THB's 2020 Annual Book List: Recommended books

 2020 Book List: Recommended Books

Note 1: Kindle version unless otherwise noted. Non-fiction unless (novel) is appended. This year THB switched over to supporting local book stores by buying many hardbacks (at LB’s suggestion, a good one!).

Note 2: Intro repeats...

·      The CO-19 pandemic: sheltering in place encouraged THB to read more, source his books from independent book stores, notice how often pandemics were mentioned in books pub’d before the pandemic started. THB rarely watches much TV and when baseball got off to a 4 month delay it created even more free reading time.

·      The George Floyd protests: finally, there is a sustained mass movement to re-examine the political, cultural and military power as the dominant features of western democracies where white supremacy maintains one group’s advantages to the disadvantage of all others.

·      DJT: the wrong leader at the wrong time, willing to kill Americans of all colors especially those of color or over 75, to further his strongly held essence and the motivation for re-election. Can the bully win? Is folie a deux (a shared madness or delusional disorder) the way to run a country? Can one man dominate almost every possible conversation across the entire world? President Inappropriate can/did. Would you wear a mask to save someone's life?

Department of Conclusions:

1.  Somehow this all translated into THB finding more Highly Recommended and Recommended books. Influenced by reading “real” books? Heightened awareness of content being more impactful given the environment? Better books found to read? Reading more books published years ago? More memoirs?

2.     THB read way more translated books this year than normal, and for the most part they were either Highly Recommended or Recommended. THB thinks this because the translators have greatly improved…can it possibly be that THB has become more “liberal” in his reading choices?

3.     At a certain point this year (around April), THB became almost afraid to start a novel, fearing it would be too “light or fluffy” given the demons ravishing the landscape in 2020. Maybe so...

In order read; first just titles and authors, then in same order with highly arbitrary descriptions. Non-fiction - 18, Fiction - 23

1.     33 Artists in 3 Acts, Sarah Thornton (hardback, pub’d 2014)

2.     The Topeka School, Ben Lerner (novel)

3.     Indonesia Etc., Exploring the Improbable Nation, Elizabeth Pisani (pub'd 2014)

4.     The Dancer, Ahmed Tohari (novel, translated, pub'd 2003)

5.   On Desperate Ground, the Epic Story of Choisin Reservoir...the Greatest Battle of the Korean War, Hampton Sides

6.     Pig Earth, John Berger (novel, used paperback, pub'd 1979)

7.     Every Man in this Village Is a Liar, An Education in War, Megan Stack (used hardback, pub'd 2010)

8.     Night Boat to Tangiers, Kevin Barry (hardback, novel)

9.  Strange Weather in Tokyo, Hiromi Kawakami (paperback, novel, pub'd 2012, translated)

10. The Dictionary Wars, the American Fight Over the English Language, Peter Martin

11. The Granmarians, Cathleen Schine (novel)

12. The Arrogant Years, One Girl's Search for Her Lost Youth, from Cairo to Brooklyn, Lucette Lagnado (paperback, pub'd 2011) 

13. Midnight in Chernobyl, the Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster, Adam Higginbotham (library hardback)

14. The Illness Lesson, Clare Beams (novel, hardback)

15. The King at the Edge of the World, Arthur Phillips (novel, hardback)

16. Five Days Gone, the Mystery of My Mother’s Disappearance as a Child, Laura Cummings (hardback)

17. A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves, One Family and Migration in the 21^st Century, Jason DeParoe (hardback)

18. Real Life, Brandon Taylor (novel, hardback)

19. The Gray Notebook (1918), Josep Pla (translated, paperback)

20. Beheld, TaraShea Nesbit (novel, hardback)

21. The Wives of Los Alamos, TaraShea Nesbit (novel, paperback, pub’d 2014)

 

22. Begin Again, Eddie Glaude Jr (hardback)

23. Know My Name, A Memoir, Chanel Miller (hardback)

24. Guest House for Young Widows, Among the Women of ISIS, Azadeh Moaveni (hardback)

25. Sula, Toni Morrison (novel, hardback, pub’d 1977)

26. A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise, a True Story about Schizophrenia, Sandy Allen (paperback, pub’d 2019)

