I really enjoy reading and I always appreciate recommendation of a good book, thus, I really like year-end book lists. In that spirit, below are my five favorite books I read in 2017. These weren’t necessarily books written in 2017, merely ones I read during the year.
First, here’s a link to all the books I read this year: Books Read in 2017
And here’s a link to our firm’s book club list: St. Louis Trust Co Book Club List
My Top Five:
How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World by Steven Johnson. This book is fantastic! Discusses how six inventions really made the difference between pre-modern and modern times. For instance, without glass there’d be no microscopes or telescopes. Think about what those two inventions have done for us.
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. This was a re-read from a few years ago as it was a book club selection for our company this year. This is one of my favorite sci-fi books. A pager-turner and an interesting view of what life could be like in the future. Soon to be a movie from Steven Spielberg.
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction in 2017. This book follows a few families and landlords in very low economic areas of Milwaukee. A fascinating and tragic view of living life below the poverty line.
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck : A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson. Don’t be put off by the title. This is one of the best self-help books/guides around. Fantastic perspective on being a positive force in the world and making the most of the life you have. He wrote an article of the same name that is an appetizer for what the books is like (warning – liberal use of the f-bomb): Not Giving a F*ck Article
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. Classic novel by the Nobel Prize winning Herman Hesse. This book is about the life of Siddhartha and his search for enlightenment. Asked of Siddhartha: “What is it that you’ve learned, what you’re able to do?” Response: “I can think. I can wait. I can fast.” “And what’s the use of that? For example, the fasting– what is it good for?” Siddhartha: “It is very good, sir. When a person has nothing to eat, fasting is the
smartest thing he could do. “
Thank you so much for this post – I am always reading and thus always looking for new, great reads. I will share these recent favorites with you: Half a Yellow Sun, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on the war in Biafra. The book delivers a shattering tale of low-tech warfare through the use of starvation; Seveneves by Neal Stephenson, the best scifi writer out there, on what might occur for our species were the moon to shatter. Funny, educational, intriguing; The Blue Fox, Sjon. Best short novel I have read in years, about Iceland in the 1800s, powerful and dreamlike; and finally, The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen, about a communist double agent, who comes to the US at the fall of Saigon. This changed how I see that war.
I have added yours to my ‘to download’ list…
I read Seveneves in 2016. Fantastic book – as are most of his. Thanks for other recommendations – added to queue.
Well I read Siddartha in high school, sad to say I forgot about it….
Can I find these books in the Colonial Lane book share stand?
Maybe I’ll put The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck in our little library