After listening to Malcom Gladwell’s podcasts, the time came to dive into his books. I thoroughly enjoyed the ones I read this year – Blink, Outliers, and Talking to Strangers. Of those, Talking to Strangers was the best. Along with Blink, both books really transformed my thinking. Gladwell dives into stories and topics detailing how natural human tendencies can turn into evil acts without the actor even being aware. Can’t stress enough how influential these books are.
Besides Gladwell, most of my reading was fantasy fiction except for two books – Zero to One by Peter Thiel and Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. The majority of my time was spent reading Brandon Sanderson and Will Wight.
I decided to reread the Stormlight series by Sanderson in preparation for the 4th book that recently came out. Ironically, after reading books one through three, I was burnt out, so still haven’t read the 4th book yet. Oops. The only book by Sanderson that was not a reread was Dawnshard. It’s a short story about some of the characters in the Stormlight series that didn’t get the spotlight in the main books. It’s a very light read, and the main character is just fun. Would suggest reading it in case you skipped it like me.
A large of part of my reading this year was spent on the Cradle series by Will Wight. The series started out so strong. After book 6 or 7, I started losing interest. Wight does a great job of developing the two main characters, but the minor and even secondary, main characters lack character development. They fill a necessary role. They do it well, but they never change.
Overall, his writing style is very enjoyable, but I can’t say I’m excited to read the 11th book once it comes out. I’m ten books in, so I feel obliged at this point. I would recommend the first five in the series. The rest aren’t worth your time.
The last book I want to highlight is Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik. I had previously read Uprooted by Novik and really enjoyed it. She did not disappoint with Spinning Silver. The book takes heavy influence from the story of Rumpelstiltskin. It sounds odd, and it kind of is, but please give it a read. With that said, here are my top books of the year:
Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know - Malcom GladwellSpinning Silver – Naomi NovikBlink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking - Malcom GladwellOutliers: The Story of Success - Malcom GladwellDawnshard – Brandon Sanderson
And that’s a 2021 book wrap. I am currently finishing up the tenth book in the Cradle series as well as reading The Enneagram by Richard Rohr. I’m hoping to dive into another fiction series soon. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Hope you have a great new year!!