27. Luster, Raven Leilani (novel, hardback)

28. The Gone Dead, Chanelle Benz (novel, paperback)

29. What’s Left of Me is Yours, Stephanie Scott (novel, hardback)

30. Stolen Lives, Twenty Years in a Desert Jail, Malika Oufkir and Michele Fitoussi (paperback, pub'd 1990, translated)

31. Sisters, Daisy Johnson (novel, hardback)

32. American Nations, A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North  America, Colin Woodard (pub’d 2011)

33. Heaven and Earth, Paolo Giordano (novel, translated, hardback)

34. Pew, Catherine Lacey (novel)

35. The Eyes of the Queen, Leopoldo Gout (writing under the pen name of Oliver Clements, with Toby Gout; novel)

36. Entangled Life, How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures, Merlin Sheldrake (hardback)

37. The Boy In the Field, Margot Livesey (novel)

38. Tokyo Ueno Station, Yu Miri (novel, translated)

39. High As the Waters Rise, Anja Kampmann (hardback, novel, translated)

40. Boys & Sex, Young Men on Hookups, Love, Porn, Consent and Navigating the New Masculinity, Peggy Orenstein (hardback)

41. Straight from the Horse’s Mouth, Meryem Alaouin (novel, paperback, translated)

 

33 Artists in 3 Acts, Sarah Thornton (hardback, pub’d 2014): most of the vignettes take place between 2004 and 2012, and THB was already aware of some (probably from Sarah’s other art focused book, Seven Days in the Art World). Some of the artists are very well known, some not, and some new to THB, many not.

The Topeka School, Ben Lerner (novel): mostly a coming of age story of a talented high school “debater” raised by psychotherapists in the mid-west in the 1980-90s. Divided into mostly as-told-by chapters: mom, dad, son, schoolmate contemporary of son. Good distribution of interior monologues and action, just of enough of each to help THB understand what was going on. Author also a poet: always a good indication that the language will be intellectually challenging.

Indonesia Etc., Exploring the Improbable Nation, Elizabeth Pisani (pub'd 2014): basically, an excellent explanation of what you see when visiting Jakarta, Bali and a few other non-industrialized islands. Many people living a life un-imagined in the 1980s and many living the same life pre-1980s all the way back to the 1500s. Highly recommended if you are soon to go to, are in, or have just left Indonesia

The Dancer, Ahmed Tohari (novel, translated, pub'd 2003): Taking place in the late 1950s, a beautiful young Indonesian teenager decides she wants to be a dancer, not really understanding that the career includes being a prostitute. Her grandparents turn her over to a couple (grandparents age) that train her and then pimp her out, selling her virginity (twice) and then promoting her throughout the district. It is a big thing for her village, still in the dark ages and very destitute, as it bring them fame and fortune, putting local musicians to work as her band. The novel (really a trilogy of novellas) also covers the events of 1965 when 400,000 to a million “Communists and sympathizers” were murdered by the government, a part of Indonesia’s history they don’t promote or acknowledge. A movie based on the book, also called The Dancer, shows the 1965 events more explicitly. 

On Desperate Ground, the Epic Story of Choisin Reservoir...the Greatest Battle of the Korean War, Hampton Sides: If you want an easy-to-read overview of the decisive "end" to the Korean War, this is the book for you. If you like to draw parallels, then you will find much similarity between General MacArthur and DJT after reaching the pinnacle of their careers, both "stable geniuses" in their own minds with loyalty their only criteria in staff. 

Pig Earth, John Berger (novel, used paperback, pub'd 1979): the first of the Into Their Labours trilogy, focused on the life in a small southern French village (unnamed). The stories meander back and forth from the late 1800s to the 1960s with focus on the time between the world war, shown through the lives of "peasants" and not those living in the village center or towns or cities. Mixed in are a few poems that enhance the readiing pleasure. Volume 1 is a fast, short read, and easily the best of the three.  

