THE BOOKS I READ IN 2023
Presented in the order I finished them (L to R).
Nothing Like it in the World - Stephen E. Ambrose
It’s about the building of the transcontinental railroad across America. Rebecca’s stepdad Mark said it was great and… don’t tell him but I thought this was not great. It’s fine. Not great. Wouldn’t recommend. Perhaps he oversold it… Okay, if you LOVE trains then read it, but otherwise, it’s a wikipedia entry - which sounds bad and I realize that but I’m standing by this one. I can’t like evert book! Fight me.
Thinking in Pictures: The Making of Matewan - John Sayles
Rebecca did a program at the Film Center called Sayles on Sayles in the dark days of The Panny (The Covid Pandemic of 2020 - ??? for those who are uninitiated) which was films by John Sayles and then talk backs with him and in prep for that we watched almost all of his films together. This book is great for any filmmaker at any stage because he breaks down the process in a very clear way and he’s got a lot of passion about storytelling and filmmaking. It’s not long and good if you’ve been on zero sets or one hundred sets.
The Black Jacobins - C.L.R. James
When I started working on the Haiti documentary, How (not) to Build a School in Haiti a decade ago, I read everything I could on Haiti and international economic development. This book was on the list and I never got around to it, so after finishing the film and getting it out to film festivals and distribution I finally had a chance to check it out. This is a very good history of the Haitian revolution and I would say is a must-read for anyone interested in the subject matter. Also, anyone who is interested in better understanding America, our relationship with slavery, and the systems around it should read this book. So, basically it should be mandatory reading for everyone.
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold - John Le Carré
It’s the OG spy novel and I’d never read it. It’s great. I have nothing to add to the conversation about this book. The movie is a very good adaptation as well if you’re too lazy to read what is a very short and readable book!
The Labors of Hercules - Agatha Christie
Christie!
Ender’s Game - Orson Scott Card
I had never read this and it’s one of my friend Kate’s favorite books, so thought I’d check it out! I feel like everyone else has already read this book, so what is there to say? The biggest thing that came out of this book was that in the forward, Orson Scott Card talks about his inspirations for Ender’s Game was the The Army of the Potomac trilogy by Bruce Catton - which tells the story of the American army during the civil war and how long it took for the army to be matched with a general that could finally beat Lee and the rebels. Orson Scott Card used that story as inspiration for Ender. That with a good general, an army can be good and with a bad one, it can be bad. So, as you will see later on this list, I read those.
A Cure for Suicide - Jesse Ball
Recommended by my buddy Nick Aiello! Takes place in a near future where, you guessed it, they have a cure for suicide… what can go wrong?! Written by a Chicago-based author, Jesse Ball, this book was wonderful. I don’t really want to give it away because part of the joy is how it unfolds - all I will say is that he matches a really compelling high concept idea - no more suicide - with really beautiful, almost poetry-like, prose that makes you question everything in a good way - not in a suicidal way.
The Army of the Potomac: Mr. Lincoln’s Army - Bruce Catton
These books start at the start of the American Civil War and focuses on the titular Army of the Potomac through the lens of who the general was at the time. We start our journey with the guy who is just the absolute worst - George McClellan. It catalogues his strengths as a military organizer and how he cared for the men in the army, but also details how his inaction and personal politics probably led to the war dragging on far longer than it should have. He’s an unbelievably frustrating “character” - clearly gifted but flawed. This book takes us from Peninsula Campaign and Second Bull Run, and culminates in the horrors of Antietam.Five Little Pigs - Agatha Christie
More Christie!
The Army of the Potomac: Glory Road - Bruce Catton
We start this part of the Civil War story with Henry Halleck taking over from McClellan right after Fredericksburg (where the American army got absolutely slaughtered by the rebels), how they squandered a potential win at Chancellorsville, and then leads up to Gettysburg.
Rebecca and I heard him on Fresh Air and were so taken by his interview that I got the book - IN HARDCOVER y’all - and read it immediately. It’s great. Really makes you think about how our world is built - just think that we dedicate so much of our cities to parking - space that sits empty for most of the time or is used to hold a car that isn’t used more than it is used! Craziness! He also converted me on the idea that there should be no free parking. Fight me!
Killers of the Flower Moon - David Grann
Fascinating story. Worthy of being told. It read too much like a NYT article and less like a piece of literature and for me was hard to get into the characters as much as I wanted. I felt like I was too removed from the events and actions to get really invested. I will not go into detail on my thoughts about the film adaptation in this venue.
The Army of the Potomac: A Stillness at Appomattox - Bruce Catton
Wherein, we win thanks to US Grant grinding the Army of Northern Virginia down to dust. This book won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award - which is sort of like Return of the King winning all of the Oscars for all of the Lord of the Rings movies. The Army of the Potomac trilogy is must-read for US history buffs, military buffs, and American history readers. Catton is an outstanding writer and the books move on at a really quick pace.
Benjamin Franklin - Walter Isaacson
If you’re going to be any of the Founding Fathers, be Benjamin Franklin. Great sayings, lived a long time, a scientist, politician, lived abroad, generally considered a good dude, and is the only one of them that was a part of and/or responsible for - arguably - the most important documents that made America possible: The Declaration of Independence (separating from Britain), The Treaty of Paris (which ended the war between Britain and the brand spankin’ new USA) and a little thing called the US Constitution (the thing that holds us all together) - he’s the only one. George Washington can’t say that!
Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West - Cormac McCarthy
Same guy who did No Country for Old Men - this book has no quotes when characters speak and is one of the most violent things I’ve ever read in my life. I will say I did not like reading it, but I like having read it. So, this book is like going for a run - awful during, but afterwards you’re glad you did it. I read that there’s been a few folks who have tried or want to try and adapt it into a movie, but I can’t imagine it working unless it was rated X. It’s truly truly violent and gets under your skin in a really effective way… which is the goal, so it’s a good book but, you know, not a laugh riot.
The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order - Samuel P. Huntington
Interesting book - the big takeaway for me was his theory that the world can be broken into 9 distinct cultures: Western (USA/Europe), Orthodox (Russia and some of the Steppe countries), Islamic (Middle East and Northern Africa), Buddhist (SE Asia mainly), Hindu (India), African (the rest of Africa), Latin American (Central and South America), Sinic (China), and Japanese (Japan) - and that you’ll see the most wars or conflicts where those different cultures meet. So, Ukraine is split as a country between Western and Orthodox and we are now seeing that in a clash of civilizations. Israel could be another example of this as well. It’s interesting to think about and interesting because his point of view is widely read amongst governments and so whether it is true or not - it’s true because they think its true.
Mrs. McGinty’s Dead - Agatha Christie
Even more Christie!
Black Coffee - Agatha Christie
A play! One of the few Agatha Christie plays. It’s a good one. This one is actually from earlier in her career, but I just got it - so read this one out of order.
FAKE! The Story of Elmyr de Hory the Greatest Art Forger of Our Time - Clifford Irving
I finished this in like 3 days. Irving is a great writer and the subject is fascinating. The Orson Welles movie - F for Fake is based - somewhat - on this book. That movie is more about fakery than about Elmyr, although he plays a large part as ‘the greatest art forger of our time.’ After writing this book, Clifford Irving later went on to create a hoax around being the biographer for Howard Hughes and got caught. After that he wrote a book about creating the hoax! And this was then made into a Richard Gere movie, The Hoax! So many books and movies about lies! This book tells the story of Elmyr de Hory who forged paintings by Picasso, Modigliani, Matisse, and many more. This book should be a movie. Loved it. 10 out of 10. Would read again. I loved it.