Batched Book Reviews: #2
Published in
2 min readApr 27, 2023
- He Who Fights with Monsters 9 (4/4) — This is probably the best book in the series so far. Let me just say, I decreased my listening speed (from 2.9 to 2) just to enjoy the content to the fullest and not miss a single sentence. I don’t remember doing it more than once in the last year. LitRPG is more and more in the background, and the book is primarily superb storytelling. There is still a good dose of action inside, but the plot, characters, and world-building are of the highest standards. Oh, and I almost forgot, the main character is probably the most likeable one I have ever experienced.
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (2/4) — I picked it up as a sci-fi classic and therefore thought it was worth reading, but I need to revisit this heuristic. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find much in this book: no world-building, no characters, and no super interesting plot. It was probably a good book in 1968, but I can’t recommend it today. There are simply a lot of much better books you can spend your time on.
- Cassandra Speaks (4-/4) — Another book in my “practicing empathy” efforts. It showcases various stories and aspects of life from a woman’s perspective, highlighting inequality throughout the ages but without any aggression towards men. It’s worth reading, for example, to see how we become biased just by consuming “classic” cultural texts, such as the Bible or mythology.
- Planet of the Apes (3+/4) — Another classic sci-fi, but very good this time. I really liked the writing style (diary format). The book is quite disturbing, perhaps not at the level of “Flowers for Algernon,” but close. A really good, engaging read.
Stats:
- Books read this year: ~50 (+4)
- Books on the shelf: 15 (+1)
- Books on the wishlist: 157 (+9)