Every Man in this Village Is a Liar, An Education in War, Megan Stack (used hardback, pub'd 2010): An impressionistic overview of war in the various Middle East countries and Afghanistan between 2000 and 2007. If you need a reminder of what war does to individuals and groups, this is a well written way to get it. 

Night Boat to Tangiers, Kevin Barry (hardback, novel): At first THB thought it was a prose version of Waiting for Godot, or maybe No Exit. By the end THB was convinced it was  more likely the song The Port of Amsterdam (the Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris version, though Bowie also does an excellent version). It's about two guys in their early 50s who go back 30+ years, waiting for the a boat and the arrival of a 23 year old girl from Morocco. Recommended even though lots of alcohol, drugs and melancholy 

Strange Weather in Tokyo, Hiromi Kawakami (paperback, novel, pub'd 2012, translated): a fast read of a melancholy love story of a former high school teacher (of Japanese!) in his mid to late 70s and a former very mediocre student of his who is 30+ years younger than he is. They meet at a local  spot for oden (bar+food) in their neighborhood, reconnect (mostly over sake' and beer and various Japanese specialties), nominally in their former roles of teacher and student. Normally THB is not a sucker for a love story with a lot of drinking and a happy ending; this one grew on him - THB is old!. Also by Kawakami: The Ten Loves of Noshino, a 2019 Recommended book. 

The Dictionary Wars, the American Fight Over the English Language, Peter Martin: an excellent review of the history of building a dictionary from an American perspective. The first two thirds of the book focuses on Noah Webster and his son-in-law's efforts, the last third on the battle for supremacy. Spoiler alert: guy with no scruples wins out when combined with the final outcome being the better product. Bonus points if you can name the winners of the war without peeking at the conclusion. Enhanced on an e-reader as dictionary entries are just a click away. 

The Granmarians, Cathleen Schine (novel): The story of identical twins in love with words. Sounds right up THB's alley! The arc spans almost their entire lifespan(s?), with a bittersweet last 30 pages or so. Somehow their parents come off as loving, sensible humans. Recommended if you have an affinity for twins, Neutral if you think a book about siblings is sweet and maybe charming. 

The Arrogant Years, One Girl's Search for Her Lost Youth, from Cairo to Brooklyn, Lucette Lagnado (paperback, pub'd 2011): Part two of her memoir, focused on her relationship with her mother this time (The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit was mainly about her father). Keenly aware of being outspoken as a youth in the midst of an orthodox Jewish community, Lagnado grows up to be an investigative reporter, surviving several major illnesses along the way. Well written, insightful about others (if not always herself), and the longest Acknowledgements section THB has ever seen.  

Midnight in Chernobyl, the Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster, Adam Higginbotham (library hardback): A great companion to the 5 part HBO series, a story well told and easy to understand. Even better if you want to see how the hubris of mixing government oversight focused on making sure the Communist Party always looked good (rather than "effective") ended in more than the usual bungling, mismanagement and all the wrong incentives: this time it cost trillions, made a huge area of land uninhabitable by humans, and then became a tourist site! 

The Illness Lesson, Clare Beams (novel, hardback): in the early 1870s, the narrator’s father opens his second school, with 8 teenager girls, with plans to treat the girls as equals in learning as boys. Dad (a widower), the unmarried daughter, and an admirer of the father’s essays are the teachers. Things quickly go awry (there's a unique sexual cure used) as one of the students is the daughter of a famous author who, before dying, wrote a novel about the father’s first school, taught in the same location as the second.  Apparently heavily indebted to Little Women; it may have been over 50 years since THB read LW so he is not one to judge. 

The King at the Edge of the World, Arthur Phillips (novel, hardback): A light historical fiction. The doctor to the Sultan is sent to England as part of  a one-year mission to cement ties between the Muslim Turks and the Christian England ruled by Elizabeth I. Through a variety of plot twists, the Queen’s secret service ends up using the physician to ascertain whether James VI of Scotland leans Protestant (as is the Queen, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn), or Catholic (as England was before Henry VIII created the Church of England). 

