Best Books Read This Year

"The Anticipatory Organization" by Dan Burrus. "The Psychology of Money" by Morgan Housel. American Dialogue by Joseph Ellis Bad Blood Chasing the Lion-Gen. A.J. Tata Chronicles of a Radical Hag by Lorna Landvik. It's more enjoyable if you're from Minnesota since she's a Minnesota author and references lots of things around our state. But, a great story! Anything by her is fun summer reading. Coaching 101 Dictatorship of woke capital Fiber Fueled, a great book about gut biome and its ramifications for health. Fly Fishing Through The Midlife Crisis How to "Unfu**K Yourself" by Gary Bishop Its a tie, between 1984 and Talking to Strangers Jonathan Franzen Freedom Killing Crazy Horse -- a non-fiction, but I have always been a fan/admirer of the American Indian --- one with the land There is so much I did not know about everything that happened to them as our country was developed Latest Doc Ford series by Randy Wayne Wright - Salt River Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. Mark Levin American Marxism Martha Gelhorn's Travels with Myself and Another. After watching Ken Burn's Hemingway series, I fell into a Gelhorn phase. The Face of War is also terrific. The woman was brilliant and courageous. My readings are varied so I can't say my favorite Maybe Ken Follett The Evening and the Morning Erik Larson any of his books Never Home Alone--interesting book about how trying to make our home environment cleaner has led to all sorts of environmental issues. Next Year in Havana Play Hungry, the Making of a Baseball Player Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir Range by David Epstein Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice by Bill Browder Sea Power: The History and Geopolitics of the World's Oceans So many but I did really enjoy - and learned a lot from The Splendid and the Vile .... about Mr. Churchill. Who knew!? The Book of Longings - Sue Monk Kidd The Covert Passive Aggressive Narcissist The Godfather The Great Bridge--David McCullough The Great Santini The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi The Last Mrs. Parrish The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up The Night of the Gun, by David Carr The ONLY book I've read this year is Where the Crawdads Sing, which was really good. Thé phantom of fifth avenue The President Is Missing The Woman in the White Kimono by Ana Johns Think Again by Adam Grant Think again by Adam Grant Tie - Where the Crawdads Sing and Friends and Strangers Unbroken With the Fire on High (Elizabeth Acevedo) Wow. The most mindshifting is The Field: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe. Quite a bit of research-based information about quantum physics. Writers and Lovers by Lily King. Zero Fail

Non-Fiction Recommendations

"Let Your Mind Run" A memoir about Deena Kastor's running career (interesting if you're a runner). "The Boys in the Boat" by Daniel Brown "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell. It explains so much about what is going on with the pandemic as well as trends happening in our world. 1984 - it became non-fiction with recent current events A Promised Land, by Barack Obama. Always and forever at the top of my list, The Icarus Deception by Seth Godin. Any of Bill O'Reilly's "Killing Series". Killing Lincoln and Killing Patton were especially outstanding. Atomic Habits by James Clear Being Mortal by Atul Gawande Crazy Horse-Bill O'Reilly Fanatical Prospecting Ghostrider, LIfe on the Healing Road Ayn Rand hard to pick so here's a few: THe Splendid and the Vile- Erik Larson Tinderbox _ the Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberatio - Robert Fieseler I Will Never See the World Again - Ahmet Altan Know my Name - Chantal Miller The Library Book - Susan Orlean I rarely read non-fiction. I read mostly all non-fiction. Just read The Vile and the Splendid by Erik Larsen about Churchill's first year amid the blitz on London - wonderful read. Really feel like I know the man much better. Killing Crazy Horse, Killing the Mob Fascinating inside look at both ..... Kindness & Wonder: Why Mister Rogers Matters Now More Than Ever - Gavin Edwards -or- Vitamania Our Obsessive Quest For Nutritional Perfection - Catherine Price Kitchen Confidential Larson The Splendid and the Vile Light in Hidden Places by Sharon Cameron. Mere Christianity - pure genius from CS Lewis Michelle Obama - Becoming Glennon Doyle - Untamed Bryan Stevenson - Just Mercy Never Split the Difference Parliament of Whores by PJ O'Rourke Praying for Sheetrock procrastinate on purpose - rory vaden Rethinking the Great Depression--Gene Smilely ship of gold in a deep blue sea Shoe Dog Speechless: Controlling Words, Controlling Minds by Michael Knowles The Big Short the biography of Dr. Benjamim Rush. Outstanding The Bomber Mafia by Malcom Gladwell The Death and Life of the Great Lakes by Dan Egan The fall of the house of Byron The Fourth Turning - William Strauss The Immortality Key The Secret History of the Religion with No Name Brian mururesku The Night of the Gun The Only Woman in the Room, Marie Benedict The Moment of Lift, Melinda Gates The Red Notice The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich - long book to get through but reads like a blueprint for the actions of the progressive movement in this country The Simple Feeling of Being Unbroken Unshakeable by Tony Robbins The Energy Bus by Jon Gordon When Breath became Air —about a Neuro surgeon who faces his own death Wine and War (Donald and Petie Kladstrup) Zero Fail

