THE BOOKS I READ IN 2019
Presented in the order I read them (L to R).
1. The Murder on the Links - Agatha Christie
This is the second Hercule Poirot mystery by Christie and of the books I’ve read so far, probably my favorite. She’s so good and you never see it coming, but it’s not a rip off when the solve comes. Reading her is also a master class in an author knowing what exactly what the audience is thinking and the questions they are asking in their heads. She plays with you so well and it makes all of her books a lot of fun.
2. A New Way of Seeing - Kelly Grovier
The History of Art in 57 Works
The proposition of this book is that once a piece of art — like the Mona Lisa, Picasso’s Guernica, Velázquez’s Las Meninas, or Frida Kahlo’s Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird — is considered “great” we sorta stop seeing it. So, what Kelly does here is he has picked 57 different pieces arranged chronologically from Ashurbanipal Hunting Lions (c. 645-635 BC) to Marina Abramović’s The Artist is Present (2010) and spends a few pages giving some context and analysis. The thing that I found the most interesting was when he shows what this artist was either pulling from to create their art - or who has taken from the specific piece in the creation of their own.
Since there’s no real narrative, outside of just the history of art, you can pick it up and put It down whenever. The book is also beautifully photographed and laid out and endlessly absorbing that I will continue to reference for years to come.
3. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
Translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky
As I’ve been taking reading more seriously over the last few years, it’s obvious as to WHY one would read War and Peace. I suppose I read it to see what all the hubbub was about - one of the greatest books of all time, okay - let’s see how good you really are!. It’s incredible. It’s everything everyone says it is. It’s intimate and epic (it’s WAR and it’s ALSO PEACE), and there are sections and phrases and moments that stick will stick with me forever. It’s a real joy to be able to read good writing.
The real question here is why is my book cut in half - I like to say that it’s cut into the War part and the Peace part - and I say this because I am a huge nerd. So, I had read the first half and then was about to leave the country for three weeks for Ethiopia to work on a docu-style piece on this medical NGO doing work in Addis Ababa. I had read the first half of the book and was on a roll with it - really enjoying it and didn’t want to step away for three weeks. I also did not want to lug 1200 pages when I could lug 600 pages, so I sliced it in half, tied it in a cute string to keep it together afterwards :)
Look, I’m not saying I’m better than you for having read War and Peace and you haven’t……………….. BUT, I mean… I did read and understand it, so I’m not worse than you.
My love affair with Robert A. Caro - an American hero and a living legend -continues with this memoir he wrote about his process now that he’s well into his 80s. The only thing I am thinking while reading this book is that I hope hope hope he is able to finish his fifth and final book in The Years of Lyndon Johnson series.
5. Prisoners of Geography - Tim Marshall
Ten Maps that Explain Everything About the World
Geography. History. What’s not to love? Or, as the Fort Worth Star-Telegram says: "Fans of geography, history and politics (and maps) will be enthralled." - the 43 people out there who love those four hyper-specific things are going to go bonkers over this book. Well, I’m one of the 43 I suppose. This book uses geography to talk about how nations were formed, how mountains might restrict the flow into some places, and rivers might increase to another. The Mongols being able to conquer the entire known world on horseback has a lot to do with the terrain (flat). It also talks about how borders were created due to geographical constraints.
6. Poirot Investigates - Agatha Christie
True to the title, he investigates.
7. The Big Four - Agatha Christie
This book feels like the basis for a lot of spy movies that come after it. So, if you like spy novels and spy movies this one is worth reading. It feels like a total departure for her and this character. It has Poirot taking down an international spy cabal, you meet Poirot’s identical twin brother (sans mustache) and the climax happens at a place called “The Felsenlabyrinth”, which is just a cool word. This one is bonkers. It’s fun, and you don’t have to have read any of the other ones for it to work.
8. The Mystery of the Blue Train - Agatha Christie
The first of the train mysteries that Poirot participates in. This is a good one.
Let’s just start with the first thing you will learn in this book about Ulysses S Grant - good ole’ US Grant - and that is the “S” in his name stands for nothing, it was a mistake made on his enlistment papers and he kept it. So, for when you’re doing trivia in the future and the question, “what does ‘S’ stand for in Ulysses S Grant’s name?’ — the answer is NOTHING - IT’S A TRICK QUESTION, DON’T LET THE DILL-HOLES FROM THAT OTHER TEAM BEAT YOU ON THIS ONE!
Second thing you’ll learn in this book is that he was a real bad ass. He wrote his memoirs for Mark Twain because he was broke (he was a bad ass but a terrible business man, you cannot - apparently - have it all) and he was about to die from a gigantic awful tumor from throat cancer from all them cigars (SEE-GARRS) that he was famous for smoking.
It might sound quaint, but Grant’s story is truly the American Dream. He came from nothing, had hardships, was a no one, a drunk, kicked out of the army, a terrible businessman in civilian life. Then the Civil War breaks out and things aligned for him - through hard work, perseverance, and a whole lot of killing - he rose to defeat Lee and end the Civil War, and become President of the United States — only then to be betrayed, robbed, and finally died of cancer brought on from tobacco penniless (luckily for his wife, his memoirs were hugely successful and she was taken care of for the remainder of her life).
10. On Beauty and Being Just - Elaine Scarry
Rebecca and I were having a drink at Parson’s while waiting for Kate to arrive for them to have dinner. When she friend arrived, I spotted this book sticking out of her purse and was caught by the title, so… naturally I stuck my hand in her purse and took the book out. Luckily, she didn’t smack me across the face and allowed me to read. This is the opening sentence of the book:
“What is the felt experience of cognition at the moment one stands in the presence of a beautiful boy or flower or bird? It seems to incite, even to require, the act of replication. Wittgenstein says that when the eye sees something beautiful, the hand wants to draw it.”
This is how the book opens, I mean - you’d continue too, right?
It’s a philosophy book, so it’s not about anything but just making you think about STUFF. Quite a jump from Agatha Christie’s Poirot novels to quoting Wittgenstein… so sue me.
11. The Library Book - Susan Orlean
My friend, Abby, gave me this book because she was reading It for her book club and had an extra copy. I generally don’t respond well in these situations, as I have a stack of books always and have a certain approach for choosing what book is next. Whenever I finish a book, I move it to our main book case, and then come to a book case in the bedroom with the unread books. I look at the spines and run through a series of factors in my mind. It’s interesting because you’re projecting who you will be into the future and the experience you want to have. For example, when you decide to read War and Peace (see earlier entry) you know that you’re probably going to go through some emotional journey.
So, I try to take the following into account: upcoming work load, upcoming travel, did I just read non-fiction or fiction, how long has a book been in the queue, did I read a short book or long book, how many long or short books do I have in the queue, etc. Sometimes books that aren’t even on the list get bought and fast tracked because I get a bee in my bonnet about something and want to read.
So, when I get a book that wasn’t chosen by me and hasn’t been in the queue for a while that’s hard. Compounded by the stress that someone gave you this book and every time you see them you are secretly thinking that they are secretly thinking, “did he read the book?”
Annnnyyyywaayyyy - this was a wonderful book by a great writer that uses the story of a fire at the LA Library in the 1990s as her in to talk about the history of libraries and how they work. Very unique, interesting, and worth reading. THANKS, ABBY!
12. Sixty Tattoos I Secretly Gave Myself at Work - Tanner Ballengee
The same bookstore / press that I got Major Diamonds Nights & Knives from last year at also had this book. The title gives it away - it’s a memoir about a guy who worked at a call center and who gave himself sixty tattoos (secretly). It’s short and interesting and his voice is strong as a memoirist. He includes pictures and descriptions of each one, without going over the deep end here, it feels like he channels Jack Kerouac’s energy in his writing - there’s an ease and an attitude to it.
