My list isn’t as well polished as Barack Obama’s, but keeping track of books read isn’t just a job for ex-presidents. This year’s crop includes thirty-four complete books, plus innumerable short stories and essays that I don’t have time for here.
I am embarrassed to say that the self-help genre is over-represented. I have a weakness for these kinds of books, especially titles about personal productivity and organization although I seldom get true wisdom from them. But sometimes I do, and it makes all the digging worth it. Among these, Outsmart Yourself, which is an audio lecture collection from The Great Courses, was probably the best.
1. The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Aeneid of Virgil by Elizabeth Vandiver (Audiobook)
3. The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael A. Singer
4. Northward Towards Home by Willie Morris
5. The Moviegoer by Walker Percy
6. White Trash: A 400 Year History by Nancy Isenburg (Audiobook)
7. Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre
8. Runaway by Alice Munro
9. The Science of Energy by Michael E. Wyeesion (Audiobook)
10. White Rage by Carol Anderson
11. Morte D’Urban by J.F. Powers
12. How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and David Ziblatt
13. Just Friends by Shirley Glass
14. Every Single Day by Bradley Charbonneau
15. Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
16. The Soul of America by Jon Meachum
17. Ask the Dust by John Fante
18. How to Change Your Mind by Michael Polian
19. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
20. The Procrastination Cure: 21 Proven Tactics by Damon Zahariades
21. Outsmart Yourself: Brain Based Strategies for a Better You by Peter Vishton
22. The Benedict Option by Rod Dreher
23. Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff
24. Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walters
25. Hyperfocus by Chris Bailey
26. Fear by Bob Woodward
27. The History of Jazz by Ted Gioia
28. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
29. Aware by Daniel Siegel
30. Atomic Habits by James Clear
31. My Man Jeeves by PG Wodehouse
32. The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
33. Joy to the World by Scott Hahn
34. Classic Philosophy for the Modern Man by Andrew Lynn
Best Book: Close race, very close. I will go with Runaway, by Alice Munro, a beautiful collection of short stories about rural Canada. But also, Morte D’Urban was wonderful, and the Moviegoer.
Most Surprising book: I stumbled on Ask the Dust accidentally. It is a rarely read book these days (as is Morte D’Urban), but it deserves better. Read it, please.
Most Disappointing Book: Fear by Bob Woodward. It had some interesting information about the Trump White House, but there was no arc to the story, no narrative drive. It was like, “Hey, let me tell you a bunch of crap I learned about the White House.” I would have preferred Woodward had kept his notes to himself.
Worst Book: Fire and Fury sucked. Wolff’s book was was like Woodward’s book, except that Wolff can’t write well enough to keep wet on a fish. I hope the book made him so rich that he will never bother to write again. Every Single Day was a short read but very shallow. The title is all there is: To establish a good habit, do it every day. It was good cheerleading, but that’s it.
Rereads: The last two installments of Lord of the Rings were even better than I remembered them. Better than the movies. Unlike the movies, where good and evil simply pose against one another for the purpose of conflict, in the books evil was a real thing, sinister, purposeful. Evil written by a man who understands what sin is.
Anything else? The History of Jazz was very good until the 2/3s mark. Up to that time Ted Gioia told the life stories of many of the great jazz pioneers. But towards the end, there were so many names piled in that the book became nothing but a catalog of one jazz musician after another. It seems that Gioia had a story to tell, a great one, and at the beginning kept is personal enough to make it the compelling story of a few innovative musicians. But towards the end he panicked, and, afraid to leave anyone out, packed so much into the last part that there were no human stories left in the last few chapters. I understand the impulse, but it weakens the book.
Happy New Year!