Whew! 2019 was a heckuva decade. Good thing I had some books around to read. Here are my favorite books that *I* read this year (not that came out this year).
It’s hard for me to find time to read. I have a job. Two kids. A side hustle. Three kids, actually, if you count my husband. So I decided to read 15 minutes a day. That’s not a lot, and indeed, by the end of 2019, I’d finished 12 books. Not bad, but not great. Still, that number would be higher if I hadn’t read “11/22/63” by Stephen King, which is quite thick. Would I make that decision again? Yeah, no.
What I read this year: Finally, “Beloved.” I know. In retrospect, I tried reading Toni Morrison when I was far too young — her books were all over our house. I didn’t understand it and I put her down for, like, decades. After she died this year, I decided that the best way to honor her memory was to get with the program. I know that when Morrison died, there was conversation about her place in American literary history, not just black American literary history. But this book is about slavery, which is a pretty American thing. I cannot imagine the process of researching this book, it’s that devastating. But you probably knew that. This book uses language to make imagery better than just about anything I have ever read. It was beautiful, disquieting, scary, fever-dreamy and why hasn’t Jordan Peele remade this yet?
“The War of Art” by Stephen Pressman: Sometimes, I find it hard to sit down and write. It’s frustrating sometimes because the words don’t come out the way you want. It makes you think you’re no good. Why am I doing this anyway? Why am I having trouble finishing projects? How can I find the time to write? If you’ve ever had these issues (and not just with writing — anything you want to do and are not actively doing), I’d recommend this book. Pressman was a failed writer before he was a successful one, and he learned about success via the scenic route. He shares what he saw in straightforward fashion — that the one thing keeping all of us from achieving our goals is resistance. He outlines some ideas about how to tame that resistance. This book is worth noting because it changed my writing routine forever. It’s short and the chapter entitled “Fear” has never really left me.
“Deep Work” by Cal Newport and “How to Break Up With Your Phone” by Catherine Price: I did not intend to read these books at the same time, but it was perfect timing that I did. “Deep Work” is about the anticipated need for businesses and organizations for people who can develop valuable skills and what’s required to do that — long periods of intense concentration. Price’s book is part research paper (phone screens can give your brain the signal that it should be awake, even at night. For real.) and part step-by-step process on how to restructure your relationship with your phone, beyond checking social media obsessively. Newport would take it a step further:
Yeah, in this, the year of our Lord 2020. But this is a leap I’m thinking more and more about taking because of both these books.
I’ve mentioned “Queen of the Night” by Alexander Chee before, and of all the books I read this year, I was most blown away by this one. I can’t remember the last time I was so stressed reading a book. Like Morrison, the depth of research about the time in which Chee is writing makes this book more like an experience. My goodness. Nothing more, y’honor.
What I listened to this year: “In the Dark” from American Public Media. “In the Dark” is the investigative powerhouse people think “Serial” was. (It wasn’t, as anyone who has ever read/watched/listened to additional information about the Adnan Syed case will tell you. The first season of “Serial” was great writing, but most of it isn’t actually accurate …?)
The third “In the Dark” season actually began in 2018, but the team’s investigation actually sparked further episodes — and led to further legal developments in the following year. Spoiler alert (how are you not listening to this podcast, though?): Curtis Flowers’ conviction was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court and he was just recently freed on bail. At the bail hearing, Flowers’ lawyer literally played the podcast for the judge. Had to be the best of 2019 and 2018.
I might have promised to expand my podcast world last year and listen to more than true crime, but I definitely did not do that. For example, “Hit Man,” which is an entire season based on a story told in an episode of “Criminal” I listened to once, about a man who was hired to murder a woman, her son and her son’s nurse. He did this by following a hit man instruction manual. This podcast looks into the crime itself, but also the history of the book, and the host managed to find the identity of the book’s author, which had been elusive for years. Now, what host Jasmyn Morris does with this information is … not what you’d expect.
And then there’s “Murder in Oregon” (I know, this makes me sound really bad). But this podcast, while not as well-produced as anything from Wondery, is one heckuva story. So basically, a little over 30 years ago, state government officials apparently murdered the new Department of Corrections chief, Michael Francke, because he was about to blow the hell out of a nearby whistle. Then they framed another dude while failing to investigate the probable real killer, all while those who knew the real killer were saying, “Yeah, he’s the killer.” The government officials were criminals themselves in willllld ways that were mostly covered up by the state newspaper THE OREGONIAN. Hello! It’s a journey. Listen to it!
Honorable mentions for this year: “Running from COPS,” “1619” (also please read the accompanying New York Times section) “The Catch and Kill Podcast,” “Startup” (which is an older podcast, but one I recently discovered), “Slow Burn’s” third season about the murders of Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G.), “Crimetown’s” latest season about corruption in Detroit, the third season of “Accused,” (which is underway and is already pretty insane) and “Bundyville: The Remnant.”