I almost forgot to post my hipster list. Here you go, the books I read in 2023.
Favourites
Pirates and mutiny, what's not to like? It's the story about the Wager shipwreck in 1741 and the mutiny that followed. It's hard to explain, but the writing style is incredibly immersive. The story takes you from England to Patagonia, to (modern-day) Chile, to ... never mind! These are spoilers. Just read it; it's a great adventure story.
The mind-blowing story about the Osage Indian murders that happened in the 1920s. The book is a page-turner, and it reads like a thriller. There's obviously a movie about it from Martin Scorsese, so I rushed to read it first. Thankfully, I could annoy my wife in the cinema by repeating, "It's different in the book". Highly recommended! The book, I mean, the movie sucked.
I have an on-and-off relationship with BJJ, and I always struggled to understand "when am I improving?" This book gave me the answer. It's the same thing as hitting a ball. You'll probably miss it if you keep looking at it and thinking about it. Your body knows how to do it in the right way. It's all about controlling the conscious, critical part of your brain and letting the natural, intuitive, well-drilled part take over. It's a great book. Pick it up even if you do sports.
My wife asked me, "How often do you think of the Roman Empire". I said, "Not often enough," and picked up this book. I have some more that I'm still reading, but this one was a page-turner. It doesn't read like a history lesson. Mike Duncan, who also has two very famous podcasts (The History of Rome and Revolutions), writes in a very engaging way. It focuses on the Republic and the events that led to its demise. So, after the Punic Wars and before the rise of Julius Caesar. Highly recommended!
Goggins has a way of writing and storytelling that makes you want to run through a wall. His life story is amazing, and It's hard not to be inspired. In short, it encourages you to push beyond your perceived limits and embrace discomfort. It's a fantastic book.
Everything else
I hadn't read this classic, so I decided to give it a go. I don't know what to say; it's a short story about Gatsby trying to win back his old love. It's an easy read, but I had to push myself to finish it. This doesn't reflect poorly on the book but more on me, I guess.
I watched White Noise, the cinematic adaptation of another DeLillo book, and I thought I'd give this one a go. It's a short book, set in a single day, and we follow a billionaire as he travels across Manhattan in a limo. In true DeLillo fashion, it's very surreal. I can't say much more without spoiling much, but I enjoyed it.
This is the first novel by Ishiguro that I read, and I quite liked it. It's a story about a butler and his life while serving his employer. It's a very reflective book, and I wasn't expecting it to go as it did. It may feel slow at times, but I liked it.
I picked up chess after, what, 20 years? I knew the basics, but nothing more than that. It's the perfect book for someone like me. You know the moves but nothing else. It's the right book to return to the game and put you on the right track.
I read this book after reading "The Inner Game of Tennis". Looking back, I was probably pretty fired up. Anyway, it's about the path to mastery and how to approach it. It's a very nice and easy read. In short, trust the process and enjoy the journey.
It's a very well-written book about the career development of a manager. Even if you plan to be something other than a manager, seeing the different challenges is helpful, especially as the team's headcount grows. A few months after reading it, I quit my job and joined a flat-hierarchy company, so take it as you will.
A pretty good novel. I mean, it's 2024 now, and I've binged Slow Horses, so it definitely scratched an itch. Other than that, there are more crazy spy novels out there nowadays, but it's a classic for a reason.
I wanted to pick up something from Pychon and decided to start with this one. It's a wild ride, and I had to recap every chapter with a companion website. Essentially, it's a detective story, but it's also a satire of the 60s. It's a mess, but it's a fun mess. There's also a movie, but I still need to check it.
It's the first book in the Witcher series and a collection of short stories. Actually, it's not really the first one, but it's chronologically the first one and the recommended starting point. Nice read, I missed a nice fantasy book, but nothing fills the ASOIAF void.
Well, I had to read the second one after the first one. It continues the world-building and the character development. I mean it's nice, I'm reading the next one as well.
And these I didn't finish
- Meditation by Marcus Aurelius (A bit too heavy for me, especially in the original Greek)
- Staff Engineer by Will Larson (I read the manager one, but not this. Amazing job, me)
- Amateur's Mind by Jeremy Silman (A bit higher level than I am)
- Winning Chess Strategies by Yasser Seirawan (90% done, but still)
- Ancient Rome by Christopher S. Mackay (It's a bit too dry for me, but I'll finish it)