Looking back at my reading over the last 12 months I notice that it was a very fiction heavy year. Perhaps a little embarrassingly so – as much of the fiction was what I call my ‘junk food’ reading. But, here we are, overweight with murder solving stories from L.A. Outside of that, there is the embarrassment of discovering books that have been around for a couple of decades. I can be a little slow when it comes to finding good books, but it’s nice that they still hold up.
Here are some incredible highlights:
Man’s Search for Meaning – The Classic Tribute to Hope from the Holocaust, Viktor Frankl
A re-read. I keep hearing so many people talk about this book as a significant one in their lives and no matter how many times I read it, it still moves me. I come out with something different each time. The quote that has stuck with me this year is, “Happiness cannot be pursued. It must ensue. One must have a reason to be happy.”
Chasing happiness as an ends in itself will not work.
A second stand out quote:
“Man does not simply exist but always decides what his existence will be, what he will become in the next moment”.
We are not set in concrete. We get to choose what our existence will be.
If you have not read this book, read it. I have a copy that I can lend to you (I’ll need it back to read it again).
Blink – The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, Malcolm Gladwell
Sure, it’s been out for almost 20 years, but it was one of Gladwell’s books that I had never found my way to, until this year. There were a lot of illustrations about the way we can utilise the initial response we have in given moments. The one thing that I still find myself thinking about is the section on micro expressions, and how our expressions can change the way we feel. So I’ve been trying to smile more…
Fooled by Randomness – The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets, Nicholas Nassim Taleb
Published in 2001 and still totally accurate, also probably the only book that I have read by Taleb that I mostly understood.
By sheer weight of numbers and chance, some people are lucky for a period of time (in both life and markets). Often they then believe that their ‘method’ is the reason for their success, but then their luck runs out and they implode. If you give luck enough time, it will run out. This book highlights that just because something seems to have worked for you, that doesn’t make it the best method or even an effective method. Also, just because something hasn’t happened before, it doesn’t mean that it won’t happen in the future. Again, this book was written before the Great Recession, Donald Trump’s Presidency and COVID.
The Obstacle is the Way – Ryan Holiday
Another re-read and a great way to end the year. It is always a constant reminder that we will face obstacles in life, that is a guarantee, but our response to those obstacles shapes what our life looks like. It comes down to how we perceive the obstacle, the action we take and the will we have to keep going.
Fiction of the Year
Station Eleven – Emily St John Mandel
I don’t even remember how this book got on my list, but I’m so glad it did. It was an incredibly compelling story, flitting back and forth through time to share the characters’ journeys into a new world after a virus wipes out most of the global population (first published in 2014). I loved it and would read it again. It has also been made into a miniseries on one of the streaming services. That was okay (but they are never as good).
Other books read:
Wolf of the Plains: The Epic Story of the Khan Dynasty – Conn Iggulden (Very good read)
The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry – Jon Mark Comer
Originals – Adam Grant
The Lincoln Highway – Amor Towles
The Course of Love – Alain de Botton
The Screwtape Letters – C S Lewis
The Secret – Lee Child
And then many Michael Connelly books…
A Darkness More than Light – Michael Connelly
Lost Light – Michael Connelly
The Narrows – Michael Connelly
The Closers – Michael Connelly
Echo Park – Michael Connelly
The Overlook – Michael Connelly
Nine Dragons – Michael Connelly
The Drop – Michael Connelly
The Black Box – Michael Connelly
The Burning Room – Michael Connelly
The Crossing – Michael Connelly
The Wrong Side of Goodbye – Michael Connelly
Two Kinds of Truth – Michael Connelly
Dark Sacred Night – Michael Connelly
The Night Fire – Michael Connelly
The Dark Hours – Michael Connelly
Desert Star – Michael Connelly
The Late Show – Michael Connelly
The Generosity Guy 