Five Days Gone, the Mystery of My Mother’s Disappearance as a Child, Laura Cummings (hardback): a poignant telling of the secret history of a mother, born in a small village in northeast England in the late 1920s, as to her relationship with her parents and the villagers. Everyone alive then seemed to know the story except mom, as they interacted with her for close to her first 20 years of life. Her daughter unravels the story in a slow, artistic, sincere way. One spoiler: mom goes from being Grace to Betty to Elizabeth before she’s 30 (or is it 25?). 

A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves, One Family and Migration in the 21^st Century, Jason DeParoe (hardback): the non-fiction counterpart to the novel America Is Not the Heart by Elaine Castillo, a 2018 Recommended book. De Parle, a NYT writer for many years, started following a dirt-poor family in the Philippines many years ago. One of the daughters of this family (among many, many family members) allowed DeParle extensive access and provides a deep understanding of the personal trials and tribulations while slipping in a few chapters on the waves of immigration history. 

Real Life, Brandon Taylor (novel, hardback): Quite a weekend for Wallace, an introverted, black, Southern gay bichem grad student living out the decisions of life inside his own head. His counterparts all come alive during the turmoil of Wally’s indecisiveness and inability to share himself with others. This form of self-protectiveness is seen through the prism of his childhood development. 

The Gray Notebook (1918), Josep Pla (translated, paperback): Pla revisited his journals written when he was 21-22 many years later (after becoming a journalist and author).  Note: each year is long, about equal number of pages, so THB split them in two and read each separately rather than continuously.

In 1918 he was living at one of several family homes in a small village in Catalan while the university he attended was closed for 9 months due to the world-wide influenza pandemic. Spending almost all his time with friends drinking, dining, walking, all while in deep philosophical conversations. In 1919 school starts up again and Pla finishes his law degree and, as he has to support himself, ends up through a friend working at a newspaper as an intern. This starts him on his way to his new profession; he never practices law

Captivating: rich, detailed, illustrating the stress on his very well-off family (whose fortunes are in decline) as they watch him “waste” a year of his life. Pla grew up in the small village of Palafrugell, near where THB and DB spent a week of our sabbatical in 1989, and much of the location is familiar. And, with barely a mention in the journals, WWI ends and towards the end of the war the flu pandemic spreads. 

Beheld, TaraShea Nesbit (novel, hardback): It’s 1630 in the recently started town of Plymouth (the colonies had not yet formed) and focuses on the struggles of the Puritans (in charge) and non-Puritans (considered Godless). Much of the narration is by the wives, and thus has a much softer tone that if the brutal men in charge were telling the story.

The Wives of Los Alamos, TaraShea Nesbit (novel, paperback, pub’d 2014): THB enjoyed Beheld and went backwards to this one, another relatively light (all novels seem light in 2020) impressionistic retelling of the story of the making of the bomb as seen from outside the walls of the facility (and stories) of the scientists (almost all men).

Begin Again, Eddie Glaude Jr (hardback): Glaude is a professor of African-American religion at Princeton (sociologist?). Here he uses the words and life of James Baldwin to examine the inherent 450 years of racism in the US. So, not a biography, partly a memoir, and a heavy reckoning of the conceits of  “big lie” and “value gap” in America, from the earliest days of European settlements to today, on how blacks have been systematically enslaved, and propagation of white supremacy culminating (so far) in DJT’s blatant embracing of this tragic and crushing ideology. 

Know My Name, A Memoir, Chanel Miller (hardback): A strong recounting of the 3+ years immediately after a sexual assault on the Stanford campus in 2015 by the assaulted woman. In fact, if you decide to read anything about her story, find her Victim Impact Statement (first pub’d on buzzfeed) or watch her read it on 60 Minutes. Part of the results of her fortitude: more emphasis on the victims than the victimizers and judges not giving lenient sentences because jail or prison time will ruin the victimizers’ lives. 

