Another great year of book reading is …
well, “in the books.” Here’s my list of the (mostly) good stuff I got through:
Book
of the Year
Going
Clear
(Lawrence Wright): Mesmerizing exposé of the Church of Scientology. The first
half, which is essentially a condensed biography of founder L. Ron Hubbard, is
worth the price of admission, but the second half, which focuses on the Church’s
expansive reach into celebrity culture (and its heavy-handed attitude toward
naysayers), turns a good book into a superlative one.
Runners-Up
The
Unwinding (George
Packer): Likely to become the definitive account of the Great Recession.
Dallas
1963
(Bill Minutaglio and Steven Davis): After 50 years, you would think authors
would be out of fresh angles to look at the Kennedy Assassination, but you
would be wrong. This fascinating look at the right-wing movement in America during
JFK’s time has eerie parallels to the odious smears President Obama endures.
Honorable
Mention
The
Books They Gave Me
(Jen Adams): Not weighty enough for consideration as a top-tier book, but in
the grand tradition of Important
Artifacts (Leanne Shapton), Adams collects short stories of books given to
people by family members, loved ones and friends. What you end up with is a
tapestry of the bittersweet, mournful and romantic that makes us human.
Everything
Else
What Are You
Looking At? (Will Gompertz): Like Art History 101 in a single,
highly readable tome. Bonus? Will allow you to spot everything from a Monet to
a Hirst from 50 paces away.
On Saudi Arabia (Karen Elliott
House): Essential reading for anyone interested in understanding this critical
Middle Eastern country.
A Walk in the
Woods
(Bill Bryson): I found this mid-1990s Bryson story about his attempt to hike
the entire Appalachian Trial at a used book sale for 50 cents. As with all
things Bryson-ian, it’s granular and easy-to-read, but in this case, the story
flagged about half-way through.
Good Prose (Tracy Kidder
& Richard Todd): A writer and his long-time editor go Deliverance-dueling-banjoes with tips on improving your writing.
Probably should have paid closer attention.
Pound Foolish (Helaine Olen):
Insipid prose mixed with bourgeois snootiness for $200, Alex.
Quiet, The Power
of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking (Susan Cain):
Deliberative and analytical beats brassy and obnoxious. Got it.
On the Map (Simon Garfield):
2012 Book of the Year (Just My Type)
winner Simon Garfield’s follow-up surveys a millennia of map-making. Like
Bryson, Garfield’s pointillist style gets you deep in the weeds on arcane
subject matter. Highly recommended for the nerd on your holiday list.
Salt, Sugar, Fat
(Michael Moss): Confirms everything you would suspect
about BIG SNACK – they spend millions and millions of dollars figuring out ways
to get you to eat more and more of their unhealthy products in a way that will
make you crave more and not feel full. Deeply researched, well written and utterly
depressing to anyone who cares about nutrition, healthy eating and fitness.
The Story of
English in 100 Words
(David Crystal): Once upon a time, new words entered our vernacular
sporadically and through fusion with other native tongues. Now, the OED is
adding “frenemy” and “selfie” without batting an eyelash. Oh, how times have
changed.
The Way of the
Knife
(Mark Mazzetti): I expected to like this book about our counter-intelligence
operations more than I did. The book didn’t tell me a lot I did not already
know, but for those not well-versed in our post-9/11 black ops world, you might
like it.
1969, The Year
Everything Changed
(Rob Kirkpatrick): Ended up being part one of a three-part survey I did of the
1970s.
Confessions of a
Sociopath, A Life Spent Hiding in Plain Sight (M.E. Thomas): And the award for
my least favorite book of the year goes to …
My full review:
1973
Nervous Breakdown
(Andreas Killen): Part two of the Me Decade survey.
Banksy, The Man
Behind the Wall
(Will Ellsworth-Jones): I became a bit of a Banksy enthusiast after seeing his
brilliant documentary Exit Through the
Gift Shop, but this unauthorized biography doesn’t shed much additional
detail on the elusive graffiti artist.
Attached, The
New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help You Find and Keep Love (Dr. Amir
Levine and Rachel Heller): What happens when you go through a really bad
break-up and hope to find some answers in the self-help section of the library.
The Skies Belong
To Us
(Brendan Koerner): This book has landed on some end-of-the-year “best of” lists
and while I enjoyed learning about skyjacking in America in the early 1970s, I
did not think it was quite as good as others apparently did.
Lost Girls, An
Unsolved American Mystery (Robert Kolker): Ditto for this book about four
young women who came from different backgrounds but all met the same fate – trafficking
themselves for sex on the Internet and ending up dead on Long Island. In its
way, a story of the economic underclass in America and what lengths people will
do to escape it.
Difficult Men (Brett Martin):
An examination of the rise of the anti-hero (e.g., Tony Soprano, Don Draper,
Walter White) in the so-called “Golden Age” of modern TV. If you’re a fan of
any of these serious dramas, you will enjoy this behind-the-scenes look at how
they came into being and why they are so influential in popular culture.
Strange Rebels (Christian
Caryl): In ten years, we went from Nixon’s realpolitik, Brezhnev and Mao to the
rise of Khomeini, Thatcher, Deng and Pope John Paul II. The third part of my
1970s journey.
This Town (Mark Leibovich):
The “it” book of the summer for the political class. Unironically reveals D.C.
at its venal core.
JFK’s Last
Hundred Days
(Thurston Clarke): Here is another largely fresh take on the Kennedy years by studying
the months between the death of JFK’s son Patrick and his assassination in
Dallas. Clarke’s book is exhaustively researched and shows a President growing
into his job, mastering most of the details and supremely confident about the
future, which makes his untimely death all the more tragic.
Lapsing Into A
Comma
(Bill Walsh): I’m a sucker for a good English usage book.
Yes, I Could
Care Less
(Bill Walsh): Or two.
One Summer:
America 1927 (Bill Bryson): Anything Bryson writes, I will read, but this book, which clocked
in at 460 plus pages, felt overlong, particularly because it started out as a
lengthy examination of various aviators’ attempts to cross the Atlantic and
then devolved into a lot of smaller stories about anything and everything
historical/cultural that went down during this time period.
Double Down:
Game Change 2012
(Mark Halperin & John Heilemann): Junk food for political obsessives.
Hello,
Goodbye, Hello
(Craig Brown): A sort of six-degrees-of-separation leitmotif where chance
encounters between two famous people link everyone from Hitler to Elvis in pithy,
1,001 word (and not one word longer!) stories.
My full review:
