More Books!
Well, the 2020 list has proven to be something of a hit (by my standards, anyway), so I figured I’d share my 2019 list with you as well. In case you didn’t read the 2020 list, the story behind it is that for nearly 23 years, I’ve been keeping a list of every book I read. I try to read at least one a week.
I started keeping the list mostly because I forget titles and I wanted to keep track. When my mother (z”l) was still alive, I’d type up the list every December and give it to her, and she’d share it with her friends and book club. After her Parkinson’s worsened, around 2015, she lost her ability to concentrate and I stopped making the list. But then a friend asked me if I’d give a talk about books at her Rotary Club meeting a few weeks before Christmas. The talk (and the list) proved to be a hit, and I’ve been doing both for the past five years.
This is the list I compiled for the 2019 meeting. Some of the books were published in 2019, some before. (My goal isn’t to read all new books, it’s to read good books.)
Enjoy!
Inheritance by Dani Shapiro. Another page-turner by one of my favorite writers, this one about what happens when the Ancestry.com DNA test that Shapiro takes shows that she’s not who she thinks she is. On her quest to get to the truth, she discovers that her beloved father, to whom she was always more close than to her mother, is not biologically related to her.
The Widower’s Notebook by Jonathan Santlofer. Memoir by an artist whose wife of 40 years dies, completely unexpectedly, in his arms a day after routine knee surgery. He writes eloquently about being a widower and includes drawings that really enhance the story. Sounds like it could be depressing, but it’s beautiful and uplifting.
The Unwinding of the Miracle: A Memoir of Life, Death, and Everything that Comes After by Julie Yip-Williams. If you are moved by stories of people who overcome tremendous odds and are able to look at the cup half full without sounding like Pollyanna, this is the book for you. Yip-Williams barely survived being born blind in post-war Vietnam. Her family managed to emigrate to the United States, and there, despite her vision problems, she thrived. Then, at age 37, when she was happier than she ever thought she’d be, married with two children and building a successful legal career, she was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. This is her story, and it’s beautifully written and philosophical, but also gritty.
Bad Blood: Secrets & Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyou. This is a pot-boiler that will also make your blood boil, if you’re the kind of person whose blood boils when reading about a narcissist who had a good idea but let her ego get in the way of it. Wall Street Journal reporter Carreyou digs into the story of Elizabeth Holmes, who dropped out of Stanford at age 22 to start a company, Theranos, that she claimed would change the face of health care by making it possible to diagnose and treat illnesses based on a drop of blood. She did not. The company has since folded and she’s most likely headed to jail.
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb. Excellent memoir by a woman who has had several impressive careers (development person at NBC TV in the era of Friends and ER, Stanford medical student, successful therapist) in her relatively short life, and really knows how to tell a story. She gives you lots to think about, and tells fascinating stories about herself and her patients — though I did find myself wondering how much of her patient details were true and how much were conflated for anonymity.
Save Me The Plums by Ruth Reichl. Another terrific memoir, fun and easy to read, by the renowned foodie. This one is about her tenure at Gourmet. I wish it (the book, her tenure) had been twice as long.
Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me by Adrienne Brodeur. It’s hard to make this one sound palatable, but trust me, it’s way less salacious than it sounds: when Adrienne (now in her mid-fifties) was 14, her mother, Malabar, embarked on an affair with Adrienne’s stepfather’s best friend (i.e., Malabar’s second husband’s best friend). This would have been bad enough, but Malabar turned Adrienne into her willing confidante and co-conspirator. It took years for Adrienne to acknowledge and accept how wrong that was. She could have written a Mommie-Dearest-hate-fest, but this page-turner of a memoir is filled with grace and empathy.
And His Lovely Wife by Connie Schultz. In this gem for political animals of all stripes, Pulitzer Prize-winning (former) Cleveland Daily News columnist Schultz gives readers a look at what life was like on the campaign trail when her husband, Sherrod Brown, was running his successful campaign for the US Senate and she was, for the first time in her life, on the other side of the microphone.
Demi Moore: Inside Out by Demi Moore. Surprisingly relatable memoir in which Demi reveals her massively dysfunctional childhood as the daughter of two people who could be the poster children for the Don’t-Let-Them-Become-Parents movement (if such a movement ever comes into being, that is.) It certainly provides insight into all the Demi-is-making-a-mess-of-her-life headlines we’ve been treated to over the years. Given her upbringing, it’s amazing her life wasn’t more of a mess. Hats off to New Yorker scribe Ariel Levy for helping Demi to craft this compelling book.
