Reading list
What I’m reading and some of what I’ve read.
2023
| Title | Author | Thoughts |
|---|---|---|
| The Joy of Abstraction | by Eugenia Cheng | |
| Family Lexicon | by Natalia Ginzburg | |
| The Grapes of Wrath | by John Steinbeck | I took so many things from this book. I need more time to simmer on it. |
| Leech | by Hiron Ennes | It was clever how you needed to put the pieces together yourself. |
| The Word For World is Forest | by Ursula K. Le Guin | It's all it needs to be. New interpretations of dreaming and of gods. |
| Fairy Tale | by Stephen King | Different from other King novels I've read. Good “before bed” read. |
| The Back of the Turtle | by Thomas King | I felt the world reflected back at me, thoughtfully, kindly, and truthfully. |
| Ordinary Monsters | by J. M. Miro | It crescendoed really well. |
| Houseboat Chronicles | by Jake MacDonald | A comfortable and comforting read, nostalgic, imagery of a place that feels like home. |
| The Truth About Stories | by Thomas King | “Just don't say in years to come that you would have lived your life differently if only you had heard this story. You've heard it now.” |
2022
| Title | Author | Thoughts |
|---|---|---|
| Braiding Sweetgrass | by Robin Wall Kimmerer | |
| The Spare Man | by Mary Robinette Kowal | First heavy use of different pronouns without making the story about that. |
| The Great Mistake | by Jonathon Lee | Rich, compelling. |
| Ducks | by Kate Beaton | Rich storytelling, infuriating story. |
| Dead Silence | by S. A. Barnes | Eerie for a time. |
| Babel | by R. F. Kuang | Made for good conversations with my German tutor. |
| Learning to Talk to Plants | by Marta Orriols, Mara Fay Lethem (Translator) | A quiet read I needed. |
| A Prayer for the Crown-Shy | by Becky Chambers | A nice continuation. |
| The Colour Out of Space and others | by H.P. Lovecraft | |
| A Psalm for the Wild-Built | by Becky Chambers | The read I needed at the time, loved it. |
| Eversion | by Alastair Reynolds | Reminded me of something I could never put my finger on. |
| Klara and the Sun | by Kazuo Ishiguro | I think this one will take two tries—as is common for me with Kazuo Ishiguro. |
| The Night Circus | by Erin Morgenstern | Loved the imagery. |
| Drunk on All Your Strange New Words | by Eddie Robson | A new idea, well paired with learning German at the time. |
| Sea of Tranquility | by Emily St. John Mandel | The details. |
| The Watchers | by A. M. Shine | I called it! Then spent the whole book trying to prove it. |
| The Secret Commonwealth | by Philip Pullman | |
| La Belle Sauvage | by Philip Pullman | |
| Swims | by Elizabeth-Jane Burnett | |
| The Wild Places | by Robert MacFarlane | A favourite, reminded me of my need for wild and where I can find it. |
| Turning | by Jessica J. Lee | Close to home in many ways, a good read to start the year. |
| Piranesi | by Susanna Clarke | I expected something different—will have to read again to truly appreciate. |
| Where the Crawdads Sing | by Delia Owens | Beautiful, inhaled it. Will never see the movie. |
| The Amber Spyglass | by Philip Pullman | |
| The Subtle Knife | by Philip Pullman |
2021
| Title | Author | Thoughts |
|---|---|---|
| The Lost Spells | by Robert Macfarlane | |
| The Golden Compass | by Philip Pullman | |
| Stories of Your Life and Others | by Ted Chiang | Bite size sci fi, some bites good, some bites less so. |
| High Output Management | by Andrew S. Grove | |
| Utopia Avenue | by David Mitchell | Different from the author's other work, but a quiet through line that told you it was still Mitchell. |
| In | by Will McPhail | Rich storytelling, will recommend to everyone. |
| Sleep walk | by Adrian Tomine | |
| Dare to Lead | by Brené Brown | Changed so much of how I see my world and myself. |
| The Art of Logic | by Eugenia Cheng | Changed how I look at my work and at life. |
| Coaching for Performance | by John Whitmore | |
| Billy Summers | by Stephen King | Still Stephen King, yet straying from some of his usual tropes. |
| The Library of the Dead | by T. L. Huchu | |
| The Making of a Manager | by Julie Zhuo | |
| Slade House | by David Mitchell | |
| The Hidden Palace | by Helene Wecker | Felt good to return to this world and see where the story would go. |
| Project Hail Mary | by Andy Weir | Fell off, wasn't for me. |
| The Lost Apothecary | by Sara Penner | |
| The Invisible Life of Addie Larue | by V. E. Schwab | |
| The Lost Future of Pepperharrow | by Natasha Pulley | I preferred the first one. |
| The Prince and the Dressmaker | by Jen Wang | Lovely story, illustrations inspired me to draw more. |
| The Watchmaker of Filigree Street | by Natasha Pulley | Didn't go where I expected, really enjoyed it. |
| The Starless Sea | by Erin Morgenster | Beautiful |
| The Leader's Guide to Unconcious Bias | by Pamela Fuller | Gave me a new lens with which to look at my relationships, at work and in life. |
| A Wrinkle in Time | by Madeleine L'Engle | A childhood favourite, picked up again. |
| The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet | by Becky Chambers | Pleasant read, episodic |
