50 in 365
I just joined 50 in 365, and hope I can start at the beginning of 2008, making it slightly retroactive. The amazing thing is that I have been reading much more than normal this year, and so I would love this chance to keep track of my progress.
Let me start with a list of books already finished this year.
Some small amount of commentary, to make this a little juicier:
Tiny Ladies in Shiny Pants: Jill Holloway is a writer for some great HBO shows and this book was absolutely hilarious. I highly recommend this.
Rules for Renegades: I like this chick :) She has been a model, Buddhist monk, and repeat entrepreneur. In the book she tells how she dated Bill Gates and then learned how to reach for her own power, instead of borrowing it (one directly leads to the other).
Scarlett: a guilty pleasure :)
Search: John Batelle is brilliant and thoughtful and I appreciated his very careful exposition of Google's birth. From my vantage point in the industry, it seems mostly true :) and he captures some important trends. Worth reading, especially for anyone in the tech world.
Niccolo Rising, The House of Niccolo series: an amazing, amazing series (7 or 8 books in all). I have just started rereading these over the past month, and am flying through them. They are hard to put down even though I know what happens! The books follow a young banker named Niccolo who is born in Belgium in the 15th century, and his self-made rise to run a mercantile banking empire in the middle of the Renaissance and the glory days of European economic imperialism and expansion. Like Forrest Gump, Niccolo manages to be everywhere important during this period and meet all the notable figures (he drops a word of advice to famous Italian painters about utilizing perspective and hobnobs with everyone from Nostradamus, to kings, to courtesans (one of whom he briefly marries!). Complex and psychologically entertaining, this books contain a lot about human nature and the frailty and brilliance of one man -- and the people around him, who love him, protect him, and threaten him. Some of them die, but many end up very, very wealthy. If you've got the time, definitely worth it :)
So nine books complete so far, for 2008 (unless I can remember any more).
Tiny Ladies in Shiny Pants: Jill Holloway is a writer for some great HBO shows and this book was absolutely hilarious. I highly recommend this.
Rules for Renegades: I like this chick :) She has been a model, Buddhist monk, and repeat entrepreneur. In the book she tells how she dated Bill Gates and then learned how to reach for her own power, instead of borrowing it (one directly leads to the other).
Scarlett: a guilty pleasure :)
Search: John Batelle is brilliant and thoughtful and I appreciated his very careful exposition of Google's birth. From my vantage point in the industry, it seems mostly true :) and he captures some important trends. Worth reading, especially for anyone in the tech world.
Niccolo Rising, The House of Niccolo series: an amazing, amazing series (7 or 8 books in all). I have just started rereading these over the past month, and am flying through them. They are hard to put down even though I know what happens! The books follow a young banker named Niccolo who is born in Belgium in the 15th century, and his self-made rise to run a mercantile banking empire in the middle of the Renaissance and the glory days of European economic imperialism and expansion. Like Forrest Gump, Niccolo manages to be everywhere important during this period and meet all the notable figures (he drops a word of advice to famous Italian painters about utilizing perspective and hobnobs with everyone from Nostradamus, to kings, to courtesans (one of whom he briefly marries!). Complex and psychologically entertaining, this books contain a lot about human nature and the frailty and brilliance of one man -- and the people around him, who love him, protect him, and threaten him. Some of them die, but many end up very, very wealthy. If you've got the time, definitely worth it :)
So nine books complete so far, for 2008 (unless I can remember any more).
Comments
(I suppose you have to like dense, psychological, historical fiction full of details about Africa, Belgium, Scotland and the Near East in the 15th century.)
I suppose that makes me kind of odd. :)