Trying something new tonight with Substack’s discussion thread option. I’d love to hear about your favorite book of the year (regardless of when it was published). Drop one or five titles in the comments, and see (hopefully) a boatload of other reader’s picks for great books!
I love this question. These titles come out on top for me:
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison. Surprisingly apt to a time when we are all quarantined against our will. A case study in true moral courage and Christian witness.
Michael Sandel, The Tyranny of Merit. Excellent exegesis of why demagogic populism has swept the nation - his premise is that the myth of "meritocracy" is at the root of our widespread alienation. I've referred to this book in conversation more than any other I've read this year.
Barack Obama, A Promised Land. A reminder of what it was like to have a president with empathy, discernment, and grace - in short, someone who gave a sh*t about other people. Also works as a study in why activism and politics need each other to succeed. People who are mad that Obama did this or didn't do that while president should read it, as he explains himself and the constraints of the office exceptionally well.
Honorable mention: A Gentleman in Moscow, Dakota: A Spiritual Geography, A Separate Peace, A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear
My tastes are more to classics. Would like to see a few more classics from you. Going to try to join you in W&P!
Also:
NLT Bible. The NLT is great for long-reading and and understanding what you read. I did 2-4 OT chapters, 1 NT, and 1 Ps. or Prov. a day. BEST THING I EVER DID. Eye opening. Next year going to take a step further and do NIV!
Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. It was difficult to finish because I wanted to strap on my running shoes and hit the pavement every time I sat down to read it. A wonderful, very readable book about running which is enjoyable even if you are not a runner.
I'm going to go with Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. Rare is a book that is hard to put down yet feels like a great work of literature. Superfun and deep, I want more :-)
The Road by Cormac McCarthy was my favorite this year. I also really liked the first two volumes of Robert Caro’s LBJ bio and The Body by Bill Bryson. A good US history book I read this year is American Nations by Colin Woodard.
Agreed. I had seen the movie a while back and felt it was "meh" but I kept hearing from you and others that the book was great. It was, and so much better than the movie.
Hope is the Thing with Feathers: The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
Educated by Tara Westover
Those are some of my favorites reads this year... It's pretty hard to pick an absolute favorite though. Heck... Even just narrowing it down to these was hard.
His writing style is amazing! He weaves landscape with literature in a way I can't even describe. I seldom read multiple works from the same author in a short period of time, but I've read three of his books this year.
Sanderson is amazing. I grew up on fantasy and I’ve been so impressed by his various works. The Final Empire is another I’d recommend if you like Stormlight Archives.
Thanks! I've been thinking about diving into the Mistborn series. I wasn't sure how it would be though, since I'd be going back in time to Sanderson's earlier years. But, knowing how Sanderson writes, even if his earlier writing was rough-around-the-edges (which it may not have even been!), it would still be fantastic compared to many other authors.
I thought Elantris was a bit clunky, though enjoyed it and my wife liked it. Mistborn definitely feels smoother than that. And Stormlight definitely the next level. He does a modern day superhero one (Reckoners) that wasn’t really my style (more sci-fi). And a sequel series to Mistborn that feels like a western that is a lot of fun (Wax & Wayne series). Highly recommend following up Mistborn with Wax & Wayne I’d you end up enjoying it.
His only problem is, he’s got like 4 open series going so you’re always waiting for the next installment. I swore I would never start another unfinished series... yet here I am.
* Hampton Sides' On Desperate Ground (a recommendation of yours) was fantastic both in terms of readability and also educating me on a Korean War campaign that I knew very little about.
* Bad Blood by John Carreyrou was stunning as an exposé in how a lack of accountability and a culture of secrecy in a startup can quickly balloon into the scam of the decade.
* Masters of the Air by Donald Miller was a comprehensive overview of the Eighth Air Force in the Second World War, covering both the very personal experiences of the American bomber crews as well as the broader strategy of the bombing war over Europe until 1945.
* Sleepwalkers by Christopher Clark -- starting with a 70-80 page overview of the Serbian monarchy, this book is a wonderfully deep, detail-oriented view of the different political actors and context around the start of the First World War. It is lengthy but you will learn so much from it.
On the fiction front, I continued through Abir Mukherjee's Sam Wyndham books (Death in the East and Smoke and Ashes), which is a crime series set in India during the British Raj. Highly recommended for those that enjoy reading at the intersection of history & crime fiction.
I got into Tolstoy this year too, though all of it being his post-conversion work. Many of the short stories are very good, but his “A Confession” and his “My Religion” really got hold of me. I immediately read “Confession” again and filled my Commonplace Book with notes from both. He was a fascinated and brilliant man.
I finally finished the Wheel of Time series. I made it halfway through in high school, then picked it up again last year. It's definitely a commitment, but it's a good story.
I also loved "Anxious People" by Fredrik Bachman just as much as I loved "A Man Called Ove"
I think it has become my favorite as well! I haven't quite been moved by a book like that before. Really enjoy the book recommendations--keep them coming!
How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler - I have wanted to read this for a while and took the time this year, it helped enrich my further reading later in the year.
The Illiad - First time reading it
Spiritual Leadership - by J. Oswald Sanders - I am finishing up my principal certification and my brother got this for me when I said I was looking for leadership books.
The Black Prism by Brent Weeks - I love the world building in this.
1. My Struggle (6 volumes!) by Karl Ove Knausgård. The Proust of our times! Anything from him is fantastic.
2. What Were We Thinking? By Carlos Lazada. Out of all the books out there about Trump replaces all of them! A seminal read with a great annotated bibliography.
3. Mythology by Edith Hamilton. Read this years ago and is truly a timeless classic. The 75th anniversary edition has beautiful artwork too!
Been waiting for What Were We Thinking at the library. Might have to take matters into my own hands. A book about presidential books! It's the perfect thing for me.
The Count of Monte Cristo for sure. Took a while, but hands down the best "story" I've ever read. The plot is airtight, and dips and weaves through plots and subplots, with what I found to be an extremely satisfying ending. Will read again one day.
Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry. Not my usual kind of book but it was so incredibly well written and I was sad when it was done.
Churchill: Walking with Destiny. Awesome in the truest sense of the word.
The Sirens of Titan: I read a bunch of Vonnegut many years ago and didn’t care for him, but this time through my older, wiser, more cynical self loved him deeply.
Caste: changed how I see the world forever
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, the Horse: incredibly sweet. I cry every time I read it to my kids or myself
Was just getting ready to write that one down in this thread. It was so good. This was the first L'Amour book I've ever read can't wait to dive into his fiction.
I hate to say this about the novels, but once you've read a handful, you've read 'em all. My very humble opinion. That said, they're really nice reads and thoroughly enjoyable when you need an easy reader.
I have L’Amour’s entire catalog (pretty much) since I inherited it from my grandfather (he was a huge fan and one of L’Amour’s typical readers). The bulk of L’Amour’s fiction does little for me, though he does tend to sprinkle in bits of literary bread crumbs for the curious to follow. Having said that, his memoir is one of my favorite books of all time. He was a completely fascinating man and the memoir doesn’t do him or his life justice. There are several good interviews with L’Amour on YouTube, and in the podcast world one can find some of his lectures. I’m sure there is a lot more out there somewhere. As a writer, L’Amour was very good; as a man, he was a national treasure.
I gotta say, Recursion was by far my favorite non-fiction of the year. For me, some markers of a really good fiction are how much I look forward to reading it and how much I think about it after I'm done. Recursion pretty much maxed out both of those.
Daring Greatly by Brene Brown. I've read all her books and this was my favorite. Read this twice, once quick, then a slow reread over about 6 months. The material on shame is some of the best I've come across. Very empowering book.
- SERPENT ON THE ROCK, by Kurt Eichenwald. It seems like it'd be super-dry to read about securities fraud from the 1980s (and securities regulation is my dry business!), but this book does a great job of making an extremely dry subject fascinating.
- THE DEVIL & SHERLOCK HOLMES, by David Grann. Grann's just such a good writer and this is a collection of some of his New Yorker pieces.
- THE SPY AND THE TRAITOR, by Ben Macintyre. What can I say? This true story of a Russian double agent was riveting.
- DEAD WAKE, by Erik Larson. This one was a fascinating zoom-in on the incident itself; haunting in a lot of ways.
- MISERY, by Stephen King. I made it a vague goal a few years ago to read one King book every fall, and this happened this year's. (Last year's was THE STAND, so that turned out to be prescient for this year...)
It’s a toss up between “the parade” by Dave Evers and “The Wall” by John Lanchester. The former has a quick pace with a gut punch ending that will leave you breathless. While the latter is a slow burn that will leave you questioning what we’re all doing with our lives.
I love this question. These titles come out on top for me:
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison. Surprisingly apt to a time when we are all quarantined against our will. A case study in true moral courage and Christian witness.
Michael Sandel, The Tyranny of Merit. Excellent exegesis of why demagogic populism has swept the nation - his premise is that the myth of "meritocracy" is at the root of our widespread alienation. I've referred to this book in conversation more than any other I've read this year.
Barack Obama, A Promised Land. A reminder of what it was like to have a president with empathy, discernment, and grace - in short, someone who gave a sh*t about other people. Also works as a study in why activism and politics need each other to succeed. People who are mad that Obama did this or didn't do that while president should read it, as he explains himself and the constraints of the office exceptionally well.
Honorable mention: A Gentleman in Moscow, Dakota: A Spiritual Geography, A Separate Peace, A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear
Marvelous. Thanks Peter!
A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles
The Read and the Blue - Steve Kornacki
Towles gets better in my memory as time goes on.
Sherlock Holmes. All of it!
Les Mis
The Count of Monte Cristo
My tastes are more to classics. Would like to see a few more classics from you. Going to try to join you in W&P!
Also:
NLT Bible. The NLT is great for long-reading and and understanding what you read. I did 2-4 OT chapters, 1 NT, and 1 Ps. or Prov. a day. BEST THING I EVER DID. Eye opening. Next year going to take a step further and do NIV!
Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. It was difficult to finish because I wanted to strap on my running shoes and hit the pavement every time I sat down to read it. A wonderful, very readable book about running which is enjoyable even if you are not a runner.
Been on my list a while. Glad to hear it’s a good one.
It is great.
I'm going to go with Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. Rare is a book that is hard to put down yet feels like a great work of literature. Superfun and deep, I want more :-)
The other three in the series are great too!
The Road by Cormac McCarthy was my favorite this year. I also really liked the first two volumes of Robert Caro’s LBJ bio and The Body by Bill Bryson. A good US history book I read this year is American Nations by Colin Woodard.
The Road is definitely an all-time favorite, for me. And I've heard really good things about Woodward's book. Thanks!
The Road was an amazing read!
The Road was amazing! I picked up the Caro series (used) not too long ago and looking forward to tackling them soon.
Education of a Wandering Man by Louis L'Amour
In the Heart of the Sea by Philbrick
Man's Search for Meaning by Frankl
In the Heart of the Sea of one of the great underrated non-fiction narratives. Unbelievable story.
Agreed. I had seen the movie a while back and felt it was "meh" but I kept hearing from you and others that the book was great. It was, and so much better than the movie.
Heart of the Sea was great. All of Philbrick's books are incredible.
The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane
Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson
Hope is the Thing with Feathers: The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
Educated by Tara Westover
Those are some of my favorites reads this year... It's pretty hard to pick an absolute favorite though. Heck... Even just narrowing it down to these was hard.
