2019 Reading

This is a short post on all the books I read in 2019 and a brief description wherever applicable. Total Books Read: 25 (21 new, 4 old) (Spanning 2 Fantasy Epics).

The Wheel of Time Series (Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson) [1st Jan - 11th May]

I had begun the Wheel of Time on 20th November 2018. I started reading the 7th Book on the 29th December and finished it on the 4th of January. I’ll list all the books after that:

• Book 8: The Path of Daggers (4th January - 13th April) I bought the 8th book right after, but I took a long hiatus from reading after that due to a project I was working on. So it wasn’t until mid-April that I completed it.
• Book 9: Winter’s Heart (13th April - 19th April)
• Book 10: Crossroads of Twilight (19th April - 25th April)
• Book 11: Knife of Dreams (25th April - 29th April)
• Book 12: The Gathering Storm (29th April - 4th May)
• Book 13: Towers of Midnight (4th May - 7th May)
• Book 14: A Memory of Light (7th May - 11th May)

I had started this series for Brandon Sanderson and he wrote the last 3 books.

The Sparrow (Mary Doria Russell) [12th May - 14th May]

I found a very interesting reddit post and decided to read up a few books from it. The Sparrow was a very good read and quite different from anything I’d read before.

Mistborn Era 2 (Brandon Sanderson) [25th May - 4th June]

I’d discovered Brandon Sanderson in fall 2018 while reading Mistborn Era 1, bought a kindle since I was reading so many of his books on mobile that it was causing me headaches and ended up getting into Wheel of Time which took nearly 6 months to complete and led me into 2019. I had left Mistborn Era 2 specifically to read it later on. I got the opportunity tp do so after finishing The Sparrow.

• The Alloy of Law (25th May - 29th May)
• Shadows of Self (29th May - 2nd June)
• The Bands of Mourning (2nd June - 4th June)

I can’t wait for the next book in the series!!

Stormlight Archive (Brandon Sanderson) [? June - 21st June]

I had read the Stormlight Archive before but wanted to go back to its world after reading Mistborn (since they are both in the same Cosmere!). I again took a long break from reading because I had to move to London and settle in.

• The Way of Kings (? June - 21st June)
• Words of Radiance (21st June - 9th July)

• Diversion: Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection (9th July - 13th July) I even took a break to read the Cosmere short stories by Brandon - Highly Recommend. Few of the best fantasy short stories I have ever read with so much world building in so few pages! The Scadrial stories require context from Mistborn Era 1, but the rest of the stories need no previous context of the cosmere, although having context really lets you enjoy some of them (e.g. The Emperor’s Soul which is based on the same planet as Elantris).

• Oathbringer (13th July - ??)

Hyperion (Dan Simmons) [?? October - 25th October]

A true masterpiece with so many different interleaving stories. I still need to read the rest of the book in the series. I had bought this immediately after The Sparrow, but then I got the urge to reread The Stormlight Archive and then had to relocate to London so it took some time to complete it.

White Sand (Brandon Sanderson) [9th November - ?? November]

A set of graphic novels on one of the first stories written by Brandon Sanderson (still unpublished). I read them on comiXology on my iPhone and it was a pretty good experience. I never expected comics to be so good on mobile.

• White Sand 1
• White Sand 2
• White Sand 3

The Gods Themselves (Isaac Asimov) [15th November - 27th November]

I read this purely while commuting to and fro from work. Surprisingly, my first Asimov book even though I love sci-fi books! Thanks for the gift Sayash!!

Starsight (Brandon Sanderson) [27th November - 30th November]

I finished The God’s Themselves right on time to read the sequel to Brandon’s 2018 book - Skyward which I’ve read atleast 3-4 times. I have read it in 2019 more than once but don’t have a definite idea of when.

Broken Earth Trilogy (N. K. Jemisin) [15th December - 23rd December]

A very famous fantasy series suggested to me by multiple people. I really loved the narration style and the ending was pretty satisfying as well.

• The Fifth Season (15th December - 20th December)
• The Obelisk Gate (20th December - 23rd December)
• The Stone Sky (23rd December - 25th December)

The Phoenix Project (Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, George Spafford) [25th December - into 2020]

A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win. When I described the premise of this book to someone - I got the response:

That’s one of the nerdiest books I’ve ever heard of!

And its true! I’m really enjoying myself reading this book which describes many of the different ways of maximising IT output and I can recognise patterns followed at FB in the book itself.