Fiction Recommendations

A Time to Kill - the first John Grisham book I ever read and still my favorite. "The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. 11/22/63 - Stephen King The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss All the Light you Cannot See American Traitor-LTC Brad Taylor US. Army SpecOps anything by Carl Hiaasen - insane but entertaining anything by Elena Ferrante but esp The Lying Life of Adults and the 4 books in My Brilliant Friend series Anything by John Irving Anything from John Steinbeck Big fan of the classics - To Kill a Mockingbird Blacktop wasteland Brad Thor or Vince Flynn Novels Don't read that much fiction. I don't read fiction anymore but when I did, I always enjoyed a good John Grisham novel. I WISH! If you like action adventure, James Rollins is great. If you like quirky fun, try Nick Pirog's 3am series. Inferno - Dan Brown John Barth Sabbatical John Grisham's Sycamore Road was excellent Ken Follett The Evening and the Morning Life and times of the Thunderbolt kid Loved the Game of Thrones series, so went back and read the books. Books were even better (as is typical). Hope the book series is eventually finishes, with a more satisfying conclusion than the series. My Mrs. Brown by William Norwich N/A - dont read fiction. there is enough fiction going on in the real world for me Next Year in Havana Nickel Boys, Colton Whitehead. Nothing comes to mind Parable of the Sower (Octavia Butler) so many... Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen Devil in the White City, Erik Larson Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows, Balli Kaur Jaswal So many.... I tear through books. enjoyed "What Could Be Saved", "The Women of Chateau Lafayette", "the Four WInds" Sorry don’t read fiction often …. Maybe the five people you meet in heaven Split Second by David Baldacci tatooist of aushwitz, Uganda Be Kidding Me The Four Winds The Dutch House The Vanishing Half Friends and Strangers The Grapes of Wrath The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins The Gunslinger series from Stephen King. Not what you would expect from a traditionally horror type writer. Then the Mongoliad series with Neal Stephenson, Mark Teppo , etc. written by several authors. The last one I really enjoyed was Glitz by Elmore Leonard - an oldy, but a goody. The Lee Bardugo books - love her writing style The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah is amazing. The Paradise Series from Elin Hilderbrand The Secret History The Stand The Wheel of Time. A fantasy series by Robert Jordan, that could be the best written series ever.

Any Book That Everyone (Else) Seems to Love That You Just Don't "Get" (fiction or non-fiction) (and yes, there are overlaps with some of the prior lists)

A Man Called Ove Any of the fifty shades books Atlas Shrugged Blink by Malcom Gladwell Catch-22 Deep State by Chris Hauty - the big surprise twist is a nonsensical sham that ruins everything that came before it. Harry Potter. First couple were great, but it's true all good things must come to an end and they just didn't know when or how to cut it off. I have two, Where the Crawdads Sing and Cold Mountain. Red, White and Royal Blue Such a Fun Age - Kiley Reid The Art of War —though I enjoyed the read (twice) it was not as earth shaking as everyone seemed to make me think it was. Maybe I’ll read it again. The Hunger Games. The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis. The recent set of political books from both sides. They are terrible reads and sensational marketing. I am off those reading lists forever. The Road by Cormac McCarthy The Splendid & The Vile A Saga of Churchill - Erik Larson The Undoing Project The whole twilight series.... When Giants Walked the Earth A Biography of Led Zeppelin was boring at times. Where the Crawdads Sing...It was okay, but I don't see where it was as good as everyone else thinks