2022 Books Read

Very heavy read, very difficult to get everything in one pass and definitely needs more strenuous analysis. However I get some of the high level principles that he talks about. Some of his thoughts also make me question whether he is indeed as wise as he is considered to be. Once again as a book, I don't think I could do it complete justice, but the goal is to read. Main themes, he believes good and bad aren't opposites, but depends on the person who sees it, detests the burden put on man by religion, believes women should try and be subservient to preserve their womanly nature. He talks a lot about contemporary and past philosophers, state of Germany and Europe at his time and bemoans the general decline in German understanding of literature and philosophy.

3. Blink - Malcolm Gladwell

A book about instinctive decisions and how they are developed vs when to deliberate on our choices. A pretty interesting and smooth read. Absolutely powered through it in 2 sittings. Relatively happy about what I got out of it.

4. Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell

Why do some people succeed while others with similar or greater talents don't! Malcolm contends that the environment, circumstances, opportunities you are provided by way of being born in a certain time, to a certain family or at a particular era have way more to do with your lot in life than just raw talent. He provides examples of Bill Gates ascendancy corresponding to the PC boom, the Jewish lawyers with increased litigation around garment production and of course the very famous January born hockey players. He also says genetic impact plays a deep role in how we respond. All this of course seems very obvious - but we sometimes need someone to point it out. Once again, reasonably happy with what I got out of the book.

5. The Believing Brain - Michael Shermer

Why do people believe in God, Conspiracies, Ghosts, why they develop an affinity towards one or the other political ideology? Shermer hypothesizes that beliefs come first and then an explanation for the beliefs. He also talks about various forms of bias that influence our thinking. He mentions 2 basis to show how belief systems are developed - patternicity - the tendency to find meaningful patterns in meaningless noise and agenticity - the tendency to attribute an agent to these patterns. He concludes with why Science is the best tool with which we should approach a process. An interesting book that nevertheless veers too much into specifics which might not be useful from this subject's standpoint. So it got a bit heavy to get through at the end - but still - a good read.

6. A People's History Of The United States - Howard Zinn

A look at the history of United States from standpoint of people left out of the history books. Gives you a good look into the policies, atrocities and crimes committed by the US Government against anyone who stood in its way at any stage. Presents a very clear picture that the Government was always of the rich, by the rich, for the rich. Another sobering thought is that, there doesn't seem to have been a single decent human being who ever sat in the throne of the most powerful person in the planet. And communism accomplished a lot by the way of worker's rights, regulations, equality and even effected change beyond the workplace. No wonder it was seen as a massive threat by the monopolistic capitalists of the United States, who then fought extremely hard to suppress it around the world. From the early 1900s to now it's interesting to see how the world has been conditioned to see "communism" as a bad word and something to be fought against by a gullible electorate.

7. Meditations - Marcus Aurelius (translated by Gregory Hays)

A collection of thoughts from Marcus Aurelius (Roman emperor / philosopher). Reading this particular translation helped as the preface set the context for a lot of the content. The primary theme of Marcus' ideas is stoicism. The idea being that one must be indifferent to pain and pleasure and should just strive to follow nature since everything is designed by nature as it wants life to be. He also talks about the need to do good, withhold judgment and not be afraid of death. That others can't harm us unless we let our mind perceive that hurt/pain/suffering. A lot of it was impractical, but nevertheless, it has some good insight and atleast has a few things worth considering - like why be angry at an evil person doing evil deeds or that we should try and help someone who is falling short, rather than complaining or that we should strive to maintain equanimity in extreme situations. The fact that we are but a speck in the larger scheme of things is constantly reminded to the reader.

8. Mortality - Christopher Hitchens

A heart breaking read. Hitchens as one may know passed away due to cancer in 2011. This is a collection of his thoughts from his hospital bed. He masterfully provides a light hearted but insightful take into his final days. The afterword by his wife is equally moving. Not much to take away from this, except that Hitchens never allowed his nature to depart from him even under the most challenging circumstances. He kept his voice and his writing for as long as he was able to and faced everything that was thrown at him with his trademark English humor. I will be reading more from him over the next few weeks.

9. Letters to a Young Contrarian - Christopher Hitchens

Hitchens' thoughts put in the form of letters to an acolyte. Fairly small book, but I tend to read in his voice which means I slowed down. The book contains as always his thoughts on religion, race, wit and acts as a sort of clarion call to embrace humanism, debates, stand up against injustice and always question yourself. As to be expected from Hitchens, the prose is very lively and fluid. This book can act as a light yet potent introduction on Hitchens for anyone who wishes to know him better.

10. US History (1492 - 1865) Homework Helpers

I got this book because I am interested in US History but didn't find anything else in the Library that gave a broad overview. And this being a summary of a textbook was ideal. The problem was that I read this after a People's history of the United States, which had already made a very strong impression in my mind. It's readily apparent how the textbook version of US history is much milder and glosses over several topics like the brutality of colonization, slavery, working conditions etc. However, it's still good to understand just various important milestones in the country's history. IMO, should have read this before the more comprehensive People's history version - but still glad I picked this up.

11. God is not Great - Christopher Hitchens

This is Hitchens' magnum opus, goes in depth about how religion has not only caused a lot of harm but also inhibits human progress. He has explained how religions and cults are formed, what damage they have done to society and how morality isn't driven by religion, but rather by a need for peaceful sustenance of civilization. I of course have no need for this confirmation that God is imaginary and that religion is harmful, but if someone is religious, it should atleast make them question the validity of religion and religious institutions and how necessary they really are. Not a single religion is spared and Hitchens' exposes them all. In addition to religion, this book is a good lesson on world history as well. There are a lot of useful historical lessons you pick up, like how Gandhi was just pushing against an open door in his showmanship for India's freedom or how the Church was one of the initial supporters of Hitler. We definitely need more of Hitchens' mentality than Dalai Lama's pseudo intellectual bull shit.

12. Thinking Fast And Slow - Daniel Kahneman

The follow up to Blink by Gladwell, touches on the same topic of Stage 1 vs Stage 2 thinking but goes to far greater depth and provides far more insight into how people think, how their thoughts are influenced, how bias creeps into thinking, what we value when we decide and what we don't. It has an incredible amount of practical examples to explain these various thought processes and there were many moments where one will go - WOW, that's extremely insightful. This book had me thinking that it should be in some sort of permanent collection at home and something that I need to revisit every now and then. I'm very very happy I picked this up.

13. Hitch-22 - Christopher Hitchens

Back to Hitchens, this is his memoir. The first parts sort of felt like a pointless incursion into his life and I felt I wasn't really getting anything out of the book, but I persisted and I'm glad for it. Because what follows is the insight into a very unique life - someone who was immensely gifted and lived life to its fullest. Never one to shy away from a challenging situation and someone who always sought out knowledge, the truth and tried to bring about a positive influence on those around him. If anything at least it made me think about what makes a life fulfilling and forces one to have a broader world view. Hitch knew a lot of people and was extremely well read. Definitely gave me a greater appreciation for the remarkable person that he was.

14. Arguably - Christopher Hitchens

A collection of essays grouped by various themes like history, literature, politics, pop culture and so on. As always his prose and wit are on point, however for me this was a chance to get his views on a wide array of topics (outside the religion aspect). One thing that never ceases to amaze me is how well read he is and how good his memory must have been. The essays introduced me to many aspects I wasn't aware of - about famous authors like Graham Greene, Mary Ann Evans (George Eliot), Wodehouse, Evelyn Waugh, or about Europe preceding WW1 and in between WW1 and WW2, lesser known things about leading US historical figures. This book is not-only a must read for any Hitchens fan, but also for anyone who wants an honest, critical take on popular/mainstream topics over the last 200 years.

15. How Children Succeed - Paul Tough

A study of what makes some children more successful than others. The book is mostly anecdotal and doesn't delve into anything at a scientific level (expectedly I guess). It had some examples of how some schools got low performing students to succeed, how some motivated, dedicated mentors helped transform the lives of otherwise disadvantaged students and what are the attributes that helped in this transformation. The author contends that while IQ is a factor that determines success in later life, qualities like Grit, Curiosity, Perseverance play a much larger part in shaping our futures. So in essence - character is more important than abilities. I think I could've given this book a pass - can't really say I picked up anything very useful, however it's a relatively small book at 200 pages that I was able to get through quite fast.

