Book club has again kept me pretty busy, those read through that noted with an*. And while I got some nonfiction listening during my walks this year’s goal is to get a little more between book club reading in. That would of course be easier if we keep our page count down. The fave books of book club were Father of the Rain, The Bee Sting, and Demon Copperhead. I’d love to hear any faves you have to add to our list. Stay tuned for best tv and movies which just needs a little catch-up time.

• *Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam – Overall I enjoyed this limited POV description though still not totally onboard for topics focusing on kind of the destruction of the world (as we know it), also appreciated the movie’s slightly different but representative take.
• Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens – A friend loaned me her copy when she heard I hadn’t done this when it was all the rage, I mean not all that deep but I get it, never did catch the movie which got meh reviews.
• *Afterlife by Julia Alvarez – I enjoyed this story of a woman’s love and loss in the immigration story.
• The Arrest by Jonathan Lethem – I always enjoy a Lethem (Motherless Brooklyn, The Fortress of Solitude, Brooklyn Crime Novel, Dissident Gardens) but this post-apocalyptic (again) take a little bit odd.
• *Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng – I also always enjoy an Ng (Everything I Never Told You, Little Fires Everywhere) and thought this alt-reality and family story was really touching and engaging.
• *Dr No by Percival Everett – We all got on board after loving American Fiction (the movie based on a book by this author) and found this a fun ride but a super odd take on a kind of bond villain + math.
• *Father of the Rain by Lily King – Becoming an always love a Lily King (Writers & Loveer, Euphoria), and this one was definitely a pull-you-in story of a woman and her strained relationship with her father.
• *Silver Nitrate Sylvia by Silvia Moreno-Garcia – I honestly didn’t finish this one, I had a hectic month but I just wasn’t that into it and book club didn’t persuade me to finish, didn’t feel like it held together.
• *Murder Your Employer: McMasters Guide to Homicide by Rupert Holmes – We liked the idea of this school for murder better than the execution (pun intended).
• *The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst – I was actually enjoying this but the month got away from me and while I intended to get back to it, book schedules have yet to allow, I did catch the BBC miniseries which was a fun, now dated take.
• *Now Is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson – I have been enjoying the Kevin Wilson (Nothing to See Here, The Family Fang) and thought this was a fun take on a weird moment for a town and a girl.
• *The Bee Sting by Paul Murray – We all enjoyed Skippy Dies so we went back to the well and this one was really well done but honestly kind of a bummer which I think put some off.
• *Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver – We almost didn’t do this one due to Kingsolver baggage (The Poisonwood Bible, The Bean Trees, Prodigal Summer) but this turned out to be a fave though I could have done with a few edits.
• *The Fraud by Zadie Smith – Another repeat author (White Teeth, Swing Time, On Beauty, NW) and I didn’t love this take on a few lives through the lens of those related to famous authors of 1800s England.

Nonfiction

• Think Like a Monk by Jay Shetty – I’d been familiar with Shetty through various touchpoints but hadn’t sat down to read this, it does a nice job of tying the principals together with actionable tips on how to apply, it’s not unfamiliar to Buddhist and other principles.
• Deep Work by Cal Newport – He also wrote Digital Minimalism which I liked, extolling the virtues of deep work with some tips on how to relearn how to have focus, one of the keys to being more effective with your time, would read again.
• The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg – This had been on my shelf for ages, as a big fan of habits I really liked this, a very different structure than Atomic Habits but appreciated the case study approach to individual, organization, and society, would read again.
• Brag Better by Meredith Fineman – A great story of why it’s so important to learn to brag better and some very specific examples of how to do it, would read again.
• We Should All Be Millionaires by Rachel Rodgers – I’d been familiar with her but picked this up as a recco from my biz coach, a great moral and tactical agenda, a little more skewed to entrepreneurial options but still relevant to all.
• How to Keep House While Drowning by K.C. Davis – This was definitely targeted to people who are in fact drowning, I think permission to know that your worth is not your tidiness and systems for supporting you to ease in, I appreciate a system.
• Invisible Influence by Jonah Berger – This was a really good look at the science of influence, things that influence you to do something or not to do something, there’s a lot of interesting nuance but a helpful awareness, would read it again.
• Self Compassion by Kristin Neff – This was one of those books that kept getting recommended in other books, she did a lovely job of talking about merits and how to do it as well as differences compared to self-esteem, would read it again.
• Insecure in Love by Leslie Becker Phelps – A recommendation that wasn’t totally my jam, lots of info on romantic relationships, and the attachment styles may have been a little challenging to follow in the audio versions, though some strategies to deal with regardless of style.
• The Gap and the Gain by Dan Sullivan and Dr Benjamin Hardy – I generally appreciated this framing of shifting perspective to what you’ve accomplished instead of where you have yet to go, interesting strategy regarding goals.
• Give and Take by Adam Grant – I loved this science-backed perspective on giving with some amazing case studies about how giving is so a great takeaway in every chapter.
• Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stake are High by Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, and Switzler—I almost finished this years ago but finally went back to read this in full and then discussed it again in my coaches’ book club and loved the techniques, I’ll reread this and continue to share with clients for communication.
• The Universe Has Your Back by Gabrielle Bernstein—This was recommended by someone in a book or otherwise. It was a little more on the woo side, and while I liked some of the principles, I didn’t love it.
• Clockwork: Design Your Business to Run Itself by Mike Michalowcz—This had some interesting ideas more focused on running your own business and overlaps with some of the ideas I discuss with my clients about really finding what is most important for you to be doing.
• Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein—I have always considered myself a generalist and so I took some special appreciation about how valuable those skills are with examples and a little science to back it up, enjoyable read.
• 10x is greater than 2x: How World-Class Entrepreneurs Achieve More by Doing Less by Benjamin Hardy and Dan Sullivan—I’ve read The Gap and the Gain by these authors and this along with Who Not How are often recommended, in fact my business incubator group has a weekly book club discussing these theories in our business, what I most appreciate is the idea to step away from fine-tuning and look at what totally different (and perhaps greater) approaches could be.
• Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs by John Doerr—I’ve worked in a lot of organizations that use a variety of metrics for success and finally reading this detail on OKRs was helpful to ground through this approach, the anecdotal chapters show why and the appendix gives a little more detail on how – are you clear on what you’re measuring and how?
• The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande—Someone mentioned this, I think, in relation to Range, and so I added it to the list. I use checklists as a great example of how to easily “Digitize” in my 6Ds framework, but these examples really drive the approach home.
• Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg—I didn’t read this when it was first all the rage and then avoided it when all the backlash hit, and there were definitely some valuable insights within this while also being flawed in its approach from a place of privilege among other things.
• Radical Candor: Be a Kick-ass Boss without Losing Your Humanity by Kim Scott—Communication is one of the key areas I work with clients and teams on so this approach was really illuminating, I might take a few of the techniques with a grain of salt but appreciate the take.
• Zero Limits: The Secret Hawaiian System for Wealth, Health, Peace and More by Joe Vitale and Ihaleakala Hew Len—A friend said they found this approach really impactful and I was intrigued but felt like the approach of the book was limiting in that I felt like it set up the need to attend a workshop to really try out that might have shifted some of the ideas that didn’t totally resonate.
• The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter by Michae D. Watkins—This was another book I started ages ago and have read parts of, I found it much more insightful than I initially thought dealing with some great questions and approaches, particularly for those entering at leadership roles, it would be impactful throughout your career and at any transition.
• Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change by Susan Bridges and William Bridges—This was another book club book pick except they picked Transitions by the same author which was apparently more specifically about the qualities of transitions while Managing was for me a great pick in that it focused more on how to manage more organizational transitions, a great evaluation of phases with lots of great criteria to evaluate how to make the most successful.

I usually read at least a book a month with book club (*picks) so my goal with books is always to read more than what I’m reading there. This year I also started doing more targeted walking which brought out audio books. It turns out that works better for me with nonfiction than fiction so I jammed through a few more than normal. It’s fun to read stuff that applies to my work world and might recommend to clients. And it’s inspiring me to get back out to my walking. Since the books I read are rarely current (paperbacks for the win) this is my current fave list of what was really out in 2023.

• The Final Girl Support Group* by Grady Hendrix – A fun start to 2023, a look at ‘80s horror through survivors that was a page-turner with some flaws.
• Matrix* by Lauren Groff – A weird but engaging one, I could have used a little more plot but intrigued to watch this woman throughout the life she made herself at an abbey.
• Cloud Cuckoo Land* by Anthony Doerr – A tale told from disparate stories was initially a little hard to connect with but thought it pulled it off quite well.
• The Overstory by Richard Powers – This was a solo read (others in book club had read it) and also a connection of disparate stories from multiple points of trees, I thought the writing and characters were great and again pulled it off.
• The Memory Police* by Yoko Ogawa – A lot of small quibbles but overall I was kind of caught up in this surreal look at a small village and what happens when most people lose kinds of memories and their relation to those who didn’t.
• Luster by Raven Leilani – While I enjoyed the characters and their entanglements as a single woman starts seeing a man in an open marriage I was never totally feeling it.
• Children’s Bible* by Lydia Millet – A group of families vacation together and we follow along with the children as things take an apocalyptic turn and they must find their way, surprisingly very fun and allegorical.
• Down the River Unto the Sea* by Walter Mosley – We were looking for a good mystery by a person of color after hating All Her Little Secrets last year, and read a positive review about the second in this relatively new series, while some of the elements are a little tropeish for a detective novel it was engaging and had good potential for development.
• Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo – This was a book club pick from last year that I missed, they probably liked it more than I did, a decent fun fantasy but also raised my disdain for the first in a trilogy that doesn’t feel like it wraps things up, I won’t do the next.
• Trust* by Hernan Diaz – The structure of this with different perspectives to the same people/period was really interesting but the book itself didn’t necessarily draw me in so much.
• Our Country Friends* by Gary Shteyngart – I haven’t loved Shteyngart and this was similar in that it focused on really annoying people who could at times be amusing, and I’m still not totally vibing with pandemic-setting focused books.
• The Committed* by Viet Thanh Nguyen – Book club loved The Sympathizer and thought this follow-up really worked, it’s a little dense at times but following this narrator is quite the ride.
• Sea of Tranquility* by Emily St John Madel – Big fan of Emily, really enjoyed this time travel tale and appreciated the nods to previous works without a dependency.
• The Marriage Portrait* by Maggie O’Farrell – A fictionalized take on a historical story, I appreciated it but was a little bored with this.
• Buddha in the Attic* by Julie Otsuka – A really interesting stylistic and somewhat poetic choice to tell the story of the time between US arrival and Japanese internment, intrigued but glad it was a little short.

