For the last email of the year, I’ve decided to do something a little different. I read a lot of books; not as many as some folks, but more than most, I would think. The vast majority of what I read is non-fiction, but I make sure to include several novels in my annual reading.
One of the side effects of reading a lot is that it becomes easy to recognize poor writing. Reading a lot doesn’t make you a better writer (as you can no doubt tell from reading these emails), but it does help to distinguish the good from the no so good.
The best book I read this year is an oldie, Black Like Me. The author was a journalist who used pigment to darken his skin so he could live as a black man in the south in 1959/1960. It is still a very powerful commentary on race relations 50 odd years later.
Another excellent book is one I just finished called The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival. Holy crap! about sums it up. One hears that chimpanzees and dolphins are the most intelligent creatures after man, but after reading this book, I’d put my money on the tiger. I’d rather double cross the mafia than piss off a tiger.
I particularly enjoy biographies, and the best one I read this year was Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War. While not without his faults, John Boyd was a remarkable individual whose innovations and theories were still being felt long after he retired.
The best novel I read was Gates of Fire, about the Battle of Thermopylae. This is an example of a very well written book, as the author makes the reader feel like he is a witness to the battle. Night in Shanghai was a very entertaining story, but the writing, while certainly good, just seemed to fall a little short.
My most disappointing read of the year was The Moviegoer. It had been suggested by a couple of people whose opinion I respect, but I just didn’t like it. I thought that maybe I just don’t like novels by southern writers, as it reminded me of another book I read long ago, Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury. But I thoroughly enjoyed A Confederacy of Dunces, so who knows?
If you can recommend any excellent books, shoot me an email. I have over 100 books on my potential reading list, so I may not get to it, but I am always on the lookout for a good read.
There will be no emails the next two weeks, but they will resume on January 6th. I wish all of you the happiest of holidays, and thanks for reading.