One of my New Year’s resolutions was to read 6 books. Not bad, right? That’s only one every other month. My previous year’s goal was 12, but it soon became apparent that it was not plausible as a full-time student with so much on my plate—false.

The biggest issue was how I chose to allocate my free time. I love to multitask. If I can latch onto something that I enjoy that doubles as being productive, I’m all about it. For example, I often trade listening to music for listening to a podcast. Get it?

Anyway, there will be more on this when I share my 2017 resolutions. This is all about what books I finished. And considering the whirlwind of things we’ve had to endure this year, I’m very pleased with having finished five.

My wife, Shalene, and I decided to get each other a book last Christmas. She’s easy—historical fiction, preferably WWII. I can’t go wrong. I am super picky, though. It takes me a long time to get through a book, so I want to be sure I like it. It was a swing and a miss, and I returned what she got me.

I stumbled across the first trilogy of The Legend of Drizzt series (15 in total; featured in 31 books total, although not always as the main character) bound together as one. I read the whole series in high school and couldn’t put them down. It’s a series set in the world of D&D with a Lord of the Rings feel to it. It’s not as dense, though, so I imagine it’s a smoother read with a better flow than LotR.

I had actually never heard of The Martian until the movie came out, and even then, I hadn’t seen any of the previews, so I didn’t think anything of it. Our university, however, has a free movie theater that shows movies a few months after their release, so I figured, “Why not?” Holy Hannah. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time—I absolutely loved it!

The book was an engineer’s dream. The main character is both a mechanical engineer and botanist, so it’s very sciency. I had so much fun, especially with a personal interest in aerospace.

Back in August, I wrote a more extensive post outlining this one. Needless to say, Elon Musk is an incredible visionary and is a role model for my future career in engineering and entrepreneurship.

by Chris Kyle

I had just finished my last book and was looking for a new story to get wrapped up in. I was at my in-laws’ and asked if they had anything. I rummaged around in the basement, finding this bad boy sitting on the shelf. It had been on my list to read for a while.

It had a similar flavor to another favorite military book on the operation that took out Osama bin Laden. I love reading about the military, especially those that are particularly intense (e.g. Navy SEALs). Plus, growing up, I’ve always wanted to be in the military. I’d love to think that I’m building the mental fortitutde to one day take on the Navy SEALs training, but I’m slated for the Army.

It was time to read a fiction novel again, so I cranked out this one in place of watching so much Netflix in my free time. Another great read. This was also fun because I’ve always wanted to write a fantasy book. My imagination went wild while I read this sequel.