I only properly started tracking and keeping note on what I read in early Summer, but of the ones I have written down, it seems I read at least 25 books last year, and there are probably at least a handful or more I didn’t write down. So let’s round that up to 30, which represents a positive shift for me in the habit of reading.
I strongly commend anyone to keep a digital notes file of what you have read and what is on backlog, it’s very satisfying to reflect on. I wish i had started years ago! And writing these posts offers a reflection for me as well.
Anyway here’s what I’ve been reading the last 3 months or so on my kindle and audible subscription. 8 in total. I did pretty well in October and November but slowed up a bit in December (which is ironic as I had more time)
October 2023
- 🎧 “The Coming Wave”- Mustafa Suleyman (#nonfiction – AI dangers, futurology etc)
- 📖 “Klara and the Sun” – Kazuo Ishiguro (#fiction #dystopia #AI #robot) – Booker Long List 2021
- 📖 “The Road” – Cormack Murphy (#fiction #dystopia) – Pulitzer 2005.
There was a bit of a theme to this quarter which was basically the themes around Artifical Intelligence (AI) – both fiction and non fiction. And always a bit of dystopia in the mix.
“The Coming Wave” was quite a slog on Audible. The author (a co founder of deepmind) was prone to crank up the hyperbole a lot about the coming doom and gloom. He made a lot of good points, that is for sure, but towards the end it was all becoming a bit bleak and pessimistic, it took me quite a few weeks to get through the 13-14 hours of this.
( Later in December I also started reading “Scary Smart” which is a very similar theme but tended to have a bit more optimistic outlook, that will feature in the Q1 2024 list!! )
“Klara and the Sun” by Ishiguro was tremendous, and the way it cranked up the tension towards the end was really quite affecting. It deals with genetically engineered children and their artificial intelligent friends. I’ve been meaning to read this for ages and loved it. Strong rec.
Finally, since I was on a tear and the Amazon recommendation algorithm must have got to me, I purchased “The Road” for 99p on Kindle which was a Pullitzer winner in 2005. This was a book I ripped through at speed, it was phenomenal.
If you like bleak, road trip, end of days collapse of society for unspecified reasons (maybe the robots take over) you will love it, I know I did. I suppose TV series like “The Last of Us” and an earlier book I mentioned, “Station 11” would have been influenced by this but it stands apart. No chapters in the entirety of this book either!
November 2023
- 📖 “1984” – George Orwell (#fiction, #dystopia)
- 🎧 “Be Useful – Seven Tools For Life” – Arnold Schwarzenegger (#nonfiction #selfimprovement)
- 📖 MIT Technology Review Sept/October Edition (non fiction periodical)
So here is a convoluted trail as to why I chose to read 1984.
- We enjoyed “Annika” – procedural TV detective show set in Scotland about marine police. (Better than it sounds)
- In the newest season, they end up in the Hebrides, where the lead character reflects on Orwell writing 1984 on Jura.
- I realised I’d never read it and it’s dystopia.
- It has surprising relevance to many issues we face today around state surveillance, AI themes, class (have and have-nots) and perhaps greatest of all, the sort of mind control and constant barrage of messaging exerted through social media.
Anyway, I thought it was absolutely superb, I got through it in less than a week. Do read it and be enlightened.
I got sucked into the hype of the Schwarzenegger book when it was released around this time and decided to give it a go and was pleasantly surprised. There is nothing massively profound in it compared to other books in this sort of genre. Schwarzenegger is such an engaging narrator, the stories are great making it a very easy listen. It helps it is not overly long as well. I’ve just started the Netflix series that loosely accompanies the book which is similarly engaging.
December 2023
- 🎧 “The Accidental Further Adventures of the Hundred-Year-Old Man” – Jonas Jonasson (#fiction #humour)
- 📖 “A Heart Full Of Headstones” (Rebus series) – Ian Rankin (#fiction #crime)
A bit of fiction for December to lighten the mood (slightly). I have read most of the Inspector Rebus series. Having previously lived in Edinburgh for almost 20 years, knowing all the roads and places mentioned it is easy to visualise and follow proceedings. My wife and I found this one in a charity shop so bought and read it in a couple of days, it was pretty good (they all are TBH).
TAFAOTHYOM is a satire of sorts on politics. It is a follow up to “The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared” (Or THYOMWCOTWAD if you want…) which I read some years ago and was a very word of mouth recommendation. The first book was hilarious, the second great but not quite as sharp as the first, but still recommended. Both were easy listens on Audible as well, and very well narrated with great characterisation. It’s farce featuring lots of politicians and bizarre coincidental happenings, sometimes weaved into the real events of history. I did LOL several times.
I did start a couple of non fiction books this month but they will have to wait until next quarter to be finished.
Come back again at the end of March for next quarter!
Image Credit: Copilot AI Image generator “generate an image of a pile of dystopia books“!