Books Read in 2025

Every year I tend to read a good amount of books and listen to some audiobooks. I’ve always wanted to retain better memory of content I consume (including movies or shows) and these blog posts have been a great way to reinforce what I’ve gone through. These posts offer brief reviews, some thoughts or notable things from the works, and general impressions of the material. Beyond the memory benefits which come from writing these I think it is good to stop periodically after consuming new information and spend some time to think critically and assess the information or story.

I’ll update this post throughout the year as I finish books and things. I’d also love to get recommendations from anyone reading this or to hear your thoughts on any of the books listed. Please feel free to comment! Here are links for past book posts; last year I managed 88 (exceeding my target of ~65) and I don't think I'll exceed that this year!

UPDATE This year's total hit 110! Who knew having a baby could result in so many audiobooks during things like walks and keeping them asleep lol.

New entries will show up on the bottom of this page. PROBABLY SPOILERS BELOW!

December

What to Expect the First Year (What to Expect)

Author: Heidi Murkoff Published: 1989 My Rating: ★★★★☆

As a first-time dad, this book has been very helpful. Had we read it closer, we actually would have saved one or two trips to the ER in the first six months. Fortunately, everything's good, but this is a very information-rich book. There are some things which I think might be more favorable to stuff that is perhaps less universally accepted and on the flip side of things actually pushing for good things that are perhaps underappreciated in other books or just dialogue with people. But yeah, as a resource for new parents, just even as a way of tracking what to expect, with progress and development and all that stuff, it was really helpful and useful.

The Secret of Secrets (Robert Langdon, #6)

Author: Dan Brown Published: 2025 My Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

I was really not a fan of this book. I don't think Dan Brown is the best author or anything, but this just felt like a very lazy book that tried to throw all of the psychic, ESP, remote viewing, astral projected, and out-of-body experience, near-death experience buzzwords together. It just felt like a hodgepodge of here's a bunch of stuff and I'm going to pretend it's all super true and reliable, and that we can trust everything that everyone says. It was just lame. Not a fan.

The Lessons of History

Author: Will Durant Published: 1960s My Rating: ★★★☆☆

I really enjoyed this book, highly recommend it. The biggest qualm I have with it is that the references to historical events are substantial, and as someone who's not super well-versed in history, it's hard for me to know if the interpretation of the events is all you know standard interpretations or good faith or if he's admitting a lot of historical things.

I think it's all relatively straightforward. It looks at history through 10 or 12 different lenses of perspectives: history and progress, history and race, and all these other things. And I think it poses compelling arguments for many of the lenses, and I think it's quite good.

Abundance

Author: Ezra Klein Published: 2025 My Rating: ★★★★☆

I liked this, but I don't think it is deserving of all the hype. It brings up a lot of really solid points without really giving a fair voice to the potential criticisms or difficulties of implementing them. Overall, I do think it's a very positive book and a book that would be beneficial for many people to read. I do think it just kind of undersells some of the challenges and overstates how cut and dry some things are.

Years That Changed History: 1215

Author: Dorsey Armstrong Published: 2019 My Rating: ★★★☆☆

This was a great teaching company course. I didn't know much about this time period. It had a lot of good information, but I wasn't really a big fan of how it was laid out. It felt like so many topics were disconnected, but also very superficial. Getting just a little bit of an idea of what's going on in the Americas in 1215 is, I don't think, particularly useful.

I almost would have rather had a single lecture devoted to all the stuff that she didn't go deeply into, such as Japan, the Americas, and stuff like this, and then have gone into a bit more depth on medieval Europe and Asia and stuff like that. But overall good. The narrator was fantastic. Lots of good information, just a little bit not what I'd prefer from a lecture series.

Living Inspired!: Motivating Your Kids, Colleagues, & Country

Author: Alex Montoya Published: 2013ish? My Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Kind of a self-help slop sort of thing. Not particularly good. Not particularly compelling. There's some good stories and motivational moments, but I personally really hated the writing style. It's very stream-of-consciousness, with weird grammar or lots of short lines and exclamation points. Probably fine as a seminar that you hear or something like that, a talk or course you go to, but reading it was just not enjoyable.

