The Books I Read in 2022

I had high expectations for this. I loved the midnight library and the plot intrigued me very much. It has strong Highlander vibes, a movie I loved as a kid.

And yet, I couldn’t connect with the book. The story is fascinating, the writing is good but there’s genuinely nothing going on. Time moves forward but the story seems stuck. I hoped for a great ending but that also didn’t happen.

I read this book as research for a writing project (now stalled by another writing project 🙃).

The writing was really boring to me and I struggled to finish it. The content is very interesting though.

The fourth book (out of six) in the Old man’s war saga. One of my favourite sci-fi sagas ever. I’m sure I will reread all of it soon enough.

Moreover, John Scalzi is one of my favourite writers in general. His writing style is very engaging and entertaining.

Despite all this I waited a while before reading the second part of the saga. Somehow I didn’t find the premise of “Zoe’s Tale” intriguing. It tells a story you already know through the eyes of a teen.

I was wrong! I loved the book. Zoe’s voice is believable (I’m a man though… so take that with a grain of salt) and the new angle on the story is refreshing. It does indeed answer some questions I didn’t know I wanted answers for. Highly recommended.

Average John Scalzi book: extremely entertaining, highly recommended.

Read the whole saga!

One of the strangest book I have ever read.

I hated the writing style and really struggled to finish it. It felt like I was reading the first draft of a masterpiece. Infuriating.

On the other hand, I loved some ideas and a few scenes from the book stayed with me for months. So, mixed feelings… I guess?

The most important book I read in 2022, hands down. As soon as I finished, I started to recommend it to everyone I know.

It’s well written and makes a compelling argument to “solve” climate change with the same capitalistic tools that got us here.

What I think about the plan would need its own article so I spare you that. Do read it though. Also, get a physical copy of this book. It’s really beautiful.

I’m very interested in Kafka so it’s only natural I read “all the Kafka books”.

I had bought this one long before it was published. In fact, when I got it I had forgot about it completely :)

It’s a good book and it will teach you the basics of Kafka. I remember finding the examples in the book a little annoying but nothing major.

If I had to recommend only one book to get started with Kafka, it wouldn’t be this one though. If you’re looking for THE book, you want to read “Kafka: the definitive guide”.

When I’m learning a new language, the first thing I do is reading a book about it. So when I started researching Kotlin I was very pleased to find this book. I loved “Thinking in Java” back at Uni. Bruce Eckel knows how to write.

The book did not disappoint. Very good writing, thoughtful examples. Recommended.

It is a little painful to say I didn’t love this book. I look up to Camille Fourier. I read many of her blog posts while furiously nodding.

Maybe the problem is that my expectations were too high. Also, I think I had the wrong expectations: I though I’d find more useful information to me personally.

Having said all of this, I think you should read it if you care about engineering management. It’s well written. It’s a solid book.

I confess I went into this book very sceptical about it. Pragmatic programmers books give a tech bro vibe I’m not really fond of anymore. The title of this book is in line with that vibe.

So I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the writing and the actionable advice. A great first engineering management book. It reads like a guide so it’s perfect for people that have no experience with the job.

Julie Zhuo is an incredible writer. If you’re not subscribed to her newsletter, you’re missing out on great content.

Since I know what an amazing writer Zhuo is, I’m not surprised I loved her book.

It’s a personal take on engineering management and reads more like a novel than a technical book (I mean this as a strong compliment).

Zhuo’s writing is elegant, the stories she tells are engaging. I hope she writes more books.

Highly recommended.

If I hadn’t known upfront what this book was about, I’m sure I’d never read it. What I’m trying to say is that the title is a little off.

It’s more abut streaming platforms than “microservices”. It’s a good overview of the subject and it’s well written.

To me, it’s a “read if you care about the subject” kind of book.

I’ve always found alternate history sci-fi to be an intriguing sub-genre but, for no reason in particular, I read very little of it. Not sure why. Anyway.

The “Lady astronaut Universe” series (three books so far, a fourth on the way) is set into an alternate history where, in 1952, a huge meteorite destroys much of the east coast of the United States. The event speeds up the race to space.

I loved the whole series. I binge-read all of them in the span of two weeks. I grew very fond of Elma York (main character in the first two books) and Nicole Wargin (main character in the third one).

I genuinely can’t wait for the next book in the series.

Nnedi Okorafor is such a spectacular writer. This book doesn’t read like a novel to me. It’s poetry. The words don’t just bring the story forward. There’s a beauty to her writing that is hard to explain.

I often find myself thinking about Onyesonwu, the main character, months after I read it.

Incredible read.

Cixin Liu is my favourite sci-fi writer. His imagination is immense, he finds new ways to surprises me all time. The remembrance of earth’s past is by a significant margin the most profound sci-fi saga I have ever read.

This book is on par with the rest of his writing. The story is about the evolution and coexistence of two intelligent species (yes… ants and dinosaurs) at the same time. Liu imagination is on fire in this book. The implications, the allegoric meaning of the plot. Incredible writing.

I loved this book. The journey Adunni goes through is as hard as it’s unforgettable.

The writing is as good as it gets. The story is though. Adunni wants to study, she wants to find her “louding voice” and she has to get past immense obstacles to get something so many of us give for granted.

I read this book months ago but the whole story is vivid in my head as I read it yesterday. A masterpiece.

First book in the “Commonwealth saga”.

British author Peter Hamilton has the most incredible writing style I have ever come across:

• The amount of detail in each “scene” he narrates is astonishing.
• He drives the plot forward with many concurrent storylines involving some 50 people or so.

I say scene because the best way I can describe his writing style is: “you’re literally reading a movie”. That’s how detailed his writing is.

If it’d be only technique though, I think I’d lose interest (the book is very long and I’m sure it lost some readers along the way). But the story itself is as good as the writing is.

Space opera at its best.

Difficult subject so I appreciate the effort of trying to write about “how to design software”.

The book is interesting and worth reading if you’re a programmer.

Second, and last, book of the “Commonwealth saga”. It’s as good as the first one. Incredible journey.

Be aware: the series seems short because it’s just two books but they’re more than 1k pages each so it’s more a 7 book series. Worth the time investment if you ask me.

I’m not entirely sure how much this book should be considered part of “the forever war saga”. To be honest I don’t care. I loved the story.

It would be a perfect “action sci-fi” movie. But I’d have to do the casting :)

Another 1k pages book by Peter Hamilton. Same incredible writing technique as the “commonwealth” saga and a few themes in common. I think some people may consider this a downside but I don’t because both the writing and the themes developed in Hamilton’s books are very good.

Bonus point for me: it’s a murder mystery and the plot is developed perfectly.

Blake Crouch doesn’t know how to write bad books. As his previous books (recursion and dark matter), this is an absolute page-turner. In the best sense possible: I just couldn’t put it down. I may have read it in a day or two.

The ending is really profound. I find myself thinking about it often since I finished it.

They say “don’t judge a book by its cover” but I’m pretty sure I bought this one because I liked the cover (and the blue cloth covering!).

I found the story a little slow at times but overall I’m very happy I picked it up. Sophie is a fantastic main character. The author has an incredible imagination. It’s hard not to be fascinated by the world she created.

This book embarrassed me.

And with that I mean people gave me strange looks in the bus while I was reading it. I could not stop laughing out loud!

The story is so hilarious I can’t wait to forget more of it so that I can read it again.

Scalzi never misses.

Engaging book but also felt a little long. I still consider it an amazing book because of its conclusion. It took me by surprise and made me smile. Lovely.

Also, it gave so much meaning to its title.

I had tried to read this book once already a couple of years ago but didn’t finish it then. I decided to give it another try and I’m happy I read it.

I have not integrated the technique described into my reading yet but, to be fair, I’m reading mostly fiction at the moment and the whole “how to take notes” idea is more apt for research.

I plan to buy a physical copy in a few months and use it as a playground for “how to take smart notes”. Yeah, it’s too meta, I agree.

Engaging writing which is not a given for science related books.

It’s quite short so it’s packed with interesting information. I want to re-read soon-ish so I can take “smart notes” about it.

A few people recommended me this book over the past few years so it was only a matter of time before I found the right moment to read it.

Quite glad I did so. It’s a great book despite the writing isn’t always as good. Trevor Noah’s life experiences are too interesting and his perspective often surprised me.

I’m not a big fun of books where you have to build something along with the author. Nothing intrinsically wrong with the approach though, just a personal preference.

Having said that, I liked the book despite it was heavy on this idea of building something together with the reader.

The topics covered are intriguing, the order in which they are presented is very thoughtful.

Most painful read of 2022. I read it in anticipation of the TV series that came out in October.

I enjoyed the TV series very much. I really, and I can’t stress really enough, hated the book.

The ideas are quite profound but the writing style ruined everything for me. Most chapters go on for pages before the author reveals the name of the person is talking about. I really don’t get this approach.

First book of the “Teixcalaan duology”.

I loved everything about this book. The ideas, the characters, the writing, the plot.

Arkady Martine is an incredible writer and I can’t wait to read more from her.

If you’re a programmer, chances are you toyed with the idea of building your own language. Even just to understand how they work. It turns out they’re “just” computer programs. Some bits are easier than you think, others no so much.

Bob Nystrom did an incredible job at guiding you through building a programming language from scratch. He did it twice in the same book: first with Java and then with C so you can really grok the difference between an interpreted language and a bytecode, compiled one.

Together with “designing data intensive applications” and “programming pearls”, the best technical book I have ever read.

Second book in the “Teixcalaan duology”.

I didn’t think I would like it as much as the first one. I was like “nah, the first one is a masterpiece. No chance this one is as good”.

I was wrong. Arkady Martine is way too good.

My first Iain M. Banks book.

It took me a bit to get used to the writing style but then I got completely lost into this universe of parallel worlds. Profoundly interesting story.

It would make an amazing 10-episode “TV mini series”. But, hey, can I do the casting?

A few weeks ago, I updated one of my favourite writings also called On writing. When I shared the updated version, plaindocs recommended this. A definitive sign I should read my first Stephen King book, right?

Very glad I did so. The best book on writing I have ever read. By far.

I’m just now realising I read two books in a row starting with the same word and I wonder if that ever happened before 🤔

Anyway, this wasn’t a planned read but I went from checking it out to reading it without really realising. A good sign.

I liked it. Especially because it gave names to concepts I run into over the course of my career. Definitely worth a read if you’re a programmer.

A magnificent book on engineering management. In terms of quality of ideas, the best I read about the topic. The writing is good, a little fun too which doesn’t hurt.

Highly recommended if you’re an engineering manager or aspire to be one.

I really want to say I loved this book but can’t. I had very high expectations and that may have played a role. But c’mon, a sci-fi murder mystery written by Mary Robinette Kowal? Also, there’s a dog? I couldn’t be more excited.

Not trying to say it’s a bad book. It’s not. But I missed the suspense, the pace, the intricacies I expect from a murder mystery.