August Reading List
A few books worth your time
To keep this little publication sustainable, I’m doing a summer special! It’s better than Napoleon invading Russia—it costs less, ends well, and won’t leave you stranded in the snow.
I’ve read a few books over the years—many of them quite good! And I’ll be honest, I haven’t done a fantastic job bridging the content gap between how I show up on Instagram and TikTok and how I show up here in the newsletter.
So, let’s change that.
Here are a few books you should read in the next 30 days…
Because they’re good books.
Nonfiction
Battle for the Island Kingdom by Don Hollway
We often discuss 1066 (I should know, it’s my most popular podcast topic to date). But Hollway looks at the years leading up to William and Harold’s contest at Hastings. You’ll get a good picture of life in Anglo-Saxon England. Spoiler, it’s more wild than George RR Martin’s imagination.
War by Margaret McMillan
I’m about 70% into this one, and I'm already utterly fascinated by it. McMillan looks at war’s role in society in modern times, how society itself has made war worse for us now than it ever was in eras past. I’ve especially been chewing on her section about Rousseau and Hobbes (as you’ll soon read), and their ideas about human nature and how it relates to war-making in society. It’s one part political theory, one part nuclear scare, and one part loss of faith in humanity. Really bright and encouraging stuff.
Vietnam-Perkasie by W.D. Ehrhart
This memoir stuck to me like glue. Best Vietnam combat memoir, full stop. Maybe it’s because Ehrhart’s work isn’t as well-known as Caputo's or Tim O’Brien’s, but this book gave me such a clear image of combat in the Vietnam War. It was haunting, didn’t let up, and left me feeling a bit desolate. In short, the best kind of writing.
Fiction
Recursion by Blake Crouch
Everyone has read Dark Matter, it seems. But Recursion is just as good (and some would argue better). A detective investigates a new phenomenon where people remember other people’s lives. His world collides with a scientist researching Alzheimer’s, and then the entire world goes to sh*t. Honestly, par for the course with a Crouch thriller.
Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett
A German spy is trying to end World War 2… in favor of the bad guys. He travels to England to do spy things, and chaos ensues. It’s Follett’s best thriller, in my mind, and solidifies him as an excellent writer in multiple genres.
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
Kay’s work remains some of the best in the fantasy genre. He’s not talked about in the same breath as Sanderson, Rothfuss, and Martin, but in my opinion, it’s simply because he hasn’t created a hit series the way those other authors have. Kay writes standalones, but with all the resonance of a trilogy. Tigana is about memory and collective identity. What happens when an Italian-esque society loses memory of itself? Kay sets out to answer that question. His exploration of the subject through these characters is some of the best in the genre, full stop.
If you enjoyed today’s article, like, share, or restack! Your support of this publication is integral to its growth.
I also welcome your thoughts in the comments. If I’ve learned anything about history, it’s that it is a dialogue.
See you soon,
Josh
Recursion is Fantastic!
Typo - it's Margaret MacMillan