Gold or blue links: I wrote a longer post. **: a short note. Still filling this in.

Fiction

Novels and stories read for plot, voice, and worlds.

1. The Vanising Half - Brit Bennett

2. Love from A to Z - S.K Ali **

   I read this back when I was about 14, it was a good read at the time!!

3. Frankenstein: The 1818 Text - Mary Shelly **

   I always loved the movies and live action version of this story, and I almost put it in the philsophy section, because it is quite a philsopical read, but it just amazing work of fiction honestly.

4. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

5. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

6. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

7. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

8. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

9. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

10. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

11. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child **

12. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

13. 1984 - George Orwell

14. Animal Farm - George Orwell

15. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

16. The Odyssey - Homer

17. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid **

18. It Ends with Us - Colleen Hoover

19. The Best Medicine (Everyman’s Pocket Classics)

Non-fiction

Memoir, biography, strategy, science, and textbooks. Things that claim to be true.

1. Atomic Habits **

   The 1% improvement principle is transformative over time. Identity based habits are more sustainable than outcome based ones. The four laws of behavior change provide a practical framework. Small habits compound into remarkable results.

2. Breaking Night - Liz Murry

3. Steve Jobs - Walter Isaacson **

   A wonderful book by Walter Isaacson. This is what started my love for design and working with efficiency, because that was what Steve liked too.

4. Einstein - Walter Isaacson

5. 48 Laws of Power **

   When I first read this book, I thought it was brilliant strategic, insightful, and dangerously effective. But over time, I came to see it for what it truly is: a cold, calculated guide to power, often at the expense of morality. Some laws are undeniably useful, and when applied wisely, they can give you an edge in life. But the book itself? It's ruthless, even sinister at times. Still, I can't deny its impact. A solid 7.9/10—powerful, but not something I'd live by.

6. The Art of War - Sun Tzu

7. The Art of Seduction - Robert Greene

8. The Laws of Human Nature - Robert Greene

9. Sapiens - Yuval Noah Harari

10. A Brief History of Time - Stephen Hawking

11. APEX Calculus v3.0 (Calculus 3) - Gregory N. Hartman

12. Gateway to Freedom - Eric Foner

13. The World’s Great Speeches - Lewis Copeland, Lawrence W. Lamm, and Stephen J. McKenna

14. History with Us, Volume II: Augustine to Scotus

Philosophy & idea-heavy reading

Stoicism, Kafka’s tight fictions, and Dostoevsky. Same shelf: books that argue about meaning, guilt, and how to live.

1. Meditations - Marcus Aurelius

2. The Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka

3. The Judgement (Das Urteil, 1913) - Franz Kafka

4. The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoevsky

5. Poor Folk - Fyodor Dostoevsky

6. The Double - Fyodor Dostoevsky

7. Uncle’s Dream - Fyodor Dostoevsky

8. The Village of Stepanchikovo - Fyodor Dostoevsky

9. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky

10. The Idiot - Fyodor Dostoevsky

11. Demons / The Possessed - Fyodor Dostoevsky