I guess you could say that the books outlined below are at the top of my list. In fact, each has been high on my list for some time. Had my reading appetite been better throughout 2010, many of these books may have been completed.
First, I will highlight five books that I did not get to in 2010 but hope to read during the first quarter of 2011.
Then, I will list three books that I started in 2010 and liked but put down for one reason or another. In the case of all three books I have a major issue: I own the books in hardcopy but refuse to read them on anything other than the Kindle. I am having difficulty motivating myself to buy the books a second time. It’s kind of an internal war.
I did not so much “compile” this list as cull through the 70+ books on my Amazon wish list, eliminating books not yet released and those that I would like to read but can’t get too excited about. I was shocked that all five are non-fiction books, and I urge those of you “fiction-only” readers out there to consider one or more of these. Each of them is somewhat different in some way—not, for instance, some history book or random biography. Each of the three other books is fiction. I present them in alphabetical order:
Decoded by Jay-Z – Yes, you read that right. A couple of early disclaimers. First, I understand that Oprah gave this book to her audience last month. Strike one for me. Second, I know zero about rap music. Strike two for me. Third, I could not pick Jay-Z out of a crowd and have never knowingly listened to (or heard) one of his songs. Strikes three and four for me. However, I have listened to people speak about this book, many of whom, like me, know nothing about the subject. I understand that the story is part memoir, part primer on the history and meaning of rap music. In addition to telling his own story, I understand that Jay-Z “decodes” some rap lyrics which even the non-rap enthusiast finds interesting. The physical book is apparently visually phenomenal with pictures and art. I will Kindle this book, but if you’re not a Kindle person, you will likely not be disappointed with the book’s appearance.
The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee - A history of CANCER? Yes, a history of cancer. Call me morbid (“YOU’RE MORBID!”), but I find this a fascinating topic. I’d go into more depth, but seeing as I know little about the history of cancer, it’s tough for me to do. I suppose that I will learn about the evolution of theories regarding the causes of cancer and evolution of therapies. I will probably learn about the key figures in the search for cancer cures. Likely, I’ll discover the current state-of-play on cancer treatments.
How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming by Mike Brown (not the Bengals’ owner) – I have no idea why Pluto is or isn’t a planet. I know that kids used to consider Pluto their favorite planet because (1) it was small, like them and (2) it shared a name with a Disney dog. At some point, amid significant outrage, Mike Brown proved that Pluto was not a planet and “removed” it. (I don’t think anything was actually physically done with the dwarf planet formerly known as Pluto). Mike Brown got hate email and hate mail about this. When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. If the title of this book is any indication, Mike Brown doesn’t take himself too seriously. He’s also likely intellectually accessible while you’d think I guy who did the science to demote a planet to a dwarf planet would be, well, a humorless nerd. If I’m wrong, I’ll hate this book and will not finish it.
Life by Keith Richards – Come on. Part of each of you wants to read this book. The music. The era. The cast of characters. The drugs. The girls. I listened to one of Richards’ interviews regarding the book, and this book is apparently a no-holds-barred, readable account of the 60s from someone who really was there and lived it to its fullest.
Play Their Hearts Out: A Coach, His Star Recruit, and the Youth Basketball Machine by George Dohrmann – I could have put other sports books here, but I did not. I do not expect this to be as much about sports as it is about young student athletes. We all know that there is corruption in high school and college sports. I do not mean to imply that there is institutional corruption at any school, but agents, alumni, rogue coaches—they exist. Look just at basketball. Exactly 30 players (many of whom are from foreign leagues) get drafted in the NBA first round every year. To get a guaranteed contract in the NBA, you have to be selected in the first round. How many junior and senior high school kids are being “advised” right now that they are slam-dunk first rounders? Hangers on see these kids as a bridge to becoming an agent, a coach, whatever. I have read an excerpt from this book, and while I would not recommend it to someone with little or no interest in the subject matter (while I suggest the Jay-Z book regardless), consider it, particularly, if you are a high school and college sports fan.
The other three. Again, alphabetically.
The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson – Initially published 55 years ago, this novel recently resurfaced. Courtesy of Amazon, 78 reviews. 72 gave five stars. 6 gave four. While I am by no means a sucker for Amazon reviews, a large and strong set of reviews is at least an indicator. What is it? It’s a book about Vikings. Not the Minnesota Vikings, the real Vikings. It’s an adventure romp.
Room by Emma Donaghue – This novel is written from the perspective of a five year old who, with his mother, has spent his entire life in one room. You have to get used to the writing style which is expectedly choppy at first. My favorite wife (the one to whom I am married) read and loved this book.
Skippy Dies by Paul Murray – Skippy dies very early in this novel. The rest of the novel, I understand, provides what led up to Skippy’s death. Along with Room, this novel is rated on many Best of 2010 lists.
Well, there you have it. I suppose these are essentially recommendations of books that I have not read. Whatever.
Live long, read and prosper. We'll leave the lights on for you.
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I caught a part of an interview with Jay-Z on the Diane Rehm show recently, where he admitted that he'd completely lied to get the rights to use "It's a Hard Knock Life" in one of his songs. He said when he wrote the copyright owner, he said that he'd seen Annie on Broadway as a child and it had a profound effect on his decision to go into music, and that he'd always loved the show. In reality, he never saw Annie on Broadway and just made it up because he figured he'd be more likely to get the rights if he had a good story. Now I can't remember if he admitted the lie in the memoir, or if he perpetuated the lie in the memoir and only came clean on the Diane Rehm show. Either way, it made me wonder how much of the account of his life is actually memoir and how much is stuff he thought would play well. I have the same four strikes as you regarding Jay-Z, and his NPR interview was a fifth. I'll be interested to read your review of this one!
ReplyDeleteWanna sell me our hardcopy of Skippy Dies? For some crazy reason, this book doesn't exist in paperback and *used* hardcovers are going for $25+.
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