As the year comes to a close I thought it would be a fun thread for everyone to share a book of two that youâve read this year that you loved.
Itâs not limited to books published this year, just one youâve read in 2021.
Any genre or style - The bookshelves are your oyster.
Kindle, Paper or Audiobook weâre a broad church
It doesnât have to be English language (Jiman suru jikan @heytokyo & dags att visa upp sig @Kraftskiva)
No pressure, this shouldnât feel like youâre giving a book report and standing in front of the class just share why you loved it. Donât forget to link your book so others can find it.
A nonfiction dual timeline story charting the exploits HH Holmes & Daniel H Burnham. The former is a serial killer while the latter is the chief architect of the 1893 worlds fair. This is a nonfiction but feels like fiction at times, youâll want to read it before the film produced (and maybe starring) Leo DeCaprio comes out.
I discovered Joe Abercrombie this year and absolutely loved the First Law series. Brilliant if you like a bit of dark fantasy, his characters are brilliant.
I need to read more fiction tbh. As someone interested in business/entrepreneurship, I read Zero to One - Peter Thiel.
Itâs a pretty well-known book with insights on startups and business. I learned a few new ideas, the concepts of different types of monopolies and the benefits of them. Advice for working with teams and just general anecdotes from his experiences. I apply some of the insights to my own work and discuss them with people I know.
If anyone can recommend a similar but different enough type of book, Iâd be interested. Someone bought me Principles by Ray Dalio and Iâve read a bit of that.
So as someone who runs a publisher I could recommend quite a few but it would come across as a sales pitch.
Although, aside from our own, Linwood Barclay is my favourite author and read a couple of his. The Promise Falls trilogy is brilliant.
I bought The Presidentsâ Daughter but it is such a big book Iâm scared itâll take me months to read.
I tried reading Matt Haigsâ The Midnight Library but didnât understand the hype, nor do I understand the hype around The Thursday Murder Club books.
I have read some trashy Swedish crime novels this year which donât deserve mentioning, BUT two more serious reads to recommend:
David Graeber - Debt: The First 5000 Years
The name summarises what itâs about pretty well.
2021 Favourite: Liaquat Ahmed - Lords of Finance
Great colour on central banking before and after the First World War, how a hard/gold-backed currency is not a panacea for the problems of fiat and explores the central bankers of the time as individuals. Highly recommended.
For anyone trying to get a read on Finland, try Tuntematon Soitilas (The Unknown Soldier) by VĂ€inö Linna. You can also watch it on Netflix if you use a VPN - though unfortunately only with Finnish or Swedish subtitlesâŠ
The book has been translated, e.g.:
You could also pick up a copy of the Kalevala, but Iâve not made it through that yetâŠ
Finally, a book about how inflation is coming for my portfolio:
