Covering classic literature, history, personal development, fun genre novels, and show business here are the books I finished in September 2023.
This took me 4 months to read, and it's well worth the effort! I followed the schedule laid out in this post on the r/bookclub subreddit, resulting in 70-80 pages per week (~10 pages a day) for 4 months. Les Mis is a masterpiece, and if you have the time for a 1,400 page book, including footnotes, you should read it.
The history classes I took covered this topic in 1 minute,:“Oh after the American Revolutionary War, there was this similar revolution in France with the guillotine and cake. Anyway, let’s talk about the articles of confederation.” Since I was reading Les Mis, I wanted more context for the historical events preceding the novel, and Popkin's work delivered.
I picked Switch up because it's very popular with people I work with, and my mom enjoyed the Heath Bros. latest: The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact. I found the Elephant, Rider, and Path framework of this book to be instructive, and easy to remember. If you're familiar with Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow, the Elephant corresponds to the fast brain, the Rider corresponds to the slow brain, and the Path is your environment.
Discworld is one of the series I have been working through over the past few years, and I now have 11 more to read. The Wee Free Men is Pratchett's second in the Discworld series that's written for a young adult audience, but it still has Pratchett's excellent writing, fantastic setting, and high-frequency humor. If you're interested in checking out the Discworld series, I recommend starting with Guards! Guards!, and then revert to reading them in publication order. Guards! is a blast, and it gives a taste of what to expect from the series.
The Closers (A Harry Bosch Novel Book 11) and Echo Park (A Harry Bosch Novel Book 12) by Michael Connelly
Harry Bosch is one of the other series that I have been reading through, and I now have 8 more to read, plus some of Connelly's Lincoln Lawyer novels, other book series, and standalone novels to complete the Bosch-verse. Connelly's books are compulsively readable - he's sold 85 million of them - and these two novels are a treat. Begging to be read on an airplane or a beach, Bosch books also promote Jazz greats like John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Art Pepper.
King has been on a tear with his latest novels, and Holly is no exception. In this thriller, repeat King character Holly Gibney - a private investigator - faces-off against Emily, an english professor, and Rodney Harris, a retired nutrition professor. The Harrises are husband/wife octogenarian DINCs who are also... read the book to find out! Detective Gibney is also a noted fan of Harry Bosch, proxying for Stephen King's appreciation of Michael Connelly; King wrote a great introduction for Connelly's Blood Work. If you have not read any of Holly's previous appearances (Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, End of Watch, The Outsider, If It Bleeds), this sometimes humorous, always engaging novel is still a Halloween treat.
Seth Rogen's memoir is a very funny book covering his childhood, experiences doing standup as a preteen, high school tomfoolery, and eventual arrival and success in Hollywood. The second half of the book is mostly stories involving other celebrities - George Lucas, Steve Wozniak, Bob Dylan, Snoop Dogg, etc. - and it's fun to hear Rogen dish as his love of movies permeates the entire book. Yearbook is a great road trip audiobook with a full cast narration, and there's an actor who does an amazing Kanye West impression.
This book is so good that even if you have not seen Kubrick's 2001, it is still worth reading. Benson traces the creation of the movie through story development, production, post-production, release, and reception. Many of the stories detail crew members going outside of any normal expectation at Kubrick's request, like an assistant performing a nighttime raid to steal protected kokerboom trees from Namibia, only to have their extra efforts be cut from the final film. I love books about movies, and this is one of the best I have read.
Miscellaneous
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