Rob R-S

I read some books in August!

• 🎧 Thru-Hiking Will Break Your Heart An Adventure on the Pacific Crest Trail by Carrot Quinn
• 🎧 Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk (2nd read)
• 🎧 Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer (4th read)
• 🎧 Missoula Rape and the Justice System in a College Town by Jon Krakauer
• 🎧 Walking Thru A Couple’s Adventure on the Pacific Crest Trail by Michael Tyler
• 🎧 Grandma Gatewood's Walk The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail by Ben Montgomery
• 🎧 The Way of the Hermit My Incredible 40 Years Living in the Wilderness by Ken Smith, Will Millard
• 🎧📚 Wild From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed (5th read)
• 🎧 In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

I read some books in July!

• 🎧 North Finding My Way While Running the Appalachian Trail by Scott Jurek, Jenny Jurek (2nd read)
• 🎧 127 Hours Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston
• 🎧 In My Boots A Memoir of Five Million Steps Along the Appalachian Trail by Amanda K. Jaros
• 🎧 Journeys North The Pacific Crest Trail by Barney Scout Mann
• 🎧 Free Outside A Trek Against Time and Distance by Jeff Garmire
• 🎧 2,000 Miles Together The Story of the Largest Family to Hike the Appalachian Trail by Ben Crawford
• 📚 Uphill Both Ways Hiking toward Happiness on the Colorado Trail by Andrea Lani
• 🎧 Only When I Step on It One Man's Inspiring Journey to Hike the Appalachian Trail Alone by Peter E. Conti
• 🎧 Five Million Steps Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail After Three Decades of Service to Our Nation by Jason France
• 🎧 Running with Sherman The Donkey with the Heart of a Hero by Christopher McDougall
• 🎧 Divided A Walk on the Continental Divide Trail by Brian Cornell
• 🎧 A Walk for Sunshine A 2,160-Mile Expedition for Charity on the Appalachian Trail by Jeff Alt
• 🎧 The Trail Provides A Boy's Memoir of Thru-Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail by David Smart

I read some books in June!

• 🎧 One Step at a Time A Married Couple's Journey on the Appalachian Trail by Kevin Ravas
• 🎧📚 The Broom of the System A Novel by David Foster Wallace (2nd read)
• 💿 1776 by David McCullough
• 🎧 A Fabulous Thru-Hike 3,100 Miles on the Continental Divide Trail by Derick Lugo
• 💿 Margo's Got Money Troubles A Novel by Rufi Thorpe
• 🎧 AWOL on the Appalachian Trail by David Miller
• 🎧 The Pursuit of Endurance Harnessing the Record-Breaking Power of Strength and Resilience by Jennifer Pharr Davis

I read some books in May! I may have gone down a bit of a rabbit hole with the hiking books…

• 🎧 Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
• 🎧 To Shake the Sleeping Self A Journey from Oregon to Patagonia, and a Quest for a Life with No Regret by Jedidiah Jenkins
• 🎧 The Anthropocene Reviewed Essays on a Human-Centered Planet by John Green
• 🎧 Going to Maine All the Ways to Fall on the Appalachian Trail by Sally Chaffin Brooks
• 🎧 Hiking Through One Man's Journey to Peace and Freedom on the Appalachian Trail by Paul Stutzman
• 🎧 Mud, Rocks, Blazes Letting Go on the Appalachian Trail by Heather Anderson (2nd read)
• 🎧 Thirst 2600 Miles to Home by Heather Anderson (2nd read)
• 🎧 Pack Light A Journey to Find Myself by Shilletha Curtis
• 🎧 Bliss(ters) How I walked from Mexico to Canada One Summer by Gail M. Francis
• 🎧 Becoming Odyssa Adventures on the Appalachian Trail by Jennifer Pharr Davis (2nd read)
• 🎧 The Unlikely Thru-Hiker An Appalachian Trail Journey by Derick Lugo
• 🎧 Girl in the Woods A Memoir by Aspen Matis

I read some books in April!

• 🎧 Get It Done How to Complete Your Dream Project by Gretchen Rubin
• 🎧 Everything and More A Compact History of Infinity by David Foster Wallace (2nd read)
• 🎧 Uncluttered Faith Own Less, Love More, and Make an Impact in Your World by Joshua Becker
• 🎧 Love People, Use Things Because the Opposite Never Works by Joshua Fields Millburn, Ryan Nicodemus (3rd read)
• 🎧 Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart A Buddhist Perspective on Wholeness by Mark Epstein
• 🎧📚 Looking for Alaska by John Green
• 🎧 Going Infinite The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon by Michael Lewis
• 🎧 What We Owe the Future by William MacAskill (3rd read)
• 🎧 Vineland by Thomas Pynchon
• 🎧 Altered Traits Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body by Daniel Goleman, Richard Davidson
• 🎧 Easy Money Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud by Ben McKenzie, Jacob Silverman
• 🎧📚 The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi
• 🎧 Oblivion Stories by David Foster Wallace
• 🎧 The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon

I read some books in March!

• 🎧 "1929" Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History–and How It Shattered a Nation by Andrew Ross Sorkin
• 🎧 Mercury Rising John Glenn, John Kennedy, and the New Battleground of the Cold War by Jeff Shesol
• 🎧📚 Three Years a Traveler One Woman, One Dog, Seven RVs, and the Path Less Traveled to Heal the Heart by Leslie White
• 🎧📚 Apple – The First 50 Years by David Pogue
• 🎧 A World Appears A Journey into Consciousness by Michael Pollan
• 🎧 Even You Can Meditate Find the Time, the Motivation, and the Right Practice for You by Dan Harris, Sebene Selassie
• 🎧 10% Happier How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works by Dan Harris (2nd time)
• 🎧 How to Be Perfect The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Michael Schur (3rd time)
• 🎧📚 Permission to Feel The Power of Emotional Intelligence to Achieve Well-Being and Success by Marc Brackett

I read some books in February!

• 🎧 Sure, I'll Join Your Cult A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere by Maria Bamford
• 🎧 Money The True Story of a Made-Up Thing by Jacob Goldstein
• 🎧 Good Omens The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett
• 🎧 Mickey7 A Novel by Edward Ashton
• 🎧📚 A Walk in the Woods Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson
• 💿 Vagabond A Memoir by Tim Curry
• 🎧 Glorious Exploits A Novel by Ferdia Lennon
• 🎧 Pathfinders Extraordinary Stories of People Like You on the Quest for Financial Independence—and How to Join Them by JL Collins
• 🎧 Everything Is Tuberculosis The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green
• 🎧 The Swedish Art of Aging Exuberantly Life Wisdom from Someone Who Will (Probably) Die Before You by Margareta Magnusson
• 🎧 The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
• 🎧📚 The Simple Path to Wealth Your Road Map to Financial Independence and a Rich, Free Life by JL Collins

I read some books in January!

• 🎧 The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
• 🎧 The Canceling of the American Mind Cancel Culture Undermines Trust, Destroys Institutions, and Threatens Us All—But There Is a Solution by Greg Lukianoff, Rikki Schlott
• 🎧 The Algebra of Wealth A Simple Formula for Financial Security by Scott Galloway
• 💿 As You Wish Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes, Joe Layden
• 🎧 The Princess Bride (Abridged) by William Goldman
• 🎧 Who Is Government? The Untold Story of Public Service by Michael Lewis
• 🎧 The Elfstones of Shannara The Shannara Series, Book 2 by Terry Brooks
• 🎧 A Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever The Story of Spinal Tap by Rob Reiner, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer
• 🎧 The Way Out A True Story of Survival in the Heart of the Rockies by Devon O'Neil
• 📚 The Princess Bride (Unabridged) by William Goldman
• 💿 Misery by Stephen King

I read some books in December!

• 💿 The Shining by Stephen King
• 🎧 The Big Short Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis
• 🎧 Moneyball The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis
• 🎧📚 Chernobyl 01:23:40 The Incredible True Story of the World's Worst Nuclear Disaster by Andrew Leatherbarrow
• 🎧 Liar's Poker Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street by Michael Lewis
• 🎧 Flash Boys A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis
• 💿 The Secret History of Christmas by Bill Bryson
• 🎧📚 The Coddling of the American Mind How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure by Jonathan Haidt, Greg Lukianoff
• 🎧 The Dog Sitter Detective's Christmas Tail Dog Sitter Detective, Book 4 by Antony Johnston
• 🎧 The Sword of Shannara The Shannara Series, Book 1 by Terry Brooks

I read some books in October!

• 🎧 This Is for Everyone The Unfinished Story of the World Wide Web by Tim Berners-Lee
• 🎧 A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius A Memoir Based on a True Story by Dave Eggers
• 🎧 Amusing Ourselves to Death Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman
• 🎧 Hell Yeah or No What’s Worth Doing by Derek Sivers
• 🎧 This Is Water Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life by David Foster Wallace
• 🎧 Anything You Want 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur by Derek Sivers
• 🎧 Your Music and People Creative and Considerate Fame by Derek Sivers
• 🎧 How to Live 27 Conflicting Answers and One Weird Conclusion by Derek Sivers
• 🎧 Useful Not True by Derek Sivers
• 🎧📚 Mr. & Mrs. American Pie by Juliet McDaniel
• 🎧 Heartwood A Novel by Amity Gauge
• 🎧 The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
• 🎧 This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Seems like a lot, but half of these were really short.

I read some books in September!

• 🎧 Odyssey The Greek Myths Reimagined by Stephen Fry
• 🎧 10 Rules for Raising Kids in a High-Tech World How Parents Can Stop Smartphones, Social Media, and Gaming from Taking Over Their Children’s Lives by Jean Twenge
• 🎧 Nowhere for Very Long The Unexpected Road to an Unconventional Life by Brianna Madia
• 🎧 Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky
• 📚 Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
• 🎧 The Circle by Dave Eggers
• 🎧 The Every by Dave Eggers
• 🎧 Ghost Work How to Stop Silicon Valley from Building a New Global Underclass by Mary L. Gray, Siddharth Suri

I finally finished reading Infinite Jest in non-audio form. I started it last December, though I did take a few breaks to read other non-audiobooks between then and now. Plus I only ever read it in 10-20 minute chunks right before bed. Plus I took the time to highlight 1,699 passages in the process. This is by far the hardest, yet most rewarding, book I’ve ever read. The audiobook is much more approachable, an absolute masterpiece. I’ve never enjoyed any book as much as I enjoy this one. It’s smart, funny, and weird as hell.

Here’s a random representative sample of snippets that make me grin:

it is often more fun to want something than to have it.

My dad used to bowl, too, when he still had a thumb.

tastes like skim with a brown crayon melted into it.

his handbag, which failed to complement his shoes.

it is possible to learn valuable things from a stupid person.

secloistered

I am kilometers ahead of you.

logical validity is not a guarantee of truth.

My father was whispering to himself in brief expletive phrases

The string of mucus from Kevin’s nose trembles and swings.

‘The son described his father as quote “genre-dysphoric.”

Gately lay there, overhanging all four sides of his bunk,

He said ‘Fuck it’ again, and I remember not being clear about what he was referring to.

DeLint described winter sports as practically getting down on one knee and begging for an injury.

his weekend binges with the glass pipe caused them no end of Financial Insecurity, which he mispronounces.

A direct assault upon the Academy of Tennis itself was impossible.

I’d heard the term projectile vomiting but I never thought that I—you could aim, the pressure was such that you could aim.

their classes are usually fascinating the way plane-crash footage is fascinating.

He killed himself less than ninety days later. Fewer than ninety days?

no single, individual moment is in and of itself unendurable.

I read some books in August!

• 🎧 Isles of the Emberdark A Cosmere Novel by Brandon Sanderson
• 🎧 Mythos The Greek Myths Reimagined by Stephen Fry
• 🎧 Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
• 🎧 Heroes The Greek Myths Reimagined by Stephen Fry
• 🎧 Troy The Greek Myths Reimagined by Stephen Fry

I read some books in July!

• 🎧 Apple in China The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company by Patrick McGee
• 🎧 Everything and More A Compact History of Infinity by David Foster Wallace
• 🎧 Fahrenheit-182 A Memoir by Mark Hoppus, Dan Ozzi
• 🎧 README.txt A Memoir by Chelsea Manning
• 🎧 The Lives of the Caesars Translated by Tom Holland by Suetonius

I read some books in June!

• 🎧 Six Days of the Condor by James Grady
• 🎧 One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• 🎧 Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
• 🎧 Things Become Other Things by Craig Mod
• 🎧 No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
• 🎧 The Road by Cormac McCarthy
• 🎧 All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
• 🎧 The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy
• 🎧 Cities of the Plain by Cormac McCarthy
• 🎧 Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins