Tiny Reviews of 50 Books I Read/Listened to in 2021

By: Nathan Truzzolino

1. The Queens Gambit - Walter Tevis. I went to watch this on Netflix and was pissed to find it was a series and not a movie so I decided to just read the book. 4 stars

2. The Company of The Dead - David Kowalski. If you like WW2 stuff mixed with Back to the Future stuff then read this. Longer but worth it. 4 Stars

3. Star Wars: Light of the Jedi - Charles Soule. This was the first of the new Star Wars High Republic series. Not bad, the audio production was worth the purchase. I need to catch up with the rest of them. 3 stars.

4. White Noise - Don DeLillo. I think they call this post modernism. I dunno it was alright. This is the book the Airborne Toxic Event got their band name from if that tells you anything. Plus a terrible narrator if you listen to it. 2 Stars.

5. There There - Tommy Orange. Fucking amazing. GO READ NOW! 5 stars.

6. The Sandman - Neil Gaiman. So fun to listen to. 5 stars.

7. The Big Goodbye - Sam Wasson. History of how the movie Chinatown was made. Great book if you love old Hollywood stories. 4 Stars.

8. Still Life - Louise Penny. Not my cup of weak French-Canadian tea. 1 star.

9. Medieval Myths and Mysteries - Dorsey Armstrong. Fun read, very informative. 4 stars

10. The Good Hand - Michael Patrick F. Smith. Awesome book. Reminds me a ton of people I grew up with in Butte. 5 stars.

11. Dirk Gently - Douglas Adams. Awesome listen. 4 stars.

12. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov. I was curios what all the fuss was about. The man is an amazing writer. The content was cringe but god damn can he craft a sentence. 4 stars.

13. Running the Light - Sam Talent. He had a different comedian read each chapter. Some good, some really bad. Funny ass book. 4 stars.

14. Man’s Search For Meaning - Viktor E. Frankl. Don’t remember a word of this one and I was sober.

15. The Death of Cool - Gavin McInnes. Dude started Vice Magazine which was huge then went on to found the Proud Boys, WTF? Now that is a pivot. Some interesting stories about the old Vice days, nothing on the current PB stuff which is fine by me, I don’t run with that crowd. 3 stars.

16. The Parasitic Mind - Gad Saad. Very topical on todays world. Kinda preachy but I get what he was going for. 2 stars.

17. The Operator - Rob O’Neill. Legendary and he narrates his own book which makes it 1000 x funnier and more emotional. 5 stars.

18. Hate Inc. - Matt Taibbi. Love a book that calls out both FoxNews and MSNBC for the bullshit they pull on all of us. Must read if you think Rachel Maddow or Tucker Carlson are gods (Spoiler Alert, they like money more than you) 5 stars

19. Chaos Monkeys - Antonio Garcia Martinez. Story of a man working in start-ups like a little one called the Facebook. Pretty good. 3 stars.

20. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: The Novel - Quentin Tarantino. An amazing add-on to a masterpiece movie. 5 stars.

21. The Sympathizer - Viet Thanh Nguyen. I read this as the pull out from Afghanistan was happening and it hurt my heart and seriously put me in a depression. War is hell kids. 5 stars.

22. Cat’s Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut. Funny writer and story. 4 stars.

23. Kitchen Confidential - Anthony Bourdain. Must read if you eat food. 5 stars.

24. Empty Mansions - Bill Dedman. If you are from Butte read this shit, it will make you sick how much money William A Clark made. 3 stars.

25. On the Road - Jack Keroac. I don’t get the hype. I read a little bit of Burrows too, yuck. The Beats can kick rocks. 2 Stars

26. Dune - Frank Herbert. Awesome! Smart Star Wars. 4 stars.

27. Velvet Was The Night - Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Airport news stand garbage. Can’t believe I fell for it. 0 stars.

28. Ham on Rye - Charles Bukowski. Anything, in my opinion, he writes is authentic and raw which is always fun. 4 stars.

29. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - interesting and it made the movie make so much more sense. 3 stars.

30. Me and the Devil - Nick Tosches. WTF is going on?!? 2 stars.

31. Beyond Order - Dr. Jordan B Peterson. Get the cliff notes version. Saves you a shit ton of time and you get the gist of it fine enough. He has good info its just watered down with so much fluff. 3 stars.

32. Tales of Ordinary Madness - Charles Bukowski. Dirty old man #2. 4 stars.

33. Notes of a Dirty Old Man - Charles Bukowski Dirty old man #3. 4 Stars.

34. Bourdain - Laurie Woolever. Great insight into the amazing Bourdain’s life as his popular TV shows were airing and the fallout of his tragic death. Heartbreaking. 4 stars.

35. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald. Classic. I forgot how short it is. All that greatness in less than 200 pages. Amazing. 5 stars.

36. A River Runs Through It - Norman McClain. Made me want to throw away my current life and go fishing forever. You wouldn’t believe me how many people I know who moved to Montana because of this book/movie. 5 stars.

37. Hamlet - William Shakespeare. Research ;) 5 stars.

38. Power of the Dog - Thomas Savage. Blew me away. Criminally underrated for decades. Popular now thanks to Netflix. 5 stars.

39. King of Infinite Space - Lyndsay Faye. More research. Love her take on Hamlet. 3 stars.

40. Legends of the Fall - Jim Harrison. Legend of Jim Harrison more like it. 5 stars.

41. Money - Martin Amis. Funny, witty and smart British novel. 4 stars.

42. Daniel Isn’t Real - Brain DeLeeuw. Creepy AF. Loved it. 4 stars.

43. Antkind! - Charlie Kauffman. THE most insane book I have read. What a fucking lunatic/genius/madman/profit. 5 stars.

44. The Life and Times of Beethoven - Kenneth Womack. Dude had a fucked up life. No one would ever want to be him. Ever. 4 stars.

45. The Godfather - Mario Puzzo. Made me appreciate the movie so much more. AMAZING BOOK! 5 stars.

46. A Good Day to Die - Jim Harrison. Always delivers. 4 stars.

47. The Road Home - Jim Harrison. Not bad. 3 stars.

48. True North - Jim Harrison. Pretty good. 3 stars.

49. The Great Leader - Jim Harrison. Not his best. 2 stars.

50. No Country for Old Men - Cormac McCarthy. The only book I like to re-read. Masterpiece 5 stars.

BONUS BOOK! 51. Middle of the End: A Novel - Nathan Truzzolino. It was a decent book but how hot is that author though right? Hot daym!