Hello Friends,
And all my best wishes of health, happiness, and personal growth for 2024!
I also wish all of you a personal library such as this one (Trinity College in Dublin).
As both the title and the picture let you guess, this first post of the year is about books.
I must confess that, if 2023 has been pretty tough in some respects (some aspects of my personal life, SBF having a “bad day”, etc.), I have been truly blessed in others.
First, I met someone incredible in autumn 2022 and we have been building our life together since then, including getting engaged this last autumn. She loves reading as well, so it is not rare for us to simply spend some time reading next to each other, or even to each other.
Second, I really got into audiobooks. As in really into audiobooks. The minutes adding up, I often end up having listened to two, three, or even four hours of a fiction. Still far from my high-school and university reading habits where I would often read a book a day, but getting there!
Thanks to the above, I have pleeeeenty to share with you!
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Best first-read fiction of the year is Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged - wrote about it here. A definite Q1 follow-up is her other famous novel The Fountainhead - I will report once read.
In the post just mentioned above, I mentioned Eric Hoffer’s The True Believer. I recently found out that he had written another masterpiece, The Ordeal of Change, that he personally considered even superior to The True Believer - on my 2024 list.
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After their controversial Lord of the Rings adaptation (too scared to even try) and their largely disgarded Foundation adaptation (lasted 1.5 episode - I need to re-re-read the books to forget about the experience), Amazon decided to butcher one my favourite fantasy series of all time, The Wheel of Time. I don’t want to badmouth so I won’t comment, but I had to re-read the 14,000 pages series to wash the memory of the episode off. If you have a few hundred hours to invest in the most immersive journey of a multitude of entertwined character arcs and personal developments, I strongly recommend it.
Also re-read my favourite fiction book of all time since a very good friend recommended it 2 years ago: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, by Eliezer Yudkowsky. I can see you frowning: take Harry Potter, replace him by an 11yo child prodigy questioning everything and everything through the sieve of the scientific method… that’s it really! The plot is flawless. Simply flawless. The characters’ depth is undescribable. If you have read Harry Potter and want a fanfic version that actually makes sense with witty humour but zero plothole, just trust me and try it out.
Followed up with the same author’s non-fiction Abridged Guide to Intelligent Characters. Brilliant read, and not just because he criticises The Hobbit’s cinematic adaptation. I’ve always wanted to write fiction. Never felt anything I wrote was remotely good enough to share. But his book might help at some point.
Then I had to re-read Harry Potter because, plotholes or not, well… it’s Harry Potter. Also, read by Stephen Fry!
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I wrote a lot about the metaverse in the past few years.
I had not read the fiction classics about it though, so I decided to course-correct… and overshot.
Started with Snow Crash, the 1994 novel that coined the term “metaverse”. A bit dark, but challengingly esoteric, quite punchy, and overall pretty good.
Then followed up with Ready Player One, more recent. I think you have to have played video games to enjoy it, but in that case it is a really entertaining and endearing story. Hard not to like the characters and to root for the good guys.
Finally, I am currently finishing Neuromancer. A bit more akin to Matrix. Really struggling with it: the story feels a bit hacked together, and I did not get into the characters. Eh - if you love 100% of the books you read, you are not keeping an open mind.
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Speaking about horizon-expanding, I read a novel recommended by my period-drama-enthusiast fiancée, The Secret History, by Donna Tartt. Beautiful characters-building, but the plot was a bit too diluted for it to be a personal hit. She identified with the characters’ student life which the books in a vivid a poetic way. I identified with them studying ancient greek, which the book describes accurately… but less of a plot-building foundation really.
I read How to Live: 27 conflicting answers and one weird conclusion - everything is in the title. Short poetic book, lots to make you ponder about, definitely recommend as a light introspective read.
I am also reading The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov. It was recommended to me by one of my very best friends and it is definitely a great read. Only problem is the audiobook I found was only the first part of the novel so now I am stuck until I can find the rest.
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On the more philosophical/therapeutical side, quite a few reads.
I have been slowly reading The Denial of Death, by Ernest Becker, for quite some time now. Counterintuitively, I would say it is actually a book about life. Brilliant book, but it can feel a bit academic of read though.
Re-read Huis Clos (“No Exit”), by Jean-Paul Sartre. A short philosophical play about human fears. Loved it 15 years ago, liked it today.
A book my fiancée and I positively love though is The Couple’s Workbook, by The School of Life. It is a brilliant interactive book that guides couples through everything that matters in terms of personal growth, together and individually. The format is a series of very short chapter - we tend to go through one before bed time most nights - that raises a multitude of introspective questions, mutual discovery, and practical changes. Even if you already communicate well and a lot as a couple - and, being both divorced, we certainly do! - this book still pushes your bounderies and helps you uncover that little bit of your partner’s history you were not aware of, or that little part of you had not consciously labelled yet. It is the book I recommended (and gifted) most last year.
I am also reading tuesdays with Morrie, by Mitch Albom, recommended by one of the more self-aware friend & colleague I have had the chance to meet. Not finished yet considering everything I am reading in parallel, but hard not to be deeply moved by the story.
Also read two practically targetted book: Co-parenting with a Toxic Ex, by Amy Baker & Paul Fine, and People Problems: Dealing with your Difficult Relationships, by Alan Godwin. The former is ok - helps label some patterns, but mostly a motivational guide to be the best possible parent as you can’t afford any mistep. The latter is a game-changer however, as it applies to all relationships: family, work, and (hopefully not) friends & romantic. I very very strongly recommend it.
Other books I want to (re)read in 2024:
Mythos, by Stephen Fry (beautiful Christmas gift)
The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings (but again, I re-read them on a regular basis, plus Andy Serkis’s audiobooks are to die for!)
The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak has stellar reviews and really piqued my interest
Poor Charlie's Almanack because I have been wanting to read it for years, never found the time, and in memory of his recently passing away
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To conclude in a tribute to fiction, sometimes overlooked in our age of ubiquitous buzy-ness, ultra-efficiency, and social media of course:
“Reading fiction is important to understand the cross-sectional variation in humanity, to understand how difficult generalisations can be, to just get a sense of how different social pieces fit together, and to get a sense of different historical eras – and plus, reading fiction is often just plain flat-out fun.” - Tyler Cowen, economist & journalist
So, what are your best fiction recommendations for 2024?
Thanks for reading, and have a fiction-rich year ahead!
V
PS: You will also have noticed that I am rebranding this newsletter as it has drifted quite far from what I originally had in mind.