Nonfiction

• Promotions Made Easy by Stacy Mayer – Knowing that you want to take control over the steps toward a promotion she lays out steps to take, most of which resonated.
• Smile When They Call You Sleazy by Mary Cravets – I took a course with Mary and appreciate her approach to creating a successful business, this really felt like a collection of short lessons, very quick.
• The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women: Why Capable People Suffer from the Imposter Syndrom and How to Thrive in Spite of It by Valerie Young – I thought she was very thorough in her analysis of imposter syndrome and very relatable, some tips as well though I think I’ll need to reread this again.
• The Science of Stuck by Britt Frank – Lots of reasons why we’re stuck and some examples and exercises of how to break that pattern, probably also worth a reread.
• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patric Lencioni – A good relatively short scenario where a new CEO works through dysfunctions with the team she inherits, it was nice to see the very specific examples and applications.
• The Power of Regret by Daniel Pink – A pretty engaging look at regret with lots of science behind it and the ways that we can use it positively to understand and change moving forward.
• The Joy Diet by Marth Beck – This was a little challenging to read/listen to without kind of practicing each step and while each of the elements make sense I think it might need a little more focused attention to put into practice.
• Hyper Focus by Chris Bailey – I have enjoyed one of his other books, The Productivity Project, and this was a great insight into really how bad our multitasking and distracted attention is and some tips on both getting into the zone, as well as scatter focusing.
• Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport – A good complement to the above, I appreciated all the science and realistic look at what tools are working for us and when they aren’t how to scale back, and how to focus on conversations and doing things.
• Outer Order Inner Calm by Gretchen Rubin – I follow Rubin more around her habits and things but a brief but good reminder about some tips and things to keep in mind for clearing of things.
• 168 Hours by Laura Vanderkam – I’ve followed Vanderkam for some time with her time tracking, the book talked about time tracking but also the real work about deciding what’s important to you to decide where to spend your time.
• Boundaries by Dr Henry Cloud and Dr John Townsend – I actually only started this but it was a little too over the top with Christian biblical content.
• Your Brain at Work by Dr David Rock – This was a fun scenario-based book where we go through the science of the thing and what might be a natural inclination and what is a better approach.
• Your Brain is Always Listening by Daniel G Amen, MD – This wasn’t my fave, a lot of talk about ‘dragons’ similar to gremlins and saboteurs but then felt like a more abstract concept and then dips into brain science and addiction which felt like a couple different books.
• The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo – I had never read this and always kind of meant to, you get a look more into what a character she is, and while I appreciate the gist of things sparking joy and finding a place for everything, maybe a little too particular for me.
• Set Boundaries Find Peace by Nedra Glover Tawwab – A less religious slant on boundaries, she went through various kinds of boundaries with exercises though I’m still searching for perhaps another slant or layer more applicable to professional and personal boundaries.
• Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy – This is one of the concepts that I espouse but another book I’d never actually read, the frog is actually only one of many productivity techniques, a nice collection.
• The Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachi – I really liked the perspective here about what is the right amount of time and energy to put into things, a little more focused on home/personal but the principles apply regardless.

Would love to hear any books you loved from the last year in the comments.

As usual, I’ll just share all the books I read last year since the list isn’t much longer than ten. And as usual, most of them are book club books*. I didn’t get a ton of outside reading in and I also somehow mostly stopped reading nonfiction which I’ll take a look at this year. And though I’m at least a year behind due to holding for paperbacks, you can check out the critic’s best of 2022 here.

• The First Bad Man by Miranda July* – My review was ‘it’s not not weird.’ Book club overall was amused and we had a great discussion, overall it wasn’t my fave.
• Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry* – Two ‘old’ dudes reminiscing as they wait for a daughter, meh, book club may have liked this more than I did.
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid* – I missed book club for this one but thought this older starlet telling her story to a writer was fun.
• Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro* – Generally favorable discussion of a unique narrator and her intriguing perspective with limited POV.
• All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris* – This was a fun book club in that we enjoyed talking about all the things we hated about this book including the so dumb protagonist.
• All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr – A between book club book took me a bit to wrap up around reading, not for lack of interest, a compelling journey with our two main characters during the Nazi occupation of France.
• Severance by Ling Ma* – For me this was a little ‘too soon’ with the pandemic parallels but I also found the office humor more real than humorous, book club enjoyed it.
• The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers* – A somewhat interesting setup of different aliens but not enough story or character, etc. mostly I am totally over the first of a trilogy, make a book a book even if there’s more.
• The Idiot by Elif Batuman* – Some appreciated the book more than others (me less so), decent moments but could have used more editing and story, amused but no LOL for me.
• Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead* – I enjoyed this tale of a man looking at how to live an honest life in 1960s NY, or is he?
• (March by Geraldine Brooks*) – I actually read this book ages ago but honestly didn’t remember, and decided my not remembering wasn’t a sign to reread.
• Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates* – I truthfully finally finished this today, at 738 pages it’s hard for me not to suggest some culling, an interesting look but for a fictionalized version felt like more Marilyn insight was warranted.
• The Netanyahus An Account of a Minor and Ultimatelyeven Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family by Joshua Cohen* – I was sick for this book club but think the gist which I agree with was that it was a fun fictionalized look into 1950s upstate New York college though at times got a bit academic.
• Breath by James Nestor – My dentist recommended this and while interesting and jam-packed with history more intrigued by trying some of the breathing exercises in the appendix, which I didn’t really follow through with.
• Essentialism by Greg McKeown – Very readable and pretty in sync with the Less is More philosophy I work with so many of my clients on, and of course, continue to try to focus on myself.
• Negotiating with Your Kids by Alice Shikina – A fun addition to the negotiating class, a short book about negotiating with the younger set, with illustrations by her mom.

What were your faves last year?

I can’t help calling this best books even though in fact I just list all the books I read last year. I guess that makes them the best. My reading seems to have dwindled a bit though I have been reading more nonfiction which I’ve included as well. Those marked with * are book club reads. I also put off doing this list because honestly I can’t remember what I thought about a couple of them. I had intended to update this list with each book I read so it would be fresh but well, the best laid plans. Maybe for 2022.

• The Good Lord Bird by James McBride* – We might have read this because everyone wanted to read Deacon King Kong which was only in Hardback, I now own it in paperback but haven’t gotten to it (we make exceptions but for the most part do paperbacks), I also don’t get Showtime but heard that at least Ethan Hawke was good in the series (I honestly can’t recall overall reviews) ok so this book as I recall had a good voice and journey of the characters and battle against slavery.
• Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett* – Book club overall was not a fan of this one though I thought it definitely had some fun elements and humor in the world of a not so typical family that owns a taxidermy shop.
• Modern Lovers by Emma Straub – A fun little romp looking at former bandmates living in Brooklyn as they try to move forward and look back.
• The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones* – I think book club liked this a bit more than I did, I was a little hung up on some of the logistics of the horror tale but appreciated the writing, characters, and American Indian culture.
• Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu* – Overall a real crown pleaser, the format of this book was really so much of the story (for good and for bad) but enjoyed the light and heavy take on pop culture and Asian American experience.
• Chances Are… by Richard Russo – I’m generally a big Russo fan, Empire Falls one of my all-time faves, and this visit with three old friends reuniting and stirring up the past with a little mystery was an enjoyable one.
• The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel* – Book club and I loved Station Eleven, so happy to revisit Mandel, though this didn’t garner quite the same raves lots to enjoy, and my limited cable also kept the well reviewed Station 11 series off my radar.
• If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha* – Really interesting perspective from various South Korean women on the pursuits of beauty and life.
• Fool by Christopher Moore – We had picked this for book club at one point and dismissed for some reason, but I had bought it and hadn’t read any others from Moore, and while this retelling of Lear going for funny wasn’t my fave, I’m curious to dabble in his other sort of genre approaches.
• The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich* – I’ve read and appreciated much of Erdrich’s earlier works and while this also strong Native American experience with rich characters was much more expansive in scope which it benefitted and suffered from.
• The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune* – I thought this slightly YA feeling story of a man observing a school for the ‘gifted’ was a heartwarming delight.
• On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong* – Better in some parts than others but this less direct narrative style brought some powerful moments and kept me engaged.
• Ways to Disappear by Idra Novey – Can’t recall who loaned/gave this to me (let me know if you want it back) but thought this translator going to Brazil to find her missing author was a fun endeavor.
• When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole* – Gentrification just got a little more serious, had a few quibbles but overall loved following these two protagonists on their unreal journey trying to keep a neighborhood together.
• Writers & Lovers by Lily King* – I don’t normally love when writers write about writers but totally enjoyed this look at a woman trying to get her life and her writing career together, also a fan of author’s Euphoria.
• White Tears by Hari Kunzru – This book was weird though compelling as we start with two friends and their passion for music and head into a surreal psychological look at race, music, class, history and maybe a ghost story of sorts.
• The Dutch House by Ann Patchett* – Big fans of Ann Patchett and this didn’t disappoint, a few quibbles on plot but rich characters and a great place created for these siblings and their relationship to this home.

