Books

Starting from 2019, I will be adding the title of the books I’ve read to this page. Books that have an “(A)” by their name are books that I strongly recommend. Each book is linked to either their Amazon’s, KoboBooks’ or GoodReads’ page. There are no affiliate links. I am also adding the books I am currently reading and books that are in my wish-list (some of which I have already started but, for some reason, stopped).

Currently Reading

2024

  • The Brightness Between Us by Eliot Schrefer (This is the sequel to The Darkness Outside Us. In my opinion, it is not as good as the first one.);
  • All That’s Left in the World by Erik J. Brown;
  • (A) The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer (What a fantastic book. I think this one will stay with me for a long time.);
  • Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin;
  • (A) Rhythm Of War (The Stormlight Archive #4) by Brandon Sanderson (This one took me an unusually long time to finish. Halfway through, I lost interest and set it aside for over a year. When I eventually picked it up again, I pushed myself to read a few chapters, which reignited my interest in the story. While not as strong as the first two books in the series, it’s a definite improvement over the third.);
  • (A) The Will of the Many by James Islington (Amazing book. If you are into fantasy, I highly recommend this one. If you hate authority and pyramides, you will probably enjoy this book. I am eagerly awaiting for the sequel.);
  • The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson (I enjoyed this one. Lisbeth Salander is such an amazing character. Some parts are a bit too much, but a great read overall.);
  • The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (A very chill read. A “slice of life” of a spaceship crew. Reads easily and fast. It is a cozy read, not one that will “blow your socks off”.);
  • Loving-Kindness in Plain English: The Practice of Metta by Bhante Gunaratana (A good introduction to Loving-Kindness/Metta meditation, if you are completely unaware of it. A quick read.);

2023

  • Attached by Amir Levine, Rachel Heller (Having read this book, I am now a better person. I recommend reading it for adult attachment theory. Some human behaviour will now make more sense.)
  • The Love Prescription by John M. Gottman, Julie Gottman (I first heard of them by Shannon Curry on Lex Fridman’s podcast. She is awesome and kept refering the Gottmans, so I decided to read something by the source. It is a good read on relationships.);
  • The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman (A small book that should be a blog post, at most. Honestly, just a picture/diagram would suffice. What a bore.);
  • Keep Going by Austin Kleon (I am finding it interesting reading about artists. They have much to teach on how to approach creativity and procrastination and the likes.);
  • (A) Do The Work by Steven Pressfield (Comparable to his War of Art. Not as good though. This is all you need as far as self-help is concerned. Short and to the point (could still be shorter). Just do the work. Fuck resistance.);
  • Life Lessons from a Brain Surgeon by Rahul Jandial (Thanks to the popularization of medical science and the ease of accessing papers, the book had close to no new information. I posit this is a good thing. It is a good read, however, for those who don’t often read about new advancements in brain science.);
  • (A) Death’s End by Liu Cixin (Big in scope. Again, a must read for lovers of first contact. I was very slightly disappointed by the ending, it felt a bit rushed. I still find this a very good read though.);
  • Meditações by ‘Marco Aurélio’ (Portuguese translation of Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius) (Some people claim this is one of the best books ever written. I think it is one of the most overrated. The writing, at least in this translation, is very convoluted. There are some passages that are, indeed, thoughtful, though they are all pretty much the same. The interesting part is that it was written 2 thousand years ago, by a Roman Emperor. It is hard not to gain some humanity when thinking of this fact: Some guy wrote some notes and now, you, 2000 years later, read them and acknowledge that your thinking patterns and troubles remain pretty similar. I still think it’s overrated though. I resonate better with Secular Buddhism.);
  • (A) The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin (I didn’t much enjoy Three Body Problem. However, its sequel, this one, The Dark Forest, was great. I will probably jump straight to the #3 book in the series. Highly recommend this one. It is a must read for lovers of first contact.);

