Reading has been a constant in my life over the years despite the ups and downs I go through. Every year, I take up the Goodreads reading challenge. This year too, I challenged myself to read 20 books in the year. There was a time when I could consume 1 book a week easily. But life takes over, and priorities change. What hasn’t changed though, is my love for reading. Thankfully. Below is the reading overview of the year 2023 along with my top recommendations.
PS – All book headings below are amazon links for your convenience.
1. The Winners
It isn’t surprising that a Fredrik Backman book is on the list. My love for his writing has been no secret and I still keep sharing his work with whoever I can. The Winners is the third book in the Beartown series that explores the stories of residents of a town whose lives revolve around ice hockey. The first two books were beautiful but this book just took my breath away. Fredrik has a way with words where he can make your heart wrench and laugh out loud in the same sentence. If you have never read fiction and want to start reading, read Fredrik Backman who will make you feel each word and not just read them.
If nobody knows who you are, you can be whoever you want to be.
Fredrik Backman, (The Winners)
2. The Pathless Path: Imagining a New Story For Work and Life
This book made me question the traditional path – the one where we choose a job and work ourselves dead because we don’t know how to get out. This book challenges the idea of a career path itself. If you set out on a pathless path, you become fluid to accept and explore options you didn’t know existed.
Lately, I have been thinking about a life beyond my chosen corporate setup. I have been thinking about an alternate life for myself if I wasn’t doing what I am doing now. Reading this book gives me hope that – 1. It is possible and 2. Happiness doesn’t depend on the titles I have earned in the traditional world.
I would recommend giving this read even if you are content with whatever path you are in – just so you could challenge your understanding of the world.
Your life is too short and too valuable to fritter away in work. If you don’t get out now, you may end up like the frog that is placed in a pot of fresh water on the stove. As the temperature is gradually increased, the frog feels restless and uncomfortable, but not uncomfortable enough to jump out. Without being aware that a chance is taking place, he is gradually lulled into unconsciousness. Much the same thing happens when you take a person and put him in a job which he does not like. He gets irritable in his groove. His duties soon become a monotonous routine that slowly dulls his senses. As I walk into offices, through factories and stores, I often find myself looking into the expressionless faces of people going through mechanical motions. They are people whose minds are stunned and slowly dying.
Paul Millerd, The Pathless Path: Imagining a New Story For Work and Life
3. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a story about friendship, love, loss, fame, and just life in general. I loved the video game creation process written in the book and I almost considered learning game design as an alternate profession. Gabriella’s writing keeps you engaged throughout the book and you just want it to never end.
If you are looking for a good fiction book to read at a slow pace, I would recommend picking this up. This surely isn’t for first-time fiction readers though.
“What is a game?” Marx said. “It’s tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. It’s the possibility of infinite rebirth, infinite redemption. The idea that if you keep playing, you could win. No loss is permanent, because nothing is permanent, ever.”
Gabrielle Zevin, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
4. Sapiens
It is a surprise that I got to read this book only this year. Sapiens is a popular non-fiction out there that most book lovers have read (or tried to read) at some point in time. For me, that happened to be this year. For the uninitiated, Sapiens is a book about the history of human evolution. The book goes into wonderful details of why we evolved into what we are today and what were the factors that helped us reach here.
My favorite part of the book was realizing how trivial everything is. How we humans have made such a big thing out of nothing. Like religion, agriculture, or industries. I am blown away by thinking about the amount of research that might have gone behind this book. It is a difficult book to digest and complete though. Just because it is so dense with information, it took me a few weeks (or months) to complete this one.
How do you cause people to believe in an imagined order such as Christianity, democracy or capitalism? First, you never admit that the order is imagined
Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
5. Lessons in Chemistry
This is a nerdy fiction with a lot of heart. I have not been a big non-fiction fan but, recently, I have been trying to push myself to read non-fiction more and more. But after every non-fiction that I force myself to read, I have to get my dose of some fiction to restore my faith in reading books for fun. This book was just that.
It was super fun to navigate through the often dark, always dealing with sexism, extraordinarily difficult, but always funny life of the protagonist who is a female scientist/chemist. -Elizabeth Zott.
“Sometimes I think,” she said slowly, “that if a man were to spend a day being a woman in America, he wouldn’t make it past noon.”
Bonnie Garmus, Lessons in Chemistry
6. Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity
I have always been super interested in the science of longevity. Not with the aim that I have to live a long life but one which is healthy and has a purpose. Ever since I came across the concept of Ikigai – I have been fascinated by the Japanese centenarians – people who go on to live 100+ years.
This book talks about medicine 3.0. A new way of approaching our traditional mindset about health and prevention of diseases. The book sometimes does get technical with its medical terms but once we look past those, there are some really great ideas that we can and should implement in our daily lives.
Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.
Peter Attia MD, Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity
7. The Art and Business of Online Writing: How to Beat the Game of Capturing and Keeping Attention
In my introductions, I always say – “If not for my current job, I would probably be a writer.” Being a full-time writer is a distant dream that I hope to achieve in a decade. Getting published is a closer dream I want to reach in a few years. But, to be honest, I have never known where and how to start.
This book introduced me to the world of online writing. This isn’t a new world for me. I have been writing blogs for years now. But I always considered it more part-time. And I always thought of it as keeping the spark alive rather than an alternate way of creating a career. There were some really good points in this book that were relevant and to the point.
I recommend this even if you just want to create your own brand or if you want to hone your writing skills.
The number of hours I spend consuming should never equal or exceed the number of hours I spend creating.
Nicolas Cole, The Art and Business of Online Writing: How to Beat the Game of Capturing and Keeping Attention
8. Things My Son Needs to Know About the World
Another Fredrik Backman book is on the list. And why wouldn’t it be? This book is just a pure riot of laughter and love. I am not a parent (yet). But when I become one, I hope I can share my own version of this concept with my kid (and hopefully in the process to the world).
Never go to a game of anything and shout, “You’re playing like a woman!” at an athlete, as though that word were the definition of weakness. One day, you’ll be holding a woman’s hand as she gives birth and then that’ll make you feel more ashamed than you’ve ever felt about anything. Words matter. Be better
Fredrik Backman, Things My Son Needs to Know about the World
9. We Should All Be Feminists
This isn’t a book really in the traditional shape or form. It is essentially a written version of the speech the author had given at a TED event. But it is still an important one to read. What took me by surprise was the similarity between the African and Indian cultures when it comes to the treatment of women in our society.
I agree with 100% of the content of this book and would encourage all to give it a read. It is a short one you can finish in a single sitting.
The problem with gender is that it prescribes how we should be rather than recognizing how we are. Imagine how much happier we would be, how much freer to be our true individual selves, if we didn’t have the weight of gender expectations.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, We Should All Be Feminists
10. Creative Selection: Inside Apple’s Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs
Reading this book was like reading a playbook on how to make a good product. This book gives wonderful insights into how some of the most iconic products in Apple’s history were made. It is an inspiring and humbling read.
People matter more than programming
Ken Kocienda, Creative Selection: Inside Apple’s Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs
Conclusion
So there it is. My top 10 reads from the 20 books that I read through the year. Some books that didn’t make the list but would surely make good reading are –
What are your favorite reads from the year? Do share in the comments below. Hope you enjoyed this reading overview. Connect with me on GoodReads so we can start the reading challenge for the year 2024 together! Read more of my blog posts about books and reading here.
