Having forgotten to make this post at the end of 2022, this post is a little tardy. But, I organize my reading into year based ‘Collections’ on my Kindle, so knowing what was read isn’t too hard to figure out. Figuring our the order in which I read them proving a stiffer challenge!
I started the year with a couple of books on time, and historical time keeping. Firstly, I read ‘Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time‘. Solving the problem of navigation for sailing ships was a tough one. In order to find longitude you needed to know the time accurately at a fixed point on the globe. In a world where time was usually defined by the position of the Sun, knowing the time in London from the middle of the Pacific ocean was a challenge that took generations to solve. Great read! Dava did a wonderful job of sprinkling in the technical information with the human side of the story.
Next up was ‘A History of Timekeeping: Science and Technology‘. This was a solid book, and a very practical read. It covers time keepers, and how they work.
From here, yes, you guessed it: Back to murder mysteries. I went with the second and third Sophie Hannah Poirot books, ‘Closed Casket: A New Hercule Poirot Mystery’ and ‘The Mystery of Three Quarters: The New Hercule Poirot Mystery‘. These were both great stories in the collection. They aren’t the same as the ‘originals’, of course, but very enjoyable and I’m glad the collection of Poirot stories continues to grow. When I read the first one, I expected it to be exactly like the originals, but that’s not really fair. Poirot is broadly the same, as a character, but these are longer than the originals and that allows for a lot more character development. If you like Agatha Christie, these are all worth a look too.
Now, things start to get hazy. I think I went to a book about local history. My home town has an old, defunct, railway station and depot from the old Boston & Maine Railroad. At first, I read an actual, physical book – ‘High Green and the Bark Peelers‘. I bought it on eBay for a couple of bucks and it arrived in decent condition, with a lot of that ‘old book’ smell. I read this book very quickly and enjoyed it a lot. If this book came out today, it would be a YouTube series… it’s about a guy who really loves trains, and the Boston and Maine specifically. He somehow convinced the managers of the company to let him shadow people on the railroad for a while and he wrote up his experiences with different crews, doing different jobs, etc. His joy is palpable!
Then I read ‘A History of the Boston & Maine Railroad: Exploring New Hampshire’s Rugged Heart by Rail‘. This was also enjoyable, but was more a collection of disparate stories about Rail in New Hampshire, and less about the Boston & Maine.
Other books I read this year.. in no particular order:
I had been recommended to watch The Mysterious Benedict Society, a TV Series that was, at least at the time, on Disney+. I read that it was based on a book series, and of course, went on the hunt! I found the Omnibus on Amazon, and got to work! This 1700+ page collection of 5 books was excellent and I enjoyed them all. The first book, which follows the TV series was very satisfying to read, as were the other books telling the story of the children. The final book though, ‘The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict’, the origin story of the series namesake, was by far the best in the series for me. This book was truly great, and something I’d look forward to reading again.
I read a few books in 2022 about the birth of the railways, like I did in 2023. I remain on the hunt for something with a more practical angle, but these books were interesting. I read ‘Iron Empires: Robber Barons, Railroads, and the Making of Modern America‘, which was good but the focus of this book is basically the financial side of the industrial revolution and the railways. It has a lot of information about the stock market, financial engineering, and the back stabbing world of the ultra-rich but very little about practical side of how all this happened.
And finally – The VERY BEST book I read in 2022, and I think the best book I’ve ever read: Wrong Place Wrong Time. This book was awesome. I’ve read it twice, and ordered the Audible version too. It’s a really unique twist on the genre of murder mystery and takes you on a journey I was totally not expecting. I won’t share any details except to say that the author, Gillian McAllister, is a wonderful writer and this one if well worth your time. I’ve recommended to basically everyone I know and everyone who’s read it, loved it. The book accelerates from the first chapter, slowing gaining speed as you reach the climax and once you wrap your mind around what’s happening you cannot put it down!
Happy reading!