Some books fom 2019 Reading List I could put together quickly
“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.” ― Harper Lee.
And this quote sums up how I felt in the clutches of death and the impermanence of everything. Everything put aside, if I were going to die I wanted to read more books. Being bed bound for months, I chose the highest I thought I could aim.
For me 2018 was a terrible year for reading particularly due to the health crisis which taught me more than books could so I’m not complaining. I could barely finish half of the books of the 75 books of my 2018 Reading List.
For 2019 I wanted to focus on writing more and I’d thought of reducing my reading count from 100 books of my 2017 Reading List and 75 of 2018 to an easily manageable aim of 24 books, 2 books for each month. But then one of the final books in 2018 I’d read was Stephen King’s On Writing, and it changed my view completely. He summarized it as follows:
“Read, read, read and if you get time – write. If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” ― Stephen King
When I was ill and doctors were consistently recommending various surgeries and hinting about how few months I’ve left to live, I started writing my novel. If I were to die, I at least wanted it to be published. I didn’t know how many months I’d spend in hospitals and how able I’d be to write it. Thankfully, I turned out to be mostly ok. But I saw my weaknesses as I continued with the novel.
My torment of 4 months had profound impact on me. It also was an inspiration of selection of multiple books.
After that I’ve decided to read even more books than ever. Especially fiction. In 2017 Reading List there were no fiction books. In 2018, I’d added 10. And for 2019 I’ve added 130 fiction books and 120 nonfiction books.
Why more fiction?
I’m writing a novel and I hope to finish if not publish it by 2020. From fiction I get to learn a lot about narration, creating a consistent plot, developing characters, proper dialogues, world building and twists. I’ve learnt from both good and bad books.
I’ve also added a lot of varied fiction consisting of dozen plus genre like fantasy, drama, horror, thriller, sci-fi, adventure, philosophy, dystopia, young adult, classics and romance. And in multiple forms: novels, novella, graphic novels, manga series, comic books, collection of short stories and large works.
Isn’t the goal huge?
Yes I’ve never even achieved the full 100 books target. But that was because I almost exclusively read non-fiction books. And I didn’t count the comicbooks and manga in the total number I read, which would even then put the number beyond hundred.
Also I feel fiction is much easier to read and takes much less time. When I read non-fiction I make notes and sometimes extensive notes stretching into dozens of pages for a single book. In fiction I generally write down words the meaning of which is not clear to me, beautiful phrases. Sometimes I also write key allegories and ideas but that’s rare and very less.
This is the peak and I would not push further than this
250 books – This is going to be the peak, I admit. I’ll never attempt to read this many books ever. From 2020 onwards, after getting insights into writing and enough understanding of some of the issues I care about, I’d read more new topics but read less books. Perhaps somewhere between 50 – 100 books. Depending on what I want to learn about and which writers I want to read.
Book Categorization and Labelling:
By Type and Topic – The main categorization is by type – whether the books are fictional or non-fictional. After that I roughly tried to categorize them under some topic I found relevant. Though most books belong to more than one topic.
By Length and Labelling – I wanted to categorize books on how large they are, so I’ve added a label and length. Each book is categorized from Very Small to Medium to Very Large to Ultra Large and is followed by number of pages:
(VS: < 100, S: < 200, M: < 350, L: < 500, VL: > 500, UL >=1000)
I’ve added the page length too so others can pick up the book they want.
Being Accountable – My Personal Goodreads To Track All Progress and Book Reviews
I’ve decided to review most of the books and rate all of the books I read on Goodreads this year.
You can follow my whole progress, reviews on my personal Goodreads this year here. I’ve never given out my personal account. I was thinking of starting a separate account and copying all my reviews. But it would be tedious. I’d rather read books than do that. Changing the name would not be fair to my existing Goodreads friends, so I’m going ahead with this. Also I thought transparency is better. Though I’d still like my privacy to be respected. Feel free to discuss anything about the books there.
I’ve also linked my reviews of the books that I’ve already read.
May has started, so where do I stand?
All of my already read books for this year are here on Goodreads. I’ve read 63 books so far and nearly 14000 pages. So I’ve to read nearly 190 more books! I’m a bit behind but I’ll catch up soon hopefully 🙂
Let’s begin the list without further ado!
