Looking at my list, I read a lot of books. And most of them I remembered, which is probably a good thing? Means that the books left an impression on me, at least. Check out Part 1 of my roundup here. And yes, unless specified, most of the books I’m reading are fairly old. I’m trying to catch up on my TBR list. 😀
20 books on this list… and counting
Continuing the list of books I recorded in Google Forms (list should start from 15 but I’m too lazy to format it so it’ll start at 1 instead):
- Paladin’s Strength by T Kingfisher
This was a very light and fluffy romance. It was much-needed fluff after the heaviness of the previous books I read. The only thing was that this was actually book 3 in the series and I had only read book 1, so I was missing a lot of context here. T Kingfisher went quite big in this book and I really loved it. - Paladin’s Grace by T Kingfisher
This was book 1, and I reread it while waiting for book 2 to be available. There were a lot of people in front of me in the library, so I thought I might as well reread the old ones first to refresh my memory. It was a really delightful read. - Summer Sisters by Judy Blume
I’d heard a lot about Blume, so I decided to give this a try. It was quite interesting, although depressing at times. This was… a delicately made piece, and I really love the intricacies of it all. It was also a very huge departure for me to not read any spec fic, and well, it was an interesting ride. - Lightbringer Series by Brent Weeks
Saw someone mentioned him on my timeline and I decided to look up the series after not having read it in years. I had read the first book, The Black Prism ages ago after reading the Night Angel trilogy, but didn’t wait for the sequels. As it turns out, that was a good idea, because by the time I finished Book 5 I was ready to throw the whole thing into the metaphorical fire. It’s basically the Parable of the Prodigal Son, but in a much more heavy-handed fashion. Absolutely did not like it. If you like it, then by all means, please do, but I don’t think I want to read him again. - Ghost Brigade by John Scalzi
Was reminded that this was a sequel to Old Man’s War, and I realised by this time I was probably… overdosing myself on fiction (and we were only in May, according to my records!). It took me some time (think several weeks) before I continued reading, and looking back at my Libby records, I had a lot of books that I borrowed and returned them because I was not in the right frame of mind to read. - Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi
Now this… this was a book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. Escapist fiction for me, and I really love the subtle blend of reality and fantasy/science-fiction in this. Highly recommended, this was quite a nice and easy way for me to slow down my reading and become more mindful of what I was consuming and why. - Sandman: Prelude and Nocturne by Neil Gaiman
I will… just copy paste my impressions, because really, it says it all: I can see why this book and series is considered to be a classic. Even after all these years the storytelling, the subject matter, that hint of familiarity and not… it is a really great series. I adore Death. There are some notes which are very clearly “product of his time kind of thinking”, but I have faith in Gaiman as a human being that this has changed. It makes me adore Death in Pratchett’s books even more. - Who Moved My Cheese? By Spencer Johnson
Yup, I finally read the number 1 most recommended MLM book. And I was actually very surprised by how fast I got through it. Literally less than 1 hour to read, but it is the kind of book that stays with you. I was, I think, in the right place to read it, because it said what I suspected was lurking in my thoughts about myself but I didn’t want to confront. I would not recommend people to buy it, but it is worth looking through the parable itself. - Zoe’s Tale by John Scalzi
I’ll let my copy paste do the talking, but overall I liked this book a lot: This was a surprisingly easy read which I didn’t expect. Because it’s written in a parallel plot with the previous book, it was very easy to get into and sort of spoils the other. I think I can probably skip book 3 and jump straight to book 5 (which I did later on when I finally got to borrow the books). - Moshi Moshi by Banana Yoshimoto
I abandoned this halfway because the parallels to my own life were too stark and painful, and I realised that I was still not ready to confront them. It was still quite an interesting book to read though. Second DNF of the year. - Good Girls, Bad Ends compiled by Atelier Arcadia
This was a book I picked up at CAFKL and it was simply gorgeous. I loved the mix of stories and illustrations, but I wished there were more space for stories to tell the illustrations (there were more pictures than text, though I think I know why). Beautiful mix though. - Sandman: The Doll House
