books that i read in 2019 and recommend! (more books, too.)

Post date: Jan 02, 2020 8:32:22 PM

lists of recommendations are often idiosyncratic and almost always tribal, but if you're still reading these book lists [0], then here are the ones i think are worth mentioning [1] ...

... in that if you and i ever meet, then i'd be happy to chat about these books with you, provided that i still remember the details of each of them if they come up. (if you follow these posts because i constantly spam them at you, then i suppose such conversations are inevitable.)

anyway, here's my list for the year.

...

notes of a native son by James Baldwin

i'll have to reread this, having read it in early 2019 and not remembering the details. all i remember is that i should probably re-read it and that the first time i read it that it didn't break my heart, but made me aware.

that said, baldwin is an incredible writer. he is not just an incredible "black writer" but just incredible. i like him as much as i like j.j. rousseau and albert camus. as an author he knows not only his craft but how to send a message: if you cause the reader a breaking heart, then the reader will not act, having thought that things are doomed. if you inform the reader dispassionately, then the rational mind of the reader takes it in and will perform rational actions.

circe: a novel by Madeline Miller

this is a truly inventive novel. the author doesn't exactly retell the myth of Circe but supplements it from the perspective of the "sorceress" herself. for example, it gives a convincing motivation for why Circe turns wayward sailors into pigs for slaughter.

it also casts light on the vanities of the olympian gods, as older versions of the myths also do, but does so from the perspective of the narrator.

in some sense this novel is easy to read. for those who know, the figure of Circe is known to reside on an island and appears in lore because of its role in the odyssey; the setting of an island, being inherently isolating, limits the number of characters and allows the reader to focus on the main narrating character to a level that is almost intimate.

we grow to understand, to sympathise, and to hope for Circe, in this novel.

the murderbot diaries by Martha Wells

this is a series of (up to now) four novellas, the first being titled "all systems red." the protagonist calls itself Murderbot. the more i read these novels, the more i feel like Murderbot.

to quote the first paragraph:

"i could have become a mass murderer after i hacked my governor module, but then i realised that i could access the combined feed of entertainment channels carried on the company satellites. it had been well over 35,000 hours or so, since then, with still not much murdering, but probably, i don't know, a little under 35,000 hours of movies, serials, books, plays, and music consumed. as a heartless killing machine, i was a terrible failure ...

... this is why i actually like riding with the cargo. humans and augmented humans in close quarters with murderbots is too awkward. At least, it's awkward with this murderbot. i sat down on the deck with Bharadwaj in my lap while Pin-Lee and Arada dragged Volescu inside."

for anyone who feels like they're doing the thankless dirty work, they'll appreciate these novels. this would make a great series.

running is my therapy: relieve stress, fight depression, and live happier by Scott Douglas

i've told people that i don't meditate and that i tried yoga once and it didn't stick. on the other hand, i run and i feel better when i run regularly. then again, maybe it's because i've been running, off and on, for the last 20-25 years.

i don't remember a life where i didn't think about how much or how little i've been running lately. my last 5-6 yearly calendars have either tracked which days i've run and which i've not, or scratched a big X over an entire month to indicate that fvck it, this has been a sh-tty running month and i don't even want to track the days anymore.

that said, this book has some science in it but reads anecdotally. every day there are studies about the benefits of not only exercise, but running, and this book is in the same line as that. what this book does well is describe how running feels, why people run at an emotional level.

i don't know if i would recommend this book for non-runners, but i think it's worth mentioning. if anything, it is a telling source for how people feel under depression and how some cope, and it sheds some light into a condition that needs to be addressed more seriously.

it is equally important to find a cure for chemical depression as it is for cancer. you can die of both.

the worst is yet to come: a post-capitalist survival guide by Peter Fleming

my first thought after the first two chapters was that i must buy a copy of this book because it made me sufficiently paranoid of the powers that be, that all i had was this library copy that was not mine, and that i have to remember.

now i don't remember and i still want a copy.

the apprentice: my life in the kitchen by Jacques Pepin

this book isn't new. it first came to my attention after Anthony Bourdain passed, and then i watched this interview at 92Y where Bourdain interviews Pepin, and a book was mentioned regarding Pepin's early life.

it reads well. it looks back to Pepin's life, from Pepin's viewpoint, with some nostalgia but with frankness. it also tells about how we got here, foodwise, for better or for worse.

i recommend this book to foodies everywhere.

my twentieth century evening and other breakthroughs by Ishiguro Kazuo

this is a draft of a speech by ishiguro after he won the nobel prize. i like the anecdotal nature of this little book so much that, after reading it, the next day i walked over to where a friend of mine works and gave it to him, deciding that whether he liked it or not, that it was worth sharing.

i'm still renewing it online when the library sends me those threatening emails. so be it.

...

[1] regardless of completion or impression, i've removed all cookbook titles from these lists, if only because i don't think in terms of recipes and that the standard cookbook template is in terms of recipes. so if you want to talk to me about cooking then tell me what you like to make, how you like to make it, and why you like to make it that way. i'll do the same.

one day i'll write about my ideal "cookbook" and probably it will appear here as a series of posts.

also removed were books i borrowed that i thought that my romantic associate would like.

...

[0] the lists below were meant to be their own posts, but i ran out of time. so here they are: i might write explanations later.

some books i DIDN'T! read in 2019 but meant to read.

suicidal: why we kill ourselves by Jesse Bering

against the grain: a deep history of the earliest states by James Scott

21 lessons for the 21st century by Yuval Noah Harari

the 36 dramatic situations by Mike Figgis (after Georges Polti)

who really feeds the world by Vandana Shiva

radicalised by Cory Doctorow

a cathedral of myth and bone by Kat Howard