Books Read 2022

[coopasonic]

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
After seeing the show last year, I wanted to read this and... that was not what I expected. It's an interesting book and makes me want to watch Wizard of Oz again and see Wicked again. On the other hand, I don't see myself reading the rest of the series.

[YellowKing]

I finished The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery. It's a non-fiction account of the author's experiences with various octopuses (not octopi, as the book points out) at an aquarium.

It was interesting and I learned a lot about them, but it was hard for me to share the same....passion...she does for them. I think octopuses are really cool, I don't know if I'd ever get to the point where I'd cry if one died.

Still if you're interested in them it's a neat angle in which to learn more. Not from a dry, scientific view, but from the perspective of someone who just really loves and is fascinated by animals and the connections they have to the humans that interact with them.

[Scuzz]

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
After seeing the show last year, I wanted to read this and... that was not what I expected. It's an interesting book and makes me want to watch Wizard of Oz again and see Wicked again. On the other hand, I don't see myself reading the rest of the series.

My daughters had read the books before we saw the play. This is by Maguire? The second book made my oldest dislike the author for reasons I can’t remember.

[msteelers]

I've been on a bit of an audiobook kick lately.

Who Not How by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy. The basic premise of this is that instead of asking "how" we can do something, we should be asking "who" can help us do it. This is largely targeted toward business owners and leaders. A lot of it boils down to knowing when to pay someone to help you out. That can be a bit of a challenge if you feel like you can't afford to pay! But for small business owners or people with a side hustle, I think this book can help flip the switch from thinking of paying people to help you as an expense and more as an investment. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, even if it's not for everyone.

The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel. It's a well-written book that, at its core, wants you to spend less and invest more. I had heard all of the basic information in this before, though the anecdotes were new to me. I'm still probably going to go out and buy a PS5 and a new TV sometime soon, with money I definitely shouldn't be spending. So... as much as I enjoyed the book it doesn't look like it made a big impact on my spending habits.

The End Is Always Near by Dan Carlin. This is essentially one long episode of Hardcore History. Actually... it's probably more like one short episode of Hardcore History. His episodes can go on and on for several hours. I keep coming back to this book and his podcast episode about nuclear weapons. Not a great combo if you want to feel better about the world.

I think the next book I'm going to be listening to is Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America by Jeff Ryan.

[Jeff V]

I think the next book I'm going to be listening to is Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America by Jeff Ryan.

I'll have to see if my library has that one...my son would be interested. How the hell I have a child interested in ancient games that never interested ME I cannot comprehend...

[msteelers]

I think the next book I'm going to be listening to is Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America by Jeff Ryan.

I'll have to see if my library has that one...my son would be interested. How the hell I have a child interested in ancient games that never interested ME I cannot comprehend...

It's available through Audible if it isn't through your library. I'm only a few chapters in, but I'm enjoying it so far. It doesn't spend a ton of time going through the company's history. It kind of picks right up with Nintendo getting into video games and trying to crack the American market.

[Jeff V]

I think the next book I'm going to be listening to is Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America by Jeff Ryan.

I'll have to see if my library has that one...my son would be interested. How the hell I have a child interested in ancient games that never interested ME I cannot comprehend...

It's available through Audible if it isn't through your library. I'm only a few chapters in, but I'm enjoying it so far. It doesn't spend a ton of time going through the company's history. It kind of picks right up with Nintendo getting into video games and trying to crack the American market.

Thanks, you reminded me to actually look for it.

That reminds me, I was meaning to get my son a copy of the history of Pac-Man book (he's been obsessed with Pac-Man -- another game I never cared for, since age 3). A couple of pages are dedicated to the artist, who is a friend of mine (one I've not seen in years). I offered to take him out for a beer if he signs the book and he agreed. Now I just need to get the book!

[Blackhawk]

Winter's Heart (Book 9 of The Wheel of Time)
Robert Jordan

I enjoyed reading it, but this one spent a whole lot of time going nowhere. Luckily, the infamous mid-Wheel slump is supposed to pick up and resume it's pace after book 10.

[YellowKing]

I completed my goal of reading 52 books this year, a challenge I try every year and have, until now, failed to accomplish. I think I’ll shoot for 60 in 2023.

[Hipolito]

I completed my goal of reading 52 books this year, a challenge I try every year and have, until now, failed to accomplish. I think I’ll shoot for 60 in 2023.

Congrats! I finished 24 books this year, fewer than last year's 33. But for me, I think 24 will be a good goal to stick with year to year.

Because I've been buying books faster than I can finish them (like with games), I've resolved not to buy any books in 2023 unless 1) I need them for book club or 2) they're part of a series I'm already reading. Of course, I've made some end-of-year book purchases to "tide me over."

And my 24th and final book this year is:



The Sandman, Volume 2: The Doll's House by Neil Gaiman (paperback + audiobook): I read the comic while listening to the Amazon-exclusive audiobook. It was a somewhat awkward experience, as the two don't match 100%. But the audiobook enhanced the reading experience and helped me understand the comic better.

I like this volume more than Volume 1. Although I think the show is still better, it made some changes and omissions that I wish it hadn't. The story of the vortex, in particular, makes more sense and is more profound in the book than in the show. 6 out of 8 tavern rendezvous.

