Books read in 2024 Q1

I can’t believe it is one week into April already. Happy to report that I am on track to reach my book reading goal this year by finishing 13 books in Q1. This is a much better start compared to last year. 🙂

Here are the 2024 Q1 books:

1. Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami
2. The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
3. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
4. The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan
5. Thunderstruck by Erik Larson
6. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
7. The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann
8. It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover
9. Tell No One by Harlan Coben
10. The Guest List by Lucy Foley
11. Trust by Hernan Diaz
12. Stone Cold by David Baldacci
13. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Seems this list leans heavily on fictions. Seven out of the thirteen authors are familiar to me, and their books meet my expectations. #3 is remarkable and I really enjoy the story. #6 is a classic and has been on my to-read list for years – happy to have finished it before my visit to Columbia in March. #11 has a captivating and unique structure.

Hopefully I will keep the momentum and stay on track every quarter. Too many books, too little time.

Books read in 2023 Q4

Year 2023 is history now. Happy to report that I completed my goal of 50 books around 8pm on December 31st. My reading progress was rather uneven over the course of the year, with 8 books in Q1, 13 in Q2, 14 in Q3, and 15 in Q4.

Here is the list of 15 books from the past three months.

1. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
2. The Stranger in the Lifeboat by Mitch Albom
3. Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks
4. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany by William L. Shirer
5. Lost in the Valley of Death: A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas by Harley Rustad
6. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
7. And the Angels Were Silent: Walking with Christ toward the Cross by Max Lucado
8. Twisted Prey by John Sandford
9. Deal Breaker by Harlan Coben
10. Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
11. The People We Keep by Allison Larkin
12. Ringworld by Larry Niven
13. The Kingdom by Jo Nesbø
14. The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
15. The Naked Face by Sidney Sheldon

Amidst a blend of genres encompassing classics, spirituality, history, science, and fiction, #1, #4, #6, and #10 stand out as remarkable and powerful. Most others are fine except for #9 (I don’t like the heroes), #11 (I don’t like the heroine), and #15 (boring). I tried to come up with top 3 or top 5 for the year but found it rather difficult due to the wide variety of subjects.

Looking forward to a new year of reading from authors both familiar and new. Hopefully my 2024 Q1 won’t be 4 books behind schedule again, but it might be challenging with a trip already scheduled for late March. Will see how it goes! I am not mentioning those hopeless half-finished books anymore. 🙂

Books read in 2023 Q3

This quarter’s book report is late again. I just returned from an emotional but rewarding 2-week trip to China. It has been four years since I visited last time. A lot has changed since then – the family, the city, the country, and the world. Books are oasis to keep me calm and give me pleasure. It is always beneficial to learn more about history and nature and different people’s stories.

I’m glad to report that this quarter covers 14 books, and the annual goal is still achievable with only 15 more to go. 🙂

1. Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie
2. In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom by Yeonmi Park
3. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
4. Desert Star by Michael Connelly
5. The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine by A.W. Tozer
6. The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli
7. My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry by Fredrik Backman
8. An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong
9. Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked by Adam Alter
10. Weirdos from Another Planet! by Bill Watterson
11. Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
12. Dragon Teeth by Michael Crichton
13. The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz
14. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Diverse genres and authors on the list as usual, most of them meet my expectations. Quite a few (8) familiar authors. My top 3 favorites are #3, #8, and #13, each good in its own way. #2 is not very credible, #9 is a good reminder, and the classic #11 is interesting.

Definitely need to pick up those half-finished books now…

Books read in 2023 Q2

Now that the July 4th holiday week is over, I finally get a chance to report on my reading progress in Q2. I caught up a tiny bit by finishing 13 books, but still quite behind on reaching the annual goal of 50. And ten days have gone by already in the second half of the year…

1. The Stranger by Albert Camus
2. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
3. The Color of Rain: How Two Families Found Faith, Hope, and Love in the Midst of Tragedy by Michael Spehn and Gina Spehn
4. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
5. Code Name Hélène by Ariel Lawhon
6. The Things We Make: The Unknown History of Invention from Cathedrals to Soda Cans by Bill Hammack
7. Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Paul Scharre
8. Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
9. The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
10. 苏东坡传 (The Life and Times of Su Tungpo) by 林语堂 (Lin Yutang)
11. Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience by Brené Brown
12. Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic by Simon Winchester
13. A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe by Mark Dawidziak

Quite diverse topics and authors on the list, and more than half of the books are non-fiction. All of them are more or less good and I don’t regret reading any of them. #4 has an interesting twist. #5 is based on a true story. Everyone is talking about AI nowadays, so it is good to learn from #7, and to some extent, #8. Shortly after I finished #12, I attended an event to hear the author discuss this book in person. #13 motivates me to visit his house and museum in Baltimore soon.