Guest House for Young Widows, Among the Women of ISIS, Azadeh Moaveni (hardback): THB has now read all three of Moaveni’s books, and she continues to give an insightful, balanced view of the Mid-East over the last 10+ years or so. This time she focuses on the rises of ISIS and how a diverse group of young (to very young) women from different countries were lured into Syria to join with ISIS in opposing Assad. Basic premise: if your starting point is a sense of disadvantage and disrespect, it is very hard to realize the choices you make needed to be more thoroughly research and considered before leaping into what turns out to be a messy unknown. Can teenagers do that? Can the modern social tools on the internet be used for dissembling? 

Sula, Toni Morrison (novel, hardback, pub’d 1977): Morrison’s 2^nd book, not dissimilar to the Bluest Eye and THB probably read the two of them too close together to fully appreciate Sula. Still, another clear view of the different lives Blacks lead than whites. 

A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise, a True Story about Schizophrenia, Sandy Allen (paperback, pub’d 2019): a niece gets a typed-in-all-caps manuscript for her Uncle Bob and sets off exploring both his life and what it meant to him to be challenged by being labeled with ill-defined mental illness in his teens. Takes place in N. Calfornia and mostly in the East Bay so THB was very familiar with many of the locations mentioned. His father and step-mother eventually set him up in his own isolated place where Bob can be himself. Both heartwarming and chilling, and makes you realize how fortunate some people with “mental illness” are in having a safe space created for them. 

Luster, Raven Leilani (novel, hardback): A relatively short book that sparkles through the 2^nd half with deep, intense writing that evokes the emotions of a well-done painting. The newly out of work artist/narrator, a 23 year-old Black woman, becomes entangled with an older white couple and their adopted 13 year-old Black girl. Leilani manages to make the interactions of this bizarre foursome feel real through the narrator’s deepening understanding of what is happening to her and how she got to this point. 

The Gone Dead, Chanelle Benz (novel, paperback): A 34-year-old bi-racial woman inherits a shack in rural Mississippi and ends up trying to solve the cause of death in 1972 of her Black poet father that took place 31 years ago. Her father died in the front yard in what was ruled a suicide while she was asleep in the shack (she was too young to remember anything). And, there are people around that don’t want her to find out how he really died, don’t want her living in the shack and don’t want her involved with white folks. They don’t like her dog, either. 

What’s Left of Me is Yours, Stephanie Scott (novel, hardback): this book felt very familiar to THB. Turns out it is based on a non-fiction book by Richard Lloyd Perry that THB read years ago and really liked. Takes place in Japan and revolves around the occupation of someone hired to lure (mostly wives) into adultery so that the (mostly) husbands can file for divorce and take all the couple’s possessions (including children, where sole custody by one parent is the norm). Lots of emotion and details about Japanese customs. 

Stolen Lives, Twenty Years in a Desert Jail, Malika Oufkir and Michele Fitoussi (paperback, pub'd 1990, translated): How a well-connected Moroccan girl is "adopted" by the king to be the princess's sister/friend and ends up serving 20 years in prison with 8 others (6 of whom were family members). At first, it seems like the rich, spoiled girl goes bad story and then morphs into how to survive what amounts to internal exile. Can a king betrayed be benign, and can the child pay the price for the father's crime? Well told, humbling, and a good illustration of how extended captivity warps the prisoner. 

Sisters, Daisy Johnson (novel, hardback): a mother and two daughters (15 and 16 years old) relocated to an isolated house in N. Yorkshire after something happens at their school and their divorced/widowed mother decides they have to get physically away. Short, snappy, and well-conceived to conceal what is really happening to the three of them.

