Books Read in 2020

With the end of the year here, I have made my list of all the books I read during the year of 2020. Despite this year being negative for so many reasons, one of the positives I have found in it is the extra free time I have had to read books. Instead of commuting to school/the office everyday, and with many things like sports being cancelled, I have found myself with extra free time to fill. For the most part, I have tried to fill a large portion of this extra free time with reading, and I am happy to see that the number, and volume of books that I was able to read has increased from previous years. Here is my list, in the order I read them:

1. Alexander The Great, by Philip Freeman (330 pages). An excellent biography of the ancient Macedonian king and conqueror by one of my old Pepperdine professors, Freeman also has a great ability to incorporate his storytelling skill into it as well, making this seem like so much more than a bland chronology of events, and more like a novel that you just want to keep reading. It was fascinating to learn about the massive influence that Alexander the Great had on the world, and the incredible feats he accomplished, all before dying at the very young age of 32.
2. Never Give In, by Stephen Mansfield (225 pages). I wanted to read some sort of biography about Winston Churchill this year, but instead of reading a thousand page book, of which there are many, I found this little gem, which is sort of a mixture of a biography about the man and a commentary on his character traits. Among the many great character traits of Churchill was his mantra to “never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense.”
3. 12 Rules For Life, by Jordan Peterson (368 pages). I had heard so many people talking about this book ever since it came out, and I finally decided to read it this year after listing to a podcast with the author. Overall, a very insightful book on how to bring more order into your life through a series of 12 rules, such as my personal favorite: “Set your house in perfect order before your criticize the world.”
4. The Freedom of a Christian/Letter to Pope Leo X, by Martin Luther (63 pages). One of Luther’s major reform treatises, in this work Luther describes his belief in the enormous freedom that Christians have simply because of their faith in God. They are, in other words, justified by their faith.
5. Fortitude, by Dan Crenshaw (244 pages). Dan Crenshaw is a current U.S Representative, and a former Navy Seal who was nearly blinded when an IED destroyed his right eye and nearly his left as well. In this book, Crenshaw discusses what he believes all Americans can do to collectively make our nation stronger and more resilient. An excellent read from someone who may differ from me in some ways politically, but whom I have a lot of respect for nonetheless.
6. Don Quixote, by Miguel De Cervantes (940 pages). A world classic that’s one of the most highly praised books ever written, Don Quixote is the story of a 16th century man who reads too many books on chivalry, goes crazy, and becomes a self-made knight-errant who is accompanied by his squire, Sancho Panza. Within this charming, hilarious work, there are countless lessons and morals to learn from Don Quixote, who strives to live up to the highest honor code of chivalry. I’ve never quite read a book like Don Quixote.
7. Richard The Third, by Paul Murray Kendall (464 pages). I wanted to read some kind of book about Medieval Europe, so I chose this biography about Richard III, a 15th century King of England. While it is definitely a well written book by a knowledgeable author, I found the style of it somewhat dry, and I had a hard time getting through this dense biography. However, Medieval Europe interests me a lot, so that was enough to keep me going with this book.
8. A Doubter’s Almanac, by Ethan Canin (551 pages). I bought this novel several years ago, and I finally read it this summer. I didn’t even know what it was going to be about when I started reading it, but it was honestly the best modern day novel I have read in a long time. I recommend!
9. Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius (99 pages). I reread this book again this year, and it is packed full of amazing philosophical understandings by the 2nd century Roman emperor. This writing greatly influenced the development of the stoic philosophy, which teaches, among other principles, to take care of what you can, don’t worry about what you cannot, and to not let the opinions of others negatively influence you.
10. Mountains Beyond Mountains, by Tracy Kidder (301 pages). This book is the story of a real world hero named Paul Farmer, a selfless, yet driven doctor whose mission was to cure the world of disease. For Paul Farmer, no one’s problem is too small for his attention, and no country is too poor or helpless to try to rid it of infectious disease.
11. The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky (776 pages). After reading War and Peace last year, I wanted to read something from Russia’s other famous author, Dostoevsky. To my surprise, I found this work to be much less enjoyable to my personal taste than Tolstoy’s masterpiece, and similar to Richard The Third, I also had a hard time getting through this one. Though it is an admirable piece of literature, I guess this one just wasn’t for me. However, I’m thinking about reading it again in several years to see if the second time’s the charm.
12. Agincourt, by Bernard Cornwell (437 pages). This was an excellent historical novel based on the famous battle during the Hundred Years War between England and France. Although it was pretty gruesome in a lot of chapters, it was full of charm and suspense that led to me reading this book pretty rapidly. I’ll probably be reading more of Cornwell’s books in the future.
13. The Woman in the Window, by A.J Finn (427 pages). The first thriller book I have read in a long time, I forgot how addicting these are. Full of the usual twists and cliff hangers, I read this book faster than I ever thought I would, simply because I couldn’t put it down.
14. Character is Destiny, by John McCain (455 pages). This book is one of several that the late Senator John McCain wrote throughout his life; this one focusing on men and women throughout history who have exemplified all types of good character traits that defined their lives, and that we should emulate. John McCain didn’t believe in destiny, but rather that a person’s character is what would make them happy or not in life.
15. A Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backman (337 pages). A feel good novel about an old man whose wife has died, but who comes to find meaning and happiness again through the people around him; people whom he probably never would have associated with.
16. The Soul of America, by Jon Meacham (272 pages). I really liked this book by Presidential historian Jon Meacham, which details times in our history when we have gone through struggles and crises, but how better times come afterwords. Our country today is facing its own set of struggles and crises, but as Meacham says, we cannot loose sight of our better angels.
17. The Code. The Evaluation. The Protocols, by Jocko Willink, Dave Berke, and Sarah Armstrong( 84 pages). This is a really powerful book that lays out a blueprint for striving to become, as the authors describe, an eminently qualified human. At its core, this comes down to identifying your path, getting on the path, and staying on the path by means of “unmitigated daily discipline in all things.”
18. The History of Russia in 50 Events, by Stephan Weaver (85 pages). This was a really interesting, short book on the history of Russia, from the earliest civilization to the modern times, told through the details of 50 broad events/time periods.
19. Profiles in Courage, by John F. Kennedy (225 pages). Similar in format to John McCain’s book, here JFK chronicles times in U.S history when members of the Senate have displayed great acts of courage even when they knew their constituencies would not approve; they did the right thing regardless of the outcome. A very special book in American history.

Audiobooks:

1. Extreme Ownership, by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. I discovered Jocko’s podcast this year, and soon thereafter I listened to this book that he wrote with his fellow former Navy Seal, Leif Babin. Essentially, extreme ownership entails taking complete responsibility for everything single thing in your life, not deflecting blame every chance you get. Especially in positions of authority, the leader is responsible for everything that goes on with their subordinates. If something goes wrong, it is the leader’s responsibility to take ownership of it.
2. The World: A Brief Introduction, by Richard Haass. This was a really cool book about the modern workings of the world, and why the world’s systems are the way they are. As Haass said in the book, this book might not enable the listener to become fluent in international relations, but they will at least be conversational. Overall, a very informative book about material that interests me a lot.

Favorite book of the year: Don Quixote.

Runner up: Extreme Ownership.