Hmm. No Taglines Here.
Astoria: Astor & Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire is what more history books should aspire to be.
It is technically an deeply-researched history book about a massive project that gets overlooked in most overviews of American history (as with so much of the era between 1812 and 1861).
But as a reader, the book is more of a riveting adventure tale. It’s one of those stories from history that falls into the “you can’t make this up” bucket.
[Read more…] about Astoria by Peter Stark Book ReviewI was excited to read this book the day I read the book description in The Economist. The novel made the shortlist for book of the year on NPR, Amazon, New York Times, and a whole range of media outlets.
[Read more…] about Over the Plain Houses by Julia Franks Book ReviewFrom 2007 to 2012, I read 263+ books. But I did not stop there. I haven’t kept up the same pace – but have kept on tracking every book I’ve read since. Ideally, I’ve also written a short lessons learned or review of each. Here’s the books I’ve read this past year.
On recommendations, I generally stop reading a book after 100 pages if it’s not any good. So everything that I finished is worth reading.
*all the links below go to Amazon for convenience, but I definitely recommend purchasing books from Alibris. They support local booksellers, and often have even better used pricing.
[Read more…] about Books Read in 2018From 2007 to 2012, I read 263+ books. But I did not stop there. I haven’t kept up the same pace – but have kept on tracking every book I’ve read since. Ideally, I’ve also written a short lessons learned or review of each. Here’s the books I’ve read this past year.
On recommendations, I generally stop reading a book after 100 pages if it’s not any good. So everything that I finished is worth reading.
*all the links below go to Amazon for convenience, but I definitely recommend purchasing books from Alibris. They support local booksellers, and often have even better used pricing.
This post covers books read in 2017. You can also read from –
2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | Most Recent Full Reviews
[Read more…] about Books Read in 2017Hillbilly Elegy was deservedly named one of the best books of the year by The Economist, The New York Times, and nearly every reviewer worth their salt in 2016.
It lives up to the hype. It’s well-written. It’s engaging. It’s thoughtful. It brings nuance and complexity to issues that need both. It helps advance the conversation even where other thoughtful writers have a different take.
The book is timely and provides an interesting, human perspective about a real-life ongoing crisis occurring across large swaths of America.
If you like to read non-fiction at all – then you should have this book on your reading list. I wish I had read it sooner.
Either way, I took away so many lessons from this book that it’s really hard to distill them down into a proper review.
Instead, I’ll simply share the notes that I took chapter by chapter. These are all ideas that I took from the material. I don’t necessarily agree or disagree with these takeaways. But every single one gave me pause and a new perspective to consider. [Read more…] about Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance Book Review
Paul Theroux is one of my 3 favorite travel writers. I read this book in 2014 almost as soon as it was published. I loved his Dark Star Safari – it remains one of the few travel books that really stuck with me.
Last Train To Zona Verde is his first travels to Africa since that books was published in 2004.
It chronicles his journeys around the west coast of Africa from Capetown (where Dark Star ended) up through Namibia and Angola. [Read more…] about The Last Train to Zona Verde by Paul Theroux Book Review