21 books down, 29 to go. The next two quarters should each carry 14 or 15 books. Time to perhaps turn to those half-finished books…

Books read in 2023 Q1

In my last book report of 2022 Q4, I wrote “The positive side is, some of the half-finished books that I planned to finish in 2022 remain half-finished, which means I might have an easy start of 2023. That said, several books on my immediate to-read list are quite long. Let’s see how Q1 will pan out.”

Okay, here is how Q1 panned out: half-finished books remain half-finished, and I am four books behind schedule. 😦

Here are the eight 2023 Q1 books:

1. Fairy Tale by Stephen King
2. The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans
3. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
4. Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor by Virginia Eubanks
5. ‘Tis: A Memoir by Frank McCourt
6. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
7. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott
8. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Stephen King didn’t disappoint. #3 and #7 are classics and I am glad that I finally read them. Here is my review on Goodreads for #4: “High-tech tools don’t do those things in the subtitle, humans do. Try to address the poverty problem at the sources instead of blaming the tools.” #6 is remarkable and #8 is great fun. I actually finished #8 only today but decided to add it to the Q1 list. 🙂

With the upcoming trip and foreseeable busy schedule at work, I am not sure how much I can catch up in Q2. Will try and hope for a better report in 3 months!

Books read in 2022 Q4

Happy New Year!

Already a week into 2023, I finally get a chance to write the overdue Q4 book report of year 2022.

At the time of my Q3 report, I was two books behind schedule. Sadly, I wasn’t able to catch up and ended the year with two books short of the goal of 50. Several things distracted/affected me – a wonderful Tanzania safari trip and nice holiday visits, but also worrying about my family’s health and other challenges back in China. The positive side is, some of the half-finished books that I planned to finish in 2022 remain half-finished, which means I might have an easy start of 2023. That said, several books on my immediate to-read list are quite long. Let’s see how Q1 will pan out.

Here are the 2022 Q4 books:

1. 芳华 (Youth) by 严歌苓 (Geling Yan)
2. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
3. Recursion by Blake Crouch
4. The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles
5. Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention- and How to Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari
6. The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward by Daniel H. Pink
7. Night Prey by John Sandford
8. The God of the Way: A Journey into the Stories, People, and Faith That Changed the World Forever by Kathie Lee Gifford and Jason Sobel
9. Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man’s Fight for Justice by Bill Browder
10. Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance
11. Maus II: A Survivor’s Tale: And Here My Troubles Began by Art Spiegelman
12. Worthy of Their Esteem: The Timeless Words and Sage Advice of Abraham Lincoln by Iain C. Martin
13. The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek

There are more non-fictions than fictions on this list. All of them are good in their own way. In addition to the classic #2, my top three would be #3, #5, and #9. Actually #6 and #13 were quite insightful and enjoyable as well, so let’s make it top five.

Okay, time to jump back into Stephen King’s remarkable Fairy Tale… likely the first (long) book I will finish in 2023…

Books read in 2022 Q3

Time flies! I can’t believe it is October already. It feels like winter though – these past few days I have been resisting the idea of turning on the heat in my house. But I did get a hot drink at Starbucks today instead of the usual iced coffee.

At the moment there are many challenges and uncertainties in the world, but the book world calms me down. My reading kept a steady pace this past quarter, meaning I’m still two books behind schedule. With 11 more books finished, I now only need 15 to reach my goal of 50 for the year. It actually is not as difficult as it sounds, given how many half-finished books there are. 🙂

Here are the Q3 books:

1. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
2. The Thirst by Jo Nesbø
3. Land: How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World by Simon Winchester
4. The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown
5. 康熙大帝：夺宫初政 (Kangxi Emperor) by 二月河 (Er Yuehe)
6. Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman
7. Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes Du Mez
8. 沉默的大多数 (The Silent Majority) by 王小波 (Wang Xiaobo)
9. Da Vinci’s Ghost: Genius, Obsession, and How Leonardo Created the World in His Own Image by Toby Lester
10. The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side by Agatha Christie
11. Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton

I liked all of them, some more than others. #4 was very inspiring and I learned a lot about rowing. #7 provided great insights and answered my question of why many Christians supported Trump. #8 is a remarkable collection of essays by one of my favorite authors.