I've not read any Macfarlane but he's been on my list a long time. thanks Tyrel!
His writing style is amazing! He weaves landscape with literature in a way I can't even describe. I seldom read multiple works from the same author in a short period of time, but I've read three of his books this year.
I hope you like him when you get to him!
Sanderson is amazing. I grew up on fantasy and I’ve been so impressed by his various works. The Final Empire is another I’d recommend if you like Stormlight Archives.
Thanks! I've been thinking about diving into the Mistborn series. I wasn't sure how it would be though, since I'd be going back in time to Sanderson's earlier years. But, knowing how Sanderson writes, even if his earlier writing was rough-around-the-edges (which it may not have even been!), it would still be fantastic compared to many other authors.
I thought Elantris was a bit clunky, though enjoyed it and my wife liked it. Mistborn definitely feels smoother than that. And Stormlight definitely the next level. He does a modern day superhero one (Reckoners) that wasn’t really my style (more sci-fi). And a sequel series to Mistborn that feels like a western that is a lot of fun (Wax & Wayne series). Highly recommend following up Mistborn with Wax & Wayne I’d you end up enjoying it.
His only problem is, he’s got like 4 open series going so you’re always waiting for the next installment. I swore I would never start another unfinished series... yet here I am.
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. Was one of the best books I've ever read.
Agreed! Read this one for book club this year. Eye-opening, to say the least.
I loved that book. I am haunted by the chapter “Mitigation”
I agree. Life changing.
Lots of non-fiction picks on my end:
* Hampton Sides' On Desperate Ground (a recommendation of yours) was fantastic both in terms of readability and also educating me on a Korean War campaign that I knew very little about.
* Bad Blood by John Carreyrou was stunning as an exposé in how a lack of accountability and a culture of secrecy in a startup can quickly balloon into the scam of the decade.
* Masters of the Air by Donald Miller was a comprehensive overview of the Eighth Air Force in the Second World War, covering both the very personal experiences of the American bomber crews as well as the broader strategy of the bombing war over Europe until 1945.
* Sleepwalkers by Christopher Clark -- starting with a 70-80 page overview of the Serbian monarchy, this book is a wonderfully deep, detail-oriented view of the different political actors and context around the start of the First World War. It is lengthy but you will learn so much from it.
On the fiction front, I continued through Abir Mukherjee's Sam Wyndham books (Death in the East and Smoke and Ashes), which is a crime series set in India during the British Raj. Highly recommended for those that enjoy reading at the intersection of history & crime fiction.
All of Hampton's work is superb. Bad Blood is incredible — good choice. I've not heard of the others. Thanks for the recs!
No worries, Jeremy. I did also read another of your recs this year -- Candice Millard's book on Churchill. Very enjoyable!
I got into Tolstoy this year too, though all of it being his post-conversion work. Many of the short stories are very good, but his “A Confession” and his “My Religion” really got hold of me. I immediately read “Confession” again and filled my Commonplace Book with notes from both. He was a fascinated and brilliant man.
Awesome. Looking forward to reading some of that later stuff this year.
I finally finished the Wheel of Time series. I made it halfway through in high school, then picked it up again last year. It's definitely a commitment, but it's a good story.
I also loved "Anxious People" by Fredrik Bachman just as much as I loved "A Man Called Ove"
I also loved Anxious People. One of those that grows better in my memory too.
Congrats on finishing Wheel of Time!
Range by David Epstein! There's not one path to the top and it pays to have a breadth of experience.
David is one of the best people. Period. Great book.
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Scandalous Witness: A Little Political Manifesto for Christians by Lee Camp
Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
When Breath Becomes Air might just be my favorite book. And I've heard surprisingly good things about Greenlights.
I think it has become my favorite as well! I haven't quite been moved by a book like that before. Really enjoy the book recommendations--keep them coming!
Endurance: Shackleton’s voyage, open by Andre Agassi, recursion by Blake crouch, and The suspect by Kent Alexander about the Atlanta Olympic bombing.
