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Books to read in 2012 – recommended to me by Twitter


Today, I asked on Twitter what non-technical books I should read in 2012.

I was nicely surprised to see so many of my followers send recommendations. Here is a list of 25 books that like-minded people suggested I read. Hopefully you will find a book or two to read too. Feel free to send more recommendations via the comments.

 

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami suggested by @mrb_bk and @chadfowler
The Floating Opera and The End of the Road by John Barth suggested by @chadfowler
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer suggested by @bradly
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese suggested by @bradly
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand suggested by @bradly
Cien años de soledad by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (es) suggested by @romanandreg & @jrfernandez & @edgarschmidt
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Marquez suggested by @romanandreg & @jrfernandez & @edgarschmidt
Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins suggested by @supaspoida
The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt suggested by @dennismajor1
The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse suggested by @dj2sincl
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami suggested by @chadfowler
Mindfire by Scott Berkun suggested by @lucasdicioccio
Les Fourmis by Bernard Werber (fr) suggested by @twitty_tim
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind suggested by @twitty_tim
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (en, free ebook) suggested by @tutec
Song Of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin (Game of Thrones saga) suggested by @eeppa & @jarin
Clockwork Century by Cherie Priest suggested by @eeppa
The Darkness that Comes Before by R. Scott Bakker suggested by @eeppa
Drood by Dan Simmons suggested by @eeppa
This Is Water by David Foster Wallace suggested by @atduskgreg
Anathem by Neal Stephenson suggested by @jarin
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (entire saga) suggested by @jarin & @edgarschmidt
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson suggested by @jarin
Fixing the Game by Roger L. Martin suggested by @jarkko
The Road by Cormac McCarthy suggested by @mrreynolds

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This entry was posted on Friday, December 30th, 2011, 15:28 and is filed under Misc. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

  1. #1 by Roel - December 30th, 2011 at 16:23

    I was about to recommend Kafka On The Shore by Haruki Murakami, but there are 2 Murakami books on the list already. Enjoy those first!

    • #2 by Matt Aimonetti - December 30th, 2011 at 21:23

      Murakami really seems to be the one author I can’t skip. Thanks for the recommendations.

  2. #3 by Ol - December 30th, 2011 at 20:46

    Ada – Vladimir Nabokov. Because it’s my favorite Nabokov novel, an endless enchantment.
    L’usage du monde / The Way of the World – Nicolas Bouvier. Some say it’s the best travel book ever.
    Les jours de notre mort – David Rousset. An extremely powerful novel on the nazi camps, Rousset wrote it after his essay L’Univers Concentrationnaire,
    DECLARE – Tim Powers. Coldwar + Supernatural = Wo-ah. Tim Powers weaves his web without changing actual history. Fascinating.
    Tristram Shandy – Laurence Sterne – Impossible to describe. Written in the 18th but still radical, crazy and fun.

    • #4 by Matt Aimonetti - December 30th, 2011 at 21:22

      Thanks, I’m glad to see some French books there as I haven’t read in French for a while. I also very much appreciate the quick description.

  3. #5 by Edgar Schmidt - December 30th, 2011 at 21:11

    Thanks for putting this list together in one place (maybe we should do it next year again ;) . By the way, the Ender saga us absolutely wonderful on audiobook (you should be able to find it at your local library).

    Let us know whether you like them or not after reading them.

    (PS: you might want to check Daemon by Daniel Suarez – The first one-)

    • #6 by Matt Aimonetti - December 30th, 2011 at 21:26

      I enjoyed Daniel Suarez’s Daemon. Regarding the audiobook version of the Ender saga, I’m not too much of an audiobook type guy and I the are very seldom places where I can actually listen to audiobooks and not fall asleep (if my eyes aren’t busy, I just fall asleep o_O).

  4. #7 by David Parker - December 30th, 2011 at 21:29

    Non-technical or just novels? As far as non-technical goes (but also not a novel), a great book is The Art of Game Design by Jesse Schell. It was probably the best book I read this year, and one of the best books I’ve ever read. It’s good for anybody- not just people who want to design games. It’s not really technical, but it is about design and self-improvement (in my opinion).

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