Trent's 2024 Reading List

51 books - one short of a book a week, dammit!

Whenever I go into a stranger’s house, I’m immediately drawn to their bookshelves. Let’s skip the small talk and get straight to judging, I say. (Used to be you could judge them for their music and movie tastes and not just reading, but streaming services are ruining all my fun). The contents of a person’s bookshelf always intrigues me. Lots of books in common? Let’s be friends and talk about The Expanse! Lots of books I’ve never heard of? Makes me all the more curious about the people I’m visiting.

So, in the spirit of Christmas, here’s my 2024 digital bookshelf. Judge away.

The Fifty Shades of Grey erotic novels are an excellent read. So I’ve heard.

Starred ⭐ things are my faves. Audiobooks are marked with a 🎧.

Fantasy books

1. King of Foxes (Conclave of Shadows #2) by Raymon E. Feist

2. Exile's Return (Conclave of Shadows #3) by Raymon E. Feist

3. Dungeon Crawler Carl (Dungeon Crawler Carl #1) by Matt Dinniman 🎧 ⭐

4. Carl's Doomsday Scenario (Dungeon Crawler Carl #2) by Matt Dinniman 🎧

5. The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook (Dungeon Crawler Carl #3) by Matt Dinniman 🎧

6. The Gate of the Feral Gods (Dungeon Crawler Carl #4) by Matt Dinniman 🎧

7. The Butcher's Masquerade (Dungeon Crawler Carl #5) by Matt Dinniman 🎧

8. American Gods by Neil Gaimin

9. Empire of the Damned (Empire of the Vampire #2) by Jay Kristoff 🎧

10. Shadow of the Gods (Bloodsworn Saga #1) by John Gwynne ⭐ 🎧

11. The Hunger of the Gods (Bloodsworn Saga #2) by John Gwynne 🎧

12. The Fury of the Gods (Bloodsworn Saga #3) by John Gwynne 🎧

Science Fiction books

1. Linesman (Linesman #1) by S.K. Dunstall 🎧

2. The Prefect (Revelation Space #5) by Alastair Reynolds ⭐ 🎧

3. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

4. Year of the Locust by Terry Hayes

5. A Hole in the Sky (Arkship #1) by Peter F. Hamilton 🎧

6. Permafrost by Alastair Reynolds

7. The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester 🎧

8. Extinction by Douglas Preston 🎧

Mystery/Thriller/Horror books

1. Pet Sematary by Stephen King 🎧

2. NOS4A2 by Joe Hill 🎧

3. The Terminal List (Terminal List #1) by Jack Carr

4. How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix 🎧

Drama/Historical Fiction books

1. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles 🎧, thanks Kris!

2. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, thanks Jade H!

3. Jackdaws by Ken Follett

4. Child 44 (Leo Demidov, #1) by Tom Rob Smith 🎧, thanks Paula!

5. Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey

Non-fiction

1. Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth 🎧

2. Same as Ever: Timeless Lessons on Risk, Opportunity and Living a Good Life by Morgan Housel

3. The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann

4. The Cold Start Problem: How to Start and Scale Network Effects by Andrew Chen

5. Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy by James B Stewart and Rachel Abrams 🎧

6. ⁠Investable Entrepreneur: How to convince investors your business is the one to back by James Church

7. Startup Boards: Getting the Most Out of Your Board of Directors by Brad Feld, Mahendra Ramsinghani

8. Burn Book: A Tech Love Story by Kara Swisher

9. Bounce: The Myth of Talent and the Power of Practice by Matthew Syed

10. I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

11. Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI by Ethan Mollick

12. The Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort To Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self by Michael Easter ⭐

13. From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life by Arthur C. Brooks

14. What Happens When You Get What You Want?: Success and the Challenge of Choice by Rick Eigenbrod

15. Playing with FIRE: How Far Would You Go for Financial Freedom? by Scott Rieckens

16. Life Is in the Transitions: Mastering Change at Any Age by Bruce Feiler

17. Economical Writing by Deirdre Nansen McCloskey

18. Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity by Peter Attia and Bill Gifford

19. Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career by Scott H Young

20. The Psychology of Money: Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness by Morgan Housel

21. Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica’s Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night by Julian Sancton

22. Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering by Malcolm Gladwell 🎧

TV/Mini series

1. Drive to Survive - Season 6

2. Three Body Problem - Season 1

3. Masters of the Air

4. Shardlake - Season 1

5. Welcome to Wrexham - Season 3

6. Last Stop Larrimah

7. Tour de France: Unchained - Season 2

8. True Detective - Season 4

9. The Night Of - Season 1

10. The Landscapers, thanks Liam

11. Sprint - Season 1 & 2

12. Fargo - Season 5

13. Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War

14. Succession - Seasons 3 & 4

15. Special Ops: Lioness - Season 2 ⭐

Movies

1. Oppenheimer (2023)

2. Promethus (2012)

3. Alien: Convenant (2017)

4. The Pale Blue Eye (2022)

5. The Creator (2023)

6. The Bourne Identity (2002)

7. The Bourne Supremacy (2004)

8. The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

9. Poor Things (2023)

10. In the Land of Saints and Sinners (2023)

11. Ford v Ferrari (2019)

12. Shazam (2019)

13. Shazam: Fury of the Gods (2023)

14. The Martian (2015)

15. Fire of Love (2022)

16. Dune: Part Two (2024)

17. Hereditary (2018)

18. The Boys in The Boat (2023)

19. Napoleon (2023) ⭐

20. American Fiction (2023), thanks Suze

21. The Killer (2023) ⭐

22. Meander (2020)

23. Race to the Summit (2023)

24. Total Recall (2012)

25. Hate to Love:Nickelback (2023)

26. Mark Cavendish: Never Enough (2023)

27. Federer: Twelve Final Days (2024)

28. The Last of the Mohicans (1993)

29. Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa (2023)

30. Civil War (2024)

31. Fall Guy (2024)

32. Justice League (2017)

33. Wild Wild Space (2024)

34. Alien: Romulus (2024) ⭐

35. Nyad (2023)

36. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)

37. The Departed (2006)

38. Where the Crawdads Sing (2022)

39. Dumb Money (2023)

40. The Watchers (2024)

41. Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves (2023)

42. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024) ⭐

43. Substance (2024)

44. Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

45. The Purge (2013)

46. Red One (2024)

Podcasts

1. Bone Valley

2. The Cost of Happiness

3. The Agent

4. Shell Game ⭐

5. Delve

6. 2 Commas ⭐

Board/card games

1. Splendor + expansions ⭐

2. Mancala

3. Agricola

4. Calico

5. Spots

6. Wingspan ⭐

7. Dune Imperium: The Rise of Ix

8. Cascadia

9. Tiny Epic Zombies

X-box games

1. Control

2. Diablio IV: Vessel of Hatred

OK, this post wasn’t for free. You pay me with your own recommendations for me to watch/read/listen to/play in 2025 - whatchagot?!

P.S. A quick word on tech. The audiobook listening takes place over Libby, Audible and Spotify; the podcasts on Downcast (I keep thinking there must be a better option here, their discovery is hard work); and the reading is a mix of Kindle (mostly non-fiction, I want to be able to go back to the highlights), Libby (fiction), and real books (not that often). Music is via Spotify, Apple Music and Sonos.

P.P.S. I tried to get AI to hyperlink everything above, but no dice. It was close, so I’m hoping by the time I get to 2025’s list I can do it.