| Seveneves | by Neal Stephenson | Could've ended earlier—so I stopped early. |
| The Uncertainty Mindset | by Vaughn Tan | Changed how I look at uncertainty, not knowing, and then moving through it. |
| Contact | by Carl Sagan | |
| Mistborn | by Brandon Sanderson | It was interesting to see this author in a new world (of his making). |
| Babylon's Ashes | by James S. A. Corey | |
| Rhythm of War | by Brandon Sanderson | |
| Org Design for Design Orgs | by Merholz & Skinner | |
| Radical Candor | by Kim Scott | Good idea, but needs to be wielded properly. |
| Nemesis Games | by James S. A. Corey | |
| Cibola Burn | by James S. A. Corey | |
| Mismatch | by Kat Holmes | Had a large impact on how I think about inclusive design. |
| Fictions | by Jorge Luis Borges | “The Library of Babel” is likely my favourite. |
| Post-Truth | by Matthew D'Ancona | |
| The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist | by Adrian Tomine | Honest and lovely |
| Abaddon's Gate | by James S. A. Corey | |
| Rules of Civility | by Amor Towles | Didn't enjoy as much as “A Gentleman in Moscow” but still good. |
| Finder | by Suzanne Palmer | |
| Caliban's War | by James S. A. Corey | |
| Calypso | by David Sedaris | Always makes me smile |
| Leviathan Wakes | by James S. A. Corey | |
| The Left Hand of Darkness | by Ursula K. Le Guin | |
| A Wizard of Earthsea | by Ursula K. Le Guin |
2020
| Title | Author | Thoughts |
|---|---|---|
| The Glass Hotel | by Emily St. John Mandel | |
| The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction | by Ursula K. Le Guin | Changed how I read fiction and thought about stories. |
| The Lies of Locke Lamora | by Scott Lynch | |
| Early Risers | by Jasper Fforde | Nostalic thoughts of winter turn peculiar sense of humour. |
| The Graveyard Book | by Neil Gaiman | |
| Upheaval | by Jared Diamond | |
| Bird by Bird | by Anne Lamott | Was exactly the read I needed at the time. |
| Kingdom of Copper | by S. A. Chakraborty | |
| The Empire of Gold | by S. A. Chakraborty | Different cultural mythology from most mainstream fiction—a nice change. |
| A Sense of an Ending | by Julian Barnes | |
| Dead Astronauts | by Jeff Vandermeer | Fell off |
| Dune | by Frank Herbert | Second time read, loved it more than the first. |
| So You Want to Talk About Race | by Ijeoma Oluo | |
| Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race | by Reni Eddo-Lodge | |
| The End of All Things | by John Scalzi | |
| The Ten Thousand Doors of January | by Alix E. Harrow | Lovely, bought copies for multiple people. |
| If It Bleeds | by Stephen King | |
| Cage of Souls | by Adrian Tchaikovsky | A favourite, I've gifted it a few times now. |
| The Priory of the Orange Tree | by Samantha Shannon | Some nice changes from the usual fantasy worlds. |
| The Library of the Unwritten | by A. J. Hackwith | A unique and compelling idea. |
| Creative Confidence | by Tom Kelley | |
| The Human Division | by John Scalzi | |
| Ninth House | by Leigh Bardugo | |
| Six Wakes | by Mur Lafferty | |
| Wanderers | by Chuck Wendig | Read just as COVID-19 was coming into the news more. So many blurred lines between fiction and reality. |
| Radical Focus | by Christina Wodtke | Good to know if only to understand how others see work. But a reminder to not read books like this again. |
| Good Strategy Bad Strategy | by Richard Rumelt | Gave me the language and structure to talk about what I was seeing at work. |
| Zoe's Tale | by John Scalzi | |
| Jonathon Strange & Mr Norrell | by Susanna Clarke | Fantastic story, possibly multiple books in one. |
2019 and earlier
| Title | Author | Thoughts |
|---|---|---|
| Moby Dick | by Herman Melville | |
| The Obelisk Gate | by N. K. Jemisin | Good, but the first story was apparently enough for me. |
| The Fifth Season | by N. K. Jemisin | Truly unique story. |
| Children of Time | by Adrian Tchaikovsky | Spiders! |
| The Last Colony | by John Scalzi | |
| The Ghost Brigades | by John Scalzi | |
| Skyward | by Brandon Sanderson | |
| The Institute | by Stephen King | |
| Lock In | by John Scalzi | |
| Redshirts | by John Scalzi | This one wasn't for me. |
| The Unconsoled | by Kazuo Ishiguro | This book opened my eyes to the fact that I needed to quit my job. |
| Old Man's War | by John Scalzi | The book where I discovered John Scalzi and then needed to read everything he wrote. |
| A Gentleman in Moscow | by Amor Towles | Loved the prose. |
| Desert Solitaire | by Edward Abbey | Beautiful imagery, though some elements showed their age. |
| The Sparrow | by Mary Dorai Russell | Gripping, unsettling. |
| The Dark Forest | by Cixin Liu | Fuck. Favourite of the trilogy. |
| The Bone Clocks | by David Mitchell | When I decided I needed to read everything by David Mitchell. |
| The Name of the Wind | by Patrick Rothfuss | |
| The Bird King | by G. Willow Wilson | |
| Travels with Charley | by John Steinbeck | Wonderful, human. |
| East of Eden | by John Steinbeck | Picked this up on a trip and fell in love with the prose. |
| Thinking, Fast and Slow | by Daniel Kahneman | |
| (An incomplete list) | by |
Where I haven't included “Thoughts”, it‘s because I can‘t recall my impressions of the book.