Justin's Notes

Jan. 3, 2024

I would consider 2023 as the first year I was a legitimate reader. 2022 I set a reading goal to read the Lord of the Rings trilogy (which is absolutely incredible. If you haven't read it, you should). I was able to accomplish that goal and read a few other books as well. 2023, I didn't set a reading goal. I just became an addict.

This is a list of those books, and a few thoughts on each of them, really as record for myself. Some from the early parts of the year already feel a bit fuzzy, but we will give it a go. I also don't care about rating systems, so you wont get some arbitrary star rating from me. I honestly don't expect to ever force myself to read something I don't enjoy. I am going to highlight my favorites at the top though.

The Kingkiller Chronicles is one of my favorite fantasy series. I love the pacing, the characters, the magic system and the overall world. It details Kote (or Kvothe) retelling his life, switching between present and past. I read the first book (The Name of the Wind) in 2022 and loved it, and this sequel was even better. I now have joined the hundreds of thousands of people impatiently waiting for the third installment. If it never comes out, I won't regret reading these for a second.

The Witcher is amazing. I love this world. It's dark. It lacks any kind of hope. I honestly rarely feel optimistic about anything that happens. It is one of those fantasy worlds you absolutely would never want to go to if you could. I spent hours upon hours playing the Witcher 3, really loved the first and most of the second season of the show on Netflix. It is about time I finally read the books. This is the first one, so I have 7 more to go. But I am very excited about it.

I absolutely love this book. It is one of the few books that has drawn physical emotion out of me while reading it. I shed a few tears and had to sit for a good 20+ minutes processing what I had experienced with this book when I finished it. One thing to note for new Cormac readers, he doesn't use quotation marks, so it can take a bit to get use to reading his stories. I honestly enjoy it, makes me feel like I have to be more engaged when reading. Rest in peace Cormac.

Dune sits up there as one of, if not my favorite sci-fi/fantasy books. This was my second read thru and honestly am expecting to re-read it every couple years. The world is fantastic, the characters are amazing, and sand worms are freaking cool. I love the way that Herbert can at times make you feel like you are rooting for an anti-hero. The first third of the book can feel slow but trust me, it is worth it.

This is my first Sanderson experience. I love the magic system in this book. There is a dual magic system based off of ingestion and/or touching of metals, each metal giving specific powers. It is so sick. I love it because you can read about the magic system and it just kind of “logically” makes sense. Obviously it isn't logical, but its easy to grasp and remember, making the action and combat super fun to read. I just finished the second book of the trilogy a few days into this year and am starting the third. It is an incredible series so far with such a well thought out world. I would definitely recommend this as the starting point of anyone wanting to try out Sanderson's books.

This website was made as I finished this book. So it has it's own dedicated post here. But I also really really loved it because of how much it inspired me.

This book follows Auri, who is a character from the Kingkiller Chronicles. It is a quirky novella completely unrelated to the main story. Honestly, only read this if you love this series.

It's C.S. Lewis. He is the GOAT. The Great Divorce will just cause you to ponder. Whether you are a Christian or not, this book will make you think. Reading a book written as a dream exploring different Christian theology such as separation of Heaven and Hell, free will, sin and more is going to make anyone ponder. Go ponder if you desire.

Giannis is one of my favorite players in the NBA right now. His story from dirt poor as an immigrant in Greece to being a two time MVP is a fun ride. His passion when he plays and his loyalty (so far) to his team make me a big fan. If you love the NBA, you should read this.

I don't have anything to say here besides it's Harry Potter. I only read thru the Order of the Phoenix as a kid, so I am making my way thru the series. If you can, get the versions illustrated by Jim Kay. They are beautiful.

This duology was actually written by a past co-worker of mine at Soundstripe. It's a fictional America where a wide spread memory loss disease has plagued the country. The main characters are a group of kids who end up unraveling the mystery of the disease. I thought it was a pretty fast paced enjoyable read.

I haven't really read any classics, but know that Steinbeck is an American GOAT so I grabbed one of his shorter works. It made me sad. I think you should read it. I want to read more of his books.

The Red Rising trilogy is insane. I cannot tell you how many times I complained to my friend Zach about how I can't read this anymore cause Brown keeps throwing me around emotionally. I almost didn't finish the third book. It is so addictive, high paced action that I literally couldn't put it down. Brown actually just writes the most out of pocket twists and turns, plus its freaking sick futuristic political sci-fi. I really enjoyed my time in this first trilogy.

This book is badass. The action is really good and I love the 80's western vibes. I think it was originally written as a screenplay, which explains why the pacing is a little choppy feeling at times, but I didn't think it detracted from the story. I've yet to see the movie.

This book was honestly kinda weird, but I love Dune so much that I still enjoyed it. It doesn't read the same as Dune and honestly feels like a completely different book. Paul's mental turmoil in this book is almost off-setting compared to how he feels as a character in Dune. I honestly wouldn't recommend reading this unless you absolutely love the Dune universe. I probably won't ever read it again. But I will read the third book to finish the technical trilogy.

I read this leading up to my marriage. I thought it was a pretty solid resource in how to form your marriage around Christ and how to seek the Lord together as a couple. There were some parts that either generationally or personality wise just didn't really transfer for me, but they were mostly minor occurrences. I would still recommend this to really anyone in any life stage, but especially those heading into marriage.

Tribe is a short read highlighting how people naturally bond during hardships and disaster. The examples and statistics of people thinking fondly of disaster and suffering because of the camaraderie felt is really interesting. It was cool as a Christian who spiritually believes we are called to be part of tight knit communities see a secularly written case for humans by nature craving to be a part of community.

This is my first eastern literature I have read. Murakami writes in a way that is hard to explain and I loved it. It almost feels calming and airy. His descriptions and the prose just feel almost mystical? I don't know, I just loved how he writes. I do feel like I need to give a disclaimer though. There is some explicit content in this book. I usually didn't feel like is detracted from the plot. It felt like it had a purpose to the story. But there were a few paragraphs every once in a while I ended up skimming/skipped over.

This book has made me become hooked on historical fiction and war novels. O'Brien was in Vietnam, so all though this book is fiction, it honestly blurs between fiction and nonfiction, with some stories being influenced by his experiences in the war. I would really recommend this book to anyone. I do feel like it is important for us to second hand experience history, whether fiction or not, so that we are reminded of the darkness and turmoil war brings.

Similarly to The Slow Regard of Silent Things, only read this if you love Kingkiller Chronicles. It is a novella about another side character named Bast that was re-written this year.

Vinland Saga is dope. I grew up reading Shonen manga, but haven't read any new manga for 15 years at this point. It is about an Icelandic boy traveling with the viking crew whose leader killed his father. I hear the anime is amazing too but I haven't watched any yet.