Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Books of the Year (Part III)

Books of the Year 16-11

16. The Wilderness, McKay Coppins. A worthy effort had Marco Rubio been nominated for President, not Donald Trump. My full review

15. Shrill, Notes From A Loud Woman, Lindy West. A ballsy, unabashed, and raw memoir from one of today’s strongest feminist voices. West’s book largely hits the mark though there were a few points when I wish she had not risen to the troll bait. Highly recommended.

14. Between You and Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen, Mary Norris. A book for every schoolmarm, grammarian, and english usage nerd out there. Norris writes beautifully and with a panache you will envy if you did not like her so much.

13. The Fix: How Nations Survive & Thrive In A World In Decline, Jonathan Tepperman. Life hacks from far away places where corruption once reigned, civil war raged or material resources limited a nation’s capacity for economic growth and a few other things in between. Tepperman shares case studies from around the globe - post-Rwandan reconciliation and South Korean economic revival, Brazil’s experiment with direct payments to the poor and our own country’s investment in natural gas fracking to illustrate how (and why) leadership can transform a society’s fortunes. 

12. Ghettoside, Jill Leovy. Solving murders and understanding why violence in impoverished areas of Los Angeles is so hard to do. My full review


11. How To Be Miserable: 40 Strategies You Already Use, Dr. Randy Paterson. By far the best of the self-help books I read this year. Dr. Paterson’s conceit is taking that which you do and makes you unhappy as a jumping off point for the not-so-radical idea that perhaps doing something different (or the opposite) might help. 

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