And for nonfiction:

• So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo – One of my various attempts to focus on topics like race and raise my knowledge and vocabulary, appreciated her approach and personal perspective.
• The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier – I heard MBS speak and really liked his approach, this book was a helpful list of seven questions that mainly managers could use to coach their employees to greater success, very in sync with the coaching I do and great to see those skills being embraced.
• Atomic Habits by James Clear – I’m a huge habit fan and had been following Clear for a while, finally going through his deeper look which was much appreciated, lots to revisit here as I work on my own habits and with my clients.
• High Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard – A different take on habits, in this he breaks down the six habits that make people a success, lots of info here to revisit.
• The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks – This had been recco’d by a few and while not all of this resonated with me I appreciated the approach to upper limit problems and getting in your zone of genius, not just excellence.
• Decoding Greatness by Ron Friedman – Another person I follow and appreciate, this book ends up being a good take on how not to reinvent the wheel and tips and info on what to do instead.

For critics faves of actual 2021 check here. What were your faves last year?

While these are the best of what I read, in honesty this just continues to be a list of books I read last year. I left them in mostly chronological order and there’s an * next to those that I read for book club, we do a lot of picking from previous year’s top reviewed. This year for book club my one miss was Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo which I bought but just couldn’t get to but the group liked it so in the backlog.

• The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin* – A much acclaimed sci-fi selection, and I enjoyed it and liked the world created but it felt too much like a setup of the trilogy than a complete first book, and while intrigued my backlog is too great to read on.
• Luminaries by Eleanor Catton – I started this epic 1866 New Zealand prospecting tale on my trip to New Zealand in 2019 but didn’t finish it at the time, interesting twists of various characters but not the most compelling (I’m sure hindered by my mid book break).
• Circe by Madeline Miller – A holdover from a missed 2019 book club reading, I found this an enjoyable trip through the stories of the Gods from our protagonists’ POV, and liked the new view on an old tale.
• Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett* – A depressing but engaging look at family dynamics and the impact of mental illness.
• Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward – This was much discussed for a book club pick but various people ended up reading on their own, glad to pick it up in between for a tough and interesting portrait of Mississippi family road trip/ghost story, though it didn’t totally pull me in.
• Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – I actually bought this book for my sister years ago after hearing her speak, and glad I finally picked up her loan back to me for a captivating tale of the young and in love starting in Nigeria, journeys together and apart, with looks at race through relations and locations.
• Normal People by Sally Rooney* – Some in the book club loved this one (fave of the year), and while I liked this complicated relationship tale, and the tv series that followed, I wasn’t fully drawn in.
• Fourth of July Creek by Smith Henderson – This was a pick in book club from before I joined that had come up repeatedly as a fave and I found it incredibly compelling and tough as our social worker and father deals with spiraling personal and professional drama.
• Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons* – A good smart, fun and funny take from 1932 on a heroine cleaning up her extended family as she heads to a more rural location.
• Where’d You Go Bernadette – I had heard this book often referenced when people were saying that I want to read something like this, so I felt I should go to the source, and was greatly rewarded by this fun page turner where the what happened format really worked as did the subject layers.
• Dare Me by Megan Abbott* – I had actually watched the series first, which sadly was canceled, but still enjoyed the source more for the fun of the cheerleading cult than for the mystery.
• Lucky Alan & Other Stories by Jonathan Lethem – I always enjoy a Lethem though you never know what you’re going to get, his short stories offered a fun look at multiple options.
• Girl, Woman, Other by Benardine Evaristo* – Some very good elements but a little distracted by less than strong connections and quantity of interrelated stories.
• Songbook by Nick Hornby – I bought this ages ago and flipped through the music essays, and listened to the included cd, but finally sat down and read through, it holds up and would love more from music fans on music/moments.
• There There by Tommy Orange – Another book club catch up, for an absorbing ensemble of connected Native Americans, though maybe a little too connected.
• The Whites by Richard Price* – Enjoyed the place and characters and while I could quibble with a couple of plot elements overall engaged by the cop revenge tale.
• Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akkner* – This ended up being more depressing than funny, the original goal of this pick, though there were amusing characterizations of the elite, dating apps, and yoga tank slogans.
• Nickel Boys by Colton Whitehead*– Pretty unanimous enthusiastic recommendation from book club and while it’s a tough, heartbreaking subject the tone and balance make it so readable.
• State of Wonder by Ann Patchett – I’m a fan of her earlier work and this does not disappoint, what an captivating and intriguing tale of a pharmacologist’s trip to drug research in the jungles of Brazil.
• Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson* – I thought his earlier work The Family Fang was a lot of fun and this was no disappointment as a follow up, two kids who spontaneously combust and their new caretaker, what a fast and fun and flammable pick.
• Inland by Tea Obreht* – Two parallel narratives that one could argue either add to or detract from the other, a frontierswoman dealing with drama and the lack of water and an immigrant Muslim and outlaw haunted by ghosts, while I enjoyed many of the parts of this the sum of things didn’t totally capture me.

