January / February 2022

1. Burn: New Research Blows the Lid Off How We Really Burn Calories, Lose Weight, and Stay Healthy – Great book and I learned a lot about metabolism, obesity, and humans.

2. The Damned (The Darkest Hand Trilogy Book 1) – Fun book, cool premise, I just didn’t love the format/characters enough to pick up the second right now. I might pick it up in the future as I really wanted to love this book but I wasn’t quite there.

3. Places in the Darkness – This was a really fun crime noir book set in a futuristic space station. Great read, interesting characters, and I enjoyed this one.

4. Project Hail Mary – I loved this one, a great read and one of my favs of the year. It was like engineering porn / competence porn and I just needed this right now in the world. I highly recommend this one if you love science fiction.

5. One Rough Man: A Spy Thriller (Pike Logan Thriller Series) – Not bad, but just not for me. I loved Tom Clancy and Dirk Pitt growing up, but this one just didn’t work. I don’t know if it is me or it.

6. 7. Books 1 and 2 of the Light of the North saga – Fantastic reads that I really enjoyed, they are an alternative history around Vikings and the Crusaders. I am really looking forward to book 3. I especially love the blacksmith elements.

8. 9. 10. 11. 12. I read 5 books more in the John Connoly Charlie Parker series, love them!!!! The Black Angel, The Unquiet, The Reapers, The Lovers, The Whisperers. I am going to read the rest soon, just taking a little break.

March 2022

13. The Terminal List – A really decent thriller. I just get tired of the weird right-wing anti-government mentions. There are a lot of good people in government, and I despise books that demonize government rather than a few bac actors.

14. OPLAN Fulda: World War III – A really great thriller about an alternative history with the USSR invading in 1989. Fun to read with all the Ukraine stuff going around, although a bit dark. My only complaint was the lack of interesting characters, it was more technical in nature than character-driven.

15. Misfit Soldier – A fun read, fast-paced, but the characters felt shallow to me, and there were some plot frustrations where they weirdly left the reader out of the information…

16. Red Ice – This jumps you right into WW3 and was a good read, my only frustration was the characters just felt a bit flat and one-dimensional. I am not going to pick up the 2nd, as it zooms into another area rather than following the same characters. It is a cool approach just not what I wanted.

17. Book 1 of the Kingfall Histories – I am reading book 2 now and like them. Very cool world and very unique. My only complaint is that I haven’t fallen in love with any one character yet… I don’t know if I will read another if that doesn’t happen.

April 2022

18. 19. 20. 21. 22. Books 1 through 5 of the Neal Asher Agent Cormac series. I LOVED this series and the world it created. This is some of the best science fiction I’ve read in quite a while and it is huge in scope. It made me think about artificial intelligence a lot, and how it might be nice to have AI running things (and maybe not). The greatest good for the greatest number is an interesting concept. This is at the top of my list for best books read so far this year.

23. Blood Feud –  This is a historical fiction set around 1040 in the world of Vikings. I really enjoyed this book, it has a certain pacing that felt like the old epics and I loved how fate was portrayed. I am not sure if I will read book 2, but maybe.

24. Travels by Michael Crichton. I enjoyed this book immensely, what an interesting person. This was one of the best books I read this year and dove into a lot of different topics over the course of his life and the essays he wrote. What a great author.

25. Book 3 of the Planetside series, Colonyside by Michael Mammay. This was a solid read from a great sci fi author. I enjoyed the 2 previous books, as they are fairly stand alone. This was a good science fiction mystery and I enjoyed it greatly.

Rough start to the year, between miscarriage, travels, and work, I haven’t read much. Pretty fried and working to recover.

May 2022

26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31.  32. I read books 10 through 16 of the Charlie Parker series. Amazing series and one of my all-time favorites. They can be a bit dark at times though.

33. 5 Stars by Louise Blackwick, is a very cool science fiction book and different than my typical reads. Dark and it really messed with my head at times.

June 2022

34. The Plot Against America – Wow, this is a really dark alternative history where FDR loses an election to a Nazi sympathizer and stays out of WW2. Told from the perspective of a Jewish boy in Newark. Hard read, especially with where the USA seems to be currently headed.

35. Wounds of Honour – This is book 1 in a long series about the Roman military and unfortunately I just didn’t love the storytelling. I didn’t feel like the main character was relatable for me and he never felt real. Couldn’t connect and not going to read book 2.

36. Against All Gods – A fantastic book set in the Bronze age and pretty wild. This is one of my favorite authors and I really enjoyed it! I am looking forward to book 2.

37. Brothers of the Sword – I got to be an early reader for a historical fiction book that is fantastic, no other details for now but I really enjoyed it and someone needs to publish it!!!

38. 39. 40. I read the last 3 books (17, 18, and 19) of the Charlie Parker series, I love these and they are some of my all time favorite books. Book 20 is coming soon and I can’t wait for September :)

41. 42. 43. 44. 45. I read the 5 book series Poor Man’s Fight and really enjoyed it. It was just super fun, and I liked the main character. The premise is this is set in a world where large corporations control so much, and the story of one world breaking out of that system of economic slavery through the eyes of someone just graduating from school and joining the military.

July 2022

46. Beyond the Trees: A Journey Alone Across Canada’s Arctic – An amazing book about a guy traveling by canoe upriver across Canada. I loved this book. It sounds like so much fun… apart from the crazy bug stories.

Busy month; we got back to Portugal and have been very focused on work and getting in bike shape for a bike tour later this year.

August 2022

47. 48. Books 1 and 2 of the Covenant of Steel series by Anthony Ryan. Book 1 is The Pariah, and book 2 is The Martyr. I love the main character, and I am really enjoying this one. I can’t wait for the new book. Kinda like a dark Robin Hood that morphs into something much bigger.

49. 50. 51. 52. Books 1 through 4 of the Hraben Chronicles. The first book was super slow, but it paid off as you get a feel for the character. The main character is a bit of a rash fuck up and over time you kinda grow to love them. I am reading book 5 now and am curious about what happens. It reminds me of the character in Fool’s Assassin by Robin Hobb, as he doesn’t always win, nor does he even do a good job sometimes. Weirdly nice to read sometimes.

53. Peter Hessler is one of my favorite writers, and The Buried was amazing. He tells the story of Egypt and the recent revolution and aftermath. I lived on Zamalek for a year when I was younger, it was nice to go back to that location and dig in. Egypt is such a broken place, it is hard at times to read, but the stories he tells are amazing.

September 2022

54. The Coldest Case (Brune Chief of Police series). This is book 14 in a series I adore about a rural French policeman. Fantastic as always :).

55. A Forge of Frost by James C. Duncan. This is book 3 in an alternative history series set around 1118 AD. Fun stuff and I am curious where it goes :).

56. The Blacktongue Thief by Chrstiopher Buehlman. Fantastic fantasy, and I loved the main character, I am looking forward to book 2 in the series.

57. Drags and Demons, book 5 in the King’s Dark tidings. This series is great and just fun adventure reads. I love the characters and look forward to the next one.

58. I read book 1 in the Viking Blood and Blade series. It was very good, but the character just fell flat for me. I didn’t fall in love with them and will not read any further. Well written, though, and enjoyable.

October 2022

59. Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood – Awesome, amazing book. His stories are insane, and I want to know more. I want to hear the next chapter.

60. Warrior: The King in Rome by Simon Scarrow. I liked it, but I’ve read a lot about this character and it just didn’t have enough in book 1 for me to keep reading.

61. Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke – Book 1 was good, but super short and didn’t have much in it. There are 3 more books but there just wasn’t enough to hook me. I will watch the movie though.

62. Freedom by Sebastian Junger. Sebastian wrote War which is one of the best books I have ever read. This book is rather short and more a meditation on Freedom. Unlike Tribes I just didn’t find much here, although it was thought-provoking. It is causing me to reassess democracy and some of the aspects of the USA and other empires and their relationship with their subjects.

63. 64. The New Achilles & The Last Greek – Fantastic books by Christian Cameron. I didn’t love them as much as his others, but as historical fiction they were fantastic. I want to learn more about Philopeman, super interesting time period and figure.

65. 66. 67. 68. The Grimm’s War series which starts with Against All Odds. Fantastic sci fi military series that I really enjoyed. I am looking forward to book 5 which comes out in March 2023.

69. Hostage by Robert Crais. Ok as a thriller but the character was really flat for me. It wasn’t like Bosch and I never really cared about them. The story was just very basic IMO.

70. The Last Berserker by Angus Donald – This was well written and a subject I am fascinated by, but the characters just never grabbed me. I won’t be reading any of the sequels.

71. 72. 73. 74. The entire Tom Swan series by Christian Cameron, these were FANTASTIC and I can’t wait for more. These are some of the best books I read this year and so fun to read while biking through Italy (a lot take part in that area). I highly recommend all of these.

75. The Furies by John Connolly. This is book 20 in the Charlie Parker series but more two shorter stories. They were good as always but didn’t really move the overall narrative forward.

76. 77. 78. The Chronicles of the Invaders by John Connolly and Jennifer Ridyard is fantastic. I love John so this was an easy buy, and these were really fun books about an alien invasion and the subsequent intermingling. I give them a solid B+. Not enough to recommend to Lucas, but I enjoyed them immensely.

79. Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo. A good sequel, although I wish he caught me up on book 1 as it has been a while since I read this. Fantastic writing and I loved it. Supposdly this is going to be a show on Netflix but I bet they fuck it up.

80. Book 4 of the Bobiverse series is Heaven’s River and it is FANTASTIC. I love this series and this one was no different, some great sci fi and I am curious what comes next.

81. The Wolf and the Watchman: 1793 – One of the most disgusting books I’ve ever read, just horrific. It was well written, and the story pretty damn good. But, what a dark dark dark dark book. If you like horror and amputations and disgust this is for you.

82. To Kill a Troubadour is the latest Brunch Chief of Police books by Martin Walker. This is one of my favorite series and this book was fun as always. So well written and the main character is so lovely. I already ordered book 16.

83. Hawker and the King’s Jewel – This is book one in a series about the Wars of the Roses. It was well-written and I enjoyed it. That said I probably won’t read book 2 as it just didn’t click enough for me. The main character just didn’t resonate for me personally.

November

84. Blackout by Simon Scarrow – Fantastic thriller / detective story set in WW2 Berlin.

85. 86. 87. The first 3 books in the Rage of Lions series by Matt Barron. They are not perfect, but I really like them, and the main character. There are times I scream at them though. I am looking forward to book #4 which lands in January!

88. Nomad Capitalist by Andrew Henderson. I’ve followed his blog for years and wanted to see if I missed anything. I have not, the book was a good general overview but what I really wanted was to hear anonymous case studies, or even hypothetical to better understand practical global tax law.

89. War at the Edge of the World by Ian James Ross. This was a great read, as I love historical roman fiction. The character felt a bit flat at times, but the story was riveting. I might pick up book #2, but I am not sure as I usually want to be in love with the character before I do that.

90. Racing the Light by Robert Crais, this is book 19 in the Elvis Cole and Joe Pike series. Love it as always, I am so happy his lady is coming back. I love these characters.

91. Desert Star by Michael Connelly, book 5 in the Renee series. I cried at one point, it is going to be hard to say goodbye to Bosch. Fantastic story as always, one of my favorite authors.

92. Death to the Emperor by Simon Scarrow. This is book 21 in a long running historical fiction series with two characters I love. This one ends with a cliff hanger, and I can’t wait for the next one… soon please Simon :).

December

93. 94. 95. 96. I wanted to start with some Warhammer 40k books and I started with the Eisenhorn series. Fantastic series and I really enjoyed 1, 2, and 3. 4 was more a collection of short stories, and I wish it had been better connected with the rest. I hope there is more of a finishing arc for him in an upcoming book. Great stories and really cool world!

97. My Name Was Five – A really cool historical fiction that plays like a memoir by a young boy growing up in WW2 Berlin. Seeing it through his eyes was fascinating and it was hard to put down. Great book!

98. The Prisoner of Paradise – Great book, I am not a big split timeline person but this is well written and anyone who loves Da Vinci Code will love this.

99. 100. 101. Books 1, 2, and 3 of the Space Wolves series. This is also in the Warhammer 40k universe and quite fun adventure/beach books.