Books

Wanted a change of pace so I read a thriller / crime novel for the first time in quite a while. The book started pretty action-packed but then slowed down in the first third and lost me for a couple of weeks which means that it took me a while to finish.

After giving it another shot it managed to hook me and the conclusion to the plot lines was satisfying but felt a little bit rushed. But the main two characters are really likable even if they’re a bti cliché. Also everyone seems to sleep with everyone in this book, lol.

I’m now already reading the next one in the main trilogy and I’m liking it even more than this one - it’s definitely a page turner.

Had high expections for this book, but it didn’t quite live up to them. The premise sounded really interesting but while reading the book I just wasn’t blown away by it. I’ll definitely check out some other stuff from Le Guin because I’ve heard a lot of praise for her and I want to give it a second try.

The ending especially felt kind of like a let down. In general the pacing felt a bit off for me. But this year has been a really weak reading year for me so maybe I’m the problem, haha.

Really disturbing book but an interesting concept. Very graphic & brutal with some (suprising) beautiful moments. Found it difficult to keep reading at first - feels like it took me a long time to finish considering it’s such a short book.

The second part of the book was way better in my opinion but I’m quite dissapointed with the ending. It felt really out of place with the values of the main character.

By far the longest book I’ve ever read (over 1800 pages on my Kindle version). I really liked it but compared to the previous 4 books I had some issues with. Overall the ending seems a bit unsatisfying because it seemed a bit rushed & most plot points have been left open (which is understandable considering this is the 5th out of 10 planned books). I would have preferred if some of those storylines would have had at least some sort of an ending.

But this is complaining on a very high level - I still love this series and am looking forward to the next 5 books.

Also, the next book in the Stormlight Archive is coming out 2031 earliest - so I’ll have to wait a bit, haha.

Very cozy, definitely a classic. Had some slow parts though & I had a bit of a reading slump while re-reading it - the book does feel dated at times but overall I enjoyed it.

Read this for the first time since 2014. Very cozy book, I just didn’t love that the reader is directly spoken to at times - that ruined the immersion for me. But I love middle-earth as a setting and will be re-reading the LOTR books too now.

Haven’t written any book reviews in more than a year so my memories aren’t fresh anymore when it comes to how I felt about this book when I finished it so this review will be a short one.

Overall I remember that I thought that the fifth book in the series was really solid. We see Rand getting more independent, Mat takes over more responsibility with the “Band of the Red Hand”, not a whole lot of Perrin chapters (which I’m okay with) and to be honest I don’t really remember a lot of what the other characters did in detail.

I really need to write these reviews immediately after finishing the book.

It took me a bit more than 4 months to finish the fourth book of the Wheel Of Time series. However I have been reading some other books on the side too. I have now decided to fully focus on the Wheel Of Time because I’m actually just a third of the way done with the whole series :D

According to Wikipedia, it is the longest book of The Wheel Of Time series even though it has fewer pages than Lord of Chaos (393 823 words).

In this book the main characters are (once again) split up. Rand goes to the Aiel Waste to learn more about the Aiel and get accepted by them as the Dragon Reborn, Egwene and Moirane/Lan also join them because Egwene is trying to improve her abilities of Dreamwalking. Perrin returns to the Two Rivers to deal with the Whitecloaks & the Trollocs (with Faile & Loial) and Nynaeve & Elayne are dealing with the Black Ajah in Tear.

Overall I really enjoyed most of the storylines and felt that the pacing was better compared to the previous books. I still really like the relationships between Faile & Perrin and Nynaeve and Elayne & co, there was also a pretty wild storyline with Tar Valon & Siuan Sanche that is now continued in book 5 as I’m reading it.

To summarise: really solid, I liked it & I’m curious to see where to story will go next (Still haven’t read any major spoilers so far :D)

I’ve been trying to get my phone usage down & just be more mindful about my technology usage in general so I decided to read this book by Cal Newport.

Overall I liked it, at first he gave examples about other people who we commited to Digital Minimalism and talked about how, for example, social media companies are trying to gain & keep our attention for as long as possible.

The book also showed how several historical figures used their times alone to deal with the issues in their lives, such as Abraham Lincoln or Henry David Thoreau who decided to live alone in the woods for a while.

