2019 Book List
Note: Kindle version unless otherwise
noted. Non-fiction unless (novel) is appended.
Department
of Selection: It appears that the NYT has cut back their
book reviewing. The Sunday section is dramatically reduced. When coupled with
fewer glowing reviews, THB’s list of books to read has shrunk. Hence, more
books this year were reco’s of the friends of THB or oldies
Department
of Clarification: nothing to report
Department
of Analysis: Very average
 |
| How did THB find time to read an average yearly total of books while there were whirling dervishes all over Mulberry Street? |
Department
of time-switching: THB has
noticed! Often while watching or reading fiction, the idea of telling a story
in linear and/or chronological sequence is so 20th century. Now it
is very common to be jumping all over the place (e.g., season 3 of True
Detective on HBO goes back and forth between 1980, 1990 and something that
looks like 2017 – where one of the characters with dementia is solving a cold
case!). One of the books on THB’s list (The Western Wind) went backwards day by
day for 4 days, except each day went forwards. Jumping seemed okay at the
beginning (see the movie Memento, it’s really good) and now it is being abused.
Top Picks (18)
in order of highest reco to lowest
Pessimism
Climate
Wars, the Fight for Survival as the World Overheats, Gwynne
Dyer (paperback, pub’d 2010): after reading this book (10 years after
publication) if you’re not a collapsarian like THB you will soon be converted.
Each of the 8 chapters is prefaced with
a well-thought out scenario (of gloom and doom), and most are looking closer in
rather than further out (mid 2030s?) For example: temps well beyond 2 degrees
Celsius above pre-industrial days; lack of food causing mass migration away
from the equator (especially in Africa), the southern US, Mexico, the
Mediterranean and south-to-mid China to northern climes where it won’t be quite
as hot and crops can still be grown; Bangladesh, Florida and the eastern seaboard
of US going underwater; and the UK restricting immigration (yes, Dyer predicted
Brexit and DJT’s “Build the Wall!” albeit for a different reason);
Things weren’t looking good in 2010 and nothing has happened since
to staunch the flow of CO2 into the atmosphere, with no viable solutions on
hand. Get your kids and grandkids prepared, there’s no point in thinking much
beyond that.
Optimism
Factfulness,
Hans Rosling
with Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Ronnlund (hardback, pub’d posthumously in
2018): How wrong can we be about the basic large data facts in our world? More
wrong than chimpanzees randomly selecting answers? Can everyone be so wrong?
Yes. Rosling (died Feb 2017) is
infuriating, challenging, bold optimist, smug, bright, sometimes snarky,
brazen, brilliant, and to THB occasionally wrong (though THB can't prove it,
which is the point…see Pessimism above). Read this book and be prepared to
change your mind and approach. Similar in concept to Suzy Hansen’s Notes on a Foreign Country and Adam
Briggle’s A Field Philosopher’s Guide to Fracking, this book puts you to the test of the kind of lens
you use to make sense of the world.
Everything
In-Between Optimism and Pessimism
Women's
Work, a Reckoning With Work and Home, Megan K. Stack: a
wrenchingly honest portrayal of the trade-offs of hiring poor women to help
raise young children. Even the early portion of the book reviewing the dementia
of a new mother overcome with anxiety and insomnia is a challenge to read.
Basically, women are doing far more of their share of work in a family
household, with the "help" mostly abandoning raising their own
children to help women with more financial wherewithal to raise their children
and have time left over to have careers. Who benefits: mostly the young children
who have more constant (and loving) supporters.
Into the Silence, The
Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest, Wade Davis (paperback, pub’d in US in
2011): Two truths and a lie: WWI was covered brilliantly through the recounting
of the impact on the lives of the mountaineers and their support crews; Mallory
was well explained (a terrific natural climber at lower altitudes who forgot to
bring the essentials when setting out on big climbs, especially his last one);
and Everest won, not conquered until 30 years after the time frame covered in
the book (1921-4). A terrific book, extremely well written, and an essential
book for those traveling to Tibet, Bhutan or anywhere you can see the
Himalayas, or if you’re interested in the flawed lives of British explorers.
This Thing
of Darkness, Harry
Thompson (novel, pub’d 2005, paperback, 750 pages): a terrific historical saga
focused on Robert FitzRoy, the captain of the Beagle, mostly taking place in
the south of the Southern Hemisphere. Of course, there’s lots of Charles
Darwin, sea adventures, and interactions of an empire with the as yet
unconquered aboriginals. Especially good if you are planning on going or have
been to: Patagonia, Falkland Islands, Antarctica, or New Zealand.