2022

  • Dawnshard (The Stormlight Archive #3.5) by Brandon Sanderson (I don’t really like these novellas but I must read them if I am to read the next book in the series.);
  • Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh (a (at times) funny book);
  • (A) Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight (I have not been reading much lately. This book, however, cured my reading slump. It gives us a look into the creation of Nike. It’s a fantastic story, suspenseful and cheering. A motivational page turner.)
  • Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (This is the same author of The Martian. A very easy read. Tt has a few good moments, though it didn’t move me much. I would suggest this to a more YA crowd, pre-HS even.);
  • (A) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (Another page turner. Some “hacking” parts are not believable, but I am used to fantasy and sci-fi so it didn’t bother me too much. One of the characters is awesome. However, this is not in the “wow, best book I have ever read” category. It reads easily and it is interesting. Your Sunday afternoon kind of book.);
  • (A) O Menino de Cabul by Khaled Hosseini (This is the Portuguese translation of The Kite Runner. An amazing book, one I will be recommending to pretty much everyone I know. I compare this with Flowers for Algernon. I never thought a romance could be such a page turner.);
  • (A) To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers (This is a novella (~ 150 pages) and depicts a slice of life of a team of explorers of exoplanets. It is a chill read.);
  • (A) Miracle in the Andes by Nando Parrado (The first part and the last part were not quite to my liking but the middle part was really good. I would love to grab a coffee with Nando and go through his Andes ordeal. What a story. This book has pictures in the middle. I suggest skipping those until you have read the whole book.);
  • OathBringer (The Stormlight Archive #3) by Brandon Sanderson (In my opinion, this is not as good as the first two. Still a good read though, just not as mesmerizing and shiver-inducing as the previous two.);

2021

  • EdgeDancer (The Stormlight Archive #2.5) by Brandon Sanderson (This has 270 pages and took me longer to read than the 1100 pages of the other Stormlight books.);
  • (A) Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive #2) by Brandon Sanderson (Brandon Sanderson is an amazing writer and he has done it again with this second book. At some points I prefered the first book, in others the second. Again, shiver-inducing moments throughout the book.);
  • (A) The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive #1) by Brandon Sanderson (If you like fantasy, you must read this book. If you are not sure about fantasy, I suggest reading “Mistborn” before tackling this one, since this is quite big at over 1000 pages. If you don’t hate Mistborn, read The Way of Kings. What. a. book. I am nearly speechless, having just finished it. Read it.);
  • Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield (Didn’t really enjoy this one. The War of Art, by the same author, is really good though!);
  • Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson (I am not much of a fantasy reader, though I did enjoy reading this. I have wanted to read Brandon Sanderson for a while, and decided to start with this trilogy. It is a really easy read and a page turner. Reads like a YA book. It has an interesting story-line, characters and magic system.);
  • The Stand by Stephen King (Really good book if you remove the fantasy elements. Sadly, you cannot really do that, as they start showing at around 30 %. This has the best description of a pandemic I have read in literature. I just don’t really like the kind of fantasy portraid in this book.);
  • Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (Post apocalyptic book, but a very chill one. It is character driven, no elements of fantasy whatsoever.);
  • The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (This book was not what I expected. I would probably not have picked it had I known it beforehand. Having said that, I am not sorry I did. It is very well written and a page turner. It is an adaptation of Iliad by Homer.);
  • (A) The Passage by Justin Cronin (It’s a big book, at 800 pages. Reads faster than some books half its size though, i.e., a page turner. I recommend this one.);
  • Bigger Leaner Stronger by Michael Matthews (It is a fine book, a great introduction to fitness. However, I found Michael contradicting himself a few times. Regardless, if one doesn’t know anything about fitness, one should pick this book.);
  • Vicious by V.E. Schwab;
  • The Midnight Library by Matt Haig;
  • Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky (Oliver Ready version);
  • Dune by Frank Herbert;
  • (A) Fermat’s Enigma by Simon Singh (Amazing book. Never knew the story behind Fermat’s last theorem, other than the “[…]there is not enough space in this margin” bit. Possibly one of my best reads. Riveting story!);
  • Better: A Surgeon’s Note on Performance by Atul Gawande (I am a richer person now, having read this book. Never knew, for example, of a project to vaccinate 4.2 million kids (in India, for polio) in 3 or 4 days. This is essentially a book on how healthcare became/becomes better through the ages and how to get there.);
  • (A) How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan (An interesting read for anyone interested in psychedelics, their history and their use-cases. A bit too “wordy” at times, though still a worthwhile read. However I would have preferred it being more focused on the science and less on anecdotal experiences.);

2020

2019

Prior to 2019

Books I remember reading prior to 2019.

To Read (Wish-list)

Books in this list are books I wish to read. I have already started reading some of these, however, I am not actively/currently reading them.

3883 Words

Created in 2019-04-16