The main idea was that technology should:

1. Serve something you deeply value (offering some benefit is not enough)
2. Be the best way to use technology to serve this value (if it’s not, replace it with something better)
3. Have a role in your life that is constrained with a standard operating procedure that specifies when and how you use it.

In the last part Cal Newport tries to give some advice on how to actually start living in a way that mirrors this mindset. I talked more about how I personally am going to try to achieve this in my blog post.

All in all, I liked the book but it also didn’t contain some crazy life changing advice. I’ll have to see how well I’ll be able to embrace this mindset.

It took me quite a while to finish this book even though it’s only around 300 pages long. I started it once early last year but actually gave up on it because the story just didn’t click with me. Gave it another shot this year but I still struggled with it in the beginning. I tried listening to the audiobook for a bit (narrated by Carey Mulligan, loved her narration) which helped to at least get far enough into the story to keep going & finish it.

The book tells the story of Nora Seed who, after a suicide attempt, ends up in “The Midnight Library”, a place between life and death. There she meets Mrs. Elm, a librarian that cared for her during her childhood. She gets to experience all the lives she could have lived if she took different decisions throughout her life by picking a book from the shelves of this library. We see how her decisions shaped the lives of the people around her in all those parralell lives & how experiencing all those lives shaped her attitude towards life in general.

Overall it was nice, not blown away by it but I did enjoy the ending & the writing style was also enjoyable. Definitely a bit predictable at times though, but all in all I enjoyed it.

This book is written from the perspective of a security bot (in a science fiction setting) which managed to become independent. The book follows its thoughts now that it has to deal with social awkwardness, its pessimistic worldview and the human clients on whose mission it has to protect them.

Murderbot has such a fun personality, constantly complaining about not being able to spend its time watching entertainment shows and trying avoiding any interaction with humans.

Really cute concept & it’s overall a lighthearted & very short book so it was easy to finish. I’ll probably give the other books in the series a shot! Would definitely recommend it!

After reading “Meditations” by Marcus Aurelius I wanted to read another book on Stoicism. I found this one by John Sellars to be super interesting.

It gives an overview and a basic introduction to the history & the main ideas in Stoicism, clears up some misconceptions that people might have about this philosophy and then describes how the most important stoics came up with their ideas and how we can apply them in our daily lives.

I’d definitely recommend this book to anyone trying to learn more about Stoicism, I actually wish that I had read it before starting with “Meditations”.

Another non-fiction book! Fairly short book by a mortician that answers weird questions asked by kids about death in a fun way. Despite the obviously pretty morbid & depressing topic the book is overall very light-hearted and fun.

There were definitely some very interesting bits of information in this book and I’d overall recommend it to anyone interested in this topic.

My first book by Ernest Hemingway. Overall I thought it was okay, definitely a fairly slow read - not necessarily boring but the roughly 80-90 pages felt longer than they actually were.

The story is about an old man and his struggle while trying to catch & bring back home a big Marlin fish. It talks about his endurance, his stoicism and eventually the futility of his effort. I liked the parts that show his relationship with the boy that takes care of him.

Hemingway’s writing style was actually pretty unremarkable for me reading it in 2022, but apparently it was pretty new and different back in the 1950s.

All in all, not blown away but I also don’t regret reading it either.

Finally done with the third book in the Wheel Of Time series! This one actually took me quite a long time - I started reading it on November 7th of last year. Especially in the first second quarter of the book it got kind of slow in my opinion which made me take several breaks and read other short books in the meantime.

This is the first book so far that actually wasn’t focused primarily on Rand. The focus is mostly on Perrin + Thom (who is back again, wohoo) and Egwene + Nynaeve + Elayne. And we are introduced to a new character called Faile/Zarine, really liked her!

All in all I liked the book, my main criticism would be (as with the first book) the ending. We get around 700 pages of build-up and then the ending felt rushed again. I’m looking forward to the next one, apparently that one is one of the best in the series (not “The Dragon Reborn” as I assumed first, I mixed them up). But it’s over 1000 pages so it will take me quite a while :D

Here’s another non-fiction book. This book is a collection of questions mostly about space, the future and technology that Stephen Hawking answers in pretty short chapters. Some questions/answers give insight to his own experiences in his life, both about his work and his personal struggle with his disability, some are about his expectations about the future, for example the impact of the advancement of A.I on humanity.

