2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge discussion
ARCHIVE 2020
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Anne's 60 in 2020
1) Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success by Brad Stulberg Book on how to do a better job at anything. A lot of the ideas I have already seen in other books, but still worth a read.
2) Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla: Biography of a Genius by Marc J. Seifer I learned alot reading this book. I am upset that I did not learn about Tesla in school. At least his genius is being recognized now.
This is my favorite quote of all time! I hope it brings you luck with your reading in 2020! 
Blagica wrote: "This is my favorite quote of all time! I hope it brings you luck with your reading in 2020! "
Thank you! I wish you the best in your reading as well.
3) How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius by Donald J. Robertson Continuing my quest to learn more about stoicism. Many nuggets of wisdom in this.
4) Romeo And Juliet by David Hewson This was an audiobook, and the reader was excellent. However, the author changed the story too much, and I got so annoyed with all the characters that I really didn't like this adaptation.
5) The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield Excellent book! Read it this afternoon. The philosophy he teaches is something I haven't really seen before. We fight against our baser nature everyday, we are in a war against resistance, laziness, fear. Everyday is a battle. We have to fight to win the battle to be able to do the work we are supposed to be doing in this life.
6) 2/1/2020 Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life by Nir Eyal Ok book with some good tips that I will use. But it was a little preachy and wasn't as good as the war of art.
7) 2/2/2020 Conspirata by Robert Harris Well, if anyone thinks politics is bad now, just read this trilogy about the Roman empire. We don't even come close.
8) 2/26/2020 Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift Listened to this on audio... I really wonder what he was smoking when he wrote this! Still, a classic and hilarious in a lot of ways.
9) 2/28/2020 The Frozen Hours by Jeff Shaara Excellent book about the Marines and the Chosin battle in Korea in 1950. It is unbelievable what these Marines went through in the cold and tremendously outnumbered by Chinese who would attack only at night. True heroism. It's amazing what people can endure and can accomplish. Fiction, but based on the memoirs of real people.
10) 3/12/2020 Istanbul: Memories and the City by Orhan Pamuk Read this book to prepare for a trip to Istanbul. The book was good, a bit depressing. In the meantime, we had to cancel our trip because of coronavirus.
11) 3/14/2020 Good Evening, Mrs Craven: The Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes by Mollie Panter-Downes I listened to this on audio. The reader had a delightful English accent and I really enjoyed the stories.
12) 3/16/2020 The Right Side of History: How Reason and Moral Purpose Made the West Great by Ben Shapiro A study of the philosophy and religion that are the basis of western civilization. A little over my head in places, but still educational.
13) 3/18/2020 Inferno by Dan Brown A re-read for me. Since I am home and not in Istanbul where I was supposed to be this week. At least being home I can catch up on my reading. I hated the ending of this book, but I loved the descriptions of Italy and Istanbul.
14) 3/21/2020 Permanent Record by Edward Snowden Wow. Scary description of how much access the government and companies have to all of our data and information. And how no one is willing to upset the status quo. Ugghh. Good book, glad I read it, I think I will change some online behaviors because of it.
15) 3/23/2020 The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride by Daniel James Brown Read this so that I could impress upon myself that I have absolutely nothing to complain about during this coronavirus isolation!!! So true. What the people in the Donner Party went through was horrible.
16) 3/31/2020 Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World by Laura Spinney Excellent. She even predicts what is happening now.
17) 4/1/2020 The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde It is a terrible thing to project an image to others that is not like you at all.
19) 4/11/2020 Wealth and Poverty by George Gilder Basic premise is that capitalism is about service to others. You can't stay in business unless you provide a good or service that other people want and are willing to pay for. And government control leads to stagnation and poverty.
20) 4/14/2020 Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty I loved Madeline and Jane. They seemed like real people to me. Some of the other characters not so much. And they way the author sucked you in and kept you reading! Definitely a book that was hard to put down!
21) 4/15/2020 Loserthink: How Untrained Brains Are Ruining America by Scott Adams I always get some wise tidbits from Scott Adams. Same thing with this read. We all have irrational ways of thinking about the world. This book helps you take a second think!
22) 4/18/2020 The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck Widows of resisters team up in a castle to survive the time after the war in Germany. Each one had such an interesting story. Good book.
23) 4/21/2020 Flu: The Story Of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It by Gina Kolata A re-read for me. Just trying to learn more about the science and the research.
24) 4/25/2020 City of Thieves by David Benioff A story of the siege of St. Petersburg during WWII. Tragic, funny, adventurous, thoughtful. Good book.
