I don’t know about you, but there’s no better refuge from all the noise these days than losing yourself for an hour or so in good book. Less Facebook and more face IN a book was again the mission in 2019.
My Top 10 pictured here.
Book of the Year goes to “Know My Name” by Chanel Miller, a work that left me staggered by the clout of its raw courage. Have not been so affected by a book since “When Breath Becomes Air,” the posthumous memoir by Paul Kalanithi.
Here’s the full reading list. So. What’s on YOUR night stand? Happy 2020!
Transcription, Kate Atkinson 2
Dear Los Angeles, David Kipen 5
A House for Mr. Biswas, V.S Naipul 4
The Mars Room, Rachel Kushner 5
Valley of Genius, Adam Fisher 4
Blowing the Bloody Doors Off, Michael Caine 4
Power Ball, Rob Neyer 5
The Library Book, Susan Orlean 5+
Zucked, Roger McNamee 4
American Prison, Shane Bauer 4
A Place For Us, Fatima Farheen Mirza 4
Orbiting The Giant Hairball, Gordon MacKenzie 3
Dreyer’s English, Benjamin Dreyer 5++
The Source of Self-Regard, Toni Morrison 4
Heavy, Kiese Laymon 5
The Woman in the Window, AJ Finn 2
You Know You Want This, Kristen Roupenian 5
These Truths, Jill Lepore 5
Bowlaway, Elizabeth McCracken 3
The Night Tiger, Yangsze Choo 3
The Largess of the Sea Maiden, Denis Johnson 5+
American Spy, Lauren Wilkinson 3
Lake Success, Gary Shreyngart 5+
The Parade, Dave Eggers 4
Asymmetry, Lisa Halliday 5
Frederick Douglass, Prophet of Freedom,
David W. Blight 5+
The Unwinding of the Miracle, Julie Yip-Williams 5
Hold Fast Your Crown, Yannick Haenel 3
Ikigai. Giving Every Day Meaning and Joy, Yukari Mitsubishi 4
Ikigai. The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life 2
Super Sad True Love Story, Gary Shteyngart 4
Hattiesburg, William Sturkey 4
Survival Math, Mitchell S. Jackson 5+
Once Upon a River, Diane Setterfield 2
Killing Commendatore, Haruki Murakami 5+
An Orchestra of Minorities, Chigozie Obioma 5
How to Write an Autobiographical Novel, Alexander Chee 4
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki, Haruki Murakami 5+
The MVP Machine, Ben Lindbergh & Travis Sawchik 5+
Furious Hours, Casey Cep 5+
Erotic Stories For Punjabi Widows, Balli Kaur Jaswal 3
The Way of All Flesh, Ambrose Parry 5
Legacy, James Kerr 5+
Ikigai, Ken Mogi 3
Deep River, Karl Marlantes 4
Three Women, Lisa Taddeo 5+
Mrs. Everything, Jennifer Weiner 3
Men Without Women, Haruki Murakami 5
The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead, 3
The Lager Queen of Minnesota, J. Ryan Stradal 4
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Ocean Vuong 5
The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami 5+
The Opposite of Loneliness, Marina Keegan 5
She Said, Jodi Kantor & Megan Twohey 5
Fleishman Is In Trouble, Taffy Brodesser-Akner 5+
Outside Looking In. TC Boyle 5
The Travelers, Regina Porter 3
Chances Are, Richard Russo 4
The Monk of Mokha, Dave Eggers 5+
The River, Peter Heller 4
Catch and Kill, Ronan Farrow 4
Know My Name, Chanel Miller 5+++
Me, Elton John 5+
Our Man, George Packer 5
Talking to Strangers, Malcolm Gladwell 4
Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain 4
American Predator, Maureen Callahan 3The Old Drift, Namwali Serpell 4
The Topeka School, Ben Lerner 5+
Lot, Bryan Washington 4
The Mission of a Lifetime, Basil Hero 3