16. Dubliners - James Joyce

A collection of short stories about life in Dublin around the late 1800s to early 1900s. It goes into themes like mid life crisis, love, life and death, class. The prose from time to time reminds us what great literature actually looks like. The stories themselves may or may not interest you based on where you are in life and your personal tastes. However they all do a great job of transporting you to that setting and making you think a little more about their meaning and how various motifs in a story relate to each other. Of Joyce's books, this is probably the easiest to read (I have read "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" and tried several times to get into Ulysses, Finnegans Wake)

17. A Passion for Leadership - Robert Gates

I found this book lying around the house, likely from a free giveaway at some corporate event. Anyway, the title sounded interesting and the author had some impressive credentials, so I gave it a go in the absence of other options. This book talks about how a leader should go about transforming a large organization and the principles he should follow, attributes of good leadership and anecdotes from the author's experience of driving change in public positions of high power and influence. The book is definitely a light read - easy to understand and relate to. All of us have some experience working for good and bad leaders and mostly as I flipped through this book, I was drawing parallels to my own experience working for some good and mostly bad leaders. That's the good part of this book. Even thought Gates was at the echelons of some of the highest offices in this nation, he recounts principles that can apply to anyone at any level of leadership. The negative part - if anything is that the book is repetitive, mostly just common sense and not really insightful in terms of how one can develop the attributes necessary for leadership. Still - from time to time, it's good to have these principles spelt out and gives you an opportunity to contemplate atleast briefly how you should conduct yourself in a large organization for success. But then again, wasn't Trump (who was contrary to every principle outlined here) successful?

18. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

A dystopian science fiction novel that goes into themes like individuality, happiness vs truth, consumerism, technology and how these impact society. There are definitely passages that make you think, like the penultimate chapter with the conversation between Mond and John about religion, happines and truth. Besides that there are references to socialism and capitalism, youth culture, classism all of which are widely felt issues so in many ways, this is a novel that anyone can relate to. Parts of it are definitely not an easy read, however there is enough ideas here to leave an impression on anyone.

19. The Power Of Now - Eckhart Tolle

A guide to spiritual enlightenment. Not sure how this ended up in my book shelf, however I thought of reading it till my library holds were ready. The book goes into the importance of living in the present moment, shunning the ego and having consciousness of our being. Not very well written, as is to be expected from a spiritual guru, but nevertheless there are some points in this book that are good to adopt. Especially regarding how we deal with living situations, how we shouldn't resist that we can't influence or the futility of living in the past or imagining a future. However a lot of the book is also plain impractical - the problem with the book at many parts seems to be that this is advice given by someone who in all likelihood has never had to work a single day of his life and probably lives somewhere in secluded opulence and can say - don't resist the noise from the streets. Sharing a backyard fence with uneducated neighbors - I know things aren't so simple.

20. The US Constitution and Other Writings - Canterbury Classics

Besides the US constitution, this book includes a collection of speeches, treaties, documents that shaped the history of the United States. For instance, it contains the Declaration of Independence, selected essays from the Federalist Papers, acceptance speeches from key Presidents, writings and speeches from key historical figures like Benjamin Franklin, Frederick Douglass, Susan Anthony. Parts of the book are predictably dry, and reads like the terms and conditions of your new phone, however parts of it also give key insight into how the country was shaped, what was the thinking behind the structure of governance and what were the steps taken at various points in history to deal with various crises. Overall, it's a good read for anyone who is interested in US history.

21. Mental Immunity - Andy Norman

A book that discusses a theory called cognitive immunology. It deals with how society can develop cognitive resilience against bad ideas and how we can help good ideas spread. The motivation behind this seems to be primarily the Trump presidency and resulting rise of anti intellectualism, conspiracy theories and spread of misinformation. This is no doubt a well intentioned book that aims to curb the decline of cognitive faculties in society by means of collaborative discourse, introspection and rationality. However there is equally no doubt that the targeted audience of this book will reject any such attempts at change. The author goes way back in time to the days of Socrates / Plato to outline their methods of improving reasoning in society and incorporates working principles from those methods as well his own ideas on how to eliminate susceptibility to misinformation. Most of the material in the book will seem like common sense principles on how to build constructive dialogue by starting from a common set of presumptions and work towards a win - win solution based on open mindedness, rather than a combative, instruction based, one-sided approach. There are definitely principles in here that are helpful for the average person in terms of how to structure their thought processes and communication to be more reasonable or persuasive. I'm more skeptical about the broader implication of this book, that there will be a science of cognitive immunology which will slowly revolutionize society's ability for critical thinking.

22. Every Moment Matters - John O'Sullivan

A brilliant guide for coaches who want to understand the ins and outs of coaching a team and getting the best out of their athletes. It starts with the questions of why someone gets into coaching, forces some introspection and setting of expectations, followed by how to coach effectively and how to create a strong impact on your athletes and teams. Chapter after chapter contains highly practical wisdom that you can incorporate into your coaching routine. The beautiful thing about this book is that it needn't just apply to sports - even business leaders or people managers can get a lot out of this book by learning to communicate optimally, developing good empathy and rapport with your team and developing a good team culture. John prescribes a long term approach that sacrifices immediate gains for the long term benefit of the athlete, and draws the focus away from results to the overall benefit a good coach can bring to his team. This is a brilliant book that every aspiring coach, leader should read early on in their career.

23. How To Watch Football - Ruud Gullit

A light read on Gullit's career as a manager and player, and his take on various soccer systems, explanation of various associated terminologies and overall general guide to the high level aspects of the game. The book was a slight disappointment as I expected deeper insights on how to analyze a game from the sidelines or as a viewer, however with the exception of the Systems chapter - this was just a football history manual with the odd insight into the lives of professional footballers back in the day. As a football fan, I am of course always happy to read about the game, players and reminisce about past tournaments and key moments. However as someone who aspires to analyze the game more deeply, the book was a let down.

24. The Charisma Myth - Olivia Fox

I've always wondered why some people are so magnetic, everyone wants to be around them - please them, they can draw attention wherever they go. It is such a mystery. Is it solely looks, authority, power or is it something more intangible. What if this is a skill that can be consciously developed. Olivia Fox seems to believe so. In this book she outlines ways for people to be more charismatic by improving 3 key characteristics - power, presence and warmth - by making changes to the way they talk, listen and move. For most part, the book delves into the same topics that Dale Carnegie and others have already presented numerous times. Listen better, be more empathetic, eliminate negativity. It does a fair job of differentiating various types of charisma and encourages us to find the appropriate style based on the situation that demands it. However after reading the book, I'm no closer to unraveling the myth of charisma. There are examples of people who have been contrary to every single principle outlined in this book, who nevertheless have amassed great followings and are adored by millions. The book serves as a gentle reminder on good conversation etiquettes and personal habits that we need to develop to be more congenial, however it's not much beyond that.

25. Coaching Youth Soccer - American Sports Education Program

The first of the three soccer coaching books that I picked up - hopefully to make coaching with AYSO smoother. This book is very typical in its structure - goes over the basics of coaching at the youth level, how to talk to the players, parents, preparations and trainings needed by a coach ahead of a season. Then it outlines various drills that you can incorporate in your training to improve aspects of the game - divided into sections by offense, defense and goal keeping. I definitely saw a couple of drills that I want to incorporate in future sessions. There was also a very helpful section at the end on a coaching plan for an entire season - what to focus on week by week. So a pretty standard book. You can't expect any great insight from such guides on how to coach unmotivated kids, how to bring structure into training or how to keep your team's (and your own) spirits up, when results are deplorably bad. And those are probably the things I need more help with. My personal belief is that if your team is strong or motivated to learn, drills aren't even that necessary at the U-10 levels and below.

26. Soccer Fundamentals - Danny Mielke

The second of the youth coaching books. I was looking for language to use when describing the basic mechanics to kids, simple drills to help them master the foundations and also seeing if I was missing anything in terms of basic technique that I might otherwise have overlooked. I never had any formal coaching, so most of what I learned came from game play and watching TV. Which makes it harder for me to transfer that knowledge. This book is decent enough - gives some normal tips about foot position, where to make contact with the ball, follow through. So in a way, it's a good refresher in terms of what to tell someone starting out. It also contains some basic strategies for various situations like throw ins, free kicks, playing the ball out etc. It's targeted at the AYSO level, which is maybe all I need at this point.

27. Coaching Soccer Successfully - Cor Van der Meer and Roy Rees

Third of the soccer coaching books and the most advanced of the three. This book isn't geared towards kids in particular, so the exercises and the concepts go quite a bit deeper and were very insightful. It's organized by strategies for defense, offense, preparing for games etc. The drill diagrams while very useful may be a bit hard to correlate with the text, but in most cases, the text is descriptive enough that you can follow without the diagrams. The target audience is once again, coaches who already have the communication and player / team management parts down and are looking for team strategies or session planning. My belief is that drills are secondary to fostering a team that is willing to listen to you, which is always the toughest part of soccer management or coaching. Still, it's good to read such books from time to time for ideas and pointers about finer aspects of the game that we miss when watching as an audience or fan.

