If by best we mean a book that makes you stay up way too late reading, and you think about long after you’ve finished, the clear winner this year is The Deluge. It’s hard to state in words how much I liked what is a 900p. book mostly about climate change. Don’t be fooled though, this is not the type of sci/cli-fi where characters and story are simple vehicles for the Big Ideas. There are lots of those (Big Ideas), but there are also real characters. People you come to love, despise, and find uncomfortably close to you. Since I finished it, I’ve been looking for someone, anyone, who’s read it too and is up for a coffee, because there are so many bits I’d like to discuss with another human about this book. Unfortunately though, the search goes on… (View Highlight)
The other book that surprised me in many and good ways was Doppelganger. I’m the proud owner of a 1,999 paper copy of NoLogo, which I devoured as a highschool student. After that, I figured there would be little in Naomi Klein’s writing I wouldn’t agree with or would change my views, so did not read more. How wrong I was. Admittedly, this is the most and least Klein book I can think of. It is something only her could have written and only now, after decades of craft. And is a really hard book to pull off. It’s about so many things (her confusion with Naomi Wolf, conspiracy theories, right-wing politics in the XXIst Century, doppelgangers in culture and art over history, Jewish identity…) that it is hard to classify or even summarise. But it’s well worth your time. (View Highlight)
Honorary mentions. This has been a good year for reads. It’s also been a terrible year in many personal aspects of my life. In the worst of it in May, I picked up Where there’s a will, and I’m so glad I did. Chappell’s account of what it really means to win a race so brutal like the Transcontinental is everything I needed to read about human endurance, empathy, and humbleness. Impossible people was also a phenomenal (graphic) read. Wertz’s account of her own alcoholism is so raw, hopeful, and just pure funny. And last but not least, Devil in a blue dress. My friend Al turned me on to this, and I’m so glad he did. This is L.A. Confidential from the African-American perspective. It’s a great detective story, it’s so well written, and it’s an approach to race that, although written in the early 90s, reads just as fresh in 2024. (View Highlight)
A couple of thoughts to close. First, almost all non-fiction I consumed this year was listened. I’d love to have the brightness and mental capacity to spend 40 minutes every night getting lost in thorough arguments. The truth is I don’t. Instead, I do have about that time every night when I wash the dishes and clean the kitchen. One day, in an ideal world, I’ll do all my reading, well, by reading (View Highlight)
