‘Sunrise on the Reaping’ (SOTR) is a prequel novel for the Hunger Games series. This novel is the backstory of Haymitch; his trials and subsequent victory in the 50th Hunger Games, and the events that shape the character readers meet in  book 1 of ‘The Hunger Games’. Fans of the original series should enjoy this book, and may want to consider it ahead of the upcoming (late 2026) movie.

SOTR is the latest Hunger Game prequel story. Where ‘The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’ (BSS) sought to help readers better understand President Snow, SOTR centres around Haymitch Abernathy, who features in the original series as the mentor to District 12’s tributes.

This novel adopts a similar structure to the earlier prequel. In it, we are introduced to just enough of  Haymitch’s life in District 12 to understand that the carefree teenager we meet will be irreparably damaged by the Hunger Games.

Similar to BOSS, the action then turns to the Hunger Games, firstly the scene setting of getting to know the contestants, and then the vicious and cruel elimination of all until only Haymitch remains. 

As a prequel, we know Haymitch ultimately triumphs. The tension in this ‘Games therefore lies in Haymitch’s own agenda and whether he has the will and capability to follow through with it. 

Author Suzanne Collins is again at her best with the build up and action of the Games itself. As with BSS though, I would have appreciated more time dealing with the fallout from the Games and the way those events shape and scar Haymitch before readers meet him in ‘The Hunger Games’. 

My recommendation for this book is similar to the earlier prequel.

‘Sourcery’ is a fantastical adventure story about the clash of power between wizardry and 'sourcery', as the more ancient form of magic is known by in this world. Being a Discworld novel, this is a battle that is absurd and comedic, yet still feels consequential. Fantasy lovers looking for a lighter take on a magical contest will enjoy this book.

This is book 5 in the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. While I have read a couple of the later books, I’ve decided to go back to the beginning and start chipping away at the series as something of a long term goal for the next few years. The Discworld novels I’ve read so far are light hearted, fun and relatively quick to read. This makes them an ideal thing to slip in between reading longer novels, heavier subject matter, or non-fiction. Check my Discworld tag for more books from this series.

But back to ‘Sourcery’.

Unseen University is the home of wizardry on the Discworld. It’s a place where magic  sometimes happens, but is better known for the drinking, smoking and tomfoolery of its staff and students. It’s a place where the bumbling wizard Rincewind hopes to quietly go about his business, avoiding danger at all cost.

Rinacewind’s quest for a peaceful life is shattered by the arrival of a young boy with the ability to wield the power of ‘sourcery’ - an old and powerful form of magic. This sets in motion an adventure involving luggage, an assassin who wants to be a hairdresser, an entry level barbarian and a magical hat with a score to settle.

If you’re wanting complex plots, you may do better to look elsewhere. But by book five, the Disc is a world with recurring locales, characters who make cameos, and an expanding lore. The book however, can still be enjoyed as a stand alone novel.

‘Sapiens’ is a big picture examination of human history, exploring 70,000 years of evolution and civilisation changing developments. Taking such a macro perspective, this book can be both confronting and illuminating. I’d recommend ‘Sapiens’ for anyone seeking an engaging way to quickly take in the long sweep of history.

This is a book that takes on an incredible challenge - retelling the story of homo-sapiens. Though broadly told in chronological order, the book organises its chapters by theme. It explores how key events shaped the tale of humanity, and how in many cases, the world today continues to be influenced by these forces. Across its many chapters, topics include: the agricultural revolution, the role of money, the evolution of religion, and the convergence of capitalism, science and empire building.

Taking such a long term perspective illustrates how easy it is to look at recent events and mistakenly assume that things will continue to change predictably in a given direction, or that things are moving too slowly. A key takeaway from 'Sapiens' is that while change can seem slow in the context of an individual lifetime, change in the last few hundred years has been incredibly fast paced. 

Sapiens is written in easy to read language and an engaging manner. I expected it to take  longer to read, but instead found myself frequently picking it up to read “just one more chapter”.  

The only downside to this book is that it was originally published in 2014. That was a less turbulent and more optimistic time than the world of March 2026. It would have been interesting to see how the author would approach the latter chapters of the book today. Along similar lines, I’ve been left wondering how some of the projections the author makes about the future of humanity and artificial life (AI, cybernetics, genetic modification) might be changed by the technological advances of the last decade.

When a class of graduating students from the Capitol are tasked with mentoring tributes in the Hunger Games, Coryo Snow sees a chance to turn around his personal and family fortunes. This Hunger Games prequel gives readers a glimpse into the origin story of President Snow. Though arguably not as well realised as it could have been, it’s worth reading if you’re a fan of the series.

Some context…

‘The Hunger Games’ (THG) trilogy was originally released between 2008-2010. A dystopian series set in the post-America nation of Panem, the success of the books lead to movie adaptations being released between 2012-2015.

The original trilogy was something I enjoyed, though at the time I felt the writing had room for improvement. The violence was something that really stood out, and I questioned how much was actually needed to convey the brutality of the world versus how much was just there for a shock value.

That said, I am a fan of dystopian novels, and I was looking forward to returning to Panem.  So I picked up this novel with both those things in mind - my previous enjoyment that came with criticisms, combined with my overall love for the genre.

A book at its best when it sticks to the games it knows.

The premise of ‘Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’ (BSS) is that a group of Capitol students, including  a future President Snow (Coryo), must mentor tributes for the tenth Hunger Games.

Coryo is assigned a wily and charismatic girl from District 12. He is at first disappointed with his assigned tribute. She is clearly not going to be capable of beating the other tributes in a direct fight. But over time Coryo comes to realise that Lucy Gray Beard might just be the longshot that helps him gain the glory and power he desires. 

The chapters dedicated to the Games and Coryo’s life in the Capitol have the same feel as the original trilogy. This part of the book is engaging in the same way the original book was. Tension is built and then released violently, over and over again until only one tribute is left.

When the second half of the story takes us to District 12, I had high hopes for it giving us deep insights into future President Snow's psyche.  The book tries to do this by subjecting its protagonists to a series of escalating ethical dilemmas.

However, the ending didn’t feel well paced. For my mind it would have been more effective with either a shorter and more ambiguous ending, or else extending the book to give more weight to the consequences of Coryo's choices.

Fans will enjoy it, but for me it’s another imperfect book

‘Invisible Women’ explores how missing or misused data leads to a world that fails women, often with life threatening consequences. Although this book is several years old, it still serves a useful role by identifying areas where data on women has historically been overlooked.

My first book for 2026 is ‘Invisible Women’ by Caroline Criado Perez. As someone with a keen interest in the use of data for decision making,  I’m always interested in books that examine where the weak points are in the data life cycle. 

The default male and missing women

‘Invisible Women’ highlights how research and data collection often assume a ‘default male’, which can lead to decisions being based only on what is optimal for men. This is, as shown through numerous examples in the book, rarely what is optimal for women. 

Sometimes missing data arises when, (typically male) researchers cite concerns about the cost or complexity of conducting trials and experiments that include women. In others, the lack of women in government or industry means problems impacting women are not even recognized, and hence no data exists on what may be a long standing issue.

In other cases, there appears no clear explanation for why data on gender wasn't captured or reported on. As someone who has worked in industries with rich data, including data on gender, I was surprised to discover that many sectors didn't collect or publish analysis with a gender split.

Perez also highlights examples of where even when data on women was available, this data was not used properly or was outright ignored.

The assumption of the ‘default male’ perspective means that without a conscious effort to include more women in public, political and corporate decision making, existing blindspots will remain.

Lessons for researchers

The two simplest lessons for researchers that emerge from this book are: 1) don’t assume the ‘default male’ or the gender neutral human will do. Women need to be part of the data set.  2) Once you’ve collected data on women, this should be included as one of the key data splits. Even if there is no difference in results, this should at least be mentioned. Do not simply lump all results into one category of ‘people’.

Sometimes less is more when persuading with data or its absence

For a book about the lack of data on women, ‘Invisible Women’ is at times a firehose  of data points and citations. As someone who values data, I appreciate the author’s diligence in bringing together so many examples to back up each of the thematic areas the book examines. 

The persuasiveness of the book might potentially have been improved on though by doing a deeper dive on some of the case studies. Examples of highly impactful policy or research proposals being passed over by grants bodies might have benefited from an in text explanation of what alternate proposals received funding instead.

A worthwhile read for anyone interested in improving data driven decision making

Another year done, and another year of reading ticked off. This year turned out to be my biggest one yet, with 25 books in total consumed.

Print reading was the main way I consumed books this year.

