What’s On My Mind (and My Reading List) — October 2024
It is difficult to process that we’re nearing the end of the year. I find it hard to fathom how — not long ago — I had just set my book-reading resolutions for this year.
Events across the world, in tandem with recent transitions in my personal life, have been nothing short of overwhelming. With these momentum shifts, finding time to read has grown harder. In spite of that, I still manage to find moments here and there to chip at my ever-increasing library.
Author Events
One thing I’ve done a lot more of this year is attend author events. As an aspiring book author, these presentations have not only let me engage with some of my favorite authors but have given me practical insights into how to conduct myself if I ever end up in their position.
In the coming months, I’ll be attending a series of author events across the eastern United States. In preparation for those events, I’ll be reading the new releases of the authors I plan to see.
I am especially excited to see bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell on tour for Revenge of the Tipping Point, a revisit to his 2000 classic, The Tipping Point. Gladwell’s Blink was a formative text for me, as I rediscovered my love for reading, in my early adulthood.
We Solve Murders by Richard Osman
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell
Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering by Malcolm Gladwell
The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore by Evan Friss
The Work of Art: How Something Comes from Nothing by Adam Moss
The Stormlight Archive Series
As I prepare for my travels, I will also continue my venture through the world of Roshar as I continue reading Brandon Sanderson’s The Stormlight Archive series.
Having read The Way of Kings last year, I dove back into Sanderson’s Cosmere last month with its sequel, Words of Radiance — a novel I will continue to sing praises of for many months and years to come.
My goal is to catch up, in anticipation of the fifth book in the series, Wind and Truth, set to release this December.
Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson
Dawnshard by Brandon Sanderson
Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson
Religion and Politics
And finally, I (almost reluctantly) find myself returning to reality. For myself and my American readers, that means facing a very consequential decision.
By the time the next bimonthly entry of this series is published, the United States will have made it through the 2024 election season, rounding out an international year of democratic elections.
My reading interests, however, pertain not so much to electoral politics — although they’ll doubtly play a role — and more to the intersection of politics with another aspect of human life: religion.
I will be exploring the intersection between religion and politics through the eyes of famous philosophers and theologians, as well as contemporary scholars.
I wish to explore the myriad of ways that faith in higher powers can bring mankind to great prosperity and how the division it can sow may risk bringing us to ruin.
Augustine: Political Writings translated by Michael W. Tkacz and Douglas Kries, introduced by Ernest L. Fortin
Gravity & Grace by Simone Weil
Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt
The Role of Religion in History by George Walsh
Sacred and Secular: Religion and Politics Worldwide by Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart
Sanctified Violence: Holy War in World History by Alfred J. Andrea and Andrew Holt
Waiting for God by Simone Weil
It’ll be a very heavy two months with some heavy reading to go with it. Here’s hoping I see you all on the other side of this turbulent season!
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