I expected this book to be drier than it actually was - although some of his answers went into pretty heavy scientific topics, he still managed to explain them in an understandable and often very humorous way.

I also found the afterword by his daughter Lucy, written after Stephen’s death, very touching, it was a great end to a cool book! Overall I think it was extremely interesting and I would definitely recommend it!

This was very short and pretty weird book. It’s mostly just the thoughts and ramblings of a girl that is frustrated and looking for her purpose in life. I find it pretty hard to describe the book because there’s not really a storyline, the main character is just reflecting on her current situation and her life & goals in general.

The book is definitely unique but overall I wasn’t blown away a bit.

I read this novella pretty spontaneously because I had just really been in a “chess mood” for the last couple of days.

Overall it was surprising how much of a page turner it actually was and it was a nice to read a Austrian book for a change.

Then again - from an emotional point of view this book hardly touched me so I’m giving it 3.5 stars I think. Worth a read but nothing exceptional in my opinion.

Really liked this one. I did take a break of a week or two while I read some different books but overall I like that I got to know the characters even more now and the story is really starting to pick up. I especially enjoyed some of the new friendships that were formed in this one.

I don’t have any big criticism when it comes to the pacing, I think it was definitely better than the first one.

Super curious about the next book because I heard that it’s one of the best in the series!

This book describes the experiences of a neurosurgeon during his time in medical school to residency and then in the second part how he dealt with his lung cancer diagnosis all the way up until his eventual death.

Loved the writing, obviously an incredibly heavy topic but the descriptions of his time as resident in the hospital and his motivations & reasons to become a doctor in the first place were very insightful. It is also remarkable how realistic and brave he stayed during his illness and the book also shows how the diagnosis changed the lives of not only him but also his wife.

I would absolutely recommend this book, I loved it.

My first book by Nabokov. My main thoughts: super pretty and flowery writing style - sometimes hard to read for me as a non native English speaker (then again neither was Nabokov).

My main problem with the book wasn’t even the obviously problematic/disturbing relationship between the two main characters but mostly that I just didn’t really care for the story at some point. I actually took a break of several months before finally finishing this book. There are definitely some quite fucked up scenes & situations in the book; I also didn’t think that this book is in any way romanticizing the relationship of the two characters. Humbert knows what he’s doing and that what he is doing isn’t right, it’s just the fact that he’s an unreliable narrator that might make this a bit less clear I guess.

Overall, I found it okay. Very pretty writing style, didn’t love the story & probably won’t reread it.

The first part of the book describes the experiences of the author during his imprisonment in several concentration camps and talks about dealing with the situation there and finding a reason to accept & continue enduring his suffering there. Obviously some very disturbing & tragic description of events there.

The second part was about his general philosophy called Logotherapy. This was definitely more dry, but I liked that for every statement or idea he usually gave several examples of actual cases that prove and explain that idea in a more practical sense.

Overall I found it super interesting & it definitely changes one’s outlook on life’s meaning to a certain extent. Great book!

This is my first introduction to stoicism and actually the first book on philosophy in general that I read. I read the Gregory Hayes translation which helped a lot - I first tried an older translation that was unecessarily difficult to understand when you’re used to modern English.

I found many of the ideas in the book quite interesting and insightful even though I don’t agree with all of them. At times the book was quite dry & repetitive but I guess that is to be expected when talking about this topic. Overall I liked it and it was neat to actually read the private notes of a Roman emperor that lived almost 2000 years ago. You don’t get to do that every day.

First chess book I read! Interesting lessons, some fun chess trivia and lots of examples and games to go through.

Funny concept but overall it wasn’t really my type of humor. I get that the character is supposed to be naive and stupid but it was just a bit too much for me.

Started reading this book expecting a very slow and dry read but I was suprised how easy to read and engaging this story was. The beginning was definitely a bit slow but soon the story really picks up and the characters are driven by danger and urgency.

