From 353d695bcd7157ad9aa54a15d79554f29c7baf6b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Charles Tapley Hoyt Date: Mon, 1 Jan 2024 22:22:42 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] Add 2023 Book List --- _posts/2024-01-01-books-in-2023.md | 85 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 85 insertions(+) create mode 100644 _posts/2024-01-01-books-in-2023.md diff --git a/_posts/2024-01-01-books-in-2023.md b/_posts/2024-01-01-books-in-2023.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..924205c --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2024-01-01-books-in-2023.md @@ -0,0 +1,85 @@ +--- +layout: post +title: Books I Read in 2023 +date: 2024-01-01 22:22:00 +0100 +author: Charles Tapley Hoyt +tags: + - books +--- + +I finally got back into reading! Over winter break 2022, I started the Stormlight Archive then followed up in +2023 by reading the entirety of Brandon Sanderson's _Cosmere_, as well as a some other fantasy, science fiction, and +literary fiction. Here's the list. + +1. Oathbringer (Stormlight Archive #3) by Brandon Sanderson +2. Rhythm of War (Stormlight Archive #4) by Brandon Sanderson +3. The Final Empire (Mistborn #1) by Brandon Sanderson +4. The Well of Ascension (Mistborn #2) by Brandon Sanderson +5. The Hero of Ages (Mistborn #3) by Brandon Sanderson +6. The Alloy of Law (Mistborn #4) by Brandon Sanderson +7. Shadows of Self (Mistborn #5) by Brandon Sanderson +8. The Bands of Mourning (Mistborn #6) by Brandon Sanderson +9. Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson +10. Elantris by Brandon Sanderson +11. The Shadow of the Wind (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books #1) by Carlos Ruiz Zafón +12. The Angel's Game (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books #2) by Carlos Ruiz Zafón +13. The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson +14. The Hope of Elantris by Brandon Sanderson +15. The Eleventh Metal by Brandon Sanderson +16. Mistborn: Secret History by Brandon Sanderson +17. Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell by Brandon Sanderson +18. Sixth of Dusk by Brandon Sanderson +19. White Sands by Brandon Sanderson +20. The Lost Metal (Mistborn #7) by Brandon Sanderson +21. Edgedancer (Stormlight Archive #2.5) by Brandon Sanderson +22. What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah +23. Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson +24. The Prisoner of Heaven (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books #3) by Carlos Ruiz Zafón +25. The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle #1) by Patrick Rothfuss +26. The Wise Man's Fear (The Kingkiller Chronicle #2) by Patrick Rothfuss +27. The Labyrinth of Spirits (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books #4) by Carlos Ruiz Zafón +28. Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson +29. Hyperion (The Hyperion Cantos #1) by Dan Simmons +30. The Fall of Hyperion (The Hyperion Cantos #2) by Dan Simmons +31. Dawnshard (Stormlight Archive #3.5) by Brandon Sanderson +32. The Sunlit Man by Brandon Sanderson +33. All Systems Red (Murderbot Dairies #1) by Martha Wells +34. Endymion (The Hyperion Cantos #3) by Dan Simmons +35. The Rise of Endymion (The Hyperion Cantos #4) by Dan Simmons +36. A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan #1) by Arkady Martine +37. A Desolation Called Peace (Teixcalaan #2) by Arkady Martine +38. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky +39. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson +40. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy +41. Red Rising (Red Rising Saga #1) by Pierce Brown +42. Golden Son (Red Rising Saga #2) by Pierce Brown +43. This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone + +Cosmere moments I really enjoyed (spoilers): + +1. Every single oath (finished or not), particularly Elhokar and Eshonai +2. I guessed the twist in Tress of the Emerald Sea +3. Kelsier's not dead! +4. Dalinar Kholin's entire character arc +5. Wayne, Pattern, and Nightblood being hilarious +6. Michael Kramer and Kate Reading's voices +7. All the tidbits in Sunlit Man... I can't wait for Stormlight 5 to fill in some of the gaps. + +Other non-Cosmere highlights (spoilers): + +1. Narrator reveal at the end of The Labyrinth of Spirits +2. Anna Karenina's inner monologue as she commits suicide was devastating +3. Rothfuss's prose is like honey +4. The messiah arc in the second Hyperion duology is really nice. It's a much better version of the awful "love connects + the universe" cliché at the end of Interstellar that actually creates plot- and character-driven relevance. + +Disappointments: + +1. Knowing the Doors of Stone might never come out but reading Kingkiller Chronicle #1 and #2 anyway +2. I didn't like that All Systems Red had the entire plot get resolved off-screen. + My sisters were really hoping I'd like this book, and I was only neutral. I'll still give the next one a try. +3. I missed the Year of Sanderson Kickstarter (and the hilarity of the announcement video). I hadn't really started + until after. +4. The Russian classics were pretty slow, but I guess that's how it goes. + +My goal in 2024 is to read more books from different genres, especially ones I've never touched before.