28. Soccer Skills For Young Players - Ted Buxton

A very small book that I picked up from the library to see if it had some clever insights. Found a couple of interesting drills that I noted down, but besides that not much other than what I found already in the previous books. It's amazing how so much of technique is involved, but the players who become good invariably are those that just picked up a ball and naturally found their way around how to do things. I wonder if things are natural to a degree and then coaching helps to refine the finer points.

29. The Essential Guide to Motorcycle Maintenance - Mark Zimmerman

Something from the library so that I'm not so clueless about the working of my motorcycle. Of course, a lot of it I just sped through because no one becomes a motorcycle mechanic by reading a couple of hundred pages and looking at a few pictures. However it was a good starting point and I atleast know what's going on inside the motorcycle. A lot of follow up is definitely needed, but I'm happy that I gave this topic a start.

30. How the World Really Works - Vaclav Smil

This book came heavily recommended by some big names and I thought of giving it a try. Pretty tame read really - a lot of talk about fossil fuels, how our goals of being fossil fuel free are futile, how globalization, scientific advances, climate change are impacting us, what we can expect in these areas in the near future and how we are falling short in our response to global crises. Nothing extremely insightful for a book that was so highly recommended.

31. Getting Mean with Mongo, Express, Angular and Node - Simon Holmes, Clive Harber (Manning Publications)

Been a while since I read a technical book for picking up a new skill, as I usually just take up some project and learn while coding. This time I tried to make use of my library membership as I have more time to learn and also this is a stack I have 0 experience with. The result was mixed. The book itself didn't focus on the primary skill I wanted to develop, which is Node.js. The book also goes all over the place with it's example and it wasn't very engaging or easy to follow at times. I sort of lost interest and focused only on the parts that I could get something out of - so didn't read the Angular sections. Overall, I can say, I picked up a little bit but will have to read other books to really become comfortable enough to work with Node.js.

32. Head First JavaScript Programming - Eric Freeman, Elisabeth Robson

Continuing with the technical theme, picked up the Head First series for Javascript. This series of books are generally written in a beginner friendly and engaging manner, and I have generally had a good learning experience from them. This was no exception. The examples given in the book were easy to follow and implement. The topics covered were quite relevant and well explained. Of course, it may not go deep into the weeds with some of the more advanced Object Oriented Programming concepts, but it does the job for someone looking for a beginner's introduction to JavaScript. Overall pretty happy with what I picked up from this book.

33. The Principles of Object-oriented JavaScript - Nicholas C. Zakas

More technical reading, yay!! This one is a very light, highly focused JavaScript book that I picked up to augment the Head First book. This book covers some of the lesser known aspects of Object Oriented programming in JavaScript. The examples were pretty good. The book itself is very brief - only around 90 pages and while some of the tips given there may not be something we use in daily life, it's still useful to learn to understand the principles behind JavaScript. Having read this though, it definitely reduces my confidence in this language for backend programming.

34. The Match - Harlan Coben

Been a while since I read fiction and reading this book reminded me of why I stay away from the modern fiction scene. The storylines are always structured in a somewhat predictable manner - there's a brooding dark hero, who is middle aged, not married but is romantically involved, has a great set of supporting friends (a top lawyer, a hacker, cop), is athletic, insanely smart, insightful, witty, a great father figure, has no annoying parents (or they never interfere in his life) and to top it all off, doesn't work (??) and has plenty of time. This dark hero typically gets involved in some far reaching conspiracy, and using his incredible deductive reasoning and super helpful friends, he solves the problem which has the FBI, US Marshals and the Police Department mystified. Admittedly, the writing is smooth, I'd forgotten how easy it is to get through these books - to the point where I have to deliberately pace myself to maintain the anticipation of finishing the novel a little longer. But at no point did any of the characters connect with me, I had no interest in finding out who his parents were or who the actual killer was. Overall, I'm a bit surprised that Coben is highly rated and I see his name a lot in Netflix. But come to think of it, that may explain the over the top plot and unnecessary complexities added on to the story - to make it interesting for TV.

35. Node.js 8 the Right Way - Jim R. Wilson

Finally a book that was focusing on the aspects that I was looking for. So far the books I read were either exclusively Javascript based or focused too much on some frameworks like Express, Angular, Mongo. This book went into simple Node.js based examples, how to work with files, sockets, HTTP requests, working with data, eventually building up to concepts like async/await, promise, authentication etc. The best part was really the examples that were pretty easy to follow and replicate. Overall I learned more relevant skills and got more coding practice from this book than any other book so far. The writing style was also reasonably engaging and explained syntax and concepts in the right amount of detail when needed. The book is from the Pragmatic Programmers series, and I would highly recommend it for anyone wanting to learn Node.js.

