Thank you to Susan Fowler and Patrick Collision who have inspired me to devote more time to reading and to create this list.
I only list books I’ve finished — books I chucked aren’t listed.
★★ is Not Great. The ending didn't redeem it and can't recommend.
★★1/2 Okay, didn't do it for me.
★★★ Enjoyable & overall yes recommendation.
★★★1/2 Very Good, strong recommendation.
★★★★ In Love.
I'm better these days about chucking books I am not feeling.
To quote Tyler Cowen,
"People feel compelled to finish books they started. That's just a tax on your reading. Why would you do that to yourself?"
1. Dear Life, by Alice Munro ★★★1/2
2. The Burnout Society, by Byung-Chul Han ★★1/2
3. My Brillant Friend, by Elena Ferrante ★★★★
4. Too Much Happiness, by Alice Munro ★★★★
5. Saving Beauty, by Byung-Chul Han ★★
6. Authentically Black, by John McWhorter ★★★1/2
7. The Birth (and Death) of the Cool, by Ted Gioia ★★★
8. Getting Things Done, by David Allen ★★★★
9. Grokking Deep Learning, by Andrew W. Trask ★★★★
10. Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls, by David Sedaris ★★★★
11. Hackers and Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age, by Paul Graham ★★★★
12. Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English, by John McWhorter ★★★
13. Talent: How to Identify Energizers, Creatives, and Winners Around the World, by Tyler Cowen and Daniel Gross ★★★★
14. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, by Frederick Douglass ★★★★
15. A Good Man is Hard to Find, by Flannery O'Connor ★★★★
16. The Practicing Mind, by Thomas Sterner ★★★★
17. Runaway, by Alice Monroe ★★★★
18. Letters to a Young Contrarian, by Christopher Hitchens ★★★1/2
19. Ego is the Enemy, by Ryan Holiday ★★★★
20. Show Your Work, by Austin Kleon ★★★
21. Steal Like an Artist, by Austin Kleon ★★★
1. Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism, by Anne Applebaum ★★★1/2
2. 10% Less Democracy, by Garett Jones ★★★
3. Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang, by Chelsea Handler ★★★
4. My Horizontal Life, by Chelsea Handler ★★★1/2
5. The Charisma Myth, by Olivia Fox Cabane ★★★
6. When You Are Engulfed in Flames, by David Sedaris ★★★1/2
7. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut ★★★
8. My Dark Vanessa, by Kate Elizabeth Russell ★★★★
9. Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov ★★★1/2
10. Is This Anything? By Jerry Seinfeld ★★★
11. What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat, by Aubrey Gordon ★★★1/2
12. Influence, by Robert Cialdini ★★★
13. China in Ten Words, by Yu Hua ★★★★
14. Black Magic: What Black Leaders Learned from Trauma and Triumph, by Chad Sanders ★★★1/2
15. Ultralearning, by Scott Young ★★★
16. Anagrams, by Lorrie Morre ★★★1/2
17. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson ★★★1/2
18. Birds of America, by Lorrie Morre ★★★1/2
19. Thick: And Other Essays, by Tressie McMillan Cottom ★★★
20. Lords of the North, by Bernard Cornwell ★★★★
21. The Manager's Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change, by Camille Fournier ★★★1/2
22. How to Train Your Mind: Exploring the Productivity Benefits of Meditation, by Chris Bailey ★★★
23. Effortless, by Greg McKeown ★★★
24. Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy, by Cathy O'Neil ★★★1/2
25. Jesus and John Wayne: How Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, by Kristin Kobes Du Mez ★★★1/2
26. Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter: Then, Now, and Forever, by John McWhorter ★★★★
27. Talking Back, Talking Black, by John McWhorter ★★★
28. Studying with Miss Bishop: Memoirs from a Young Writer's Life, by Dana Gioia ★★★
29. Self-Help, by Lorrie Moore ★★★
30. On Directing Film, by David Mamet ★★★
31. In Order To Live, by Park Yeon-mi with Maryanne Vollers ★★★1/2
32. This Is Your Mind on Plants, by Michael Pollan ★★★
33. Fluent Forever, by Gabriel Wyner ★★★★
34. Crying in H Mart, by Michelle Zauner ★★★
35. The Stuff of Thought, by Steven Pinker ★★1/2
36. Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, by Alice Munro ★★★★
37. Life Itself, by Roger Ebert ★★★1/2