The Strength of the Few (Hierarchy, #2)

Author: James Islington Published: 2025 My Rating: ★★★★☆

Good, but not as good as the first book. Ends on a really strong note, but a lot of it felt a little bit long-winded, and like there was a lot of non-essential events. Some of the more interesting events I felt were kind of spent past.

Managing Risk and Information Security: Protect to Enable

Author: Malcolm Harkins Published: 2012 My Rating: ★★★☆☆

Super solid book. Good for security stuff. Would not recommend unless you're in the industry. Not a lot of super novel stuff, but decent sections, decent information. Probably good for someone who's maybe been in the industry for two or three years.

A Data-Driven Computer Security Defense: THE Computer Security Defense You Should Be Using

Author: Roger A. Grimes Published: 2010s My Rating: ★★★★★

This was surprising to me. I was expecting it to be similar to the "Managing Risk and Information Security" book, but I think the writing was a lot more compelling, and the advice was just a little bit more tangible and a little less macroscopic. Overall, quite enjoyable. I definitely recommend this if you're in security. Probably not if you're super senior, and probably not if you're super junior.

The Will of the Many (Hierarchy, #1)

Author: James Islington Published: 2023 My Rating: ★★★☆☆

Mostly enjoyed this book. The biggest qualm I have is it feels like the first book is really time-compressed. You know, what takes place in like a year and a half or something. I think should take place over like three to five years. Beyond that, though, I think it's really quite a good book. Some fun systems, some fun twists on the fantasy trope, lots of awesome references to real Roman antiquity and stuff. But yeah, solid, not my favorite fantasy, but a really good first novel I think.

November

The Path of Ascension 10 (The Path of Ascension, #10)

Author: C. Mantis Published: 2025 My Rating: ★★★★☆

I'm going to review all 10 of the previous Path of Ascension books with this review here. The series is ongoing, but I think the 10th book is a pretty good spot to take a look at the bigger picture.

The Path of Ascension starts with a minor character on a low-level world in this universe. Worlds have levels. The levels determine essentially these things called rifts that contain monsters, treasures, and these sorts of things. The world is sort of revolved around characters gaining levels. Well, they don't themselves gain levels, but they do gain levels. The levels let them get into different rifts, fight stronger things, which gives them better rewards and skills and things like this. Not all people in the world participate in the rift delving, as they call it, but many adventurers do. Others maybe do things like crafting or cooking and they level up similarly by using ingredients of that tier and things like that.

This is the first book that I have read that has this multi-world, multiverse thing that I think does it in a not terrible way. It's also a really unique book in that, in almost any other fantasy lit, RPG world like this, there would be just such extreme corruption at different levels, whether it's from the leadership, from just bad actors, and things like this. Not to say that it's like utopian, but the way the power system works in sort of like the balance of power that exists between the different societies it just feels like surprisingly well thought out and consistent as a literary world.

Overall rating of the series would be between 3 and 4 stars at this point. I love that they kind of pioneered this reasonable world and try to make the fantasy elements seem like they actually fit, and they aren't super broken, like magic and the Harry Potter world or other systems that just kind of break apart very easily. That said, it's not perfect, and I think one of the downsides is if there is not being like constant corruption everywhere or the fact that there are essentially responsible leaders means that some of the mystery that maybe drives other series, like Dungeon Crawler Carl, for instance, just kind of wouldn't exist in this world. So sometimes the story does feel a bit flat, and the character is a bit bland, but I think it's really cool. It's a cool magic system, it's a cool universe that the characters are in, and it's also just kind of cool seeing, in some ways, a very traditional character journey within the main couple of characters.

Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

Author: Steven Pinker Published: 2018 My Rating: ★★★★★

I really enjoyed this book. It gave me similar vibes to something like "Thinking Fast and Slow" by Kahneman in the sense that I think it's really high-value data presented in a good way.

I do think the last third of the book drags on a bit, and I think there's a little bit too much of a vendetta of his views at certain points, whether it's about religion or other notional things that he thinks are one way or another.

That said, I do think the book itself is relatively inspiring and just kind of a nice positive book that looks at real data and big trends that most people don't know, and I think it's sad that they don't know it.

Blackhatonomics: An Inside Look at the Economics of Cybercrime

Author: Will Gragido Published: 2012 My Rating: ★★★☆☆

I was not super thrilled with this book. It's okay, but it felt just a little bit underwhelming. I would have liked more case studies or honestly more investigation into the criminal side of it at a deeper level. That said, I don't know that tons of that data is available then, and even now, you It's such a messy muddled place that I hesitate to think you could do a really good job going into the economics of cybercrime. As a regular person, there might be some interesting and nuanced takes in here, but overall it was kind of bland.

The Manga Guide to Cryptography

Author: Masāki Mitani Published: Unknown My Rating: ★★★★★

This was phenomenal; I can't recommend it enough. It starts with classic cryptographic techniques, moves into the more advanced topics like Enigma and how those ciphers worked, and then it goes into RSA and symmetric ciphers, ending with Diffie-Hellman and public key cryptography.

It was fun to read, not for super young people, but like a really smart seventh- or eighth-grader, someone in high school. This would be an awesome introduction to cryptography if it's an interest that they have. There's some good follow-along with it, and I think it's just a good way to get up to speed on cryptography if you don't know a ton about it.

The Path of Ascension 9 (The Path of Ascension #9)

Author: C. Mantis Published: 2025 My Rating: ★★★★★

See Path of Ascension #10 review for details.

Hamlet

Author: William Shakespeare Published: 1601 My Rating: ★★★★☆

What can you say? It's a classic for a reason.

The Path of Ascension 8 (The Path of Ascension #8)

Author: C. Mantis Published: 2025 My Rating: ★★★★☆

See Path of Ascension #10 review for details.

Black Hat Python: Python Programming for Hackers and Pentesters

Author: Justin Seitz Published: 2014 My Rating: ★★★★★

This is super solid. It holds up pretty well in 2025. I don't know if there have been newer versions published, but it's super solid. Really great way to learn about Python for networking stuff in particular. I think it does a very good job there and sort of just showing how you can take Python and use it to solve hacking and pen testing problems. There are some things that I think he is writing Burp Suite extensions, which is great, but I feel like the audience as a whole might have benefited more from just more like web scraping or different approaches there. That said, he used Beautiful Soup, a lot of the standard Python ways to interact with the web. I think it was great. Awesome book, highly recommend it still. And with AI today, I think you can take the examples provided and really run with them.

Kill the Farm Boy (The Tales of Pell, #1)

Author: Delilah S. Dawson Published: 2018 My Rating: ★★☆☆☆

I barely finished this. I was not a fan. I see the appeal. It's got a little bit of the Monty Python vibe, but I just didn't like the characters and didn't like the story.

The Pleasure of Finding Things Out: The Best Short Works of Richard P. Feynman

Author: Richard P. Feynman Published: 1999 My Rating: ★★★★★

Loved this. I had seen some of the Feynman lectures before, but these short works of his I think are really great. It's a fun read, it covers a lot of different topics, and I think it's cool to get his inside take on very monumental things as well as the variety of topics that he touches on. I think my favorite part of this book was when he talked about pranks that he would do with his colleagues and others, lock picking, these sorts of things, and just very fun, very fascinating, awesome seeming guy, incredible stories.

Master and Commander (Aubrey & Maturin, #1)

Author: Patrick O'Brian Published: 1969 My Rating: ★★★★☆

I can see why people like this, but it's not really for me, or at least the audiobook version of this was moderately hard to follow. Not hard to follow in the sense of what's going on, but the nuances when I have such a limited vocabulary around traditional naval ships and battles and terminology were just very dense at times. The story felt kind of slow, but I can see where it was really building up the characters to go on to many, many other books. So maybe when I've got more time and I pick up the physical books, but as an audiobook, if you haven't read it before or aren't kind of versed with what to expect, it may be a bit challenging.

The Path of Ascension 7 (The Path of Ascension #7)

Author: C. Mantis Published: 2024 My Rating: ★★★☆☆

See Path of Ascension #10 review for details.

The Path of Ascension 6 (The Path of Ascension #6)

Author: C. Mantis Published: 2024 My Rating: ★★★★☆

See Path of Ascension #10 review for details.

Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade

Author: Robert B. Cialdini Published: 2016 My Rating: ★★★★★

This is a really good book in the same lineage of thinking fast and slow and influence. Really recommend it.

It's essentially talking about strategies that you can take before going in to ask for a thing, whether it's talking to your boss about a raise, trying to sell someone, trying to get someone to complete a survey, or if you're asking them for help.

I think there's a lot of interesting concepts in here backed up by generally good-seeming studies. It's a little bit, I think, maybe overstating at times, but the concepts and all I think hold up pretty well.

You can look on this blog for a more detailed review of this book. I think there's a lot of great info in there.

The Path of Ascension 5 (The Path of Ascension #5)

Author: C. Mantis Published: 2023 My Rating: ★★★★☆

See Path of Ascension #10 review for details.

October

Pro Azure Governance and Security: A Comprehensive Guide to Azure Policy, Blueprints, Security Center, and Sentinel

Author: Peter De Tender Published: Unknown My Rating: ★★★★☆

Review goes here...

The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography

Author: Simon Singh Published: 1999 My Rating: ★★★★☆

Review goes here...

Building a HIPAA-Compliant Cybersecurity Program: Using NIST 800-30 and CSF to Secure Protected Health Information

Author: Eric C. Thompson Published: Unknown My Rating: ★★★★☆

Review goes here...

The Path of Ascension 4 (The Path of Ascension #4)

Author: C. Mantis Published: 2023 My Rating: ★★★☆☆

See Path of Ascension #10 review for details.

Madame Bovary

Author: Gustave Flaubert Published: 1856 My Rating: ★★★★☆

Review goes here...

The Path of Ascension 3 (The Path of Ascension #3)

Author: C. Mantis Published: 2023 My Rating: ★★★☆☆

See Path of Ascension #10 review for details.

The Path of Ascension 2 (The Path of Ascension #2)

Author: C. Mantis Published: 2023 My Rating: ★★★☆☆

See Path of Ascension #10 review for details.

Zadig

Author: Voltaire Published: 1747 My Rating: ★★★★☆

Review goes here...

The Path of Ascension (The Path of Ascension #1)

Author: C. Mantis Published: 2022 My Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

See Path of Ascension #10 review for details.

Candida

Author: George Bernard Shaw Published: 1898 My Rating: ★★★★☆

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The Color Purple

Author: Alice Walker Published: 1982 My Rating: ★★★☆☆

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A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Author: James Joyce Published: 1916 My Rating: ★★★☆☆

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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Techniques for Retraining Your Brain

Author: Jason M. Satterfield Published: 2015 My Rating: ★★★☆☆

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September

Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don't Know

Author: Malcolm Gladwell Published: 2019 My Rating: ★★★★★

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The Feynman Lectures on Physics Vol 3

Author: Richard P. Feynman Published: 1964 My Rating: ★★★★★

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How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps

Author: Andrew Rowe Published: 2020 My Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

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Mother of Learning: ARC 4

Author: Domagoj Kurmaić Published: 2023 My Rating: ★★★☆☆

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Mother of Learning: ARC 3

Author: Domagoj Kurmaić Published: 2022 My Rating: ★★★☆☆

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Mother of Learning: ARC 2

Author: Domagoj Kurmaić Published: 2022 My Rating: ★★★★☆

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Mother of Learning: ARC 1

Author: Domagoj Kurmaić Published: 2021 My Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

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Ghostsong (The Singer of Terandria, #3)

Author: Pirateaba Published: Unknown My Rating: ★★★★☆

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Huntsong (The Singer of Terandria, #2)

Author: Pirateaba Published: Unknown My Rating: ★★★★☆

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Gravesong (The Singer of Terandria #1)

Author: Pirateaba Published: Unknown My Rating: ★★★☆☆

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Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea

Author: Barbara Demick Published: 2009 My Rating: ★★★★☆

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King of Duels (The Wandering Inn, #16)

Author: Pirateaba Published: 2025 My Rating: ★★★☆☆

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August

Garden of Sanctuary (The Wandering Inn, #15)

Author: Pirateaba Published: 2025 My Rating: ★★★☆☆

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Hell's Wardens (The Wandering Inn, #14)

Author: Pirateaba Published: 2024 My Rating: ★★★★☆

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The Empress of Beasts (The Wandering Inn, #13)

Author: Pirateaba Published: 2024 My Rating: ★★★★★

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The Witch of Webs (The Wandering Inn, #12)

Author: Pirateaba Published: 2024 My Rating: ★★☆☆☆

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The Titan of Baleros (The Wandering Inn, #11)

Author: Pirateaba Published: 2023 My Rating: ★★★★★

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Precious Little Sleep

Author: Alexis Dubief Published: 2017 My Rating: ★★★★☆

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Flowers of Esthelm (The Wandering Inn, #3)

Author: Pirateaba Published: 2020 My Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

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The Wind Runner (The Wandering Inn, #10)

Author: Pirateaba Published: 2023 My Rating: ★★☆☆☆

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Tears of Liscor (The Wandering Inn, #9)

Author: Pirateaba Published: 2023 My Rating: ★★★★☆

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Blood of Liscor (The Wandering Inn, #8)

Author: Pirateaba Published: Unknown My Rating: ★★★★☆

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Rains of Liscor (The Wandering Inn, #7)

Author: Pirateaba Published: Unknown My Rating: ★★★☆☆

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The General of Izril (The Wandering Inn, #6)

Author: Pirateaba Published: 2019 My Rating: ★★★☆☆

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The Last Light (The Wandering Inn, #5)

Author: Pirateaba Published: 2021 My Rating: ★★★★☆

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July

THE FIRST TIME DAD SURVIVAL GUIDE: Practical Advice on Infant Care, Child Development, Financial Planning and Balancing Work & Family

Author: H.S. Gray Published: Unknown My Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

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Winter Solstice (The Wandering Inn, #4)

Author: Pirateaba Published: 2021 My Rating: ★★★☆☆

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A Brief History of Chronomancy (Arcane Ascension, #6)

Author: Andrew Rowe Published: 2025 My Rating: ★★★☆☆

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Flowers of Esthelm (The Wandering Inn, #3)

Author: Pirateaba Published: 2020 My Rating: ★★★☆☆

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Fae and Fare (The Wandering Inn, #2)

Author: Pirateaba Published: 2019 My Rating: ★★★☆☆

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Unfettered (Unfettered, #1)

Author: Shawn Speakman Published: 2013 My Rating: ★★★★☆

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June

Charlotte’s Web

Author: E.B. White Published: 1952 My Rating: ★★★★☆

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How to Feed the World: A Factful Guide

Author: Vaclav Smil Published: 2025 My Rating: ★★★★☆

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You Will Rock As a Dad!: The Expert Guide to First-Time Pregnancy and Everything New Fathers Need to Know, Family Health, Positive Parenting

Author: Alex Grace Published: Unknown My Rating: ★★☆☆☆

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Lies My Doctor Told Me: Medical Myths That Can Harm Your Health

Author: Ken D. Berry Published: Unknown My Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