Cujo: The Untold Story of My Life On and Off the Ice by Curtis Joseph, written with Kirstie McLellan Day. The former Oilers’ goaltender has a backstory that’s more interesting than his hockey history: he grew up in a group home for mentally ill adults that was run by his adoptive mother, who was abusive and an addict. Because he was a good athlete and had people in his life who did care about him, he made a success of his life. (One thing I found odd: there was no mention at all of his first wife, who was with him through high school, college, and beyond, though he does acknowledge that his children were not thrilled when he brought home Wife #2, a former Playboy Playmate.) Hockey fans will no doubt love this book, as it is filled with hockey insight and trivia.
Kitchen Yarns: Notes on Life, Love, and Food by Ann Hood. Collection of essays about food, family and life by a terrific writer (and avid knitter) who also includes recipes. A very enjoyable read that you can pick up and put down (in between your knitting and cooking).
Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret by Craig Brown. Very funny, inventive look at a pretty icky, selfish, sad, imperious, pathetic woman, making you wonder if her life would have been better or worse had she been born a commoner. Best part: the chapter where Brown tells the same anecdote 25 different ways, including statistically, alliteratively, and as an index, limerick, nursery rhyme, haiku, and news article.
The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown. Excellent story about the University of Washington crew that won the 1936 Olympic gold medal in 8-oar rowing. It reads like a race: it starts out slowly and picks up speed until you can’t put it down. Evocative and full of fascinating history.
After Perfect: A Daughter’s Memoir by Christina McDowell. This one is interesting more because of what McDowell experienced than because of how she tells it: it’s well-written but a little heavy on the flashbacks and name-dropping. Still, there’s no question her story is riveting: when she’s in her first year of college, her life of opulence comes to an end when her dad is sent to prison (for what turns out to be the first of two stints) for Wolf-of-Wall-Street-type fraud. No more private planes, summers on Nantucket, $2000 Tiffany watches and BMW birthday gifts. On her journey from gross privilege to poverty to acceptance, she tries acting (an early Hollywood friend/rival, Emma, turns out to be Emma Stone) and teaching writing to people who, like her, have been involved at some level with the penal system.
Maid by Stephanie Land. This memoir made it on to a bunch of best-of lists, in part because of its up-from-the-bootstraps theme. Land was a homeless single mother who basically cleaned (and then wrote) her way out of poverty. Her character studies of her clients, based on their messes and detritus, may have you sterilizing your own domicile before the cleaning help show up — or opting to DIY. Her observations about the working poor aren’t quite as compelling, but there is a tutorial early on about how to clean a house (in case you decide you’d rather DIY than be judged by your cleaning lady).
The Cure: How a Father Raised $100 Million and Bucked the Medical Establishment in a Quest to Save His Children by Geeta Anand. Winner of this list’s longest-title award, this is a terrific human interest story about a dad with two very sick children who does everything within his Harvard MBA power to save them, alternately alienating and mostly impressing everyone he meets along the way. (In 2010 the book was made into a movie, “Extraordinary Measures,” starring Brendan Fraser and Harrison Ford.)
Fiction
The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo. Excellent family saga about the Sorensons, Marilyn and David, and their four adult daughters, and what happens when a family secret stumbles back into their lives. Lombardo moves back and forth between the present and the past, starting 40 years earlier when Marilyn and David met, courted, and started their family. Terrific read!
The Gifted School by Bruce Holsinger. Squirmingly realistic chronicle about a collection of insufferable Type A helicopter parents who are so overly involved and invested in their children’s lives that they compromise relationships with their friends, acquaintances, and children (and their children’s friends and acquaintances) in an attempt to one-up everyone.
The Friend by Sigrid Nunez. A sixty-something never-married writer pines for a friend who has died and left her to care for his dog. In 224 pages, Nunez explores grief, suicide, canine companionship, love, unrequited love, friendship, and the writing life. It took me a while to get sucked in but once I did I could not put it down. One of my favorite passages: “Your whole house smells of dog, says someone who comes to visit. I say I’ll take care of it. Which I do by never inviting that person to visit again.”
The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman. A Holocaust novel with a twist: what happens when a desperate Jewish mother decides to make a golem to watch over her daughter and keep her safe and out of a concentration camp. This one has a lot of parallels to modern day conflicts and, as befits an Alice Hoffman novel, it’s terrific.
Washington Black by Esi Edugyan. Wash Black is an 11-year-old slave in the Barbados when this saga begins in the early 19th century, caught between the sadist who runs the plantation where he lives, and the sadist’s much more humane brother. By the time the story ends 15 years later, Wash’s life has changed dramatically, but believably. This is a beautifully written, engrossing story that is full of hope.
Matchmaking for Beginners by Maddie Dawson. Marnie MacGraw is dumped at the altar by her everyone-else-but-she-could-see-this-coming fiance. The good news is, his nutty aunt has taken a shine to Marnie and bequeaths her a brownstone in Park Slope. Love and merriment ensue in this frothy, fun rom-com.
Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner. A sister saga about family, love, sacrifice, trauma, mothering, and daughtering, as told through the eyes of two Jewish baby boomer sisters growing up and apart in 1950s and 60s Detroit. A very satisfying (albeit somewhat drawn-out-in-places) novel. (Plus, the title is great.)
Trust Exercise by Susan Choi. This one is a challenge — the structure is clever, upending the typical chronological-linear novel formula. It’s set in an arts school in an unnamed southern US city (possibly Houston) in the 1990s, with all the quirky characters and politics that entails. The characters are not uniformly likeable and the story is jarring, but Choi certainly gives a reader plenty to contemplate.
Normal People by Sally Rooney. Kind of like When Harry Met Sally, but instead of neurotic New Yorkers who are clearly meant for each other, the main characters are disaffected Irish millennials who are so emotionally and physically battered they’re incapable of happiness. Class differences, immaturity, and insecurity keep Connell and Marianne apart, but their worlds collide nonetheless. It is telling that three days after I finished reading this highly acclaimed novel I could not remember how it ended or if Connell and Marianne wound up together. I include it on this list because it made a bunch of Best-Of lists, and I wanted you all to know that I am nothing if not au courant.
The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin. Very interesting story about what happens to four baby boomer siblings from New York City who, at ages 7, 9, 11, and 13 visit a fortune teller who tells them all the date that they will die. It raises interesting questions about how you live if you know your expiry date. Quite a memorable read. (i.e., unlike Normal People, this one stayed with me.)
The Secrets Between Us by Thrity Umrigar. Excellent novel about friendship, class, and female empowerment as seen through the eyes of marginalized seniors Bhima and Parvati, twentysomething college student Maya, and thirtysomething lesbian couple Chitra and Su. A thoroughly engrossing tale of life in present-day Mumbai.
Daisy Johnson and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Jenkins Reid is a music journalist and her training comes through in this terrifically inventive novel, told as an oral history, about a wildly successful 70s rock band (think Fleetwood Mac) and all the personnel involved. It’s so well written it’s hard to believe it’s not true. Also has some unexpected twists. A very satisfying read.
Young adult and children
To Night Owl From Dogfish by Holly Goldberg Sloan and Meg Wolitzer. A 21st century take on The Parent Trap, told in emails back and forth between two 12-year-old girls whose fathers have fallen in love and are plotting to send them to summer camp to meet. Very funny, clever, and full of twists — a fast and entertaining read.
Recommendations from Debby’s kid-lit writer friends:
The Blackthorn Key by Kevin Sands. (MG)
When Master Benedict chooses orphan Christopher Rowe as his apothecary assistant, Christopher has no idea what he’s in store for — or the dire circumstances under which he will soon be required to complete his master’s secret work.
No Fixed Address by Susin Nielsen. (MG)
Felix is losing hope of ever having a real home until he learns that a game show, which he excels at, is holding a local contest. Felix begins to dare that he might save himself and his mother from a life of homelessness in the cold, decrepit camper van that they only sort-of own.
Watch Out by Alison Hughes. (YA)
Accessible to reluctant teen readers, Watch Out focuses on a teenage boy who must piece together the culprit in a spate of local break-ins. Inspired by Hitchcock’s movie, Rear Window, Charlie’s story will appeal to everyone’s inner detective.
Just Three by Lorna Schultz Nicholson. (MG)
Following their mother’s death, twins Jillian and Rory are just starting to venture forth into the real world again. Their first project is to find their father a suitable companion and, despite his resistance, they talk him into going on just three dates.
Rescue in the Rockies by Rita Feutl. Part time-travel, part mystery, part dip-into-Banff-and-area-history AND part-Christmas-story, this novel is for teens aged 12 and up. It covers the “discovery” of the Banff Cave and Basin by three railroad workers, which led to the creation of Canada’s first national park.
The germ of the book was Rita’s discovery of the site of a World War I internment camp near Castle Mountain. As she was riding along Highway 1A one day, a historical plaque caught her eye. It commemorated a site where immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian Empire had been held during the First World War. Given her own European background, Rita was hooked. Her teenaged main characters need to figure out why they’re disappearing into the past and World War I history before things change for the worse. In the present day, the novel takes place at the Banff Springs Hotel in the days leading up to Christmas.
Picture books highly recommended by my 16-month-old great-niece:
The Gruffalo, by Julia Donaldson
The Pout Pout Fish, by Deborah Diesen and Dan Hanna
Llama Llama Red Pajama, by Anna Dewdney
The Bear Snores On, by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman
