No Coincidences

Tag: Robert Galbraith

  • Books 2024

    Books 2024

    Since my 2023 list came out so late and I had a hard time remembering the books, I decided to get a jump start on 2024.

    Here is my list in order of favorite/most enjoyable reads of 2024 down to the least enjoyable yet still rewarding.

    1. Earth in the Beginning by Eric N. Skousen
      • The fact that I’ve given copies of this book to two people already should indicate that I enjoyed this book. My favorite books are those that expand my mind and make me think of something I’d never before considered. This book did that many times.
    2. Hugh Nibley’s semester two on the Book of Mormon
      • Speaking of “books” (this is more a lecture) that expand my mind, that is the perfect description of all things Hugh Nibley for me. Semester one was #7 in 2023’s list. I love getting a look into Hugh Nibley’s mind. If I could have dinner with one historical figure, Hugh Nibley might make my top 10 list.
    3. 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris
      • I’m currently reading this book again in 2025. Enough said.
    4. Lethal White by Robert Galbraith
      • I read this alongside the next book on this list. It was a rare time that I was reading two fictional books concurrently. As I thought back on reading this alongside The City, I realized there were ebbs and flows where I liked one above the other. The tie-breaker? J.K. Rowling (the greatest author of our generation, duh).
    5. The City by Dean Koontz
      • Reading one Dean Koontz book a year is the perfect amount. If you read too many they all start to blur together. This was a fantastic book with a surprisingly powerful message. Very much enjoyed it.
    6. Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity by Nabeel Qureshi
      • This book was recommended by a friend. It was the story of a man who converted from Islam to Christianity, a truly life threatening choice. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. One of my favorite topics is how people find faith in one way or another. This was an interesting story about this man’s journey through a shift in rethinking everything he thought he knew about the world.
    7. The Third Man Factor: Surviving the Impossible by John Geiger
      • This book was recommended by Beth. It includes true stories of people experiencing what has been called “The Third Man.” Beth thought I would enjoy it because of my love of all things spiritual and especially near-death experiences. She was right. I believe there is something real and misunderstood about this “third man” concept. Great read.
    8. #Positivity: You are always in the right place at the right time by Phil Helmuth
      • Another very short book. I took a lot from this book and quite enjoyed it. All about the power of positive thinking and making the most of your talents. Intriguing coming from one of the most successful poker players ever.
    9. Hugh Nibley’s semester three on the Book of Mormon
      • At this point in the “class” Hugh started to repeat a lot of themes and information, so I felt like I’d read some of it before and the new insights started to come much less often. It was still informative and I still loved reading his words.
    10. The Fall of Adam, the Atonement of Christ, and Organic Evolution by Reid E. Bankhead
      • There is a somewhat random process to my selection of books and the fact that this one came up right after the first book on this list was interesting to me. This was basically a short collection of quotes from church leaders about evolution.
    11. Revelations of the Restoration by Ostler and McConkie
      • This was the second straight year I started the year with a huge church history book (#13 from 2023). This one was longer but less dry than the previous year’s. This one was a little more palatable and easier to read.
    12. Hell House by Richard Matheson
      • It’s so hard to rate these books. How do you put Hell House amidst Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus, and Revelations of the Restoration? It felt strange putting it above those. It also felt strange putting it behind because this book was an extreme page turner. I had an incredibly hard time putting it down. I think I read it in a few days. It was perfectly spooky and scary without being too obscene. I really liked this book. First scary book I’ve read in a while and I’m glad I did.
    13. Anything you want by Derek Sivers
      • I was somewhat disappointed in this book. I’d heard so much about it so probably more an issue with expectations. Derek Sivers’s story was really interesting to me. He sold his company CD baby for a large amount of money. But the book wasn’t super memorable.
    14. The Lost Road and Other Writings (Book 5 Book of Lost Tales set) by Christopher Tolkien
      • A book can’t be rated too highly if I wasn’t too disappointed to be done with it. See #17 2022, #16 2022, #15 2023, and #17 2023 for more information on the series. That said, now that I’m done with these “Lost Tales” books, I do look forward to re-reading Lord of the Rings to see what more I pick up on, one day.
    15. The Works of Edgar Allen Poe Raven Edition
      • Edgar Allen Poe joins the ranks of The Outsiders (#13 2021) and Catcher in the Rye (#30 2021) – classics that I just don’t get. These short stories from Edgar Allen Poe were perplexing. Most of the time I didn’t understand what was happening. Maybe I’m not sophisticated enough.
  • Books in 2022

    Books in 2022

    It’s time for my annual list of books read last year. My 2022 list is down quite a bit due to some non-book reading and studying. I’ll rank the books from favorite to least favorite with a short description of what I remember about the book or what led to its ranking.

    Without further ado, here is my list of books from 2022:

    1. Marvelous Work and a Wonder
      • One of my favorite (and most important) books ever, so despite it being my third or fourth read, still has to top the list. This book lays out just how marvelous a work and a wonder the restoration of Christ’s gospel is.
    2. God Emperor of Dune (book 4)
      • This is the fourth book in the Dune series and comes ahead of Children of Dune and Dune Messiah.
    3. Children of Dune (book 3)
      • It’s hard to separate all these books, they blend into one in my mind, but I think God Emperor was my favorite after book 1, followed by Children of Dune. We’ll get to Dune Messiah later.
    4. 5000 Year Leap
      • This book was given to me by CJ Matthews and as you can see by its ranking, I highly enjoyed it. It resulted in a blog post which is a sign of a good book that made me think.
    5. Project Hail Mary
      • This was another recommended book, this one from John Safstrom. I loved this book, close call between this and the author’s other popular book turned feature film, The Martian starring Matt Damon.
    6. What a Difference a Daddy Makes
      • Yet another recommended book, thanks Mitch Waters who recommended this book after he heard my second daughter was coming. Must read for any girl dad.
    7. The Cuckoo’s Calling
      • J.K. Rowling is a modern marvel. I love her and her writing. While reading, knowing Robert Galbraith is a pseudonym, I couldn’t help but recognize her amazing writing style. This book was so good it made me continue on with the series and I’m currently on book 3, “Career of Evil.”
    8. Night Chills
      • Classic Dean Koontz, spooky and fast-paced. I recommended this to a friend along with a long Stephen King novel (Tommyknockers). The friend quit Tommyknockers and finished Night Chills.
    9. Dune Messiah (book 2)
      • This one drops a bit below the others because I think it was more of a transition book to keep the series going, at least that’s what Frank Herbert seems to have said about the book. It’s still ranked highly because the Dune series is so awesome and sometimes you need bridging books to make the next ones that much better.
    10. Eli’s Promise
      • Any book that makes me cry multiple times probably needs to be in the top ten. This book was a split between Holocaust and modern-day time lines, jumping around a bunch, which kept things interesting throughout.
    11. Herland
      • Classic book I never read in high school but when it was assigned reading for a class I took this year, I decided to actually read the whole book. Glad I did. Book is based around the idea of a women-only society.
    12. Ford County Stories
      • I really like John Grisham. This is a book of short stories focused around Ford County. You know an author is good when they take a topic you have zero interest in, like a small Mississippi town, and make you love it.
    13. Knees Over Toes
      • This book was tough to rank because it made huge changes to my daily habits and saved my Achilles, but can’t be rated higher as a book than the ones above it. Recommended to me by my brother Garrick.
    14. Simplified Husbandship Simplified Fathership
      • This was an impactful book overall but a notch below What a Difference a Daddy Makes (#6). Definitely made me think more seriously about being a father and husband.
    15. Silmarillion
      • I Enjoy the Lord of the Rings stuff, but the mythology can be a bit to keep up with sometimes. I really enjoyed the Silmarillion, but Lord of the Rings books in general are lower on my list due to their density. If I’m reading a fantasy fiction, I like to spend less time trying to understand geography.
    16. Book of Lost Tales Vol 2
      • See notes on Silmarillion, this one is more dense than the Silmarillion since the Silmarillion is like a mythological overview, which made it more enjoyable to me.
    17. The Book of Lost Tales Vol 1
      • The Books of Lost Tales are going way back in the Lord of the Rings mythology, farther than JRR Tolkien ever got published. They’re his son compiling his notes and other works to put together more stories. I enjoy them, but again, very dense and a lot of geography to try to understand sometimes.
    18. A Guide to Tolkien
      • This was basically an encyclopedia of Tolkien. Someday I’ll read the actual encyclopedia.
    19. Just to Illustrate
      • This was a collection of sayings from LeGrand Richards, thus the saying “Just to illustrate,” which apparently was something he was known for saying. Very much enjoyed this book. Though it’s low on the list, LeGrand is one of my favorite people ever.
    20. Faith in the Service
      • This book was all about members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that served in the military. As I review this list I realize I didn’t read many bad books this year. I really enjoyed this book, and it still falls near the bottom for the year.
    21. Mormon Reflections: The Path to Mountain Meadows
      • This was a fictional account of what could have led to the horrific events of the Mountain Meadows massacre. Made me think about things. Made me wonder what events could have led to people doing something so heinous.
    22. Joshua Man of Faith
      • This is from a series of books that details the ancient prophets. I read the Moses (# 24) one last year. I didn’t like this one as much as the Moses one. It’s hard to compete with Moses.
    23. Profiles of the Presidents
      • This was a biographical book of all the Presidents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
    24. True to the Faith
      • Almost feels wrong having this so low, but it is essentially a textbook. A textbook on faith, but still a textbook. Weird having a book so low that I feel I should read at least once a year.
    25. What Da Vinci Didn’t Know
      • A book being this low basically means it didn’t stand out to me. I think this book was basically trying to get in on the Da Vinci Code movie hype. I don’t remember learning anything super interesting from this book besides that Leonardo da Vinci was “Leonardo from Vinci.”
    26. 40 Years and Marching On
      • Despite probably liking this book more than What Da Vinci Didn’t Know, I couldn’t for the life of me remember anything about the book until I found it on my shelf. A book that un-memorable gets demoted. It was a BYU studies book that was interesting but still bottom of the list for the year due to being forgotten.

    Additional reading:

    1. Book of Mormon
    2. Doctrine & Covenants
      • Finished Doctrine and Covenants sections 133-Official Declarations. Read alongside two student manuals.
    3. New Testament
      • Book of Matthew and started Book of Mark, reading alongside New Testament Student Manual.
    4. Come Follow Me lesson each week
    5. Did a semester of school and completed 15 credits.
      • Most memorable reading was Nietzche.

    Couldn’t pick my favorite for the cover photo, so keeping with tradition from last year: