Note: I wrote this rambling list of thoughts as a precursor to the book review/reports that I am now writing. This is a place of remembrance, where I attempted to write down what I could still recall from my memory.

For my more complete thoughts on books I have read, see the Recensio Libri category. That is where I keep my book reviews.

Here are 46 notable peaks from my journey through a literary mountain range, along with some memories and thoughts. Looking back at the time I spent from 2011 to now one item that I wish I had is a log of the nearly 150 books I read, when I read them, and what I thought of them.  From my Audible app. I know how much time I have spent: 3 months 13 days.  This doesn’t include when I used the iOS iBooks application, which didn’t track my time listened prior to 2014.  Over that time I have accrued fond and sobering memories that changed my life.  My hope moving forward is that I will be writing a summary of my thoughts, a review, or book report after I finish the books I read or listen to.

A Tale of Two Cities & Great Expectations, 1859
By: Charles Dickens
Winter 2012. Although the details have faded, the impression left upon me by this book places it at the top of Dickens’ canon.  I also recall that I happened to listen to the climax of Tale of Two Cities on Dickens’ 200th birthday.

The Emperor of All Maladies, 2011
By: Siddhartha Mukherjee
The Summer of 2012 (estimated).  I had just entered the world of medical devices and oncology was new to me specifically ocular oncology.  I might be only working the medical equipment, but I wanted to understand what the patients and doctors were going through.  (This book was about the “Biography of Cancer” not just on ocular oncology, which is briefly mentioned.)  One memory I have from this book is taking about 5 minutes to listen to one 45 second section while I was driving on 394 between 100 and 94.  Mukherjee was using a lot of statistics and I was repeatedly interrupted when he gave them.  I learned that driving, listening and trying to comprehend technical detail don’t go too well together.  I simply focused on what was most important: driving. I then found that I had completely missed the interesting details in the book…time to skip back and listen…again.

Little Dorrit, 1856
By: Charles Dickens
Summer 2012 estimated.  Fond memories of this book.  I read it again in 2014.  I would say that I don’t expect that this would be considered easy reading by many people.  I found joy in what I viewed as simplicity and surprised by the hidden depths it contained. She is my second favorite heroine.

The Woman in White, 1859
By: Wilkie Collins
Fall 2012 estimated.  A mystery drama without too much suspense by today’s standards, which made it just perfect for me.

The Call of the Wild, 1903
By: Jack London
Winter 2012-2013 estimated.  I listened to this book while cross country skiing on Cedar Lake Minneapolis before the trails had been groomed.  It brought me just that much nearer to Buck as he was leading the sled dog team down the Yukon trail to Dawson. I had listened to this book many times as a child and found that it only got better the more I listened.
Get the version read by Frank Muller.

The Count of Monte Cristo, 1844
By: Alexandre Dumas
Translator Unknown
Winter/Spring 2013 estimated.  A monumental work.  I know the main plot line of this book was revenge, but in the end, the final thoughts I was left with was that it is possible to be redeemed.  Such a beautiful ending.

The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes, 1887-1927
By: Arthur Conan Doyle
Spring 2013-Summer 2015 estimated.  I began listening to this series between the large books that I was consuming, to break things up a bit.  Great short stories, and novellas.  

Moby-Dick, 1851
By: Herman Melville
Summer 2013 Estimated.  Having read and been familiar with the caricatures of Dickens and Victorian England, I found this look at America a study in contrast.  It gave me a perspective of the world that was early to mid-1800s in the United States. The impression left on me from chapter 40 (I think that’s the chapter) is one I have today. Let me preface this by saying that you can enjoy the chapter for the view it provides into the way taxonomy of Cetacea was understood in the 1850s. You can skip chapter 40 the whale taxonomy is all off.  It may have been a helpful chapter at the time but please don’t use it as a reference in your research paper.  It is an exercise in patience rather than an enjoyable interlude.

Seven Pillars of Wisdom, 1926
By: T. E. Lawrence
Summer 2013 Estimated.  Oh, the things we associate with some books. I remember listening to this one while up on scaffolding painting the side of the house.  There is a caveat I will mention before going on. This is an Englishman with Victorian heritage contemplating events he took part in. The view he provides is skewed but still helpful. I found it gave me perspective on otherworldly people and places in the middle east during The Great War.  I spent a lot of time reading Wikipedia articles to bring commentary and Google maps looking at routes and places.  While I was listening, the Arab Spring movements were ongoing, some had already drawn to a close, others were still going strong. It helped reading A Thousand Splendid Suns to bring a different perspective on what it is like in that world.

Lorna Doone, 1869
By: R. D. Blackmore
Summer-Fall 2013 Estimated.  A romance that I never saw coming.  The only other book that I can classify like this was Freckles 1904 by Gene Stratton-Porter.  Romance is not something I typically choose to enjoy, but in this case, I fell in love with this book.  A work of historical Fiction set in the beautiful southwest of England.  One thing I struggled with was getting used to the words he uses. This is because Blackmore uses phonetic pronunciation native to Summerset and Devonshire. After acclimating the colloquial became quite endearing. I appreciate that its namesake is still sold in stores today.  There is nothing like eating some Lorna Doone cookies with a chocolate bar.

The Divine Comedy: Inferno, 1308
By: Dante Alighieri
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (translator)
Winter 2013 Estimated.  An interesting view into views of the past.  It really struck me how Greek thought and culture was highly influential in the High Middle Ages of Europe. 

