In case you haven't noticed, I like books. I like reading them, and when sufficiently motivated I like writing them. And, I especially enjoy sharing what I've been reading. So without further adieu, here are the audio books I have completed in 2018 (an exception is cited.) There have been at least two or three dozen additional audio books begun but abandoned for various reasons, most frequently because I did not want to remain in the company of the reader for one reason or another. Occasionally a book is so tedious it gets lost in the weeds, or rather its own minutia. And so, here is my list... (with hot links on those I have written about elsewhere.)
Audiobooks 2018
1. Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams
2. The Death of Ivan Ilyich . Tolstoy
This was my second reading. Am thinking I may read it again in 2019.
3. The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution . Walter Isaacson
4. Brief Interviews with Hideous Men . David Foster Wallace
Wallace is a great writer. Was not my favorite book.
5. A Lowcountry Heart [Reflections on a Writing Life] . Pat Conroy
Made me feel I have been missing something by not reading him sooner.
6. Invisible Man . Ralph Ellison
Blown away by its power.. I read about one-third intending to finish later... which I must do.
7. Shane . Jack Schaefer
A childhood favorite. Have read it a couple times over course of a lifetime. This was third time.
8. Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success . Phil Jackson
You can read the review.
Rewarding.
10. Both Flesh and Not [essays] . David Foster Wallace
Wallace is superb.
11. Murder in the Mews: Three Perplexing Cases for Poirot . Agatha Chistie
12. My Life in Middlemarch . Rebecca Mead
A original memoir, a unique approach to sharing the meanings of one's life experiences.
13. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest . Kesey, Ken
Second reading, as I'd watched the film again this year. An incredible book.
14. Filthy Rich [A powerful billionaire, the sex scandal that undid him, and all the justice that money can buy : the shocking true story of Jeffrey Epstein] . James Patterson
How the other half live. That is, how justice is seldom served when it comes to people with power. Sad.
15. Endless Night . Agatha Christie
16. The Truth Matters : A citizen's guide to separating facts from lies and stopping fake news in its tracks . Bruce R. Bartlettought the paperback afterwards.
Useful and important. I b
17. Heart of Darkness . Joseph Conrad
18. Star Island . Carl Hiaasen
A romp like all his books.
19. Richistan: A journey through the American wealth boom and the lives of the new rich . Robert Frank
20. Razor Girl . Carl Hiassen
21. Skinny Dip . Carl Hiassen
Same reader as LikeWar, which made me like LikeWar all the more.
Borges was a chief influence in my fiction writing.
23. James Madison: The Fourth President . Garry Wills
Many insights about a president I knew little about.
24. Andrew Jackson . Robert Remini
25. The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less . Barry Schwartz
Excellent book. Explains a lot of things we get frustrated with.
26. The Cold War Killing Fields: Rethinking the Long Peace . Paul Thomas Chamberlin
An important book for all of us, but especially Baby Boomers who lived through much of this.
27. The Untold Story of the Talking Book . Matthew Rubery
28. We Die Alone . David Howarth
A compelling read from start to finish. Superb writing, made all the more powerful because it really happened.
29. The Year of Less [How I stopped shopping, gave away my belongings, and discovered life is worth more than anything you can buy in a store] . Cait Flanders
31. Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics, Explained by its Most Brilliant Teacher
This is a set of six lectures by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman
32. Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America . Walter Borneman
Another of the presidents I knew little about.
33. Dopesick [dealers, doctors, and the drug company that addicted America]
Some would call this unbalanced reporting as the author has an agenda. A lot of good research and insightful.
34. Never Trust a Liberal Over 3 - Especially a Republican . Ann Coulter
Same as #33.
35. LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media . P.W. Singer
* * * *
So many books, so little time.
My list of non-audio books is longer and shorter, many read for specific portions as research for other things. Some still in process. I found my re-reading of Friedrich Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil to be a thought provoking and rewarding read this year, prompted in part by Gordon Marino's The Existentialist's Survival Guide, subtitled How to Live Authentically in an Inauthentic Age.
An important idea set in motion this year was this one: In matters of virtue, one of the most needful virtues for our time is for courage.
Much more could be said, but that is always the case, is it not? May your holiday season be rewarding and meaningful. Merry Christmas. And I'll catch you on the flip side.
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