Reading
I will try to use this page as a record of the books I have read, when I finished reading, my thoughts, etc. I am not the most voracious reader, so this list probably won't be updated that frequently. I will try my best to avoid spoilers.
I am currently working on writing quick reviews of each book on this page, so keep in mind this page is not entirely finished yet.
My top 5 novels:
- Moby-Dick, Herman Melville
- East of Eden, John Steinbeck
- Catch-22, Joseph Heller
- The Man Who Was Thursday, G.K. Chesterton
- Journey to the End of the Night, Louis-Ferdinand Celine
Books that are on my to-read list:
- Silas Marner, George Eliot
- Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
- Revolt in the Desert, T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia)
- Warlock, Oakley Hall
Resources
Project Gutenberg
Website that hosts thousands of public-domain reading material. This is where I get most of my ebooks from.
Calibre
Program that runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux that can manage and convert ebooks. I also used to use it for sending ebooks to my Kindle (before it broke). I still use it occasionally for converting ebook formats.
LibreVox
Website that hosts public-domain audio books that are created by many different contributors. This is where I get most of my audio books from.
ebread
Program that I wrote ;-) to dump the text contents of various ebook formats. Only available for Unix-like systems (although it seemed to work pretty well under WSL...).
Reading List
Three Men in a Boat, Jerome Jerome
Currently reading.
The Stranger, Albert Camus
Finished September 2024. Read it in a single day.
Thought it was a dull read. Meursault's apathy towards everything made him an uninteresting narrator. The conversation with the chaplain was the best part in this book. I guess if you have nothing to do for an hour or two, this might make for nice read to occupy your eyes with.
Hunger, Knut Hamsen
Finished September 2024. Read it in a week.
I enjoyed this read a lot. The main character's (who I believe is never named) fragile mental state is portrayed both horrifyingly and masterfully. I cannot tell whether it says more about me or Hamsen's skill as a writer that I saw a lot of myself in the narrator. Definitely worth a read.
Moby-Dick, Herman Melville
First read it sometime in 2021. Finished rereading in September 2024. Took about a month to read.
My favorite book of all time. Melville has a very hypnotizing and unique writing style. Very dense read. You could probably read this book 100 times and each time would be as engaging as the first. I should probably write a longer review of this in the future. A must read.
Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut
Finished reading July 2024, took about a week to read.
The Man Who Was Thursday, G.K. Chesterton
Finished reading in November 2023, took about a week to read.
Catch-22, Joseph Heller
First read sometime in 2021. Finished rereading it October 2023. Took a couple of weeks to read.
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Finished reading in July 2023, took about a week to read.
Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon
Finished reading in Febuary 2023, took about two months to read.
Pilgrim's Progress (Part 1), John Bunyan
Finished in November 2022, took a couple of weeks to read. I have not read part 2 yet.
Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy
Finished reading in October 2022, took about a month to read.
Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, Martin Luther
Finished reading in July 2022, took a couple of weeks to read.
Farenheit-451, Ray Bradbury
Finished reading in April 2022, took about a month to read. Had to read it for highschool.
Death of Ivan Ilyich, Leo Tolstoy
Finished reading in November 2021, took a couple of weeks to read.
A Confession, Leo Tolstoy
Finished reading in October 2021, took a couple of weeks to read.
Bartleby the Scrivener, Herman Melville
Finished reading in October 2021, took a couple of days to read.
Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes
Finished reading in July 2021, took a couple of months to read.
The Trial, Franz Kafka
Finished reading in March 2021, took a couple of weeks to read.
Journey to the End of the Night, Louis-Ferdinand Celine
Finished reading in March 2021, took a couple of months to read.
A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
Finished reading in Febuary 2021, took a month to read.
East of Eden, John Steinbeck
Finished reading in January 2021, took a month to read.
American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
Finished reading in December 2020, took a month to read.
Night, Elie Wiesel
Finished reading in December 2020, took a month to read. Had to read it for highschool.
The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakhov
Finished reading in November 2020, took a month to read.
Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
Finished reading in October 2020, took a month to read. Had to read it for highschool.
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
Finished reading in October 2020, took a month to read.
Animal Farm, George Orwell
Finished reading in September 2020, took a couple of weeks to read.