American Nations, A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North American, Colin Woodward (pub’d 2011): 400 years condensed into 300 pages and only the last ten deal with the new reality: Biden won approximately 15% of the counties, and those counties represent 70% of the GDP. Several truisms come to THB’s mind: there are two kinds of people, those that divide the world in to 4 quadrants and those that don’t (in this case, 11, or is 12?); and you are whatever you were (back) then. Using very small original sample sizes, Woodward extrapolates quite grandly cultural regional stereotypes to support his thesis. Still, raises lots of issues relevant to today, for example: DJT is really Andrew Jackson reincarnated – both being white supremacists and not from Deep South; what would the US look like now if the “Deep South” had quietly seceded – Canada! The Deep South finally got their own president in DJT, who was born a New Netherland’er (i.e., a NY city boy).

Heaven and Earth, Paolo Giordano (novel, translated, hardback): Although he hasn’t conceded quite yet, DJT is a LOSER! And, maybe not coincidentally, THB makes it through a thoroughly enjoyable, well-written, chic-lit novel. The narrator starts out telling her story when she is a 14 year-old spending the month at her grandmother’s house (with her father) and finishes when she’s a 32 year-old with a lot to explain, mostly having to do with getting involved with the family that lives near her grandmother’s villa in Puglia.

Pew, Catherine Lacey (novel): a very strange stranger comes to a very odd town. Pew is a “nickname” given to a mute teen found asleep in a church. Pew is passed around and ends up part of a “forgive and forget” atonement annual day (no, not Yom Kippur; this town is in the South and is very Christian). A fast and troubling read.

The Eyes of the Queen, Leopoldo Gout (writing under the pen name of Oliver Clements, with Toby Gout; novel): a story much told about Elizabeth I and her cousin once removed, Mary Queen of Scots, Protestants vs Catholics, and intrigue. Short, snappy, with real-life figures John Dee and Francis Walsingham as the protagonists.

Entangled Life, How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures, Merlin Sheldrake (hardback): a quote from the book right near the end – Many fungi species have no distinctive characteristics that can be used to define their identity – sums it up. Lots of fascinating “facts” about fungi, and much about (why) fungal matters. And lots of statements about how little is known of fungi. Or: Grandpa, why are their more questions than answers. Ed. note: Merlin has a brother named Cosmo, a musician. Also recommended: Lives of a Cell and the Selfish Gene and a documentary, Kiss the Ground 

The Boy In the Field, Margot Livesey (novel): Short snappy story of 3 British siblings living near Oxford in 1999 who find a young man lying in a field near death from being stabbed earlier in the day. Six weeks go by, and much happens to the siblings and their parents (the story is not really about the stabbed young man), with a short epilogue set eight years later.

Tokyo Ueno Station, Yu Miri (novel, translated): homelessness in Japan (specifically Osaka and Tokyo) exists, like much of all major cities worldwide, though in very much smaller numbers than in the US. The story of a man who works remotely for most of his family life when the death of his son unhinges him.

High As the Waters Rise, Anja Kampmann (hardback, novel, translated): A man goes on a backwards odyssey of grief.  After Waclaw, a Polish born West German of around 42, discovers his lover has disappeared from an offshore oil rig (they were on staggered shifts), he returns to shore and after a series of visits of his former stops in life (in reverse) he eventually finds himself in the town where he deserted his wife around 20 years earlier. Not a happy ending. Kampmann is a poet, this is her first novel, and it is extremely well crafted to give the reader an existential sense of not belonging…anywhere.

Boys & Sex, Young Men on Hookups, Love, Porn, Consent and Navigating the New Masculinity, Peggy Orenstein (hardback): Clearly today America’s youth ain’t going through sexual orientation and maturation the way it happened for THB in the 60s. Two great stats: the US has spent over $2 billion dollars on abstinence programs and the results for those taking the course in school have higher rates of pregnancies and STDs (clearly, Red states are abstinence promoters) and no positive impacts on age or number of partners; the Dutch start sex education with 4 year-olds and have much more positive outcomes across the board than American youth.

Straight from the Horse’s Mouth, Meryem Alaouin (novel,  paperback, translated): light and fluffy, how an idiot savant grumpy self-important 30+ year old prostitute in Casablanca makes it big, very big, in television.