What I Read - Jan 2023
After the holidays, I was ready to dive back into reading and have more time for myself. I read 3 books from my TBR pile and 2 from the local library. I've made myself a 2023 goal of reading 12 books that I already own and 12 books that I don't own. Whether those are new purchases or library books. Here's to a great start!
The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd
Ok, I read 30% of this book before I had any idea that it had an element of magic. That surprised me for sure and gave me a big "Wait, what?" moment. I did, for sure, enjoy the story though the twist was a bit predictable to me.
3.7/5 stars.
I like how Blake Crouch rights stories with just enough "science" and explanation that you think it could actually happen. This story was definitely in line with his other books I have read. It did, however, have a lot of death. Especially suicide. That was rough. For that reason, I'm not sure I would recommend it wholeheartedly. I would say I couldn't put it down, but I did have to take breaks from the story because it was hard to handle.
Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama by Bob Odenkirk
I love Memoirs on audiobook that are read by the author. Bob Odenkirk made this really fun. There were, at times, people or comedy sketches he referenced that left me clueless, but the stories that I could identify characters in were so good. I didn't realize he had worked with and was friends with so many other great comics. It was fun to hear the stories of him coming up in that world. Recommend.
The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory
After reading Recursion, I needed a happy book that didn't have any death. This one has been on my shelf for maybe a year and so I thought it would be a great time to dive in. Again, I'm not happy about the women having so little self-confidence. The story was cute enough and was an easy read. Definitely what I needed at the time.
I have been using Tiago Forte's PARA method for organizing notes and documents for a few years now so when he published a book I had to put it in my TBR pile. I soaked this up as I think about notetaking along the same lines as the author. I basically write down everything, every day, in a combination of learnings, personal journaling, questions, and ideas.
A suggestion he had which stuck out to me was keeping a list of 12 or so favorite problems that you are trying to find answers to at all times and when you research or capture something see if it may help solve one of the problems. He attributed this method to physicist Richard Phillips Feynman. I think I'll be adding this list to my notebook.
While I did enjoy this read, I think you could gather all the same info from the author's extensive writing on the subject. I would recommend both his blog and the book.