Awesome. Thank you!
Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler - I have wanted to read this for a while and took the time this year, it helped enrich my further reading later in the year.
The Illiad - First time reading it
Spiritual Leadership - by J. Oswald Sanders - I am finishing up my principal certification and my brother got this for me when I said I was looking for leadership books.
The Black Prism by Brent Weeks - I love the world building in this.
I’ve not heard of the The Black Prism. I’ll have to check it out!
1. My Struggle (6 volumes!) by Karl Ove Knausgård. The Proust of our times! Anything from him is fantastic.
2. What Were We Thinking? By Carlos Lazada. Out of all the books out there about Trump replaces all of them! A seminal read with a great annotated bibliography.
3. Mythology by Edith Hamilton. Read this years ago and is truly a timeless classic. The 75th anniversary edition has beautiful artwork too!
Been waiting for What Were We Thinking at the library. Might have to take matters into my own hands. A book about presidential books! It's the perfect thing for me.
Got to go with Devolution, by Max Brooks. Great survival story. Very smart author.
That was a good one for sure.
The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris
The Power of the Dog by Don Winslow. Memorable characters. Fantastic story.
I’ve heard great things about Winslow but haven’t read anything of his yet.
I highly recommend The Power of the Dog. I started reading his book The Force last week. So far I really enjoy it as well.
I've got a buddy obsessed with Winslow. It was a little dark for me. But felt very real, not just dark for dark's sake.
The Road... Wow. That book.. so ugly yet beautiful. The characters anonymous yet so relatable. An amazing book.
Morris' Rise of TR was a great read as well. Very engaging. I'm looking forward to the next two volumes.
The Count of Monte Cristo for sure. Took a while, but hands down the best "story" I've ever read. The plot is airtight, and dips and weaves through plots and subplots, with what I found to be an extremely satisfying ending. Will read again one day.
Been thinking about this one for too long without having read it. 2021!
(?) maybe for our next bookclub read---after War and Peace
It’s flat out amazing how Dumas tied that story together.
If you liked The Count of Monte Cristo (as I did), try The Black Count biography of Dumas' father. Outstanding!
The Count is awesome!
Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry. Not my usual kind of book but it was so incredibly well written and I was sad when it was done.
Churchill: Walking with Destiny. Awesome in the truest sense of the word.
The Sirens of Titan: I read a bunch of Vonnegut many years ago and didn’t care for him, but this time through my older, wiser, more cynical self loved him deeply.
Caste: changed how I see the world forever
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, the Horse: incredibly sweet. I cry every time I read it to my kids or myself
These are all great. Seems we have very similar reading tastes!
That’s why I value your work!
Grant by Chernow. A powerful and well-written book about an incredible man. When I'm in the Oval Office one day his picture will be with me! 😂
You'll have my vote!
Definitely Education of a Wandering Man by Louis L’Amour.
Was just getting ready to write that one down in this thread. It was so good. This was the first L'Amour book I've ever read can't wait to dive into his fiction.
I hate to say this about the novels, but once you've read a handful, you've read 'em all. My very humble opinion. That said, they're really nice reads and thoroughly enjoyable when you need an easy reader.
Jeremy’s right about a handful being the lot of them, but I’d recommend The Walking Drum and Last of the Breed as my favorites by him.
I absolutely second this. Both a completely unexpected books for L'Amour, and they are my favorites as well. Last of the Breed is my favorite of his.
Thank you for the recommendation!
I have L’Amour’s entire catalog (pretty much) since I inherited it from my grandfather (he was a huge fan and one of L’Amour’s typical readers). The bulk of L’Amour’s fiction does little for me, though he does tend to sprinkle in bits of literary bread crumbs for the curious to follow. Having said that, his memoir is one of my favorite books of all time. He was a completely fascinating man and the memoir doesn’t do him or his life justice. There are several good interviews with L’Amour on YouTube, and in the podcast world one can find some of his lectures. I’m sure there is a lot more out there somewhere. As a writer, L’Amour was very good; as a man, he was a national treasure.