The characters are relatable and while they do fit some stereotypes as far as fantasy books are concerned, I did not find this to be detrimental to the story. I’ve heard some opinions that this is Robert Jordan’s weakest book in the series as far as writing style and prose is concerned but honestly if that’s the case then I’m absolutely looking forward to the rest of the series because I actually already really enjoyed the writing in this one.

The ending did feel quite rushed and came a bit too suprising for my taste but overall I liked the book and will continue with the series.

Really cool short story with a suprising twist at the end. Definitely recommend it!

Super cute story, really creative idea with a suprisingly deep meaning. Absolutely recommend this short story!

Nice speech, actually listened to a video of him reading it rather than doing it myself. Some interesting thoughts about living a more compassionate and mindful life.

Super creative ideas, really nice pacing - especially how the book was split into the crew’s stays on the different planets and I absolutely loved the ending!

I’ve been wanting to get into mediation for a while and this book was a nice introduction to this topic. There were examples to try out while reading it and the author also gave us his backstory and personal experiences with meditation.

Overall a really nice read, would recommend it to someone who wants to get into meditiation.

Personally I didn’t love that most of the book to place in the same location but overall it was amazing as usual. I actually didn’t mind the pacing and the finale was great and left me eager to read the next one once it’s out!

I really like the novellas in between the long books of The Stormlight Archive. Dawnshard was a nice change of pace and gave us a chance to spend more time with Rysn. Sandersons writing style was nice as usual and didn’t get in the way of following the story. Overall I liked the book!

I personally don’t find Orwell’s writing still to be very engaging but overall I liked the book, definitely worth reading it for the references and general impact on popular culture.

Overall a nice end to the whole series, some of the conclusions/explanations to some plot holes felt kind of weak but again, the book suceeds at what it is trying to be.

Probably my favorite Harry Potter book. I think the general atmosphere in this one is the best. We still get cozy scenes at Hogwarts but the story has by now definitely shifted to a darker tone and there is a sense of urgency and danger. Liked it a lot!

Loved the parts with Dumbledore’s Army and Dolores Umbridge was a great villain character. Overall typical Harry Potter, I liked it!

My first Harry Potter book that I ever read. Loved that we get both the normal cozy Hogwarts athmosphere while also getting some more special scenes with the Triwizard tournament & the story starts to definitely shift to a more darker tone.

The story is finally getting a bit darker in this book but it still has that cozy feeling, the time travel aspect is also pretty interesting.

Simple writing style, super cozy feeling. Liked it a lot!

First time reading the complete series after reading books 4-6 after movie 4 came out. The writing style is simple but the story just feels so cozy and comfy to read. Of course it’s a book for children but it does a great job being that and is obviously a great entry point for someone trying to get into fantasy!

Really cool idea, loved the relationsship between Oskar and Eli. The general vibe and feeling in the book was definitely quite creepy. What I didn’t love is that some side storylines felt kind of ill-fitting to the rest of the story and especially the flashbacks of Eli felt kind of out of place and weren’t fleshed out enough. Overall I liked it but I feel like it could have been better.

Went into this one with really high expectations but while I overall enjoyed it, the fact that it consists of several more or less separate stories rather than one cohesive story was kind of off putting.

I wanted to learn more about the Witcher universe before playing the game or watching the show but after finishing this one I just didn’t really feel the itch to continue with the series. I might give it another shot though at some point!

Loved it! I actually had never heard of the whole scandal with Theranos but this book was a real page turner and gave me pretty good information about the whole thing. Even though it is non-fiction the story still felt like a “normal” book and I found it very easy to follow. The author seems to have researched the topic really well and gave great insights on everything that happened.

My first book by Neil Gaiman. I don’t know why, but I just didn’t completely vibe with this book. Definitely had some pretty creative ideas and the writing style was pretty but I just didn’t find the story to be very engaging.

My first book by Stephen King. This book was definitely a page turner. It has a unique setting and I really liked the characters and the relationships they built. The ending wasn’t really strong but it seems like that’s pretty common with Stephen King’s books.

Really interesting topic, the writing style was fine too. However it doesn’t really go into detail or a lot of depth about the specific examples in the book. Overall I enjoyed it, would definitely recommend it to someone who is into IT in general.