[Jaymann]

My approach for the new year is not to buy any more books until I finish the ones I have. Exception for books I start but don't like. I have several I want to read but just haven't gotten to.

[Jeff V]

I completed my goal of reading 52 books this year, a challenge I try every year and have, until now, failed to accomplish. I think I’ll shoot for 60 in 2023.

One would think that spending the day in the car would be conducive to record-setting audiobook consumption. However, the Uber drive app has one extremely annoying eccentricity -- when bluetooth is enabled, it does not make a sound when a new ride comes in. I rely heavily on the audio part of that app -- if I miss incoming rides, my acceptance rating goes down and that is not good. So I can only listen to books when I'm offline for the day (maybe 20-30 minutes on my way home). The current book I started almost 2 weeks ago is 35 hours long, I'm about 20% done with it turning into a pumpkin in 2 more days.

[Hipolito]

I like the tier list videos on YouTube, where people rank various things. Below I've made a non-video tier list of the books I read in 2022. The higher a book's tier, the more I like it. Also, within a tier, the more to the left the book is, the more I like it. Click on a book to read my thoughts on it!

[Blackhawk]

I like the tier list videos on YouTube, where people rank various things. Below I've made a non-video tier list of the books I read in 2022. The higher a book's tier, the more I like it. Also, within a tier, the more to the left the book is, the more I like it. Click on a book to read my thoughts on it!

I don't know if you can share images direclty from Dropbox or not, but if so, your linking method doesn't work. They may show for you if they're in your cache, but this is what I see:

[Hipolito]

I like the tier list videos on YouTube, where people rank various things. Below I've made a non-video tier list of the books I read in 2022. The higher a book's tier, the more I like it. Also, within a tier, the more to the left the book is, the more I like it. Click on a book to read my thoughts on it!

I don't know if you can share images direclty from Dropbox or not, but if so, your linking method doesn't work. They may show for you if they're in your cache, but this is what I see:

That's odd. Thanks for letting me know. I've been posting images directly from Dropbox by replacing "dl=0" with "raw=1" in the image URLs. The images do work for me when I look at my posts from browsers that don't have the images in cache, so I'm not sure why they're not showing up for you.

[Isgrimnur]

Probably an ad-blocker issue.

[Hipolito]

Thanks, Isgrimnur. Blackhawk, you were able to see the image I posted here, so maybe you changed settings since then.

[El Guapo]

Thanks, Isgrimnur. Blackhawk, you were able to see the image I posted here, so maybe you changed settings since then.

FWIW I can see them. Pretty cool - looks like you did that manually? Seems time consuming - I wish there was an easy way to put together a cool tiered ranking like this.

[El Guapo]

The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors (audio book) by Dan Jones.

I've been meaning to read more about the Wars of the Roses since I read how much George RR Martin was inspired by them when writing Game of Thrones. So I picked this up - pretty interesting and entertaining bit of history, I have to say. Does suffer from the same problem that Game of Thrones did, in that there are just a ton of people involved, and whenever the Earl of Sussex or whoever shows up I'm always like "wait, who is that guy? Is that the same Earl that did that other thing the other chapter?" So a bit hard to keep things straight, but I followed enough to get the basic story. Worth checking out if you're interested.

[Hipolito]

Thanks, Isgrimnur. Blackhawk, you were able to see the image I posted here, so maybe you changed settings since then.

FWIW I can see them. Pretty cool - looks like you did that manually? Seems time consuming - I wish there was an easy way to put together a cool tiered ranking like this.

Thanks, Guapo. I did do it manually, and it was time-consuming because for some reason BBCode kept slipping in these unwanted carriage returns. Took a lot of experimental editing to get it right.

Soooo .... anyone want to start this year's thread?

[Kurth]

Just finished Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel. Not sure exactly what it was about this book, but I loved it. The author also wrote Station 11, which I understand is now an HBO series. I'm going to pick that one up as well.

[YellowKing]

Created the 2023 thread! Happy reading all!

[Jolor]

Crap, I’ve been catching up on this thread and just saw a post mentioning that the Kingkiller Chronicle by Rothfuss is not finished?!

Dammit, I just started getting into the first book recently! Should I stop reading?

I would keep going, as the two books are great. But with a 12 year gap after the second one that may be finis.

i didn't get the hype on this one. should have never bothered.

I just stumbled across the author's wiki page...this is now being positioned as a duology with supporting novella and short stories set in the same world.

[Jaymann]

Crap, I’ve been catching up on this thread and just saw a post mentioning that the Kingkiller Chronicle by Rothfuss is not finished?!

Dammit, I just started getting into the first book recently! Should I stop reading?

I would keep going, as the two books are great. But with a 12 year gap after the second one that may be finis.

i didn't get the hype on this one. should have never bothered.

I just stumbled across the author's wiki page...this is now being positioned as a duology with supporting novella and short stories set in the same world.

What a stinking cop out. I still maintain he needs to commission Sanderson to finish it.

Edit: Plus no king killing and no chronicles.

[Carpet_pissr]

Has anyone read ‘Sapiens’ by Yuval Noah Harari? I’m about to finish and I think it’s fantastic. Every Homo sapiens should read it!