For this year’s top reviewed you can find a list here. What were your favorites?

Some good picks again this year at a time when one might need a little something to read, mostly from book club options (marked with*). I did skip one book club pick this year, Circe, but picked it up in 2020 (spoiler alert, I liked it). I think the following are noted in the order read, or close to it. Some of the specifics get a little forgettable, this year I am vowing to write this as we go, or closer since it’s already March, which could also help me be timelier.

• Who Is Vera Kelly* by Rosalie Knecht – A fun take on spy drama though not quite a traditional mystery we follow our protagonist into Cold War infiltration of a student group in Argentina.
• Asymmetry* by Lisa Halliday – Two of the three distinct sections were more compelling but overall worthwhile to look at these stories of people, from a young editor and her relationship with an older known author and an American man detained on a visit to see his brother in Kurdistan, from the relationships themselves to relationship between the various stories.
• Freshwater* by Akwaeke Emezi – An interesting and very odd take on the many selves within a woman (literal or psychological?) as we see her raised from Nigeria to the US.
• The Witches of Eastwick* by John Updike – This was a holdover from 2018 which I honestly had trouble getting through, though the witchiness will always have an appeal.
• The Barbarian Nurseries* by Hector Tobar – This one was also a slow start for me, and I ended up picking it back up after book club, eventually enjoying the tale of a family and their maid’s personal and societal drama and their quest to find family across cultural lines.
• An America Marriage* by Tayari Jones – One of my favorites of the year this heartbreaking tale of a newlywed couple where the husband is sentenced for a crime he didn’t commit, we get to know each through their journey together and apart.
• The Mars Room* by Rachel Kushner – I appreciated much of this book but never completely engrossed by the relatively brutal story of a woman incarcerated with extenuating circumstances as it goes through multiple POVs that sometimes add and sometimes detract.
• Lake Success* by Gary Shteyngart – A novel that is very of the time following a hedge-fund manager at a midlife crisis point that although at times amusing I found our unsympathetic narrator a little off putting.
• Transcription* by Kate Atkinson – More espionage, this time our also female protagonist gets involved with MI5 and we see various points of time in this fun enough British WWII and beyond spy novel, told from a nice POV but didn’t fully drawn me in with twists and characters over the years.
• My Sister the Serial Killer* by Oyinkan Braithwaite – Oddly light in tone this story of two very different sisters both enmeshed in each other’s lives, one of which has a tendency to kill her boyfriends.
• My Year of Rest and Relaxation* by Ottessa Moshfegh – The group was so put off by the earlier reading of Eileen that this got raised a few times before folks agreed, but well worth the push for the dark yet comic protagonist drugging herself through depression.
• Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng – Having really enjoyed Everything I Never Told You I was very intrigued by this follow up two families crossing in a suburban community bringing great themes together, very well done (now a Hulu series).
• My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent – Compelling even with the tough subject matter it creates a world and characters that draw you in hoping for our tough young protagonist.
• Tell the Wolves I’m Home* by Carol Rifka Brunt – I quite enjoyed this coming of age tale with a young girl dealing with her favorite uncle’s death from AIDS and her new relationship with his unknown, to her, partner.

For critical picks I’ve gravitated to the consolidated LitHub list, and since we’re at a decade digging into their best novels of the decade. All good fodder for reading in 2020. What were your favorites?

Another good year with book club as well as additional titles I was able to fit in. Book club options noted with* (I only missed There, There this year which was supposed to be quite good) and mostly listed in order read.

• Rules of Civility* by Amor Towles – A great way to start the year we all really enjoyed this tale of a woman’s life in NY taking a turn in the year of 1938, many went on to also enjoy A Gentleman in Moscow.
• The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware – Underwhelming if entertaining enough mystery.
• Pachinko* by Min Jin Lee – Very enjoyable Korean drama starting in 1910 in a small Korean village and through into Japan and beyond.
• The Heart’s Invisible Furies* by John Boyne – A little uneven but overall engaging look at 1940s to present day Ireland through the life of an adopted boy and his surrounding ‘family.’
• Moonglow by Michael Chabon – Enjoyed the latest fictional autobiography as he listens to his grandfather’s story.
• Exit West* by Mohin Hamid – Really pulled into this magical realism story of two young lovers who meet and are swept up by unrest in their city and escape through doors to other places.
• Euphoria by Lily King – Three young anthropologists in the ’30’s caught me up in both their study of other cultures but their love triangle that threatens more than their work.
  
• A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin – I can’t believe I had never ready any of her work, the stories gathered here are compelling and heart breaking and humorous.
  