This was a depressingly hard book to get through. Looking at my notes, I think the issue for me was that I found it hard to get through the plot – it was not what I was looking for, nor what I expected (I tend to go in blind in most of these books, so yes, they are clouded by my own perception, and is NOT THE FAULT OF THE AUTHOR/CREATOR) but I did have some issues with this, particularly the sexual assault. Chalking this one up to the “product of the times” again, but you can see both the evolution of style and storytelling in this. I probably won’t revisit this particular edition but I don’t think it should be burned either. - Deep Work by Cal Newport
This was… a very dense book to get through. It’s one of those books that I think I will need to do multiple read-throughs, because it is dense and full of ideas that make me challenge the way I do things. I don’t think I really “enjoyed” this book per se, but it’s like eating a good salad for me – it makes me mindful of the things I eat and while it’s not the first thing I’d choose on a menu, it is something I enjoy occasionally. That said, this was also the book that got me started on exploring Zettelkasten and similar Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) systems (you have no idea how much my brain wanted to call it Pokemon instead). - The Last Colony by John Scalzi
This was supposed to be book 3 before Zoe’s tale, but yeah guess who decided to jump into book 4 instead first. In any case, getting into this was a bit hard because I had thoroughly messed up the sequence in my own head, but it was still an enjoyable read. It was also a very good entry into my next bout of books. - The Human Division by John Scalzi
This was a little hard for me to get into, but it was less about the writing and more about the format it was presented in (aka in a series of short stories). I did enjoy the stories themselves, but the jumping reminded me a lot of watching TV shows – like reading a weekly TV show in action. Takes place in the same universe but the main characters are NOT the Perry family – it’s a new one entirely, hence the short story format. - The End of All Things by John Scalzi
This is the final book (yay!) in the series, and while I actually enjoy reading them, looking at my words now, I don’t really enjoy writing about them because I find myself repeating the same points hahaha. It was a very solid end to the book though, but it was also a very American style of storytelling. This was something John himself is aware of and points out, and considering the book came out in 2015, I’m going to let it pass. His newer books (see Kaiju Preservation Society up there) showcase his evolution and sensitivity as a writer. Truly one of the better ones. - This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
This was a meme book, in the sense it went viral due to a meme. But. BUT. BUT!!!! Holy crap was it so good! It was so beautifully written, so full of yearning, so full of complexity, but also so full of pain and suffering and desire and… there’s too many words for this, I simply adore this book. Reading this now, yeah I think I can say it – Read of the Year for me. I absolutely loved it. - Out of the Maze by Spencer Johnson (published posthumously)
This was a book I was actually surprised by. Most self-help books/YouTube videos only focus on giving people generic advice and vague platitudes (and in the case of the first book, naming only the problem). Out of the Maze, on the other hand, actually gave concrete examples that invites the reader to think about how to actually apply the advice. Very often it’s easy to tell people where they need to change but not how they can go about it, especially if it’s something never tried before. I was actually very surprised by how practical it was in a way (and it would explain why it was not a compulsory follow up in most lists). I finished this in 20 minutes according to Libby. - Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim
This was the next series of stories set in the same world as Spin The Dawn. It is technically a prequel, but Elizabeth Lim’s storytelling improved tremendously compared to her first series, and this was a much easier read for me. I loved how she retold the story of the Cranes and the bond between stepmother and stepdaughter was both heartbreaking and tender at the same time. I got this as a physical book and read the sequel as an ebook. - Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
This was recommended by the stationery Discord group I was in, and I was really surprised. It was a very gentle and comforting read, like sitting down in a nice armchair with a hot cup of drink while it rains outside and you’re with a book you like. Reads more like a compilation of short stories that take place in a specific coffee shop, but I like them. It deals with grief and loss and yet brings you out of it, comforted and changed.
And that’s part 2! This is the end of the books I remembered to track in my Google Form, and it ended in September, but I remember reading a lot more in October and December, so yes, there will be a part 3 sobs lol.