Blogocentric Formulations

Book Recommendations

TEDIOUS CITADEL TASK #23

This task challenges us to list ten books that we think the community should read and, to be honest, the hardest part of this is going to be figuring out which ten books because there are so many good ones out there.

1. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

This is the book I'm currently reading and I'm really enjoying it so far. It's about a girl from the 1700s who makes a pact with a demon to live forever, but in exchange no one can remember her once they're out of sight, out of mind. So she's cursed to live forever, but go through that life with no connections to anybody. It's really interesting an well written so far.


2. Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant

This was a really thought-provoking book about the things that people with unique ideas do differently from everyone else. There was definitely some good advice and insights for everybody to consider who does creative work.


3. Letters to the Church by Francis Chan

Francis Chan is always on the cutting edge of Christianity, contemplating what it's like to be a faithful Christian is a world where increasingly more people use it as a label and don't truly live out its tenets. This book was a really hard-hitting series of letters to Christians (and the Church writ large) about rethinking some core concepts and how to live them out. It was really powerful.


4. The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer

This is one of the most important books I've read in the past couple of years. As the name implies, it's about making tough decisions about the ways we invest our time and focus, and making conscious choices to slow down and take time to enjoy our lives.


5. Recursion by Blake Crouch

Blake Crouch is one of my favorite writers. He always has some unique idea and he's a good enough writer to turn those concepts into a compelling story with interesting characters. This is his take on alternate realities and parallel universes and, honestly, the less said the better. It's worth a read where you discover the story and all its twists and turns as you go.


6. Atomic Habits by James Clear

This was an interesting book about the power of small changes and how, when you stack them on top of one another, you can accomplish amazing things. For me, it was a new way to think about how to build routines and develop work processes from the ground up.


7. Space Team by Barry J. Hutchinson

Comedic science fiction is an underrated genre, and this is easily one of my favorite book series in recent years. It's ridiculous and hilarious and crude and silly. The basic premise is that a loser from Earth is mistaken for someone else and transported into space where he becomes the leader of a ragtag group of heroes. Bonus points if you listen to the audiobooks; the narrator includes outtakes at the end.


8. Starter Villain by John Scalzi

Another science fiction comedy, this is a story about an average guy who inherits his estranged uncle's business, not realizing that his estranged uncle was a supervillain complete with a volcano island lair and everything. He has to learn how to be a supervillain on the fly, as people vie for his uncle's weakened empire.


9. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

I finally got around to reading this after so many people had raved about it, and I wasn't disappointed. I've always loved gothic stories and the Mexican cultural elements interwoven into this story made it really compelling. It's not a perfect book, but it was good enough that I picked up a few other of this author's books right after I finished.


10. The Blade Itself (The First Law Trilogy #1) by Joe Abercrombie

This is one of my favorite fantasy series and I just recommended it to a friend who finished the first book and has been talking to me about it, so it's fresh in my mind. The characters are incredible, and it's a surprisingly humorous book given the gritty hard fantasy setting. Definitely one of the best examples of the genre, IMHO.

I'd highly encourage you to check out any and/or all of the above books!