36. Pro JavaScript Development - Den Odell

Another JavaScript focused book. This one was only partially useful, there were chapters on Object Oriented JavaScript, common frameworks used for production level code and tools used for development which were relevant and easy to follow. There was also a large part devoted to design patterns, which came with highly complicated examples. I felt those sections could be picked up elsewhere so I just Googled those patterns and got some far easier examples to understand the patterns by. Overall, I am still not a hundred percent sure on how all this is going to look in production, but hopefully looking at some existing production codebases can cover that gap. I think books have taken me as far as they can possibly take me. So going forward, I am going to rely more on the Internet. Coming back to this book, I definitely wouldn't recommend it for beginners and I guess the authors didn't mean it for them either. But even for pro development, I guess unless the examples given in a book are easy to follow, intuitive and engaging, people aren't going to gain much from it.

37. Node.js, MongoDB and Angular for Web Development - Brad Dayley, Brendan Dayley, Caleb Dayley

This was a relatively newer edition so I had borrowed it from the library. The best of the books I have seen so far. Covers a broad spectrum of important topics in Node.js. The examples are very very good. The information is easy to follow and appropriate for the beginner level. I skipped the Mongo / Angular parts, but from a look at the way those chapters are structured, it seems like they also cover relevant topics with suitable examples. I picked up a lot of code snippets that I can possibly reuse from this book. If I had picked this up earlier, I may not have needed some of the other Node.js books. If you already know JavaScript, then this is a terrific book to make the jump to Node.Js and backend development.

38. Gwendy's Button Box - Stephen King and Richard Chizmar

A young adult fantasy tale set in 1970s Maine, like so many of King's works. Apparently this was a story that King started but couldn't finish or wasn't happy with and enlisted Chizmar's help to re-do some parts. That does show in the story as what starts off as some mystical button box veers between fantasy and self help and ends on a very puzzling note with no satisfactory outcome. I tried to see if there were any helpful notes online to clarify what I may have missed, but didn't find anything. The book is about Gwendy who is given a purportedly magical button box by a mysterious character and the box proceeds to change her life in many ways. The theme of the story then shifts to how Gwendy manages this new superpower, and if it's really a superpower or just her imagination and touches on themes of responsibility, friendship and morality. Overall I felt like the authors didn't know what to do with the box, much like Gwendy and settled for some page fillers followed by a plain ending.

This book was part of my efforts to hit the 50 book goal for this year and in that way I'm glad because it was a super easy read. It also introduces me to the written material by King as I have so far only watched the screen adaptations of his work. King is without doubt an engaging writer and I have picked up more from him in order to hit my reading goals for this year.

39. The Langoliers - Stephen King

My second book from the Stephen King series. Another book where he shows his prowess as a storyteller who makes an average story seem engaging just through the transitions, the setup and manufactured suspense. The story is a bit of nothing really - the characters hackneyed, the dialogues at times cringeworthy and plot as always a bit out there. However King's writing keeps you engaged throughout with the suspense and the setting. The story centers around a few airline passengers who seem to have survived some weird paranormal event and now have to navigate back to normalcy. The rest of the book revolves around the various characters - each with some skill or attribute complementing the other in the cast with perfect chemistry setup for 2 romantic angles. It reads like a book aimed at a TV series or a movie. Anyway, the goal was to get familiar with the works and style of an author, and in that way, I'm happy that I picked this up. Stephen King can be a guilty pleasure for folks who want to read and waste time instead of watch TV and waste maybe lesser time (??).

40. Sparring Partners - John Grisham

This one was from the book club recommendation. I have read only one prior book by Grisham and while he is reasonably entertaining, he's not an author I have sought out. I used to be fond of legal fiction and courtroom dramas, however with time I have also realized that things in real life are seldom as portrayed in books or on screen and that realization has soured my appreciation for this genre. This book is a collection of 3 stories. Homecoming - a story about a crooked lawyer who has fled his hometown after swindling his clients and wants to come back for a triumphant reunion with his 2 daughters. Strawberry Moon which takes us through the final moments of a death row inmate who is very fond of his book collection. And the last eponymous story - Sparring Partners - about a family of lawyers where no one can stand anyone else and want to see each other ruined. I didn't particularly enjoy any of the stories and will likely not come back to Grisham - mainly because reading these books made me question myself about the point of reading such fiction. It's no more a better use of time than watching TV shows and reading was supposed to be a better substitute than TV because of the enlightenment or artistic factor. I am not opposed to reading pot boiler fiction, but in that case, it has to be a compelling story that leaves you wanting more. Not like this drivel that I couldn't wait to finish and move on.

41. Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong - Louisa Lim

Another from the book club recommendation and I'm happy I read this. I am a huge fan of Hong Kong for it's vibrant culture and was very excited to go over this. And it didn't disappoint. The book covers a lot of topics ranging from a person who is referred to as "King of Kowloon", to the myth around first settlers of Hong Kong, to the modern day takeover by the British, then the handover and the riots that followed. The structure of these topics isn't always very linear, but all the same, it's engaging and highly informative. It's also moving at parts and really challenges you to think about topics like freedom, identity and social responsibility. I will probably have to seek out People's Republic of Amnesia by the same author.

42. Maus - Art Spiegelman

It's nearing the end of the year and I have to read a book a day to hit my goal of 52 books read this year. I know, I'm taking a superficial path to this goal, but sometimes that's fine. Book reading is a habit and as with any other habit, sometimes any practice of the habit helps. And if I hit my goal this year, maybe I'm more motivated to stick at it going forward. Which brings me to - Maus - a graphic novel that most readers should be able to finish in a few hours. The book was originally published in the late 80s or early 90s and recently came back into prominence as a result of being banned by the school board of some Southern State in the US. Honestly, unless the school board was trying to make this book popular I don't understand the need to ban it at all. It's not covering any new ground and relatively speaking provides a tempered account of the undoubtedly horrific times of the holocaust. The graphic setting also has the effect of detracting from the horrors of the events to a point where you are more focused on the story and the experience without making you too uncomfortable. I don't know if that was the author's intention, but when it comes to the holocaust, I've definitely seen more moving portrayals. I also realized later that the book won a Pulitzer and is almost universally acclaimed for its portrayal of the holocaust. I am slightly ashamed to say that I don't get it at all. I may need to talk to some others to understand why exactly this was so highly regarded, when all I can think of is - well, that was a fast and easy read.

43. Monsters In Appalachia - Sheryl Monks

Another book to make up the reading target for the year. I picked this up from the library as the cover was very intriguing and it was only 166 pages. Also, I wanted to read someone who wasn't burdened by their name and genre to write in a particular way or to satisfy a certain audience. I was pleasantly surprised by the book. It wasn't dry and the quality of writing was very good. The author did a very good job of bringing the Appalachian region and lifestyle to light in a very realisitic way. The themes of the book are generally around poverty, desperation and temptation, generally through the lens of a female protagonist. Some of the stories are certainly evocative, while a couple of them leave you confused. It's definitely very different from run of the mill pot boiler fiction, so you have to read it with an open mind. Part of the reading habit is to expose myself to different genres of writing, and this indie sort of writing set in rural Appalachia definitely is a first for me.

44. Three Men On The Bummel - Jerome K. Jerome

This sequel to the extremely funny Three Men in a Boat, is a masterpiece in its own right. It brings back the same 3 characters, this time on a bummel or a journey across the German black forest. In the same vein as its predecessor, the author uses satire, stereotypes and funny anecdotes from the past to go along with the narrative of their journey around Germany. It's a light hearted read that fans of classical English humor are certain to enjoy.

45. A Good Man - Ani Katz

A psychological suspense about a seemingly normal man's descent into madness. Thomas Martin seems to be living the dream - a beautiful wife, spoilt but loving daughter, mother and 2 sisters, has a good career, house - but you do get the sense that not all is well with him mentally due to some unexplained trauma from his past. For almost three fourths of the book, the author sets up Martin's life interspersed with glimpses into his past. Both are quite mundane and one doesn't really know where the author is going with this, until the very end where an incident at work snaps Martin and sends him into a downward spiral from where there is no coming back. The problem with the book is that everything is very vague. There isn't sufficient background to explain his breakdown and there are no signs to show that he is at the verge of a breakdown. Anyway, the goal was to read new authors and meet the goal of 52 books, and this one helped as I could just speed right through it.

46. The Sound of Waves - Yukio Mishima

A story of first love set in a remote fishing village in Japan. The story is extremely simple, boy meets girl, they fall in love, but they have to deal with the traditional values, gossip in their village and wealth gap between their families. But some of the most beautiful works are quite simple. The description of the settings, the people's emotions, the 2 page description of the titties of Uta-Jima - all are tastefully done. The main thing for me is that the book evokes memories, moves you, and keeps you engaged throughout. The author himself seems like was a very colorful character and one of the greats of Japanese literature, so I will be trying to get my hands on more of his works.

47. The Essential Bernie Sanders and His Vision for America - Jonathan Tasini

A collection of Bernie's speeches and sound bytes on various topics of American life like Politics, Healthcare, Government spending, Immigration etc. Bernie as most of us know is a stalwart politician who has long been waging a losing war on behalf of the common man, the silent majority, the downtrodden and forgotten sections of society. His thoughts while not perfect are definitely driven by altruism and listening to / reading about Bernie always evokes mixed feelings in me. There is always the sense of dismay that comes from hearing the unfiltered truth about corporations, PACs and their government stooges, but there is also a glimmer of hope that comes from seeing someone out there fighting the good fight for such a long time, despite it likely holding back his political fortunes. The book itself is highly informative, thought provoking and also equally depressing. However, it's a must read for anyone interested in understanding the recent political landscape and how both the parties have been holding back the country's progress for their own benefit.

48. The Black Notebook - Patrick Modiano

This is the first of a series of novels by Patrick Modiano that I picked up from the library. Must confess that like the recent books, the reason this caught my eye was the small size - however when I read the synopsis I also saw that the author was the recipient of the Nobel Prize in literature not too long ago, so I borrowed it along with 3 other novels by the same author. This book is the story of a man - Jean, who is haunted by memories of his past, especially a mysterious woman who disappeared from his life. Jean grapples with confusion as he tries to make sense of his past and the people he knew in his search for a closure. The themes surrounding the book are memory, identity and time. This isn't a book for fans of thrillers or mystery, however if you want to think about the deeper meanings behind underlying themes, you may like it.

49. Paris Nocturne - Patrick Modiano

Another Modiano novel and it is very similar to the other one that I read. The theme still revolves around memory, loss and a search for closure. The story is written in first person, and the narrator who alternates between the present and past, is looking for a woman who had hit him with her car a long time ago when he was a teenager. There are some loose ends in the novella, or maybe it was deliberate? The author doesn't have any qualms about confusing the readers and the non linear plot can get very challenging for anyone but the most astute. It's a challenging read and I'll have to revisit it sometime with a more leisurely read to really get the gist of the author's ideas.

50. The Prince - Niccolo Machiavelli

A 16th century literary masterpiece that acts as a guide for rulers or military strategist on how to hold on to power. A lot of the ideas in the book are still relevant in this day and age which is why I guess the book is still widely read and the name of Machiavelli is firmly embedded in modern lexicon. The author is very open about using any means including violence, betrayal and deception to come to power and cling on to it. The views presented are very cynical but given the nature of men, it just comes across as frank, unfiltered and necessary advice. There are many historical anecdotes which could be a bit of a drag for those who aren't fans, but most of the translations have some sort of preface or appendix to give a summary of the relevant period and the historical figures. A small read, but quite profound all the same.

51. So You Don't Get Lost in the Neighborhood - Patrick Modiano

Another Modiano novel, which once again is about the vagaries of memory - but much more structured than the other two I had read. The story is about an author Jean Daragane, who receives a phone call from a person purporting to return his lost address book. The person wants to know more about one of the names he found on the book and that sets off a train of thoughts and questions in Jean's mind about his past and his efforts to find some answers. All his books thus far have had this eerie, melancholy quality which are perfect for winter reading.

52. Villa Triste - Patrick Modiano

And here we are - met my goal of 52 novels for the year with 1.5 hours to spare. Thanks a lot to Patrick Modiano and his novellas. This novel also is a recollection of the writer's past, but told in a much less abstract way. The novel is written from the viewpoint of a man who calls himself Victor Chmara who recalls a period from his youth spent in the company of 2 interesting people he befriended - an enigmatic doctor and a charismatic actress. The summer is filled with carefree fun and debauchery and brings about a nostalgia for the past and the places and people that inhabited it. My main goal being to finish the book on time, I would be lying if I said, I read too much into it or stopped to think more - but I promise I will do some more introspection when I'm not under the pressure of time. I promise.

For now ---- that's it - thank you 2022! You have been a wonderful year. I read a lot and learned a lot. I feel good. I look forward to continuing this habit of book reading!