• Maps & Legends Reading and Writing Along the Borderlands by Michael Chabon – This collection of essays goes a little more in detail on subjects that are clearly favorites of the author’s but maybe not for everyone.
• Elmet* by Fiona Mozley – This was one of two books we picked this year that we questioned the balance of good to bummer as the story of a family living basically off the grid in Yorkshire and let’s just say it doesn’t go well.
• Eileen* by Ottessa Moshfegh – This was the other but bummer, and it’s making us a little dubious about My Year of Rest and Relaxation getting lots of buzz for this last year.
• Less* by Andrew Sean Greer – I’ve mostly enjoyed the rest of Andy’s work I’ve read but this latest really pulls it all together as a struggling author travels the world to avoid a wedding is mostly amusing in its mishaps but also a little poignant.
• How I Became a Famous Novelist by Steve Hely – Slacker decides to game the system mostly to get back at an ex has some amusing areas but a little too turned off by the protagonist.
• The Good Girl by Mary Kubica – Ditto The Woman in Cabin 10.
• All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld – A woman’s present and past are told with a bit of sheep shearing has some interesting aspects but overall might not add up to a whole lot.
• Manhattan Beach* by Jennifer Egan – While overall I enjoyed this book it covered a lot at maybe some expense and our discussion turned more toward the three versions of the book we might have liked better.
• Floating in My Mother’s Palm by Ursula Hegi – Another on my Hegi backlog this was a lovely story of the characters of small town in Germany where we met many in Stones From the River.
• Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham – This collection was a gracious gift from my City Arts & Lectures attendance but I enjoyed hearing her speak more than I enjoyed the personal essays.
• Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan – I loved the idea of the culture, food, and fashion that make up the ingredients of this book but overall the story and characters didn’t make it for me.
• This is My Best: Great Writers Share their Favorite Work – Fun to ready a bunch of stories from a wide range of authors, not all my favorites but a lot of great gems.
• Sourdough* by Robin Sloan – A fun fictional look at food and culture though maybe not as satisfying as a loaf of sourdough.
• The Man Who Fell In Love With the Moon by Tom Spanbauer – This book wasn’t quite my jam as we followed a western feeling group of whore house protagonists.
• The Perfect Nanny* by Leila Slimani – Not everyone loved the book for various narrative and nonfictional reasons but some good ingredients for a good discussion.
• News of the World by Paulette Jiles – Recommended to me by lovers of this book from page one, and while it took me a bit to get into I ended up won over by this Civil Wartime reader of the news and his goal to reunite a young orphan with her fam after being raised by Indians.
• The Witches of Eastwick* by John Updike – I’m technically still not quite done with this and most of our group didn’t finish this tough to get into lengthy descriptions.

We’ll keep our eye on Lithub list as these come out in paperback and for a more comprehensive list of best book lists you can check Large Hearted Boy.

What were your favorite picks?

I should abandon the ‘best’ language since this is just all the books that I’ve read. There were some gems but if nothing else I’ve read more books this year! Listed in order read with months indicating my book club’s pick.

• The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (Jan) – This was sort of the book of 2016 and definitely appreciated the fictional, somewhat fantastical, and yet illuminating journey seeking freedom.
• The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins – This book was certainly readable but I didn’t buy the story ingredients that our heroine gets herself wrapped up in.
• Tenth of December by George Saunders – Another on my list because of high regard, I really enjoyed this collection of slightly off kilter short stories.
• Impossible Lives of Greta Wells by Andrew Sean Greer (Feb) – I’ve read a few of his books and this tale of a woman time traveling between lives struck about the same balance in being a little unusual and basically enjoyable.
• The Nix by Nathan Hill (Mar) – This was one of my faves of the year, if not the fave, as it wove a very smart story with great cultural awareness and enjoyable characters as we follow a man who gets reconnected with the mother who abandoned him and a whole lot more.
• Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (Apr) – After really enjoying the short story collection earlier I was excited for this much buzzed about book, and I don’t want to say I hated it but I just could not get into the odd format and tale of Lincoln and the living and dead characters.
• 1984 by George Orwell (May) – This year just seemed like a time for a reread, and while the book was still enjoyable what was most interesting about the reread is the parts that I did and didn’t remember.
• Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (Jun) – I’d had this on my list since someone being interviewed at City Arts & Lectures (and I can’t remember who, maybe Zadie Smith) raved about it and it’s well worth a read to follow through the stories of the lineage of two sisters born in 18th century Ghana.
• Everybody’s Fool by Richard Russo (Jul) – Even though this wasn’t one of my favorites of his, his writing is still some of my favorite and was glad to revisit this town from Nobody’s Fool and some of its interesting characters.
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini – This had been on my shelf for years and I was glad to pick up and dive into the poignant tale of two friends unfolding their story from Afghanistan and beyond.
• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel – A great journey with the end of the world as we know it and finding how tales current and during the initial breakout all tie together with compelling characters and stakes.
• In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware – Also readable but didn’t really get into the unbelievable bachelorette weekend gone darkly awry.
• All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders (Aug) – This fantastical book covering technology, magic, romance, and the complications these can bring was fun enough if not totally successful for me.
• Razorgirl by Carl Hiaasen – You can’t go wrong with a campy Florida caper and this one is very typical Hiaasen.
• The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion (Sep) – I really enjoyed this quirky rom com of a book following a socially awkward scientist trying to boil down the ingredients to marriage with the help of a slightly less by the book female.
• The Brookly Follies by Paul Auster – Another off the shelf, this protagonist comes to Brooklyn to die only to reconnect with life, very enjoyable and I have some Auster backlog still to do.
• Everyman by Philip Roth – Speaking of backlog, I haven’t done a ton of Roth but I enjoyed the look at one man’s life through illnesses.
• Before the Fall by Noah Hawley (Oct) – As a fan of his television work I was curious about the writing and enjoyed the story of the last survivors of a private plane crash and its look at media.
• Intrusions by Ursula Hegi – I had a stack of old Hegi options after falling for Stones From the River and this book about an author mixing her life, her in progress novel, and talking to her characters was odd and entertaining enough.
• Golden Hill by Francis Spuffold (Nov) – I almost stopped reading the heavy handed language of this novel of old world New York but stuck it out because others said it got better, and it did in that the treatment of the protagonist, the story, and the writing got less annoying but though it moved to have some entertaining moments I can’t quite endorse.
• I Remember You: A Ghost Story by Yrsa Sigurdardottir (Dec) – Well it was definitely a ghost story, and although I didn’t read it late at night I thought it did an appropriate job of being spooky and tying a few yarns of creepy abandoned remote island house and creepy kids of years gone by together.
• The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood – This was sort of a year of Atwood so I picked up another one of the books on my shelf and while the overall story wasn’t completely successful for me I really enjoyed the stories of three women and their relationship to a college ‘friend’.

