I put my star rating next to each book and, where possible, linked to my GoodReads review. I use the following system, adopted from Google Reviews:

⭐️ Hated it

⭐️⭐️ Disliked it

⭐️⭐️⭐️ It was okay

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Liked it

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Loved it

Complete

I’ve been so much better at reading this year! In fact, I made it a goal to read 6 books in 2017, and I surpassed that! I’ve realized over the year that reading brings me joy as I jump into a fictional story, and that it is a much better decompression and release before bed than using my phone or playing games. Here’s what I’ve read:

• School Reading
  • The Japanese Mind: Understanding Contemporary Japanese Culture (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—This is a collection of essays written by grad students exploring various aspects of the Japanese culture. I found it fascinating to dissect a culture down to micro-level components of culture you wouldn’t be familiar with without living there
  • Schachnovelle (⭐️⭐️⭐️)—An intriguing story with an exciting hook on how a chess master became so good.
  • Der Besuch der alten Dame (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—The plot twist in this was fantastic, and caught me totally off guard. I had a fun time reading this, as I was able to understand the plot and a lot of the message hidden between the lines even in a foreign language.
  • Leaders Eat Last (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—The author does an exceptional job using case studies to teach critical leadership lessons. I think this should be required reading for anyone in a leadership/management position. Can’t recommend highly enough! We read this book as 4th-year ROTC cadets.
• Non-Fiction
  • The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—The author, Tim Ferriss, does an incredible job of breaking down the human body into data points and experiments. It tackled several key issues that I’m interested in exploring more, it’s exceptionally well-formatted, and its littered with case studies of individuals throughout the book.
  • Das Buch Mormon (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—Naturally, I’m a big fan of the Book of Mormon, as it’s the keystone to my religion. I believe all religious texts should be classified as non-fiction. I read it in German to keep up on daily scripture study as well as language practice. I finished it today (31DEC17) to complete a resolution for the year and so it would make this list!
  • The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Managing Your Money (⭐️⭐️⭐️)—As given by the three-star rating, it was okay. I only liked it because it gave a few insights I didn’t know before, as well as a few actionable steps. I wish it had more examples of “save this much now, retire with this much later.” I finished this book so it’d make this list.
• Fiction
  • Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Checkmate (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—A favorite video game character of mine in novel form. A fun, international military thriller.
  • Exile (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—Book #2 in The Legend of Drizzt (my favorite series) by my favorite author, RA Salvatore.
  • Sojourn (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—Book #3 in The Legend of Drizzt series that finishes out the prequel trilogy.
  • Starship Troopers (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—This was a fantastic read after attending Advance Camp, and it complimented my military training well! I wouldn’t have appreciated it, however, without my summer training as it can get pretty technical in military lingo.
• Short Stories
  • The Education of PFC Shane (link or PDF) (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—This is a fun read set in the StarCraft world.
  • The Egg (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—A fantastic read for the devout religious individual or for the atheist. A fascinating story
  • Access (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
  • Annie’s Day (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—The plot twist!
  • The Real Deal (⭐️⭐️⭐️)
  • Bored World (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
  • The Midtown Butcher (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—Fantastic, suspenseful, and it speaks volumes about Weir’s storytelling.
  • Antihypoxiant (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
  • Meeting Sarah (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
  • Rat (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—As an RA Salvatore fan and as a new DnD DM, this was a fun read!
  • Twarrior (⭐️⭐️⭐️)
• Comic Books
  • Deathstroke: The Professional (⭐️⭐️⭐️)—Fun because it’s Deathstroke along with some of the WildC.A.T.S, but overall, not that great.
  • Justice League: The Grid
  • Thunderbolts: No Quarter
  • Iron Man 2.0: Asymmetry (⭐️)— I was going through my collection, and I’m disappointed that I ever bought this. Not impressed at all. A storyline without much substance that could’ve been really good, in fact. Scattered and hard to follow, and not very interesting. The digital coloring was great for some of the volume but overall, it was poorly done.
  • Iron Man: Execute Program (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—This might be my favorite Iron Man Story
  • Infinity Gauntlet (⭐️⭐️⭐️)—A fun read since the movie is coming out. It certainly had its “doom and gloom” moments where you thought there was no way for them to make it out followed by a twist in favor of good. I find the older comics, especially the art style, very difficult to read, however.
  • Civil War II (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—My favorite iron man armor yet. I love the faceplate!
  • Ultimate Comics Spider-Man: Death of Spider-Man Fallout (⭐️⭐️)
  • The Death of Captain America: The Death of the Dream (⭐️⭐️⭐️)
  • World War Hulk
  • Captain America: White (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—My favorite author/artist combo, but it wasn’t quite as good as the others in the COLORS series
  • Infamous Iron Man: Infamous (⭐️⭐️⭐️)—Dr. Doom becomes Iron Man
  • Single issues—A couple of single-issues I picked up over the summer
    • Team 7 (2012 DC) #3 (Variant A) (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—I love Deathstroke, and this was my first exposure to Grifter
    • Spawn WildC.A.T.S (1996) #3: Devil Day (Part 3 of 4) (⭐️⭐️⭐️)—I love Spawn, and Grifter appeared again!
    • Moon Knight (1985 2nd Series) Fist of Khonshu #3 (⭐️⭐️)—The best part of this comic was getting to see the old ads from the 80s

Work in Progress

This has been quite the year of starting books. Unfortunately, there are several (especially non-fiction) that I’ve stopped reading but am still interested in finishing. Here’s the list:

• Energy Civilization: The Zenith of Man
• Ranger Handbook
• The Hobbit
• His Needs, Her Needs

In addition to that, I have a shelf of several books that I’m waiting to start, as well as an itch to continue RA Salvatore’s series.

Here’s to a new year of new adventures and stories!

Cheers~