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The Refugees

Author: Viet Thanh Nguyen Published: 2017 My Rating: ★★★★☆

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The Wandering Inn (The Wandering Inn, #1)

Author: Pirateaba Published: 2018 My Rating: ★★★☆☆

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The World As I See It

Author: Albert Einstein Published: 1934 My Rating: ★★★☆☆

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May

An Education in Magical Affairs: An Isekai LitRPG

Author: Tommy Kerper Published: Unknown My Rating: ★★★☆☆

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Secrets and Strife (I'm Not the Hero #2)

Author: Tommy Kerper Published: Unknown My Rating: ★★★☆☆

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100,000 + Baby Names: The Most Complete Baby Name Book

Author: Bruce Lansky Published: 2004 My Rating: ★★★★☆

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I'm Not the Hero (I'm Not the Hero #1)

Author: Tommy Kerper Published: Unknown My Rating: ★★★★☆

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Dracula

Author: Bram Stoker Published: 1897 My Rating: ★★★★☆

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He Who Fights with Monsters: Book Twelve (He Who Fights with Monsters, #12)

Author: Shirtaloon Published: 2025 My Rating: ★★☆☆☆

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The Hours

Author: Michael Cunningham Published: 1998 My Rating: ★★★☆☆

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Drop Dead Healthy: One Man's Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection

Author: A.J. Jacobs Published: 2012 My Rating: ★★★★☆

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Future's Edge

Author: Gareth L. Powell Published: 2025 My Rating: ★★★☆☆

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April

Philosophy of Religion (Bolinda Beginner Guides)

Author: Charles Taliaferro Published: Unknown My Rating: ★★★★★

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To the Lighthouse

Author: Virginia Woolf Published: 1927 My Rating: ★★★☆☆

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The Stars, Like Dust (Galactic Empire, #1)

Author: Isaac Asimov Published: 1951 My Rating: ★★★☆☆

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The Fates Will Find Their Way

Author: Hannah Pittard Published: 2011 My Rating: ★★★☆☆

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Horus Rising (The Horus Heresy, #1)

Author: Dan Abnett Published: 2006 My Rating: ★★★★☆

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What to Expect When You're Expecting

Author: Heidi Murkoff Published: 1984 My Rating: ★★★★☆

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A Thousand Splendid Suns

Author: Khaled Hosseini Published: 2007 My Rating: ★★★★★

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March

My Chinese-America (SFWP Literary Awards)

Author: Allen Gee Published: 2014 My Rating: ★★★★★

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The Travels Of Marco Polo

Author: Marco Polo Published: 1298 My Rating: ★★★★☆

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East of Eden

Author: John Steinbeck Published: 1952 My Rating: ★★★★★

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The Universe in a Nutshell

Author: Stephen W. Hawking Published: 2001 My Rating: ★★★★★

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A Brief History of Time

Author: Stephen W. Hawking Published: 1988 My Rating: ★★★★☆

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February

Leonardo da Vinci

Author: Walter Isaacson Published: 2017 My Rating: ★★★★☆

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Wind and Truth (The Stormlight Archive, #5)

Author: Brandon Sanderson Published: 2024 My Rating: ★★★★★

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The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

Author: Philip K. Dick Published: 1965 My Rating: ★★★☆☆

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January

Rhythm of War (The Stormlight Archive, #4)

Author: Brandon Sanderson Published: 2020 My Rating: ★★★☆☆

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Dawnshard (The Stormlight Archive, #3.5)

Author: Brandon Sanderson Published: 2020 My Rating: ★★★☆☆

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Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive, #3)

Author: Brandon Sanderson Published: 2017 My Rating: ★★★★★

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Tenth of December

Author: George Saunders Published: 2013 My Rating: ★★★★☆

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Edgedancer (The Stormlight Archive, #2.5)

Author: Brandon Sanderson Published: 2016 My Rating: ★★★☆☆

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Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive, #2)

Author: Brandon Sanderson Published: 2014 My Rating: ★★★★☆