Time to read. I finished a book today, 14 to go! Stay tuned for the next report of 15 books that I am going to finish before year 2022 ends…

Books read in 2022 Q2

The second book report of the year is now overdue by two weeks. The main reason was that I was busy touring Iceland for 10 days, my first major trip since the fall of 2019. I had such a wonderful time and experience in the land of fire and ice, with 24 hours daylight everyday. Then, almost to be expected, I have been recovering from COVID since I returned home a few days ago. No regrets though!

I finished 13 books in the past three months, bringing the total to 24 for the year. Still two books behind schedule but shouldn’t be too hard to catch up.

1. The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
2. The Judge’s List by John Grisham
3. Tomie by Junji Ito
4. NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity by Steve Silberman
5. Simple Truth by David Baldacci
6. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
7. Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It by Ethan Kross
8. 白银时代 by 王小波 (Wang Xiaobo)
9. The Overstory by Richard Powers
10. Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
11. The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn
12. Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman
13. Smoke Screen by Terri Blackstock

An interesting mix of books and quite a few remarkable ones on this list – #1, #6, #11 are my top three likes. I tend to read from different authors and try to avoid multiple books from the same author in any given year.

Amid all the challenges the world is facing, there is always wisdom, knowledge, and peace in books. So far my average book length in 2022 is 387 pages. Will see what the next quarter brings. 🙂

P.S., I don’t feel particularly articulate at the moment – guess it’s time to go back to sleep.

Books read in 2022 Q1

The first three months of 2022 have been eventful with many challenges and tragedies in the world. Let’s not lose hope, help where we can, and cherish the moments of joy in our daily lives. As promised, I read at an even pace and resume publishing quarterly book lists this year.

Here are the eleven books I finished in the past three months.

1. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
2. South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami
3. Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
4. Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World by Vivek H. Murthy
5. The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
6. Billy Summers by Stephen King
7. The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny
8. The Eight by Katherine Neville
9. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
10. Thinner by Richard Bachman
11. The Last Flight by Julie Clark

There is only one non-fiction (#4) on this list, which is quite unusual for me. Part of it was due to my effort to clear the bookshelves, but I suspect a bigger part was to escape from the real events and relax in the fictional worlds. #6 and #9 were remarkable – both of them made me cry. Actually, looking at this list again, I’m not so sure about the “relax” part. Each of these books was “heavy” in its own way. Oh well.

Now I am one book behind schedule, but there are a few good ones close to finish. Stay tuned for the next report. In the meantime, stay safe and healthy.

Books read in 2021 Nov-Dec

Wish we all a happy New Year full of joy, peace, and good health!

Glad to report that I did accomplish my goal of reading 50 books in 2021, with 50 minutes to spare. 🙂 It helped that we got a full week off work and I took a few vacation days before that. I managed to catch up from as many as five books behind schedule but it wasn’t easy. I will try to pace myself better in 2022!

Here are the twelve books I finished in the past two months.

1. The Burial Hour by Jeffery Deaver
2. Desperation by Stephen King
3. Why Fish Don’t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller
4. How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny
5. Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most by Greg McKeown
6. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
7. Nearing Home: Life, Faith, and Finishing Well by Billy Graham
8. At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson
9. The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World by Laura Imai Messina
10. Sin City, Vol. 1: The Hard Goodbye by Frank Miller
11. The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens
12. The Graduate by Charles Webb

A good mix of fictions and nonfictions, from new and familiar authors. All books met my expectations except #12, which was a disappointment, especially given how remarkable the movie was. I probably would have given it up if I hadn’t been under the pressure to get the 50th book done before midnight.

My book reports for 2021 were a bit chaotic – the first two covered four months each while the last two covered two months each. Once again I set a 50-book goal for 2022 and already lined up quite a few good ones. I mentioned that I plan to read at a more even pace, meaning I will post quarterly reports like I did in the previous years.

Happy reading in a better 2022!