Any fan of Randall Munroe’s work will know how great he is and how unique his point of view is. All of his work has a whimsey to it which makes them easy to read and enjoyable at the same time. “How To” is exactly what it says it is, but with a twist - How to screw in a lightbulb, but he takes it from the most obtuse point of view possible that always skews to the absurd - like instead of using a ladder, strapping drones to your feet to get the height - that sort of thing - YOU GET IT.
14. The Art of The Forger - Christopher Wright
In the 1970s The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City buys a series of paintings for large sums, only to have a young up-start art historian (author of this book, Christopher Wright) come out against all of his peers and say they are fakes! Dun dun dunnnnn. Then, everyone dog-piles on him and says he’s wrong and assassinate his character and he backs down - he says he was wrong. Time passes and someone else is like “I think these are fakes” and he gets back in the game and is like “These ARE fakes, and also all of you are dicks because you tried to say they weren’t!”. It would make a really great movie if you could find a way to make investigating old-ass paintings cinematic.
This is an interesting entry on the list as it’s this guy’s grudge match - on paper - against the people who doubted him. Here he is “setting the record straight.” It reads, at times, a bit… intensely in this guy’s anger at the establishment - but hey - he was right!
I read this book because I am considering going into art forgery.
15. The British are Coming - Rick Atkinson
When I read a review of this book by Joseph Ellis that said things like “…a novelistic imagination that verges on the cinematic…” and “It is as if Ken Burns somehow gained access to a time machine, traveled back to the Revolutionary era, then captured historical scenes on film as they were happening.” I was like - this sounds like a wild ride! So I bought it in hardcover (I almost always buy used paperback) and dove in - gosh, doesn’t that sound like a wild ride? Sounds like a good one!
It is a good book, but wild ride it is not - this book was so freakin’ dense. He will spend pages introducing minor characters and their whole backstory, and paragraphs with insanely detailed descriptions of uniforms, the terrain, how much food and what different types of food they had literally down to the corn kernel. I mean it’s all interesting but it’s not cinematic.
Probably the most interesting (and most cinematic) part is talking about Benedict Arnold for two reasons. First, is because Benedict Arnold is this outsized personality in our country’s history as a traitor, the first traitor really. So, it’s interesting to read about this person before he went over to the Empire. Second, is the story of him marching into Canada to take the fight there is harrowing.
16. The Communist Manifesto - Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
Put this one with War and Peace - The Communist Manifesto is one of those things that I feel like no one has read but it’s had such an outsized impact on the world, so why not? Weird story about this one: I was waffling on how to buy it, do I use a credit card and THEY can trace me, or cash and go to a used book store where I could get away with it? Who are THEY? I don’t know - I’ve seen way to many movies and also who cares about communism anymore.
I finally bought it at Prairie Lights in Iowa City with a credit card in broad day light. I decided this because I remembered that I do this book wrap up every year, and was going to be announcing to the universe that I read this book so why was I so worried about it. THEY were going to find out sooner or later.
I am not a communist.
17. Lord Edgware Dies - Agatha Christie
I mean, it’s right there in the title - someone, a guy named Lord Edgware, died and Poirot’s got to figure it out… and I’ll spoil the ending for you - he does. He solves the case because Poirot always gets his man… or is it his woman… no, jk - it’s a man this time… OR IS IT? It’s not.
Unless it is.
18. The Confidence Game - Maria Konnikova
This book rules - super interesting insight into the mind of the con-artist and the victim. It’s one of those pop science-y sort of books that have been popular the last few years, but this is a good one for sure. Well researched, good writing, knows what it’s trying to do.
With The Art of The Forger, Talented Mr. Ripley, and this book - I think it’s pretty clear that I am going to be come a con-man when I grow up. Doing my research now.
19. The Talented Mr. Ripley - Patricia Highsmith
If you ever have the chance to read this book, do it while on vacation in Southern Europe. The most impressive thing she is able to do is manipulate you into really rooting for Tom Ripley, who is an evil man. See, she’s so good that I actually had a hard time writing that Tom is evil - because I care about him so much! This book is anti-hero 101 level reading.