Reading List

I thought I would post a small reading list that I would update over time. These are books that for now contain recreational reads, but from time to time may also include classics and essential reads. If you’re looking for something to read, hopefully something on this list may appeal to you. Over time, I plan to to focus on one element from each of these reads and create separate posts about them… just to scratch that writing itch, you know.

Mistborn: The Final Empire

Sanderson, Brandon – A fantasy must-read, this book is basically a fantasy heist book with a bit of epic thrown in. The main character, Vin, is a bit bland, but the side characters are absolutely fascinating. Combined with a system of magic so precise as to almost seem plausible, this book can either have you clamoring for more… Or not. I say that because the ending is extremely satisfying, enough to leave it as a standalone if you’re not up for a commitment. If you need more, there are two more in this trilogy, followed by an in-between book, and another trilogy. Even further, this book acts like an excellent gateway to the Cosmere, the larger world in which many of Sanderson’s stories take place. So if you do end up getting hooked, you’ll be busy for a while.

The Princess Bride

Goldman, William – The movie at this point is much more famous than the book, but I definitely prefer the book. A shining example of satire that both belittles and skillfully delivers the elements of a medieval romance story, all while concurrently doing the same with another genre – autobiographical nonfiction. The book frames a romance story in the setting of a loving but standoffish father reading it to his son, who is sick in bed with pneumonia. The entire account is framed as nonfiction, with even the romance story supposedly having taken place in real life. As a result, the book has an opportunity to make fun of fantasy, romance, action, history, politics, and the elements of storytelling itself. If your brain is not down for all that, it will breeze by you and your attention instead will be taken by amazing characters like Inigo Montoya and Fezzik, all of whom are much more delightfully fleshed-out than their movie counterparts, complete with origin stories and inner monologues. I have read this book aloud to my wife twice, and we laughed and cheered with the plot both times. When I read it to myself, I chuckle instead at the places that subvert the rules that go into telling fiction, and marvel at the places that faithfully follow these same rules. A great read.

Son of the Mob [YA]

Korman, Gordan – I’m an educator, so I like to throw some Young Adult Literature into the mix in case young reluctant readers happen to be looking in. This young adult novel is great for those who maybe don’t like reading. Its setting isn’t a massive cognitive load of difficult concepts. It’s a simple story: Vince Luca’s father is the head of a powerful crime organization, coyly called the “vending machine” business. Most of the problems that arise have to do with the fact that our quite likable young narrator, Vince, wants nothing to do with this lifestyle; he just wants to be a normal high-schooler. While he does start dating a girl whose father turns out to be an FBI agent, the story’s real pull isn’t the resulting drama that unfolds from this discovery. It’s that Vince is fun to follow and seldom disappoints the reader as he navigates the turmoil of his life. There’s one sequel that I know of, which was an okay read as well. I read this book when I was young – in fact, I believe I borrowed it from my sister.

The Way of Kings

Sanderson, Brandon – This book is epic fantasy at its finest, with a solid focus on characterization and real, personal stakes amidst an epic backdrop of superb world-building. I have a lot to say about so many of these characters – some of it nice, and some of it not – but the fact remains that this story has your brain living in its world once its exposition is well underway. This book is an example of a rewarding read, a book that is best read actively, not passively. Any energy you put into considering even the smallest element of its plot or lore is routinely rewarded by its robust in-world fidelity to this new world’s laws as the reader learns them. Now, I’m not saying you won’t be annoyed by any characters in this book… Rather, I am saying that the quality of this book is such that even when an aspect of it is found to be lacking, it is held up solidly by every other aspect of it being more than able to withstand the scrutiny. As such, when I would hate one thing, I would love another thing until that one thing resolved, and any new ire this narrative earned would then surprisingly be redeemed, sometimes even by the thing I had hated only a few beats before.

People I have shown this book have said that it scratches that Game of Thrones itch without being devoted to the arcs of heinous people. I can see that. This book stays away from the fantasy trope of hyper-sexuality, but unabashedly focuses on themes of war, racism, redemption, depression, identity, domestic violence, destiny, and responsibility with unyielding precision. The result can be unnerving at times, as different readers will have different levels of tolerance and comfort in these quite personal examinations, especially in an epic fantasy story. The fantasy genre can usually get away with brief forays into its characters’ demons as a sojourn from the overall plot, but this book and its sequels instead live in these characters, breaking only in its interlude chapters. Even these do not pause stylistically; they refuse the common move into plot-driven action, instead continuing the reader’s experience of this very different world of living and breathing in entirely new points of view that sometimes only return in the next interlude. This is a masterful work that, despite heavy themes, carries a pervasive and refreshing optimism that has me hooked. It’s easy to say also that if you keep reading this blog, this will not be the last time you see me mention this book or others in the series.

The Way of Kings is also part of the Cosmere (along with the Mistborn series) and so far has three full sequels and a few novellas published (with six more full sequels on the way).

The Thief [YA]

Turner, Megan Whalen – I read this one when I was young as well. This book was a delightful surprise. Told in the first person, it follows the story of Gen, a young boy released from prison by the magus of the Kingdom in order to steal a precious stone from another kingdom for the King. A nice focus on characters, even when the plot gets complex. A solid ending. There are five sequels, but I stopped reading only a few chapters into the second book; in my opinion, it just wasn’t good – maybe I’ll write more about this later. This first one though, I definitely recommend – even to those who don’t read often.