Most of my reading (16/25) was still reading print, either physical or digital. This surprised me since it felt like I’d listened to a LOT of books this year. While my book consumption was definitely boosted by audiobooks, there was a lot of print being read. 

I think I will also have done pretty well on the word count of ‘print’ books again. Last year was big due to  some mammoth books (Dune + 'Remembrance of Earth’s Past’ trilogy). This year it was the Empyrean trilogy that boosted the word count. I also read fewer and shorter graphic novels, again probably boosting word count.

The year of romantasy (and romance) 

 Romance and romantasy made up the bulk of my fiction reading. Rainbow gifted me several romance and romantasy books, but it was my choice to add a couple of extras to the list in order to finish the series she started. Dystopian novels still made a showing this year, but far less than in previous years. 

In the non-fiction category, it was another mix of business books and self improvement / personal development books, including a reread (listen) of ‘Atlas of the Heart’.

As per previous years, here’s the full list of books. 

Fiction

A Darkling Plain - Philip Reeve (audiobook)

Icebreaker - Hannah Grace

Eruption - Micheal Crichton (audiobook)

Five Brothers - Penelope Douglas

The Serpent and the Wings of Night - Carissa Broadbent

Throne of Glass - Sarah J Maas

The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood (audiobook)

Fourth Wing -Rebecca Yarros

The Ashes and the Star Cursed King  - Carissa Broadband

Iron Flame - Rebecca Yarros

I’m starting to worry about this black box of doom - Jason Pargin (audiobook)

Starter Villain - John Scalzi

Onyx Storm - Rebecca Yarros

Graphic Novels / Comics

The Park - Oscar Zarate

You Must take Part in Revolution - Badiucao & Melissa Chan 

Non-Fiction

Mental Mana - Will Jonathan

Draw to Win - Dan Roam

Mono in a Poly World - Tazmyn Ozga

Thinking in Bets - Annie Duke

Sludge - Cass R Sunstein (audiobook)

The Power of Letting Go - John Purkiss (audiobook)

Atlas of the Heart - Brene Brown (audiobook)

The Dark Pattern - Guido Palazzo & Ulrich Hoffrage (audiobook) 

The Let Them Theory - Mel Robbins

The Secret Life of Data - Aram Sinnreich & Jesse Gilbert  (audiobook) 

PREVIOUS READING LISTS

2024 - Things Add up (20 books)

2023 - Getting back in to reading (19 books)

2022 - getting back to books (4 books)

2021 - Another year of not reading much (2 books)

2020 - A year of not much reading (3 books)

2019 #bookbacklog

2018 #bookbacklog

2017 #bookbacklog

2016 #bookbacklog

2015 #bookbacklog

2014 year of reading

2013 year of reading

‘The Secret Life of Data’ (SLD) explores the increasing use of data in our day to day life and what the long term implications of this could be for our society. 

The book begins with a brief history of data, then explores the ways data is being collected and used today. This includes the role data plays as an enabler of artificial intelligence (AI) and the various data that is output by AI - such as algorithmic driven decision and insights or generative AI content.  

A focus of the book is the ways in which data, though collected for one purpose, can go on to be used for purposes the original user or collector never anticipated or intended. This is the ‘secret life of data’. Sometimes these are innocuous or even beneficial uses. But many of the examples provided - such as the Cambridge Analytica scandal - raise serious ethical questions about the extent of corporate and government algorithmic surveillance.

When Charlie learns he is to  inherit his billionaire uncle’s business, it seems like the answer to all his problems. But when Charlie discovers his uncle was actually a supervillain, he inherits a whole new set of problems - and unionized dolphins is one of them. 

‘Starter Villain’ is a hilarious  adventure set in the greyzone between the real world and the absurdly improbable. It’s territory that author John Scalazi seems very comfortable working in, with ‘The Kaiju Preservation Society’ being another recent example I’ve enjoyed.

The novel follows Charlie’s introduction to the world of supervillains and his hilarious attempts to deal with the unique challenges that entails. Supported by his rather eclectic team of ‘experts’, can Charlie survive the annual supervillain conference long enough to understand why his uncle chose him for this unusual occupation?

‘Starter Villain’ is a quick, fun and easy read. It’s well paced, with a good mix of comedy, and action. There’s also plenty of not so subtle shots at the mega rich and corporate interests that operate out of sight yet shape our daily lives.