the first one is 70 pages long. number two will get anybody out of a reading slump. the third one is muber two’s sequel and far better. the fourth one is the only personal development book you need. and number 5 is tea.
this year, i must've finished no more than 20. a sad number compared to last year's 50+
but vanity metrics aside, these were my absolute top 5.
1. the death of ivan ilyich - leo tolstoy
i read this razor thin book on a flight from portland to seattle and it sliced me wide open. my affairs with russian authors — dostoevsky, nabokov, checkov and now tolstoy — have been nothing short of extraordinary. they make me want more. and the story of dying ivan left me wanting more out of life.
warning: this book may trigger the existential crisis you've been putting off.
2. red rising - pierce brown
think "hunger games" meets "game of thrones" in space. this book is fucking dope. the pages turn themselves. you cheer. you curse. you cry. it never slows down. and the social criticism is sick. might be a little too violent for some, but not for me. ten out of ten.
3. golden son - pierce brown
i just put this one down. picked it up right after i closed the last one. didn't even have time to buy a physical copy. pierce brown is my kind of writer. short, unpretentious sentences that pack a punch and pull you into the world and story head-first. is this one better than the first one? yes. think of the first one as the prologue. this is where shit hits the fan.
oh, and i'm reading book III as i type this, in case you were wondering.
4. the one thing - gary w. keller
i used to be a self-help junkie. i've read 50 out of ~this best 100 list~. that should tell you something. i will save my rant about the personal development industry for a future note, but the principle covered in this book and the surrounding strategies and case studies make the dirty looks you'll get browsing the self-help aisle totally worth it.
5. the secret history - donna tartt
i'm ashamed to admit i didn't know of donna tartt until the nerdy girl at barnes & noble recommended her to me. "if you like [the TV show] succession you'll like the secret history." she said, waving the personal copy she kept next to the register. rich white people drama, i thought. she was not wrong. this whole book is tea.