Fourth Quarter Book Round Up
While my employment campaign continues, I’ve been taking the opportunity to read more books. Lately, I’m particularly interested in productivity, and how to improve it. Last year, I read “Digital Minimalism” by Cal Newport. So I picked up another of his books “Deep Work”. It was enlightening, as Cal doesn’t just tell you to do such and such. He helps you understand why it works, and provides sources to support his viewpoint. This led me to his “Deep Questions” podcast, which is posted as a video version on Youtube. I find the episodic nature of the podcast helps to fill in the conceptual gaps that occur between the books. Cal sometimes discusses David Allen’s GTD concepts and how they relate to the Deep Life. So it felt natural that the classic book “Getting Things Done” by David Allen should be my next read. So that’s what I’m currently reading, and learning the GTD approach. Todoist is my task management application of choice. So I’ve started updating my workflow to include GTD principles.
I like to blend in some fiction, otherwise reading can feel like a dull task. I enjoy exploring stories, and the Fantasy genre is currently my favorite way to do just that. This quarter I finished “Well of Ascension”, the 2nd book of the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. The final book of the trilogy, “Hero of the Ages”, is coming up soon. I’m really looking forward to seeing how the story resolves. I’ve recently learned about the existence of The Cosmere, the universe that ties all of Sanderson’s books together, from Bookborn on Youtube. Now that I’m aware of it, my anticipation for Hero of the Ages is growing. I have a strong suspicion, that I’m gonna become a Sanderson fanboy by the end of it.
This isn’t the only fantasy series I’m reading. I decided to try the Romantasy genre. I picked up the first two books of the “A Court of Thorns and Roses” (ACOTAR) series by Sarah J. Maas. I read the first eponymous book and felt a little iffy about the series and the genre in general. Not gonna lie, I thought it’d be much spicier. This first book was a PG-13 slow burn. I mentioned it to an acquaintance, and she recommended I read the second book in the series, “A Court of Mist and Fury”, before making any decisions about the series. That was a good call. The character development and world building made the story much more interesting. I’m in. I need to see how the series resolves. The fifth book was recently released, so I have some catching up to do. That isn’t gonna happen this year though, since 2025 is almost over.
I mentioned above that I’m currently reading Getting Things Done. Well, I’m also reading “Snow Crash” by Neal Stephenson. I only read it when I’m at home, because I don’t have room in my bag to carry the paperback with me. I’m only 10% into Snow Crash, so I still waiting for the story to get going. Stephenson is famous for world building. I’m gonna need to sit down and dedicate some time to making progress on Snow Crash. I only hear good things about it, so I’m looking forward to seeing what it’s all about. This has been sitting on my shelf for too long, so a few days ago I decided to pick it up.
I also recently read “Sharp Objects” by Gillian Flynn. That was a good story. A little dark, but good. This was not a fantasy book, but rather a modern thriller/who-done-it. I had no expectations going into it, and I was pleasantly surprised. I think that’s the best way to go into a book. I got to experience Flynn’s writing unfiltered. Her style was grittier than I might have guessed. I look forward to reading other books by her.
My To Be Read list (TBR) is getting longer all the time. I recently exported my shelves from Goodreads. There are over 700 books I’ve marked “Want to Read” over the years. That’s a lot! It’s far more than I’m willing to blindly import into Obsidian. FYI, I use Obsidian as my personal knowledge management (PKM) tool. So I’ve started keeping a contracted version of my TBR in a “Books to Read” note. I do like to shift the order of titles around as my moods and interest change over time. However, I keep adding books faster than I can read them. So I’ll never run out. There’s a big pile of paperback and hard cover books at home. In 2026, I’m gonna have my work cut for me.
What are you reading?