Part I. Non Fiction (120 Books)
Writing (6)
- Beginnings, Middle and End – Nancy Kress (S, 149p)
- Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life – Anne Lamott (M, 237p)
- Poetics – Aristotle (S, 138p)
- Zen in the Art of Writing – Ray Bradbury (S, 158p)
- On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction – William Zinsser (M, 336p)
- Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: How to Edit Yourself Into Print – Renni Browne, Dave King (M, 288p)
Psychology (6)
- The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You – Elaine Aron (M, 251p)
- Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy – David D Burns (VL, 736p)
- Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life – Martin E.P. Seligman (M, 319p)
- The Hero with a Thousand Faces – Joseph Campbell (L, 416p)
- The Road Less Traveled – M Scott Peck (M, 316p)
- When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times – Pema Chödrön (S, 160p)
Communication, Confidence and Public Speaking (7)
- What Every Body is Saying – Joe Navarro (M, 250p)
- How to Talk to Anyone: 92 Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships – Leil Lowndes (M, 334p)
- Influence: The Psychology of Persuation – Robert B. Cialdini (M, 320p)
- Six Pillars of Self-Esteem – Nathaniel Branden (M, 341p) (Reading)
- Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences – Nancy Duarte (M, 248p)
- TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking – Chris J. Anderson (M, 288p)
Personal development (5)
- Mini Habits – Stephen Guise (S, 127p)
- The Now Habit – Neil A Fiore (M, 206p)
- The 4 Hour Workweek – Tim Ferris (M, 308p)
- Gifts of Imperfection – Brene Brown (S, 138p)
- Gmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me & You – Lin-Manuel Miranda (Author), Jonny Sun (Illustrator) (M, 224p) Review
Death and Dying (2)
- Mortality – Christopher Hitchens (S, 104p) Review
- The Death of Ivan Ilych – Leo Tolstoy, Aylmer Maude (Translator) (Fiction) (VS, 86p)
Meditations and Mindfulness (3)
- How to Meditate: A Practical Guide to Making Friends with Your Mind by Pema Chödrön (S, 175p)
- Radical Acceptance – Tara Brach (M, 333p)
- The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditationby Thich Nhat Hanh,Mobi Ho (Translator) (S, 140p)
Applied Ethics and Morality (3)
- Just Mercy: A Story of Justice & Redemption – Bryan Stevenson (M, 336p)
- Justice: What’s the Right Thing To Do? – Michael J. Sandel (M, 308p)
Tuberculosis (2)
- Catching Breath: The Making and Unmaking of Tuberculosis by Kathryn Lougheed Read (M, 288p) Review
- Spitting Blood – Helen Bynum (M, 320p)
Activism/Awareness – Environmental (1)
- Silent Spring – Rachael Carson (L, 378p)
History (1)
- The Discoverers: A History of Man’s Search to Know His World and Himself – Daniel J Boorstin (VL, 745p)
Anxiety, Depression and Suicide (3)
- Notes on a Nervous Planet – Matt Haig (M, 288p)
- The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression – Andrew Solomon (VL, 576p)
- Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide – Kay Redfield Jamison (L, 432p)
Cancer (2)
- The Death of Cancer – Vincent T. DeVita Jr. – (M, 336p)
- Malignant: How Cancer Becomes Us – S. Lochlann Jain (M, 304p)
Philosophy General (7)
- Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy – Simon Blackburn (M, 296p)
- Republic – Plato (L, 416p)
- The Nicomachean Ethics – Aristotle (M, 329p)
- The Myth of Sisyphus – Albert Camus (S, 192p)
- Existentialism is a Humanism – Jean-Paul Sartre (S, 108p)
- Problems of Philosophy – Bertrand Russell (S, 116p)
- The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten: 100 Experiments for the Armchair Philosopher – Julian Baggini (Listening) (M, 306p)
Stoicism (4)
- A Guide to Good Life – William B. Irvine (M, 326p)
- Of Human Freedom – Epictetus (VS, 91p) Review (Favorite!)
