My Reading List

I love to read. Here are some of my favorites in rough order of most to least liked

The Inheritance Cycle

My all time favorite book series is the Inheritance Cycle. It has all of the classic high fantasy tropes; elves, orcs, magic, dragons, dwarves, werecats, love (but not an annoying amount), fighting, philosophy, loyalty, good vs evil, Grey Folk, arcane languages in such detail that you can actually learn it, and of course a terrible movie adaption. The plot is wonderfully written, there is painstaking detail put into every name, location, and language, and author Christopher Paolini writes so beautifully that it oftentimes feels like reading poetry. I cry every time I read the end of the last book.

Highly, highly recommend

Autumn Lightning

I've trained in Aikido since I was nine years old, and martial arts have always played a big role in my life. I formed a lot of my personal beliefs and views of the world on the mat and influenced by Aikido's philosophy. Autumn Lightning narrates author Dave Lowry's own journey into martial arts, learning ancient Japanese customs, philosophy, and martial arts in his American hometown. It's quite insightful and educational, many of the ideas laid out in the novel aren't taught or explained anywhere else with any truthfulness, as anything relating to ancient Japan/Samurai/martial arts online is usually a serialized version of history.

The Things They Carried

Tom O'Brien served during the Vietnam War. Afterwards, he became an author. His best known novel, The Things They Carried, follows stories of his time in Vietnam, written with painstaking, beautiful horror. I really enjoy it specifically because yes of course, it's written really well, and tells compelling stories that make you think, but also unlike many war novels, his stories are backed up by real world experience. He knows what it really felt like to watch your comrade blow up by a land mine, he knows what's its like to watch your friend sink into a bog while taking enemy fire during a heavy rainstorm, and he knows what it's like to kill despite not wanting to be in war in the first place.

It's an accurate retrospective informed by beautiful imagery and literary mastery.

White Noise

White Noise by Don DeLillo provides pretty accurate commentary on our modern fixations despite being written in 1985. It tells the story of Jack Gladney's journey through family life, an unnatural disaster, the fear of death, and shiny objects. It talks about society's fixation on the bright and colorful, often to the loss of the roots of humanity.

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby was written by Scott F. Fitzgerald in 1925, it follows Nick Carraway as his life is interrupted by the Great Jay Gatsby's attempts to regain the love of his life while navigating themes of industrialism, old vs new wealth, the american dream, class, and gender equality. It is often considered a contender for the Great American Novel.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is one of the weirdest series I've ever read. Its full of irony and randomness as author Douglas Adams tells the story of Arthur Dent, the only human to survive the destruction of Earth for the building of an hyperspace expressway. So long, and thanks for all the fish.

Harry Potter

I don't think I need to make any introduction for this series. The movies are a great place to start if you don't want to read the whole series, they stick mostly true to the novels. Book 5 is the best to read, the last movie is the best to watch. Book and movie 4 are the worst.

Saga

Saga is one of the best rated comic series, and was one of the first to prove that comics could tell real stories. Its a space opera, with themes of shakespearean tragedy and Star Wars science fiction.

A Promised Land

Barrack Obama is a hell of a storyteller. A Promised Land is his memoir, detailing his life from growing up to giving the go ahead for the operation to kill Osama Bin Laden. It made me rethink my American identity and mad eme love my country more. It also has some funny bits, for example when he talks about his college experiences "it's embarrassing to recognize the degree to which my intellectual curiosity those first two years of college paralleled the interests of various women I was attempting to get to know."