Wives and Daughters, 1864
By: Elizabeth Gaskell
Winter-Spring 2013 estimated.  I loved the whole book.  Molly, my favorite heroine.

Team of Rivals, 2005
By: Doris Kearns Goodwin
Fall 2014.  This book provided me a look into the master of human relationship management that Abraham Lincoln was.  A book to read and be inspired by.

Hunt for Red October, 1984
By: Tom Clancy
Winter 2014 Estimated.  For a book that I have listened two twice and am considering a third time, this is one of my favorites.  Detailed descriptions of how things worked flowing evenly with some tense action.  Get the version read by Frank Muller.

Scalia Dissents, 2004
by Antonin Scalia
Kevin A. Ring (Editor)
Spring 2015.  Reading the writing of a very eloquent man was very inspiring and challenging. Many of the events that are covered in this book are concurrent with my own life. This brought an additional dimension that I have not typically enjoyed in my reading.  There is nothing like getting perspective from a sage jurist.

All Quiet on the Western Front, 1929
By: Erich Maria Remarque
Translator Unknown
Summer 2015 Estimated.  I found this poignant look at war sobering and humanity of man vivid.

A History of the English Speaking Peoples, 1956-1958
The Birth of Britain
The New World
The Age of Revolution
The Great Democracies
By: Sir Winston Churchill
Summer 2015-Fall 2017 Estimated.  A survey of history.  One that filled in many of the gaps I had left over from my high school and college years.  I found it brought context into other things that I had read and was reading. It was inspiring to read about what great peoples have accomplished.

A Thousand Splendid Suns, 2007
By: Khaled Hosseini
Fall 2015.  A harsh world can have compassion.  A beautiful book about a hard place and time. Tough book, highly recommended.

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 1776–1789
By: Edward Gibbon
Winter 2015-Spring 2016 Estimated.  Filling in the gaps in history.  This combined with The History of the English Speaking Peoples provided a wonderful perspective and context to what I read and experience.

Mistborn Trilogy, 2006-2008
By: Brandon Sanderson
Spring 2016.  My introduction to Epic Fantasy.  Interesting. I really enjoyed the world building and chemistry-based fantasy abilities.  This provided some nice divertimenti between the heavy historical surveys I was reading.

The Dead and Those About to Die, 2014
By: John C. McManus
June 2016.  A bloody and gripping view of D-Day.  Tough read, totally worth it.

The Wright Brothers, 2015
By: David McCullough
Summer 2016 Estimated.  A book about two people I knew quite well from studies in high school.  In many ways, I found this a tragic life story about an invention that a critical foundation of our modern world.

Persuasion, 1817
By: Jane Austen
Summer-Fall 2016.  My favorite of the two books I have read by Jane Austin.  It’s nice to have happy endings.

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, 1960
By: William L. Shirer
Fall-Winter 2016: An Epic history of Nazi Germany.  The power given to civilized man to be so barbaric is something to be studied so that it can be avoided.  This was a tough book to read as it was my first intense book covering the time leading up to and during World War 2.  I had many gaps in my knowledge that took a bit to fill in.  I found it greatly satisfying.

The Last Stand of Fox Company, 2009
By: Bob Drury, Tom Clavin
December 2016.  Read this in preparation for my trip to the Koreas. Fighting in the cold near the Chosin Reservoir.

A Thousand Miles to Freedom, 2015
By: Sebastien Falletti, Eunsun Kim
December 2016. Read this in preparation for my trip to the Koreas. Escaping North Korea via Mongolia to South Korea.

These last two books were read one on top of the other to help bring perspective about a place I knew very little about.  I was going on a winter vacation there and wanted to get some perspective on the people and events there before arrived.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, 1870
By: Jules Verne
Winter 2017. Science fiction at it’s some of it’s best.

Bobiverse, 2016-2017
We Are Legion (We Are Bob)
For We Are Many
All These Worlds
By: Dennis E. Taylor
May 2017.  Modern science fiction. A light easy read on the wonderful world of a human turned Von Neumann probe and sent to explore the stars and in turn, save humanity.  My first time having to wait for a book to come out.  It seems that much of what I enjoy reading is old and has been out for years (centuries).  This time, I actually had to wait for the still living author to finish.

A Canticle for Leibowitz, 1959
By: Walter M. Miller Jr.
Summer 2017.  Science fiction juxtaposed with middle age motifs.  After reading all that I have on history, I found reading this book extremely satisfying.  You can read the book by itself, but there is so much more to gather from its intricacies. A great book.

How Should We Then Live, 1976
By: Francis A. Schaeffer
Summer 2017: A survey of philosophy and its effect on the world of science, politics, and culture.  A great book.

Finished: A History of the English Speaking Peoples, 1956-1958
Fall 2018

Caesar, 2006
By: Adrian Goldsworthy
Winter 2018.  A look at an amazing man in at the beginning of one of the greatest ages in history.  Indeed, not until the last three hundred years have we began accomplishing what the Romans were doing.  This man was at the crux of this development.

Augustus, 2014
By: Adrian Goldsworthy
Winter 2018.  The chaos that followed Caesar’s death was not a good place to end, thus I finished with this book. Now no longer the Roman Republic, but transformed into The Roman Empire that subsequently lives on, at least in part, until the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

Spring 2018 I began a tripart multivolume series on the American Civil War.  Shelby Foote, James M. McPherson, and Bruce Catton.  This is where this view of the mountain tops ends and my summaries in part begin.  I should have a post someplace on this website that covers this Civil War epic read.

See the Recensio Libri category, where I keep my book reviews.

4th revision