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<ul>
<li>
Hammett, Dashiell. <em>The Maltese Falcon</em>
<p>
Excellent noir detective novel. Stolen treasure, murder, dames, all
the good stuff.
</p>
</li>
<li>
Chandler, Raymond. <em>The Big Sleep</em>
<p>
More good noir detective work. Cool cars, alcohol, mansions, hit
men, also dames. Yet more good stuff.
</p>
</li>
<li>
Lowry, Lois. <em>The Giver</em>
<p>
Second time I got to read this. Fantastic book just the same as
before. Movie was totally carried by the fact that Jeff Bridges is
the Giver. Super thought-provoking too.
</p>
</li>
<li>
Rowling, J.K.
<em>Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber
of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter
and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows</em>
<p>
Yep, all of them. I've read some of them multiple times but this was
the first time I read them all to completion myself. My dad used to
read them to me, so I only "listened" to the last couple. Always
great, always better than the movies. And I pick up more and more
forward- and backward-looking references when I read them in a row.
</p>
</li>
<li>
Miller, Rand, Miller, Robyn, Miller, David.
<em>Myst: The Book of Atrus, Myst: The Book of Ti'ana</em>
<p>
The great first two books in the Myst novel series. My favorite is
the second, it gives all of the meat-and-potatoes lore behind the
D'ni, The Art, and The Fall that I always wanted. The first is good
too, and I recommend book-and-game nerds read
<em>Myst: The Book of Atrus</em> after playing Myst: Masterpiece
Edition and before playing Riven: The Sequel to Myst.
</p>
</li>
<li>
Miller, Rand. <em>Myst: The Book of D'ni</em>
<p>
Probably my least favorite of the three Myst novels. It's
fascinating and has lots of dark themes like enslavement. I
recommend reading this one after Riven and before Myst III: Exile.
</p>
</li>
<li>
Paulsen, Gary. <em>Hatchet</em>
<p>
The last time I read this was probably in the sixth grade, and it
was one of the few books I was really glued to then. It's still a
great story about survival, nature, getting mauled by moose, etc.
</p>
</li>
<li>
Grisham, John. <em>Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer</em>
<p>
Also a re-read for me. I kind of sort of wanted to be a lawyer
growing up and this book was the "I can do it too!" book. It's still
a good crime, evidence, trial style lawyer book. I need to read the
sequels.
</p>
</li>
<li>
Wells, H.G.
<em>The Time Machine, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Invisible Man</em>
<p>
These are three of my favorite H.G. Wells novels.
<em>The Time Machine</em> is super weird though and now that I'm
re-reading it I'm picking up on a ton of Communist undertones.
<em>Dr. Moreau</em> is fantastic. I love all books that take place
on a desert island and this one really creeps me out with the
doctor's surgically-humanized animals. <em>Invisible Man</em> is so
short it's worth reading on a weekend just to know what it's about
(spoiler: a man who is invisible).
</p>
</li>
<li>
Stevenson, Robert Louis. <em>Treasure Island</em>
<p>
Dude, I watched Treasure Planet when I was a kid and I was really
into it for like a month. Now I finally got to read the real thing
and there's a reason why this is one of those perfect examples of
literature. It's the
<em>absolute perfect, truly American story</em>
about pirates, treasure, and sailing ships.
</p>
</li>
<li>
Dick, Harold G.
<em>The Golden Age of the Great Passenger Airships: Graf Zeppelin and
Hindenburg</em>
<p>
I'm a huge rigid airship junkie. They're freaking awesome, I wish
they were still around. I hate flying, and not because of the act of
being in the air but because airships make it seem more comfortable,
luxurious, and adventurous than a half a bag of peanuts, motion
sickness, and recycled oxygen. If you're at all interested in
Zeppelins and you can only read one book, this is the
<em>only</em> book worth reading. It chronicles the author's
experiences actually flying on and operating Graf Zeppelin and
Hindenburg, their flight logs, how they worked, how they were flown,
and the history behind their creation and demise. It's awesome.
</p>
</li>
<li>
Brown, Dan. <em>Digital Fortress</em>
<p>
Great story, I actually listened to this audiobook while painting
our house right around the start of 2020. It's an awesome story with
an intelligent, sleuthy programmer and her globe-trotting professor
significant other tracking down clues. It's got supercomputers and
hackers and espionage and murder and viruses and it would be perfect
if I knew nothing about cryptography or computing in general.
</p>
</li>
</ul>
