinary books.
My favorite from the year is Lord of Light, by Roger Zelazny (1969), a science fiction novel about planetary colonists who possess god-like technological capabilities and literally turn themselves into gods to be worshiped by people lacking those technologies. However, my one-sentence synopsis fails to capture the poetic beauty of the writing. That said, this book is not for everyone.
A more general recommendation is City of Thieves, by David Benioff (2008). It's about two young men in Stalingrad during the siege of World War 2 and their mission to procure a dozen eggs for a wedding cake for a Russian general's daughter.
Lastly, I'll point out that every book I read in 2017 was by an author I had never read before. This wasn't my original intention, but by summer it had become a thing and I kept the streak going. Towards the end of the year, I scoured my file of reading suggestions to find new authors, leading me to read a romance novel (!) set in pre-revolution eighteenth century France (These Old Shades, by Georgette Heyer (1926)) and Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852)—both of which were great reads.
Daniel Suarez†
Daemon (2009)Roger Zelazny†
Lord of Light (1967)Malcolm Gladwell†
Outliers (2008)Anthony Williams†
C++ Concurrency in Action (2012)Charles C. Mann†
1941: New Relelations of the Americas Before Columbus (2005)David Benioff†
City of Thieves (2008)Michael Lewis†
The Undoing Project (2016)Mary Shelley†
Frankenstein (1818)James M. Cain†
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934)Robert Montgomery†
Sheppard Lee (1836)Dashiell Hammett†
Red Harvest (1929)Georgette Heyer†
These Old Shades (1926)Harriet Beecher Stowe†
Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852)
| † | First time to read author |
6 comments:
Not sure why, but I read your post backwards, scanning the listed titles and authors first and then reading your lead in text. I was all prepared to type out how I marvel at the fact that you read all "new to you" authors this year and how amazing I found that. I'm glad it became a thing and you stuck with it. GREAT Work, as we've come accustomed to and Thank you again for posting.
Question: If you start a book in December and finish it the January immediately following, which Reading log does it go on?
Asking because I've decided to add "Read 12 books in 2018" to my list of resolutions for the year.
Bobby, I count books as when they finish, not start. There was at least one book that I finished after starting it two calendar years prior. That was several years ago. As another example, I started Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle a couple years ago, had it called away when the library loan expired, and may finish it at some time in the future. If so, it would go on that future year's list. Similarly, I start many books without finishing them, and they never go on any list.
I roughly think of twelve books as being my minimum expectation for myself every year, but this is lax, chiefly due to my aversion to the effects of Goodhart's Law. For example, I read non-fiction much slower than fiction—probably about an order of magnitude slower, if that's believable—so if I worry too much about my “count,” then I'll merely end up reading a lot of trashy page-turners. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
JEC, thank you. That was a very appreciated, especially for its elaboration, response. I will consider finish date on books for any logging I ever do or reflect to anyone--thinking about you here, of course.
I too start many more books than I finish and as a result have many books going at the same time, some actually even get finished, though when considering the whole one would probably deem book completion a rare occurrence for me.
Though I owe you more blog updates than I'm prepared to count right now, I want you to know that I am looking forward to your 2018 Reading Log.
-- Bobby and the Presidents though showing as anonymous because I'm signed on using a separate gmail to type this.
PS reading back through comments I see that I failed on yet another 2018 resolution...I only read 11 books, unless I forgot one.
Post a Comment