38. Survival of the City: Living and Thriving in an Age of Isolation, by Edward Glaeser, David Cutler ★★★1/2
39. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, by Milan Kundera ★★★★
40. Frientimacy, by Shasta Nelson ★★★★
1. Milkman, by Anna Burns ★★★
2. The Vegetarian, by Han Kang ★★1/2
3. The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen ★★★
4. Heart of a Dog, by Mikhail Bulgakov ★★1/2
5. Tonight I'm Someone Else, by Chelsea Hodson ★★★1/2
6. The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath ★★★1/2
7. Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriett Beecher Stowe ★★★1/2
8. Whistleblower, by Susan Fowler ★★★
9. Atomic Habits, by James Still ★★★
10. Say Nothing, by Patrick Radden Keefe ★★★1/2
11. Uncanny Valley, by Anna Wiener ★★
12. Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel ★★
13. Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction, by Patricia Highsmith ★★★
14. Calypso, by David Sedaris ★★★1/2
15. The First Bad Man, By Miranda July ★★★★
16. Severance, by Ling Ma ★★
17. Fates and Furies, by Lauren Groff ★★★★
18. White Fragility, by Robin DiAngelo ★★★1/2
19. The Toyota Way, by Jeffrey Liker ★★★
20. Circe, by Madeline Miller ★★★★
21. Florida, by Lauren Groff ★★★★
22. The Obstacle is the Way, by Ryan Holiday ★★★
23. How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, by Scott Adams ★★★1/2
24. Girl, Decoded: A Scientist's Quest to Reclaim Our Humanity by Bringing Emotional Intelligence to Technology, by Rana el Kaliouby ★★★1/2
25. The Enchiridion, by Epictetus ★★★★
26. Are you there, Vodka? It's me, Chelsea, by Chelsea Handler ★★★★
27. The Inner Game of Tennis, by Timothy Gallwey ★★★★
28. It Chooses You, by Miranda July ★★★★
29. Loserthink, by Scott Adams ★★★1/2
30. Win Bigly, by Scott Adams ★★★
31. Hitch-22 by Christopher Hitchens ★★★
32. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett ★★1/2
33. 1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West, by Roger Crowley ★★★
34. The Pale Horseman, by Bernard Cornwell ★★★★
35. Thinking of Answers: Questions in the Philosophy of Everyday Life, by A.C. Grayling ★★★
36. The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver ★★★★
37. Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration, by Bryan Caplan and Zach Weinersmith ★★★★
38. Free Will, by Sam Harris ★★★★
39. Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, by Caroline Criado-Perez ★★★
40. Theft by Finding: Diaries (1977 - 2002), by David Sedaris ★★★1/2
41. Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now, by Jaron Lanier ★★★★
42. The Life Changing Manga of Tidying up, by Marie Kondo ★★★1/2
43. Solutions and Other Problems, by Allie Brosh ★★★★
44. How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed, by Slavenka Drakulic ★★★★ (I didn't laugh once reading this)
45. Me Talk Pretty One Day, by David Sedaris, ★★★1/2
46. The Refugees, by Viet Thanh Nguyen ★★★
47. Hold Me Tight, by Sue Johnson ★★★★
48. The Global Citizen, by Donella H. Meadows ★★★★
49. The Gifts of Imperfection, by Brene Brown ★★★1/2
50. Three Uses of The Knife, by David Mamet ★★★1/2
51. The Wife's Tale: A Personal History, by Aida Edemariam ★★1/2
52. Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius ★★★
53. The Magic of Thinking Big, by David J. Schwartz ★★★
54. Heartburn, by Nora Ephron ★★★
55. The Alchemist: A Graphic Novel, by Paulo Coelho and Derek Ruiz ★★1/2
56. Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids: Why Being a Great Parent is Less Work and More Fun Than You Think, by Bryan Caplan ★★★
57. The Case Against Education: Why the Education System Is a Waste of Time and Money, by Bryan Caplan ★★★1/2
1. Thinking in Systems: A Primer, by Donella H. Meadows ★★★★
2. Born a Crime, by Trever Noah ★★★1/2
3. Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China, by Evan Osnos ★★★★
4. An Elegant Puzzle: Systems of Engineering Management, by Will Larson ★★★1/2
5. The Cowshed: Memories of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, by Ji Xianlin ★★★★
6. Educated, by Tara Westover ★★★★
7. The Last Kingdom, by Bernard Cornwell ★★★★
8. Stubborn Attachments, by Tyler Cowen ★★★