Re-read this book in 2020 after reading it like 5-7 years ago. I actually remembered it to be way better than I found it now. Reading it now left me kind of underwhelmed. Overall it is a pretty nice read though and definitely has emotional moments.

This book is actually one of the rare cases where I vastly prefer the movie.

Actually had really high expectations for this book but I was overall a bit dissapointed. I guess it’s just not my style of humor but I probably won’t be continuing this series. I guess it’s nice to now have some info on some references in pop-culture but overall it just didn’t really blow me away.

I get the overall message, but I just found it way too predictable and just like with 1984 I just don’t really love Orwell’s writing style. All in all I think it’s worth the read though, even if it’s just for the references in popular culture and general idea and political allegory.

If it hadn’t been such a super short read I would have probably quit reading it.

Fantastic just like the other ones in the series. I actually didn’t have problems with the pacing like some other reviewers had, overall I loved it. Great characters, a page turner. Would recommend!

Almost skipped this one because it’s technically optional to read this novella when looking at the whole series. Glad I didn’t though, really enjoyable read even though it might not be as “big” as the other books.

Just as amazing as the first one of the series. Amazing worldbuilding and characters, super immersive story. Fantastic book!

Absolutely loved it. Incredible worldbuilding, amazing characters and story - an absolute page turner. I genuinely can’t think of a lot of things that I disliked about the book.

Finally a book I was able to read in its original language. It portraits the naivety with which these young men went to war, looking at it as some sort of adventure which then turned into bleakness. The writing style definitely felt dated but then again this book was written fairly shortly after the war. Would absolutely recommend it, probably one of best (anti) war books I’ve read.

The book is structured as a series of letters describing some supernatural events happening. Some pretty creepy parts but overall I found the writing style a bit too dry. It was also my first Lovecraft book so I think some references to his “universe” went over my head. Overall it was pretty nice though.

Really fun book! If you enjoy the xkcd comics, you’ll enjoy this book too. Each chapter answers some silly question in a pretty scientific way. It’s easy to just pick it up every now and then because each chapter can basically stand on its own.

Absolutely loved it. Really great insights in both his personal and professional life, from his beginnings all the way to his whistle-blowing. I’m generally interested in IT & privacy concerning this topic so I found this to be a great read.

The writing style is very easy to follow and the book was a page turner. Definitely recommend it!

Did not love it. During several times in the book the author seems to present his own opinions as facts without really backing them up with any sources. Overall it was interesting though and I did learn some new things.

The book definitely portraits the horrible things happening during the holocaust well but for some reason I just didn’t really find the writing style very immersive. I liked it as far as the story is concerned but from a literary point of view I did not really enjoy reading it.

Really great prose, definitely felt old-timey quite often but I guess that’s to be expected from a book that was written a while ago. Very descriptive writing at times and not the biggest page-turner but I liked it a lot overall.

I might give it a re-read at some point.

Liked it a lot. A pretty quick read, very unique story. The writing style was pretty and I liked the little stories within the main story that the reader is shown.

Really unique writing style, the story itself wasn’t actually a big part of the book. I felt like the relationships between the characters were the main focus. Definitely felt quite relatable at times.

One thing I found off-putting was the overly sexual themes at times. Seems like the main character has a sexual relationship with pretty much every other female character he interacts with. Kind of felt forced/unfitting more often than not.

Really liked it overall. It was unique to have death as the narrator, the relationships between the characters felt very believable and the writing style was beautiful.

Overall a really unique and interesting story and a fine writing style - but I just could never really build a connection to the characters and feel very invested into their life. To me the book and the ending were just okay - not bad but not amazing either.

Loved the way the writing style changes simultaneously with the mental state of the main character while the story progresses, first time I read something like that. In general the ending was kind of spoiled or at least too predictable by the synopsis and general descriptions of the book.

It didn’t have the deep emotional impact on me as it seems to have on a lot of readers but I would overall still absolutely recommend it.

Loved the writing style and the way the story switches between the two different viewpoints of the main characters. I definitely remember thinking that the prose was really beautiful.

Only negative point for me personally was the ending, I felt like it would have been better if the book had ended a bit earlier, the last part felt kind of tacked on and didn’t really fit with the feel of the rest of the book.