I am all about magic this year. I hope that your reading goal is your little touch of magic.
25) 5/9/2020 The Brewer's Tale: A History of the World According to Beer by William Bostwick Interesting history of different types of beer around the world. Parts were a bit slow.
26) 5/9/2020 A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson Companion book to Life After Life which I loved. I liked this one until the end and I hated the end. Most of the characters were atheist and this makes endings bad. Hopeless.
27) 5/15/2020 Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson A re-read for me. World War II period peice about fishermen in the Pacific northwest and race tensions between the Japanese and the Caucasion residents. And there's a murder, a love triangle, and lots of snow. And struggles between right and wrong. I liked the book.
28) 5/18/2020 Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport Not as good as his other books, but an ok read. But then I don't think I go to crazy with all the apps.
29) A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purnell My goodness, why have I never heard of Virginia Hall before? She was amazing! I hear they are going to make this into a movie. How do you choose what to show from her amazing accomplishments? I have no idea.
30) 5/27/2020 Once Night Falls by Roland Merullo Another novel in my wwII reading project. A fictional story of how Mussolini was deposed, captured, and eventually shot by partisans in Northern Italy. Some romance, some religion, some suspense. Three stars.
31) 6/21/2020 The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer I wanted to learn more about Hungary in WWII and this book helped me with that. But it was long and contained too much romance so wasn't as good as I hoped.
32) 6/22/2020 The Wrong Stuff: The Adventures and Misadventures of an 8th Air Force Aviator by Truman Smith So my dad was a bomber pilot for the 8th Air Force in WWII, so it was interesting to listen to this guy talk about what it was like to be a bomber pilot in WWII out of England.
33) 7/15/2020 Verbal Judo: The Gentle Art of Persuasion by George J. Thompson Best book on communication that I have read. I really need to read it more often.
34) 7/17/2020 The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson Churchill's first year in power when Britain was alone in their fight.
35) 7/25/2020 Midnight in Europe by Alan Furst Spanish lawyer living in Paris helps to buy arms for the Spanish Republic during the civil war in the 30s.
36) 8/3/2020 Stillness Is the Key by Ryan Holiday Pretty good, but more to do with perspective than with being still.
37) 8/3/2020 The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris Quick read. Two survivors fall in love at Auschwitz. Most died within two months at Auschwitz. Not sure it's believable even though it's said to be based on a true story.
38) 8/16/2020 Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah I really didn't like the first third of this book, I almost stopped reading. But when the back story of the seige of Leningrad became the main story, the book got very good. Glad I kept reading.
39) 8/19/2020 The Plus: Self-Help for People Who Hate Self-Help by Greg Gutfeld Funny and wise book about adding to the world instead of subtracting from it.
40) 8/26/2020 The Third Reich in Power by Richard J. Evans Interesting and thorough study of the 30's in Germany. Chapters on culture, religion, art, work, school, family, military, police, etc all under the totalitarian Nazi leadership of Hitler, who used propoganda, fear and violence to get people to comply.
41) 9/1/2020 Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic by Sam Quinones A re-read for me, and just as horrifying as when I first read it a couple of years ago. My son was recently in a bad car accident and in a lot of pain, but they would not prescribe him more than a few pills at a time. After reading this book again, I think this is a good thing.
42) 9/4/2020 The Politically Incorrect Guide to Socialism by Kevin D. Williamson Hilarous description of him trying to find out how much his medical procedure is going to cost. No one could tell him! Guess what? We are already pretty socialist.
43) 9/7/2020 The Story of You by Steve Chandler Self help book that says look at the story you tell yourself about yourself. It's just a story. You can change it.
44) 9/10/2020 The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff English girls working in France against the Nazi's. An American Girl in NYC finds some photos and starts investigating. Good book.
45) 9/14/2020 Rediscover the Rosary: The Modern Power of an Ancient Prayer by Matthew Kelly Needed some inspiration for my 30 day Rosary challenge. This was a good book to read for that inspiration.
2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II (other topics)When Time Stopped: A Memoir of My Father's War and What Remains (other topics)
Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything (other topics)
The Rising Tide (other topics)
When Heroes Flew (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
George Weigel (other topics)Ariana Neumann (other topics)
B.J. Fogg (other topics)
Jeff Shaara (other topics)
H.W. "Buzz" Bernard (other topics)
More...
Here is a link to my read-in-2020 shelf:
read-in-2020