Summer Reading 2023

Continuing with the tradition I started last summer, I post my summer reading for 2023. These books cover roughly the time period between June 1, 2023, and August 31, 2023. If anybody wants to discuss these books with me, let me know.

As you can see, Deon Meyer remains a big theme, mainly because I am in southern African and I can easily find his books. He is a very good crime writer, who knows how to tell an absorbing story. I am getting close to reading him out (as I have done for other crime writers in the past). For some reason, I tend to get drawn to crime novels. 

I am trying to make sure that each batch of books I read contains at least one of the classics. This time I chose Hemingway, and I was not disappointed. Old Man is an intense psychological account of an old man's battle with a fish. It starts out a bit slow, but once he starts engaging with the fish, it is captivating.

The Frankl book was recommended by my wife. Half of it is about his memories of being in concentration camps during the Holocaust. It is very grisly and tough to read. It makes you wonder what kind of depths as humans we are able to sink to (whether there is any bottom limit). The other half is about his theory of psychology (logotherapy), in part inspired by his experiences during the Holocaust. I was not really interested in his theory (which is a bit like psychoanalysis), but I read it through because it was all in one book.

I put an (*) next to my favorites for the summer.

For background on my reading habits:

https://ordinaryworkinggrammarian.blogspot.com/2022/08/summer-reading-2022.html

1.(*)

Frankl, Viktor. 2006 (1946). Man's Search for Meaning. Beacon Press.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning

https://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl-ebook/dp/B009U9S6FI

2.(*)

Hemingway, Ernest. 2022 (1952). The Old Man in the Sea. Vintage Books, London.

3.

Haig, Matt. 2023. The Humans. Canongate Books.

4.(*)

Meyer, Deon. 2018. Fever. Hodder and Stoughton.

5.

Littlewood, Fran. 2023. Amazing Grace Adams. Penguin Random House.

6.

Meyer, Deon. 2011. Trackers. Hodder and Stoughton.

7.

Paolini, Christopher. 2023. Fractal Noise. Tor.

More of a psychological exploration than anything else. What happens to humans psychologically under extreme stress.

8.

Meyer, Deon. 2018. The Woman in the Blue Cloak. Hodder and Stoughton.

9.(*)

Bear, Greg. 1987. The Forge of God. Legend Books.

This is a very good sci-fi book. Curiously I had read it before (maybe decades ago). I did not realize that until I started rereading, and could remember some of the individual scenes. But I enjoyed rereading.