Books of the Year (Part I)

Books Of The Year 35-26

35. Too Dumb To Fail, Matt K. Lewis. Flaccid musings of a Weekly Standard Republican rendered moot by the rise of Trump. My full review

34. The Man’s Guide to Women, Douglas Abrams and John Gottman. Advice so banal, I do not remember any of it.

33. The Life Changing Magic of Not Giving A Fuck, Sarah Knight. Ditto.

32. The Lion in the Living Room, Abigail Tucker. Cat owner writes book about how awful it is that we own cats. My full review

31. Life Reimagined: The Science, Art & Opportunity of Midlife, Barbara Bradley Hagerty. Why can’t I get paid to take a two-year sojourn through what upper middle class white people do between ages 40 and 60? My full review 

30. How to See, David Salle. I really wanted to like this book because I love art, but most of the essays discuss artists only true aficionados know. Salle is a beautiful writer, he was just opining on people and work I had never heard of and could not care less about. 

29. The World According to Star Wars, Cass Sunstein. Stretching to find metaphors for life in the storylines of one of the most popular movie franchises in history should have produced a more interesting tome, but alas, no such luck. Plus, way too much discussion of the prequel trilogy most people rightly hold in as low regard as The Godfather III. 

28. Whistlestop, My Favorite Stories From Presidential History, John Dickerson. A few interesting anecdotes (the chapters on Ed Muskie and George Wallace are particularly strong) barely lift this otherwise forgettable recitation of presidential campaign stories familiar to anyone who has cracked a book about American history. 

27. The Best Worst President: What the Right Gets Wrong About Barack Obama, Mark Hannah. Reads like the work product of a Media Matters intern who tried to turn a white paper into a full-length book. 

26. F*ck Feelings, Dr. Michael Bennett and Sarah Bennett. Life is shitty and people are too. Amen. My full review