- The Discourses – Epictetus (L, 384p)
- Letters from a Stoic – Seneca (M, 256p)
Epicureanism (4)
- Principal Doctrines – Epicurus (VS, <10p) Review
- Letter to Menoceus – Epicurus (VS, < 10p) Review (Favorite!)
- Fragments – Epicurus (VS, < 10p)
- On the Nature of Things – Lucretius (VL, 672p)
Challenging – To Challenge My Long Held Perspectives & Beliefs (6)
- Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland – Christopher R. Browning (M, 271p)
- Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence – David Benatar (M, 237p)
- An Essay on the Principle of Population – Thomas Robert Malthus (M, 208p)
- No More Mr. Nice Guy – Robert A. Glover (M, 208p)
- The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability – Lierre Keith (M, 320p)
- The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief -Francis S. Collins (M, 320p)
Biography/Autobiography/Memoir (4)
- The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and My Fight Against the Islamic State – Nadia Murad (M, 320p)
- Twelve Against the Gods – (M, 316p)
- Leonardo da Vinci – Walter Isaacson (VL, 600p)
- Can’t Hurt Me – David Goggins (M, 290p)
Technology (1)
- Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies – Nick Bostrom (M, 328p)
Holocaust, Genocide and Concentration Camps (3)
- Night – Elie Wiesel, Marion Wiesel (Trans.) (S, 120p)
- We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families – Philip Gourevtich (L, 356p)
- The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (L, 472p)
Slavery in America (2)
- Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl – Harriet Ann Jacobs (S, 176p)
- Twelve Years a Slave – Solomon Northup (L, 363p)
Poetry (5)
- Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám – Omar Khayyám, (T) Edward FitzGerald (S, 176p) Read
- The Complete Collected Poems – Maya Angelou (M, 273p)
- The Essential Rumi – Rumi, trans. (L, 416p) (Reading)
- Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair – Pablo Neruda (VS, 70p) Review
- The Rose That Grew from Concrete – Tupac Shakur (S, 176p)
Social Sciences and Anthropology (4)
- Factfulness – Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund (Reading) (L, 372p)
- The Better Angels of Our Nature – Steven Pinker (VL, 1000+p)
- Epic Measures: One Doctor. Seven Billion Patients.by Jeremy N. Smith – (L, 352p)
- Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind – Yuval Noah Harari (L, 442p)
Science General (5)
- I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us & a Grander View of Life – Ed Yong (L, 368p)
- Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warmingby Naomi Oreskes, Erik M. Conway (L, 357p)
- How to Lie With Statistics – Darrell Huff, Irving Geis (Ill.) (S, 142p)
- 1001 Inventions That Changed The World Since 2,600,000 BCE – Jack Challoner (UL, 1200p)
- A Short History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson (VL, 544p)
- The Gene – Siddhartha Mukherjee (VL, 594p)
Music, Song Writing and Rapping (6)
- How Music Works – David Byrne (M, 344p)
- Piano Guide
- Writing Better Lyrics – Pat Pattison (M, 200+p)
- Perrine’s Sound and Sense: An Introduction to Poetry (L, 434p)
- How to Rap: The Art and Science of the Hip-Hop MC – Paul Edwards (L, 352p)
- How to Rap 2: Advanced Flow and Delivery Techniques – Paul Edwards (M, 272p)
Fashion and Dating (3)
- Dressing the Man/ Dress Like a Man / Style for Men
- The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man – Brett McKay (M, 288p)
- The Way of the Superior Man – David Deida (M, 202p)
Love, Heartbreak, Relationship and Sex (7)
- A Lover’s Discourse: Fragments – Roland Barthes (M, 234p)
- The Chemistry Between Us: Love, Sex, and the Science of Attraction by Larry Young, Brian Alexander (M, 320p)
- Cure for Love – Ovid (S, 100+p)
- This is Me Letting You Go – Heidi Priebe (S, 135p)
- Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help You Find—and Keep—Love – Amir Levine, Rachel Heller (M, 304p)
- Sex For Dummies – Ruth Westheimer (S, 128p)
- She Comes First: The Thinking Man’s Guide to Pleasuring a Woman by Ian Kerner (M, 228p)
Finance, Economics and Management (4)
- Rich Dad, Poor Dad – Robert T. Kiyosaki (S, 195p)
- Money Wise – Sharath Komarraju (M, 240p)
- From Rat Race to Financial Freedom – Manoj Arora (M, 308p)
- The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business – Josh Kaufman (L, 416p)
Computer Science, Data Science and Programming (3)
- Data Structures and Algorithms Made Easy – Narasimha Karumanchi (L, 400+p)
- Programming Pearls – Jon L. Bentley,Patrick Chan (M, 239p)
- Statistics / Statistical inference for data science
Epidemic Studies and Immune System (3)
- On Immunity: An Inoculation – Eula Biss (M, 205p)
- How the Immune System Works – Lauren M. Sompayrac (S, 129p)
- Vaccinated: One Man’s Quest to Defeat the World’s Deadliest Diseases – Paul A. Offit (M, 279p)
Feminism (3)
- A Room of One’s Own – Virginia Woolf (S, 112p)
- Headstrong: 52 Women Who Changed Science and the World – Rachel Swaby (M, 288p)
- We Should All Be Feminists – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (VS, 52p) Review
Health, Fitness and Running (5)
- Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams – Matthew Walker (L, 368p)
- Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy – Bret Contreras (M, 212p)
- Becoming a Supple Leopard: The Ultimate Guide to Resolving Pain, Preventing Injury, and Optimizing Athletic Performance – Kelly Starret (L, 400p)
- The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman – Timothy Ferriss (VL, 571p)
- Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen – Christopher McDougall (M, 287p)
120 books till here
Part II. Fiction (80 Different Books, 150 if count individual volumes)
~80 Different Books, 150+ counting volumes of series too
Manga (7 individual, 60 if counting each volume as book)
- Monster Complete (Vol 1 – Vol 18) – Naoki Urasawa (18) (3000+ pages) Review
- One Piece (Vol 27 – Vol 45) – Eichiro Oda (18) (3000+ pages)
- Berserk Vol 1 – Vol 14 (14) (2000+ pages) Review
- Uzumaki Complete (3 Vol) – Junji Ito (VL, 500+p)
- Attack on Titan (Vol 27 – Vol 29/ TBP) (3) – Hajime Isayama (VL, ~600p)
- A Girl on the Shore (2 Vol) – Inio Asano (L, 408p) Review
- All You Need is Kill (2 Vol) – Hiroshi Sakurazaka (M, 200+p)
Graphic Novels (7, 16 if counting each volume as book)
- The Complete Maus (2 Vol) (nonfiction) – Art Spiegelman (M, 296p)
- The Complete Persepolis (2 Vol) – Marjane Satrapi (M, 341p)
- Complete Sandman – Neil Gaiman (10 Vol) (2000+p) Vol 1 Review
- Sarah’s Scribbles – Sarah Andersen (3 Vol) (M, 300+p)
- Nimona – Noelle Stevenson (M, 272p) Review
- Blankets – Craig Thompson (VL, 592p) Review
- Arrival – Shaun Tan (S, 132)
Comicbooks (7, 9 if counting each volume as book )
-
Batman Knightfall (#1 -#3) – Chuck Dixon (VL, 600+p)
- Superman Red Son – Mark Millar (S, 160p)
- X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills – Chris Claremont,Brent Anderson (Illustrator) (VS, 64p)
- Daredevil: The Man Without Fear – Frank Miller (S, 160p)
- Batman Year One – Frank Miller (Reread) (S, 144p)
-
Green Lantern/ DC Event: Blackest Night (whole storyline, counting as one only) – Geoff Johns (VL, 500+p)
- Spider-Man: Blue – Jeph Loeb, Tim Sale (S, 168p)
Epics and Poetry (3)
- The Odyssey – Homer, Robert Fagles (Translator) (VL, 541p)
- The Epic of Gilgamesh – Anonymous (S, 120p)
- Sonnets – William Shakespeare (L, 488p)
Shakespeare (4)
- Hamlet (M, 289p)
- Julius Caesar (S, 128p)
- Othello (M, 314p)
- Merchant of Venice (M, 237p)
Classics and Literature Fiction (7)
-
Jane Eyre – Charlotte BrontĂ« (VL, 507p)
-
Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck (S, 112p)
- Lord of the Flies – William Golding (s, 182p)