Love that book so hard.
Fires me up to read!
Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa
Timeless Way of Building by Christopher Alexander
The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy
The Whiskey Rebels
The Nightingale
Dark Matter/Recursion
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck/Everything is F*cked
I'm not familiar with The Whiskey Rebels. Agreed that Nightingale and Crouch are amazing.
It’s by David Liss. Historical fiction novel based around the Whiskey Rebellion. Highly recommend it.
The Whiskey Rebels: A Novel (Random House Reader's Circle) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0812974530/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_FKT1Fb6A3B76W
Liss has written a number of great books. The Conspiracy of Paper is also a great read and is part of a series.
East of Eden - Steinbeck, A Year In The Maine Woods - Henrich, and Walking: by Kagge.
East of Eden...my favorite fiction book of all time!
The discussion around the word 'timshel' is something I keep going back to. Definitely one of my favorite books.
I've not heard of A Year In the Main Woods—I'll have to check it out!
If you enjoy nature reading...he's the master!
I gotta say, Recursion was by far my favorite non-fiction of the year. For me, some markers of a really good fiction are how much I look forward to reading it and how much I think about it after I'm done. Recursion pretty much maxed out both of those.
Daring Greatly by Brene Brown. I've read all her books and this was my favorite. Read this twice, once quick, then a slow reread over about 6 months. The material on shame is some of the best I've come across. Very empowering book.
Excellent choices!
And clearly I meant Recursion was my favorite FICTION...hopefully that type of story never becomes non-fiction or we're in trouble!
The splendid and the Vile (all his books are great) by Erik Larson
This house of sky by Ivan Doig
Ghost fleet by PW Singer
Killing Patton by Bill O’Reilly
Dangerous River by RM Patterson
Call Sign Chaos - Jim Mattis - a leader on and off the battlefield
Words that Work - Frank Luntz - fascinating book on the use of diction in public
Paris 1919 - Margaret MacMillan - provides a deep understanding of the current geopolitical landscape
Materhorn by Karl Marlantes
Stoner by John Williams
Butcher's Crossing by William was one of my favorite 2018 reads. So good if you haven't read it.
A few from this year (in no particular order):
- SERPENT ON THE ROCK, by Kurt Eichenwald. It seems like it'd be super-dry to read about securities fraud from the 1980s (and securities regulation is my dry business!), but this book does a great job of making an extremely dry subject fascinating.
- THE DEVIL & SHERLOCK HOLMES, by David Grann. Grann's just such a good writer and this is a collection of some of his New Yorker pieces.
- THE SPY AND THE TRAITOR, by Ben Macintyre. What can I say? This true story of a Russian double agent was riveting.
- DEAD WAKE, by Erik Larson. This one was a fascinating zoom-in on the incident itself; haunting in a lot of ways.
- MISERY, by Stephen King. I made it a vague goal a few years ago to read one King book every fall, and this happened this year's. (Last year's was THE STAND, so that turned out to be prescient for this year...)
Those all sound right up my alley. Glad to see we shared a love of Misery — one of my faves too.
It’s a toss up between “the parade” by Dave Evers and “The Wall” by John Lanchester. The former has a quick pace with a gut punch ending that will leave you breathless. While the latter is a slow burn that will leave you questioning what we’re all doing with our lives.
I have The Wall on my bookshelf — I'll be more eager to pick it up now. Thanks!
I finally read Alexander Hamilton by Chernow, and it was remarkable.
Empire of the Summer Moon was great by SC Gwynne as well.
Both are indeed amazing.
Night Boat To Tangier- Kevin Barry
Blacktop Wasteland- S.A. Cosby
The Only Rule Is It Has to Work: Our Wild Experiment Building a New Kind of Baseball Team- Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller