Oooh, thanks for all of the book recommendations! (And also for the coffee with cream and the giant cookie - yum!)
Since you asked, here is a very short list of my favorite books that I read this year!
Fiction:
"Parable of the Sower", Octavia Butler (I know I'm very behind the times on this, but I thought it was fantastic)
"The Women", Kristin Hannah (I'm currently in the middle of this, but am really enjoying it!)
Non-fiction:
"Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain", Oliver Sacks
Good for you for defining your boundaries about writing. I will still be thrilled when I see that you've written something new, whether or not it's a week or two in between!
fully supportive of skipping a week or two. I think writers on substack are wayyy to hard on themselves. your audience loves what you write, whenever you write! And we all subscribe to so many blogs, sometimes it's almost welcome to have a 'slower' week! :) we're not going anywhere!! And thanks for the book recommendations, Doppleganger is 100% in my to-read list!
I love this recap, Gunnar! I might just steal it if I manage to do it by year-end. I remember your top articles, and very inspiring to see what you've read. I also just bought Greek Lessons by Han Kang from 1 sentence I randomly read and loved in the book.
Best thing that happened to me : I didn't die !
Best books fiction :
- Stella Maris ( Cormac mcCarthy)
- Anna O. (Matthew Blake)
- Yellowface (Rebecca Huang)
- Mania (Lionel Shriver)
- Infomocracy (Malka Older)
- The dead cat tail assasins (Djéli Clark)
- The 8 volumes of the graphic novel series 'Monstress' (best GN ever, everyone...read this, it's brilliant and complex!)
Best books non-fiction :
- De terreur van het optimisme (in Dutch), about the terror in France after the Revolution
- The Cleopatras, forgotten queens of Egypt (Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones)
On the reading list start 2025 :
- The Archimedes Engine -Exodus (The new Peter Hamilton, fiction SF)
- Prophet Song (Paul Lynch, fiction, winner of the Booker Price 2023)
- De laatste walvis (Dutch,Björn Soenens, non-fiction)
At your service.
Much obliged. Stellar list!
Oooh, thanks for all of the book recommendations! (And also for the coffee with cream and the giant cookie - yum!)
Since you asked, here is a very short list of my favorite books that I read this year!
Fiction:
"Parable of the Sower", Octavia Butler (I know I'm very behind the times on this, but I thought it was fantastic)
"The Women", Kristin Hannah (I'm currently in the middle of this, but am really enjoying it!)
Non-fiction:
"Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain", Oliver Sacks
Good for you for defining your boundaries about writing. I will still be thrilled when I see that you've written something new, whether or not it's a week or two in between!
Thanks, Carrie!
Can't go wrong with Butler. Or Sacks. I'll have to check out The Women.
fully supportive of skipping a week or two. I think writers on substack are wayyy to hard on themselves. your audience loves what you write, whenever you write! And we all subscribe to so many blogs, sometimes it's almost welcome to have a 'slower' week! :) we're not going anywhere!! And thanks for the book recommendations, Doppleganger is 100% in my to-read list!
Thank you, Barbs!
(and let me know what you think of Doppelganger when you get to it)
I love this recap, Gunnar! I might just steal it if I manage to do it by year-end. I remember your top articles, and very inspiring to see what you've read. I also just bought Greek Lessons by Han Kang from 1 sentence I randomly read and loved in the book.
And congrats on your steady up-up evolution!
Thanks, Monica!
Keep the faith, Gunnar ! I read your pieces with delight, no matter the interval between them.
Thanks, Joshua. I appreciate that!