- The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (S, 149p) Review
- To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee (M, 324p)
- Call of the Wild – Jack London (S, 172p)
- To the Lighthouse – Virginia Woolf (M, 209p)
Feminism (3)
- The Color Purple – Alice Walker (M, 295p)
- The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories – Charlotte Perkins Gilman (VS, 70p)
- The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath (M, 294p)
Philosophy (Lot of Albert Camus) (7)
-
The Fall – Albert Camus, Justin O’Brien (Translator) (S, 147p)
-
The Stranger – Albert Camus, Matthew Ward (Translator) (S, 123p)
- The Plague – Albert Camus (M, 308p)
- The Metamorphosis – Franz Kafka (M, 201p)
- The Prophet – Khalil Gibran (S, 127p)
- Candide – Voltaire (S, 129p)
- Siddhartha – Hermann Hesse (S, 152p)
Sci-fi Books (7)
- Foundation #1 – Isaac Asimov (M, 244)
- Slaughterhouse-Five – Kurt Vonnegut (M, 275)
- Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury (S, 194p)
- Hitchhiker’s Guide to Galaxy #1 – Douglas Adams (S, 193p)
- Frankenstein – Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (S, 288p)
- Flowers for Algernon – Daniel Keyes (M, 216p)
- The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood (M, 344p) Review
Large Fiction Works (2)
- The Egyptian – Mika Waltari (VL, 700+)
- Don Quixote – Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (UL, 1000+p)
Romance (2)
- Wait for It – Mariana Zapata (VL, 693p) Review (Favorite!)
- The Princess Bride – William Goldman (L, 398p)
Young Adult (1)
- Holes – Louis Sachar (M, 233p)
Dystopia (2)
- Animal Farm – George Orwell (S, 144p)
- Blindness – JosĂ© Saramago, Giovanni Pontiero (Translator) (M, 349p)
Historical Fiction (3)
- Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini (L, 371p)
- All Quiet on the Western Front – Erich Maria Remarque (M, 296p)
- The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro (M, 258p)
Children’s (6)
- Where the Wild Things Are – Maurice Sendak (VS, 37p)
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar – Eric Carle (VS, 26p)
- The Giving Tree – Shel Silverstein (VS, 64p) Review
- Charlotte’s Web – E. B. White (S, 184p) Review
- Polyanna – Eleanor H. Porter (S, 157p)
- Smile (graphic novel) – Raina Telgemeier (M, 224p)
Cultural (3)
- Interpreter of Maladies – Jhumpa Lahiri (S, 198p)
- Homegoing – Yaa Gyasi (M, 320p)
- Norwegian Wood – Haruki Murakami, Jay Rubin (T) (M, 296p)
Collections – Short Stories / Letters (2)
- Selected Stories – Anton Chekhov (L, 467p)
- Letters to a Young Poet – Rainer Maria Rilke (VS, 80p)
Fantasy (Mostly Queen’s Thief Series) (4)
- The Thief – Megan Whalen Turner (M, 280p) Review
- Queen of Attolia – Megan Whalen Turner (L, 362p) Review
- King of Attolia – Megan Whalen Turner (L, 387p) Review
- The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman (M, 307p)
Thriller/ Mystery/ Suspense (1)
- The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – Stieg Larsson (L, 465p)
Horror (2)
- The Shining – Stephen King (L, 447p)
- I have no mouth and I must scream – Harlan Ellison (S, 134p)
Humor (2)
- The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde (VS, 76p)
- The Rosie Project – Graeme Simsion (M, 297p)
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” – Dr. Seuss
What are your favorite books? What are the books you’re reading this year? Tell us!
I’d love to help you choose the books to read. Feel free to ask 🙂
New blog posts every Thursday and Sunday. Connect with Man of Wisdom on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Mail us at admin[at]manofwisdom.net
Till the next time, keep improving yourself, stay positive, see the joy around you, radiate happiness, stay emotionally resilient and keep trailing on your Untrailed Path.
Take care. I wish you happiness, health, healing and peace <3