Lipstick
Jihadi, A Memoir of Growing up Iranian in America and American in Iran, Azadeh Moaveni (pub'd 2005, paperback): To be or not to
be? Is home wherever you are? Set in the time mostly before 9/11 and just
after, a beginning journalist for Time Magazine starting her career decides to
settle in Tehran, using her not-so-good Farsi and the background of her family
who had left Iran after the Shah was deposed to make sense of who she really
was. Even the mundane is extremely well thought through by Moaveni in the context
of living under a religious system of government. {ed note: THB read this book just before DJT started WW3 with a
drone strike; how timely! Don’t see Azadeh visiting Iran any time soon.}
The Last Whalers, Three Years in
the Far Pacific with a Courageous Tribe and a Vanishing Way of Life, Doug Bock Clark: Masterly told, the story of a
small tribe, maybe 1500 total combined living in the village on an island in
the Savu Sea and ex-pats, the Lamalerans are dealing with an ever infringing
modern world on their primitive subsistent hunting of whales as a means of
survival. Much larger topics are gently addressed as part of the deep reporting
on village life: conservation, merging of different religions, honoring the
livelihood and territorial claims of indigenous people, integrating widely
disparate sub-groups into a nation. If you travel to any “under developed” country,
this is a great book to read while there. Very pertinent when THB and DB will
be in Raja Ampat early next year. Good accompaniment to two books above.
Ninth Street Women, Lee Krasner,
Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler: Five
Painters and the Movement that Changed Modern Art, Mary Gabriel (Hardback for the pics of the
paintings, 725 pages of small print): A great, in-depth overview of the
beginnings of the Abstract Impressionists movement in the US, focusing on the
lives (and not just the art) of the 5 painters from the late 1940s to late
1950s. Lots of great stories of those
men around them, the scene, the gallerists, the museums, and the sex, drinking
and comraderie.
20th
Century Boy, Notebooks of the 70s, Duncan Hannah: an artist looks back through the 10 years of his
journals when he was ages 17 to 27 and mostly inebriated. THB loves these type
books were somebody talks about all the famous (or soon to-be-famous) people he
runs into, had a drink with, talked art with, etc. The bonus that pushes 20th
Century boy into the Highly Recommended category: Hannah made lists of books he read, movies he
saw, concerts he attended and albums he listened to (more than a few that
overlapped with THB). The two things THB did not overlap with Hannah: this guy
really slept around and THB was sober most of the time.
The
Fighters: Americans in Combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, C.J. Chivers: More than 2.7 million Americans have served in
Afghanistan or Iraq since September 11, 2001. Chivers, a NY Times
correspondent, excellently details the involvement of six combatants (mostly
between 2003 and 2012): a fighter pilot, a corpsman, a scout helicopter pilot,
a grunt, an infantry officer, and a Special Forces sergeant. American forces were often not prepared for
these type of wars and so their sense of disassociation from the goals of the
US government and Pentagon became glaring. Needless to say, we ain’t
anywhere close to defining the goals almost 20 years later.
Fleishman Is in Trouble, Taffy Brodesser-Akner (novel): a current story of a family of four
disintegrating or, as Tolstoy wrote: “All happy families are alike;
each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” There aren’t many happy
families in this book. Excellent use of modern phone texting and sexting rather
than an earlier pre I-phone time. Lots of sex, so much that THB figured “Taffy”
was a pseudonym; it is a nick-name.
All the King’s
Men, Robert Penn
Warren (pub’d in 1946, that’s before THB was born): A classic that THB finally
gets around to reading. The fictional story of Huey Long as narrated by a
newspaperman who is a bit of a historian. Summing up: the truth will kill you
(and others); the law of unintended consequences is ever-present; Jim Crow was
alive and thriving in the 1930s; you can lie to others, lying to yourself is
really dangerous; love conquers nothing; politics is a dirty business; power
corrupts; nobody really knows who their father is (well, that one has been put to rest). All in an old-time style that grew on THB the more he read (and it is a
long book!).
Night of
Camp David, Fletcher
Knebel (paperback, novel, pub’d 1965): Not a great book, not even close.
However, it does explain how a President’s thoughts and actions could be
construed as meaning he/she might no longer be fit for office (i.e., have
his/her finger on the nuclear red button). For a book that is 54 years old, it
seems might-eeeee current.
Disappearing
Earth, Julia
Phillips (novel): two young girls disappear in the “big” city of Petropavlosk
on the Kamchatka peninsula and the impact of this story is told through
interlocked stories stretching over a year, one story per month. Russians are
the “white” people living among the natives of the peninsula and of course the
natives are the outcasts, and the girls are of Russian descent.
If I Had Two Lives, Abigail N. Rosewood (novel). A story of regeneration after a
challenging childhood and basically no parental attachment. A little “Little
Life” in tone and content. Beautifully told, the narrator comes full circle. No
surprise: few characters, all realistically described.
The Affairs of the Falcons (accent over the
“o”), Melissa Rivero (novel): an illegal immigrant
family of four from Peru try to make a go of it in NY, narrated by the wife.
She’s a dreamer and a striver and a taker and non-empathetic, unusual for the
lead character in a novel to be very human rather than stereotypical or
tilted. Spoiler alert: not a Hollywood
ending, something THB greatly appreciates.
The Island of Sea Women, Lisa See (novel): More historical fiction than straight
fiction, based on Korean women who ran a matriarchic system with the women
divers, working in collectives, providing for their families while the men
stayed home and took care of the children. Takes place from the late 1930s
through early 2000, focused on a pair of girlfriends, one “adopted” by the
mother of the other, who become divers and live through the Japanese occupation
of the island (Jesu), then the American occupation after WWII, the Korean War
and the repressive right-wing Korean government until finding freedom in the
late 1900s. See’s mother, Carolyn, also an author, was a friend of JOB.
 |
| Why was the book list late being posted? |
 |
| Matt and Ralph were playing bridge in Monterey on Jan 6 and 7, collecting Gold Master points in big quantities. |
Recommended
(30): Enjoyed,
listed in no particular order (well, actually mostly in the order read):
A Shout in
the Ruins, Kevin
Powers (novel): another of those time-jumping books that THB suspects the
author writes in chronological order and then the author and editor cut apart
to interweave early and later sections. Beautifully written, covering a period
from just before the Civil War until after 5-10 years or so after the Viet Nam
War. Takes place in the south, following mostly slaves and their owners as well
as a few Union and Confederate soldiers.
Personality,
Daniel
Nettle (paperback, pub’d 2007): this book belongs in the “five types of
people”) category. Each of our personalities is determined by where on the
spectrum we are: Extraversion, Neuroticism, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness
and Openness. Where you are on each in relationship to the other four makes up
your personality, no one category is good or bad. And, you are not in charge
here, your genes are. Is there free will? Nettle would say no.
Godsend, John Wray: another 18 year old
Californian forsakes college and goes to Pakistan for jihad. She ends up training
as a mujahedeen and her company is headed to Afghanistan just as 9/11 occurs.
Well written, taut, and hardly believable that a woman could pass for a man in
this culture in 2001.
You Could Do
Something Amazing With Your Life [You Are Raoul Moat], Andrew Hankinson (paperback,
pub’d 2016): A “memoir” of a multiple murderer compiled by a Britain journalist
from Moat’s writings, interviews, tapes with [interjections] correcting Moat’s
ramblings. Moat has his justifications for his aggrieved actions, most of which
fail to meet reality. More amazing, he had two accomplices (later convicted)
aiding him his last week of crimes.
No Turning
Back: Life, Loss and Hope in Wartime Syria, Rania Abouzeid: Through intimate personal
stories, a female Lebanese journalist covers the Syrian version of the “Arab
Spring” from the very early days of 2010 until 2017, all the while explaining
the convoluted nature of the struggle of so many different factions within
Syria, the big players in the Middle East, and a bit of the US and Russia’s
involvements. THB is amazed of how damaging the war has been to Syrians and morphed into jeopardizing western
democracies worldwide over the issue of immigration. In effect, Assad was
willing to destroy his country (and the world) to stay in power (or, as he
would say, “save” it). Yet, without Assad it would be just as traumatic for the
Syrians.
Beartown, Fredrik Backman (novel,
translated, reco of JH): Hockey, a lot of hockey, living in the north of Sweden
in a small town next to a forest with plenty of foreshadowing (a bit too much
for THB’s taste). Plenty of topical
subjects: how sports (and adults too intent on winning) can really screw up
boys worse than they are already screwed up, lots of moralizing about family,
loyalty, coaching, immigrants, and holding competing thoughts in your head at
the same time. Oh, and somewhat of a Hollywood ending.
The Perfect
Nanny, Leila
Slimani (novel, translated): A truism: the most important thing in life is
raising children and somehow we leave it to amateurs. Or, as it turns out in
modern two-parent working families, to someone we don’t even know all that
well. A relatively short book, which really took off about 40% of the way
through. The spoiler alert: you find out what happened to the two kids on page
1, first 4 sentences. Not recommended for parents of children under age 5 who
employ a nanny.
The World As
It Is, A Memoir of the Obama White House, Ben Rhodes: Can nostalgia come on so quickly,
is there some time limit? A workaholic gets to be next to the ultimate seat of
power in the US, dealing with big issues: a nuclear agreement with Iran, do or
don’t in Syria, establishing relations with Cuba, the Arab Spring, plus
weighing in on the big domestic and international issues of the day (except, it
seems, economic issues). Writing (and re-writing) many speeches for Obama and
communicating the administration’s beliefs to politicians and the press.
Thousands and thousands of hours, trying to maintain a family life, traveling
all over the world helping push things along. And then: a transition to a new
president and it’s all gone….gone….gone. And the inside scoop: politics won’t
ever be the same now that the Russians have figured out how to disseminate
alt-facts to a naïve and receptive world-wide audience.
The Western
Wind, Samantha
Harvey (novel): Takes place in a small British village in 1491, narrator by the
priest of the village, told backwards day by day over 4 days. Beautifully
written, great on what life was like then, and the book would’ve been Highly
Recommended if told chronologically. THB even appreciated the religious point
of view that dominates the plot (though fortunately not the characters actions
or thoughts).
The River of
Doubt, Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey, Candice Millard (paperback): An expedition to
explore the unknown Rio da Duvida. Led by a Brazilian colonel who was familiar
with the interior from laying telegraph lines, the expedition included Teddy,
his son Kermit, a few other Americans, and 25 Brazilians, as they struggle
through rough stretches of white water, major
portages through the jungle, and overcoming poor equipment, starvation, illness, mutiny, and the potential
of engagements with local natives to finally succeed. Much good information on
Teddy, his family, the opening up of the Brazilian interior, and gripping
struggles on the river.
Late in the Day, Tessa Hadley (novel): Two tightly coupled British families
are struck by tragedy by the sudden death of one of the husbands. While the
backstory is there, it is well integrated with the present day (THB was
thankful for Hadley’s avoidance of the dreaded inability to make sense of the
early days of the characters). Are women strong even in the face of
adversity? Hadley would say yes.
A Life of My Own, Claire Tomalin: a memoir by a famous British author (Samuel
Pepys, An Unequaled Self, is terrific), editor, critic and literary figure. A
story well told. And, for a companion book, read Dear Nina by Nina Stibbe (also Highly Recommended) since Nina
spends time in Claire’s kitchen as one of her charges as a nanny is a close
friend of Claire’s son Tom.
Lost Children Archive, Valeria Luiselli (novel): Compelling, a blended family go on
a long road trip and the 10-year-old boy and 5-year-old girl try to absorb the
stories told by pa and the struggles of ma dealing with concerns of
undocumented children (not hers) caught in the immigration system. Could’ve
used some editing, and THB recommends you try and find the hardback because the
maps, pictures and ephemera would be better than presented on the Kindle. Also,
listen to Space Oddity when it appears.
Bad Blood, Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley
Startup, John Carreyrou (hardback): How a pretty, young
woman changed her voice, wore stark blue contact lenses, enchanted a series of
old and powerful men, and ended up running a company valued at $9 billion at its peak. Except Theranos
never had a viable product, not even close. Imagine a board member, George
Shultz, taking the side of the young woman, Elizabeth Holmes, over his own
grandson who was an employee of the company and saw the fraud for what it was (vaporware)
and siccing attorneys on the young man. Imagine Walgreens, Safeway and the US
military considering rolling out the product even when serious and significant
doubts were raised about the viability of a single drop of blood being
“test-worthy.” Written by the WSJ journalist that broke the story wide open.
The Library Book, Susan Orlean: The history of the LA Central Public Library
with a focus on the 1986 fire that destroyed a good portion of the building and
its collection, re-opening 6.5 years later. Did Harry Peak, a total airhead
wannabe actor light the match? The man with 8+ different stories of where he
was that morning? Well told, with a lot
to say in a short 300 pages.
American Prison, a Reporter’s Undercover Journey
into the Business of Punishment, Shane Bauer:
After being held prisoner for several years in an Iranian prison, Bauer returns
to the US, becomes a reporter for Mother Jones and goes underground in a
privately run prison in the South for four months. Along with his direct
witnessing of today’s modern method of incarceration, he also shows how this is
just a continuation of the abuse of (mostly black) prisoners for the sake of
making money for states that has been going on for well over 150 years as a
direct replacement for the free labor of slavery.
The Expats, Chris Pavone
(paperback, pub’d 2012, novel: spy vs spy vs spy with a naïve cyber-crook
thrown in. Does a mother protect her family using her CIA-trained skills?
Pretty well told, and good on being expats living in Luxembourg.
Say Nothing, a True Story of Murder and Memory in
Northern Ireland, Patrick Raden Keefe: an excellent recap of the
Troubles from the early 70s to today, focused almost solely on IRA
personalities because of access to oral histories and interviews with IRA
members.
The Day That Went Missing, A Family’s Story, Richard Beard: Almost 40 years later, a British writer tries
to make sense of the day his brother, aged 9, drowned while the two of them
were taking one last dip in a sheltered area as the tide was coming in. At
times, excruciating as the author explores his guilt in trying to recreate and
process what happened. Is THB drawn to stories of grief? For sure, more now
that when he was younger.
The Parisian, Isabella
Hammad (novel): at first it was a coming age story for a Palestinian Arab who
goes to France for college that coincides with the beginning of WWI. After a
year living with a professor and his daughter, the scene shift to Paris during
the war and then back to Palestine for another 20 years or so in the midst of
French and Bristish colonialism in the Mid-East, as told from the Arabs’ point
of view. Nicely written, the main character’s interior life is well described,
and life of “what if” deeply expressed.
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, aged 13 ¾, Sue Townsend (novel, paperback, pub’d in 1982): Coming of age
story told through diary entries of a British 13 year old whose parents are
going through marital problems. Really a Young Adult book; that didn’t keep THB
from enjoying it.
The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion (paperback, pub’d in 2006). THB is
not really a Didion fan: something about her style is just off or jarring to
THB. Not more jarring than the theme of this book: exploring the shock of grief
when her adult daughter is deathly ill in the hospital and, after Didion and
her husband had been to the hospital for a visit, he drops dead of a massive
heart attack at dinner in their apartment, totally overwhelming Didion.
She didn’t start writing this book until exactly a year after husband John
dies, and a bit over a year before her daughter Quintana dies of pancreatitis.
It’s moving, seems very truthful, and the oddity of her prose doesn’t keep THB
from recommending this book
Autum Light, Season of Fire and
Farewells, Pico Iyer (hardback): an insightful
and moody look at the author’s narrow 6 months-a-year life in Japan made up of
his wife and her immediate family, their small neighborhood, and a group of
mostly older ping-pong buddies. A book-end of sorts to Iyer’s terrific The Lady and the Monk, Four Season in
Kyoto.
Nothing to Envy, Ordinary Lives in
North Korea, Barbara Demick (Hardback, pub’d in
2009): Ordinary lives with little or no food, little or no electricity, little
or no freedom to travel, little or no freedom of association. Grim, might grim.
Now on the 3rd generation of cold war vigilance of the population by
a patriarchic dictatorship. On other hand, a great solution to climate change:
starve you people into submission and reducing use of resources while using almost no carbon fuel.
The Color of Water, A Black Man’s
Tribute to His White Mother, James
McBride (pub’d 1996, paperback):
Alternating chapters of McBride’s memoir of his growing up in a unique mixed
race family (he is #8 of 12 kids; two fathers; one very unusual mother) and his
mother’s recollections of her life. Fascinating and you really understand how
exhausting it was to be raised or around his mother. She’s a oner!
Dawson’s Fall, Roxana Robinson (novel): Possibly a memoir of
her post-Civil War ancestors, for sure an historical novel of the period
focused on a British born, fighter on the side of the South, and “liberal”
paper editor and publisher. In the Reconstruction era, a deft explanation of
the violence of S. Carolina and the animosity engendered as power shifted from
whites to blacks as freedom meant plantation owners lost their pool of free
labor.
Trust Exercise, Susan Choi (novel): split into two primary
parts, with a group of sophomore theatre students at a School for the Arts
around 1988, then a subset of these students as 30 year olds, with a short
third section (as the epilog) even later. The school section is scintillating;
the 30 year olds section more about deconstructive writing than plot; and the
epilog not really helpful/needed. THB has two of Choi’s other novels and liked
them a lot: A Person of Interest and
American Woman.
The Man in the White Sharkskin
Suit, A Jewish Family’s Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World, Lucette Lagnado (paperback, 2008): A woman
remembers her childhood in Cairo and the impact her father had on her early
years. Chronicles a time mostly forgotten, when a man could make a living in
the Mid-East by being a “fixer” who managed transactions large and small
without an employer.
Middle
England, Jonathan Coe (novel): life in the times of mostly pre-Brexit
and post-Brexit England with a comic twist. Part three of a trilogy that THB
has not read parts 1 or 2 featuring the Trotter family, mostly focused siblings
in their 50s. THB could have used a bit of editing (eliminating the comic or
melodramatic parts) and loved the section where the opening ceremony of the
London O's was explained (THB fell asleep on GO and MO's living room floor
about halfway through).
The
Ten Loves of Noshino, Hiromi Kawakami (translated,novel): Somehow, there is a
guy that woman cannot resist, be the 15 or 60, and he in return cannot resist
women. Not chick-lit, man-lit! He is empathetic and open (letting his emotions
show) and even when a relationship comes to an end the women don't take it
personally.
Neutral (25):
Something of
value, not enough to actively encourage reading (or listening)
The
Personality Brokers, the Strange History of Myers-Briggs and the Birth of
Personality Testing, Merve Emre:
One of THB’s fave truisms from his working days: there are two types of people
– those that divide the world into four types of people and those that
don’t. Have you been typed? THB is an
ENTJ (well, in his corporate life) and it is relatively rare (shock!). Emre’s
book is better when dealing with the real people, a mother and daughter, who
bought in into Jungian psychology and developed a questionnaire that delivered
16 different “positive” categories that explained with adjectives what we’re
all really like. After their deaths the MBTI world exploded and just about
everyone has been typed. Apparently useful in the on-line meet-up world as
shorthand for what to expect. THB’s shorter version: junk science.
Rome, A
History in Seven Sackings, Matthew Kneale: If you going to Rome or Italy (as THB is in the
fall), more Recommended than
Neutral. An entertaining review over 2000 years of the city, with big gaps in
between the “sackings”. THB knew quite a bit already about the last sacking
where the Germans occupied the city for 9 months near the end of WWII, the
other six chapters were more informative. Can be read as the history of Europe
through the years as well.
Washington
Black, Esi Edugyan
(novel): another of those compellingly depressing books, this one more
depressing than compelling. The story of young Barbados slave boy in the 1820s
and 30s, “adopted” by the brother of the slave owner, who goes on quite the
journey, a bit of it fantasy-like. Told from the boy’s point of view.
Consignments
to El Dorado, A Record of the Sutton, Thomas Whaley (paperback, pub’d 1972, borrowed from Travels of THB
follower JW): Mostly a transcription of Whaley’s journal from his trip of 204
days from NY to SF around Cape Horn 170 years ago. It was 1849 and Whaley, age
24, decides to join the Gold Rush as a merchant. Reminded JW of THB’s trip to
Antarctica; those days at sea seeing no land or other ships was clearly
same-same. Whaley eventually settled in San Diego and his house there is home
to the Whaley House Museum (which commissioned the compilation and editing of
this book).
Raven Black, Ann
Cleeves (novel): we heard Ann interviewed on Desert Island Discs and decided to
give her Shetland Island detective series a go. Even someone raised
on-the-island-but-not-quite person is considered an outsider. The insiders are
inbred rumor-mongers. Recommended if you're into the police
procedurals.
White Nights, Ann Cleeves (novel): #2 in the Shetland Island series.
Same-same as above except this time Jimmy and Fran are getting it on a regular
basis while solving the multiple murder mystery going on in their small part of
the Shetlands.
The Caregiver, Samuel Park (novel): The narrator loses her Brazilian mother
to heart disease at age 16, moves to the US and becomes a caregiver to a woman
living in Bel Air (THB’s old hood) who is fighting stomach cancer. The author
died of stomach cancer just after finishing this book.
In Our Mad and Furious City, Guy Gunaratne (novel): mostly takes place in or near a set of
4 high rises on the fringes of London, housing mostly poor immigrants. Told by
a number of softly to directly interconnected narrators on a fateful few days
of racial and religious turmoil (THB think it is a mash-up, not the “real”
events all happening on one day). A way of explaining how Brexit passed?
The Fifth Risk, Michael Lewis: More a compendium of articles about what
government does for Americans (very positive) and what the Trump administration
is doing to major departments (destroying them to enable rich people to make
even more money to the disadvantage of the citizens that voted for Trump).
Spoiler alert: the Fifth Risk is Project Management (or, what THB did for a
living for 35 years).
The World in 2050, Four Forces Shaping
Civilization’s Northern Future, Laurence C.
Smith (paperback, pub’d 2011): Unlike Climate Wars, this book badly needed an
update. It’s valuable as far as it goes, just not as compelling a read.
Territory of Light, Yuko Tsushima (novel, hardback, translated, pub’d 1979): A
newly separated young woman with a 3 year old move into a teeny 4th
floor apartment. The deadbeat husband contributes no monetary support. The
young working mother is lost as well, farming the child out several days a week
to daycare acquaintances and not very conscientious about dropping off and pick
up her daughter or getting to work on time. The author paints a bleak picture
of life for a woman without a husband.
The Circuit, a Tennis Odyssey, Rowan Ricardo Phillips: Only for those of you few THB
followers who are tennis fanatics, and you fanatics probably don’t need this
book. The 2017 men’s tour in some idiosyncratic detail. Rafa and Roger make big
revivals. A 15 page summary of the beginnings of tennis (full disclosure: THB
skipped this section).
Small Fry, A Memoir, Lisa Brennan-Jobs: THB isn’t big on writing about those early
years nobody remembers, melancholy, and having an all-time self-absorbed jerk
for a father. If Steve Jobs wasn’t dad, THB probably would’ve given up on Lisa
at age 6 (only a third of the way through the book).
Embracing Defeat, Japan in the Wake of World War
II, John W. Dower (hardback, pub’d in 1999):
Extremely thorough, yet not quite enough to really explain how Japan emerged as
a pacifistic Western-style democracy.
Clearly, there was something already there in Japanese culture that
enabled the transition. Maybe it was the elimination of the militaristic
leadership and the ability of the King to accede power to MacArthur (who barely
indulged in dealing directly with anyone Japanese).
Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial
of Harper Lee, Casey Cep: an odd one. A first third is the
telling of a series of murders in a small town near where Harper Lee grew up,
in the style (THB thinks) of Lee, who only had one book published during her
lifetime: To Kill a Mockingbird. The other two thirds is a sort of a
biography of Lee with a focus on why she never finished another book and spend
10 years trying to make sense of the series of murders enough to turn the story
into a true crime book. Black on black crime, a small-town lawyer who
represented everyone around and his most notorious trial was getting the
shooter off after he murdered someone (the guy that everyone thought was the
serial killer) in a church with 300 witnesses). Lee not all that fascinating
though she wrote a terrific book and helped Truman Capote (her childhood
neighbor) research In Cold Blood (another terrific book).
Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink, Elvis Costello (paperback, pub’d in 2015, 670 pages of big
print): A memoir by a guy who has written thousands of songs in many genres,
played with many famous (and not so famous) musicians, recorded many albums,
and the only child of an only child father who was also a singer in England.
The book is not in any real order, chronological or otherwise. He barely discusses
his 2nd marriage of 17 years. THB doesn’t really like or admire the
guy and loves his early new wave music.
Robert. E. Lee, A Life, Roy Blount Jr (paperback, pub’d 2003): A very
short summary of a pretty dull guy who fell into a role late in life that he
was almost perfectly suited for. Genteel, honest, humble, devoted to family,
chivalrous towards women, didn’t take advantage of his stature and fame, and
made very few mistakes in leading the Army of Northern Virginia.
Ballpark, Baseball in the American
City, Paul Goldberger (hardback): a
reference guide to the evolution of baseball parks from the olden days to 2018,
covering all the major league parks,
old to new. If you want to know how a specific stadium came to be, this is the
readable version.
The Ash Family, Molly Dektar (novel): coming of age story where
an 18-19 year old is totally clueless about how her actions have consequences
and somehow her Hollywood ending doesn’t really fit her “reality”.
Deep Future, the Next 100,000 Years
of Life on Earth, Curt Stager (paperback, pub’d in
2011): this is another of those extremely pessimistic views of climate change,
written with an upbeat optimistic approach. Is that possible? Is it true
wisdom, holding two (or more) conflicting ideas in your head at same time? Do
you really believe anyone can be upbeat about the destruction of most species
on earth in 100,000 years instead of 50,000? Total acidification of the
ocean’s? The long-tail effect of all the carbon dioxide we’re putting into the
atmosphere is going to be catastrophic. Stager’s your guy: humans will survive!
Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead (novel): short and depressing
book, based on a true story of a “reform” school for boys in Florida where many
black boys were fully discriminated against (the worst of Jim Crow). Many were killed
and buried out back (along with some of the white boys) and disappeared for a
long time until the school was finally closed and local college kids started
digging around in the dirt.
The Accident, Chris Pavone (novel, pub’d 2014): Expats much
better, some of the characters overlap between the two. First half much better,
the second half is spent explaining the links and intentions from the first
half and gets very convoluted (too many characters killed off).
Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett (paperback, pub’d 1954): ever
feel like every day is the same as the last? This is the play for you!
The Siberian Dilemma, Martin Cruz Smith (novel): do you buy this
book, a very quick read, because you like the Renko series or do you skip it
knowing it won’t be one of Smith’s better books? That’s the THB Dilemma.
Anatomy of Terror, from the Death
of Bin Laden to the Rise of the Islamic State, Ali Soufan (paperback): Lots of detail on the
primary individuals in the rise of the Islamic terrorists. Too much for THB’s
taste, considering this is a story that has been told in detail through far too
many newspaper and magazine articles already.
 |
| The morning session scores that THB recorded as we played each board. It looked like a good game: we finished 4th overall out of 68 pairs with 60%. |
 |
| We did even better in the afternoon session, finishing with an overall score of 62% and passing the three pairs in front of us. We played in the lowest stratified group, and beat all the higher ranking players so finished first in all 3 brackets. Very unusual outcome, these events are almost always won by "A" players, with 10 of thousands of master points (we have 1500 total between the two of us) |
In the
Something Else category (10):
Brexit (HBO
movie): One hour and
38 minutes explaining the US 2016 presidential election results. Oh, wait: this
is actually a mockumentary on the lead-up to the 2016 Stay or Leave EU
referendum in the UK. It’s a thriller, even if you know the outcome (is there
anyone who doesn’t know the outcome?
Yep, DJT became president). Benedict Cumberbatch is terrific as the
anti-hero Dominic Cummings. Highly
Recommended
Fleabag
(Seasons 1 and 2, Amazon Prime Video): Phoebe Waller-Bridge, a British actress and writer is pretty much
the whole show: she plays the lead (a character only referred to as Fleabag
when called anything), writes the lines, and is in every scene, most times as
the focus. Season One is all about sex and macabre humour; Season Two is a
stunner as Fleabag takes on the church and has it out with her sister. Waller-Bridge
is also the guiding light behind Killing Eve (THB and DB gave up during Season
2) Above Highly Recommended, especially first two episodes of Season 2 – best TV
ever.
7 Minutes to
Fitness: 50 Anytime, Anywhere Interval Workouts, Brett Klika: Did regularly doing
a 7 Minute Workout save THB’s life? It sure told him he had weakening thighs,
the precursor to discovering a bad case of Necrotizing Myositis. A b’day gift
from KBM and EM, this is the way to pick and choose the right calisthenics for
you. Illustrated! Highly Recommended
Rolling
Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese (streaming on Netflix). Of course
THB loved this documentary mixing songs from the different shows on the 1975
bus tour and, because it’s Dylan, there is a mix of “fake” characters and real
people doing the talking heads narrative looking back on the tour. Scorsese has
the sense to play entire songs, and one great moment off-stage of Joni Mitchell
singing Coyote that is worth watching just for this song. Lots of songs from
Desire, one of THB’s favorite Dylan albums. Highly Recommended and, if you’re a Dylan connoisseur, absolutely essential.
Chernobyl: A five part HBO mockumentary
thriller, even when you know the story (THB has read several books, fiction and
non-fiction). The problems caused by the meltdown are still there, sealed off
in 2600 square kilometers. You can purchase through Amazon if you don’t
subscribe to HBO. Highly Recommended
 |
| Twins show what they think of being in the lowest bracket |
Be Right Back, documentary of the artist Maurizio
Cattelan. Stick with it, the first 45-50 minutes are okay, the last 45-50
minutes are mind-blowing. Only downside: like a lot of documentaries now, the
background music is so loud it drowns out some of the foreground talking. Highly
Recommended. THB wishes he had seen the Cattelan retrospective at the
Guggenheim Museum in NY, it must have been the event of the decade (though
maybe the documentary was better?!).
The Proposal, a fascinating documentary about
how the artist Jill Magid came to make a proposal of an item in exchange for
opening up the archive of the Mexican architect Luis Brarragan, who died in
1988. After (AFTER!) you watch the documentary go to the NY’er archives and
read about the events leading up to the proposal and some of the
aftermath. Highly
Recommended. Streaming
on Kanopy which you access through your public library.
Babylon
Berlin: 16 part
German series (Netflix) takes place in early 1930s in Berlin. Follows a police
detective through various plots, notably Russian gold moving across Germany and
an army plot to overthrow the government, interwoven with the beginnings of
Nazism. Recommended
Twin
Mythconceptions, False Beliefs, Fables, and Facts about Twins, Nancy L Segal (paperback, pub’d
2017): Segal is a twin herself, deeply immersed in studying twins. The book is
organized such that you can read a very condensed version, a more nuanced view
or an academic analysis on each “fable.” THB took the short route, which
amounts to a medium length magazine artice. Recommended only if you are a parent or a grandparent of twins
Year of the
Monkey, Patti Smith:
THB cites a review explaining why he did not add this to his reading list: Dreams dominate Smith’s third and latest
memoir, “Year of the Monkey.” THB detests
dream sequences in books. He skips this one altogether after enjoying Just Kids a lot. Never Recommended (a new category!)
Truth
in Our Tmes, David McCraw: THB made it 14% through the book and hit the pause button (another
new category!). The NY Times chief in-house attorney is dissecting
"truth" and our "times" (NY Times? the 2016-2018 times?),
all in the context of DJT that media magnet. THB has had it up to here and
beyond with reading and listening and talking about DJT (the phrase: have you
got poop in your diapers? pretty much covers it) instead of all the more
important things in life (e.g., did the A's win last night?) and someday will
go back to this well written book with the perspective of future hindsight. In
short: another sad/compelling read; DJT has figured out how to be the center of
the media universe and definitely has tons of poop in his diapers, and he is
ever so happy to share that revelation with all.
Not
Recommended (and high likely not finished – 17):
Patient X, David Peace (novel): THB liked
another book of Peace’; this one was more an exercise in writing than a novel.
JELL-O
GIRLS, A Family History, Allie Rowbottom: were/are the women trustafarians of the JELL-O
fortune cursed? The story became so repetitive that Rowbottom convinced THB
enough that he stopped reading about 2/3 of the way. Strange illnesses,
undiagnosed cancers, bad choices in men, much unenjoyable sex, dieting,
drinking and drugs, all intermixed with the history of the advertising of JELL-O
mirroring feminist moments in time.
The Idea of
Perfection, Kate
Grenville (novel, hardback, pub’d 2002): So slow, two horribly overthinking
strangers come to a sleepy back of the bush Australian town and proceed to bore
THB to death. Definitely not THB’s idea of perfection.
The Old
Drift, Namwali
Serpell (novel, hardback): Another African saga which THB could not finish.
Unfortunately, THB knows and likes Namwali, she’s a charming, bright person,
with great reviews. Some things can’t be explained.
Total Books:
The sort:
-
17 Top
Picks: 10 non-fiction, 7 fiction; 9 male, 8 female authors
-
30 Recommended:
17 non-fiction, 13 fiction; 14 male, 16 female authors
-
25 Neutral: 14
non-fiction, 11 fiction; 18 male, 7 female authors
-
1 Something
Else book: 1 non-fiction; 1 female
author
-
17 Not
Recommended: 7 non-fiction, 10 fiction; 10 male, 7 female authors
-
49 non-fiction,
41 novels; 51 male, 39 female
-
90 books is
right on the yearly average mark
|
|
Total
books
|
Non-Fiction/
Fiction
|
Top
Picks
NF/F
|
Recommend
NF/F
|
Neutral
NF/F
|
Something
Else
|
Not
Reco’d
|
|
2019
|
90
|
49/41
|
18
total
10/7
|
30 Total
17/13
|
25 total
14/11
|
1 total
1/0
|
17 Total
7/10
|
|
2018
|
91
|
44/47
|
15
total
8/7
|
34 Total
18/16
|
19 total
10/9
|
2 total
1/1
|
21 Total
9/12
|
|
2017
|
107
|
48/59
|
12
Total
8/4
|
45 Total
21/24
|
29 Total
14/15
|
0 (no books)
|
21 Total
5/16
|
|
2016
|
100
|
50/50
|
14
Total
13/1
|
42 Total
23/19
|
19 Total
13/7
|
4 Total (+5)
2/2
|
20 Total
4/16
|
|
2015
|
84
|
47/37
|
14
Total
8/6
|
36 Total
22/14
|
11 Total
5/6
|
4 Total
3/1
|
19 Total
9/10
|
|
2014
|
95
|
48/46
|
8 (+2) Total
4/4
|
36 Total 22/14
|
29 Total 12/17
|
2 Total
2/0
|
18 Total
6/11
|
|
2013
|
91
|
46/45
|
12 Total
5.5/6.5
|
42 Total 24/18
|
21 Total 12/9
|
3 Total 1.5/1.5
|
13 Total
3/10
|
|
2012
|
77
|
36/41
|
8 Total
4/4
|
26 Total
9/17
|
29 Total 19/15
|
3 Total
all N-F
|
11 Total
6/5
|
|
2011
|
53
|
22/31
|
10 Total
4/6
|
25 Total
13/12
|
11 Total
5/6
|
-
|
7 Total
All Fiction
|
Posts
always enjoy you, and your posts...a special shout out to Donna! best, Ellen
ReplyDeleteHello Ellen: some day we'll re-unite on a trip and do a lot of catching up! thx, thb
ReplyDelete