Escapism and Engagement: My Top Reads of 2023
The act of sitting down with a physical book, preferably with a cup of piping hot tea next to me, continues to be a luxury that I hold dearly. The opportunity to open a book and find the day-to-day stresses melt away is highly therapeutic. In 2023, reading served dual, somewhat binary opposite purposes for me — escaping from and engaging with everyday life.
On the one hand, I found reading to be a highly effective pastime to escape the minutia and challenges of daily life. I delved deeply into a handful of series that built complex worlds and nuanced characters that I lived within for months at a time.
On the other hand, I used reading to better understand the minutiae and challenges of daily life. For the first time, I engaged with primary texts from Ancient Greek and Stoic authors and found their words to be highly salient and prescient for modern life. I also learnt from a handful of modern thinkers on how I may be able to be a better thinker and professional.
Below, I have shared some of my top reads from the year in hopes that they may be a catalyst for your own reading journey irrespective of whether you are looking to escape or engage with life. If you have any reading recommendations, please let me know!!
Stoic Ethics
I approached the idea of reading Ancient ethical texts with a lot of trepidation. I was nervous that the style of writing would be cumbersome and that the ideas expounded within the texts would only be of limited relevance to modern life. I was very wrong!
If you are interested in learning more about Stoicism, I recommend jumping straight into Meditations by Marcus Aurelius with the Hayes translation. This text is a journal from a past Roman emperor, written in the 2nd Century AD. From there, I recommend moving to Seneca’s Letter’s from a Stoic. Letters from a Stoic chronicles a series of letters from the Ancient Roman philosopher to his pupil. It is crazy to think that the letters were written some 2000 years ago, given how relevant they continue to be today. Finally one can move to, Epictetus and his Discourses and Selected Writings, which are a series of lectures penned in the style of Plato’s conversational style.
After reading a handful of additional Stoic texts in 2023, I am hoping to move onto other schools of ethics in 2024. I have found that the three texts listed above seem to saturate a lot of the key tenets of Stoicism.
Personal Development
I am big believer that the act of writing down ideas requires one to clarify ones own thoughts and leads to the development of clearer arguments. This is one of the reasons that I journal and why I prefer to engage with ideas in written form, before jumping into conversation or verbal debate. Consequently, I also enjoy engaging with long form, non-fiction on topics that may hold relevance to either my personal or professional development. While it may take more time to read a non-fiction book, I often find that it is an investment that is worthwhile for the depth and strength of learning, particularly when compared to reading a research paper or blog post.
Scout Mindset by Julia Galef builds the argument for bringing an open, inquisitive mindset and warns against ‘motivated reasoning’ which can lead to sub-optimal decision making. I was skeptical about whether The Psychology of Money would be a value add, but I was persuaded to read it after numerous people I trust encouraged me to read it. The book takes a psychological approach to thinking about our human interactions with money, income, and wealth. It takes a very level-headed approach while also being exceedingly forgiving and thoughtful. It argues for long-term sustainability, building a good relationship with the concepts of saving and wealth-creation and myth busts short-term solutions in a way that is highly readable. Finally, if you are looking for a highly practical book on how to be a more thoughtful, purpose-driven leader you cannot go past Be Your Own Leadership Coach.
Epic Science Fiction Series
In 2023, I invested my reading time in more epic series with a desire for nuanced, complex and fundamentally interesting characters and stories. I found myself getting somewhat disillusioned by repeated tropes and characters that were caricatures and I hypothesized that the length of a single novel was partially attributable to this lack of depth that I desired. So, I jumped in, and embarked on the Wheel of Time Series (caveat: currently I am only on Book 8 of 14) that so far has satiated my desire for depth. The world is HUGE with countless factions, peoples, centuries of history, and tangles of political intrigue all within a magical realism that allows for new tropes to be explored. I have found the quality of writing to be a slight challenge, however, this is something that can be overlooked if you are looking to escape into a world that can engulf you.
The Children of Time series has an underlying premise that was unique to me. The author does an incredible job of transporting the reader into the first-person view of ‘beings’ that are alien to the human condition. The series explores how our human-centric view of the world may limit our impressions of reality, and what a universe with other forms of sentience could encompass.
Epochal Historical Fiction
Well-written historical fiction, that follows characters and storylines over multiple generations, is probably the genre of writing I most enjoy reading. In life, we are ‘forced’ to live in the present and make decision within a world that operates at a single speed. There are plenty of ethicists, moralists and gurus who can tell us the ‘right’ or ‘correct’ way to live, but there are no answers to the test of life. This is where historical fiction comes in. At its best a good historical fiction provides us with insights into a sped-up world where we can see how decisions at one point in time may have rippling consequences, often generations into the future. The texts act as a crucible for testing what may be ‘right’ and ‘correct’ and provide readers with insights into how our life may live at a single speed by how we also live within a tapestry of life with is broad and deep.
Abraham Verghese was a complete revelation to me. The Covenant of Water and Cutting for Stone are two novels that moved me deeply and transported me to new worlds. I cannot recommend them more highly. Finally, Alka Joshi’s Jaipur Trilogy was a fun read. The books transport the reader to the hot, humid, and lusty period of post-Independence India, where Indian caste and royalty still play a major role in society. The book is set in Jaipur and follows a set of a strong-willed, intelligent woman who seek to build better lives and rise through the social ranks.