For a more consolidated list of critic picks check out Largehearted Boy or Literary Hub. What were your favorites?

I keep saying I wanted to read more so this year when the opportunity arose I joined a new book club! I was a little hesitant about the commitment and a little hesitant about the book selection but all in all I rate the year a success. Below is the list of what we read this year, plus a couple of additional vacation selections, in order of reading.

• The Sellout by Paul Beatty – This was a unique and amusingly satirical take on race that was well worth a read and a think, great fodder for my first book club attendance.
• A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James – Super long and super challenging with the multiple POV entailing lots of Jamaican dialect, and while I appreciated it more than I enjoyed this fictional look surrounding politics and days of Bob Marley for an interesting read.
• Dissident Gardens by Jonathan Lethem – I am typically a big Lethem fan but there was something about this book that just never quite engaged me with the look at multi-generational dissidents who were interesting if not endearing.
• The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson – I’m going to label this my favorite book of last year, as we move with the titles character through his unbelievable journey through North Korea, as fantastical as his story is the very real research grounded it.
• The Vegetarian by Han Kang – This surreal and poetic mix of three points of view in a tale of a woman taking a turn in her life starting with visions of food, fell more on the appreciation than enjoyment side of the fence.
• The Girls by Emma Cline – We picked this one for something a little lighter, in readability though not subject matter, I was entertained by if not totally brought on board with the psychology and situation around at a young girl who falls in with a cult-ish group.
• Boy Snow Bird by Helen Oyeyemi – Although very readable the loose riff on Snow White never quite hits trying to do a myriad of styles and stories feeling like it’s not quite covering too many bases.
• Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann – This had been sitting on my shelf for ages so jumped at the chance to get this in the rotation and pleasantly surprised as the weaving together of various people’s stories brings a greater appreciation for each as well as their place in the time and NYC.
• The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen – This book may have suffered in my opinion by the fact that it was the one I didn’t finish on time and therefore was relegated to finishing in dribs and drabs, but while the communist double agent protagonist kept me interested in his trips from early Vietnam to the US and back again and yet not totally engrossed.
• Funny Girl by Nick Hornby – This was the first of my vacation books, I’m a big Hornby fan in general always readable and amusing if not always amazing, this one that was a look at an early English comedienne was definitely enjoyable.
• The Pesthouse by Jim Crace – I started into the backlog after reading Being Dead and this was an interesting look at this peculiar slice of remote world and people thrown together but not my fave.
• A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman – This was the talk of the town for a bit and though I was left a little less glowing of the simplistic character and slightly overly coincidental series of events in the end I was won over by Ove and the people who won him over.
• Swing Time by Zadie Smith – I’m realizing that I’m actually up to date on Smith having gone back to the backlog after favorite On Beauty, and though for me nothing else has matched that I enjoyed this journey with our unnamed and somewhat distant protagonist as she journeys through family, friends, work, romance, and politics.

A little tardy with my end of year lists, I’m also taking a pass on doing the critic roundups. Trying to find any good compilations but you can find a full rundown of all the year-end lists (which is a little overwhelming to be honest) at Largehearted Boy. And stay tuned for tv and movie picks!