Books I Read in 2020
January, 2020Trick Mirror, Reflections on Self Delusions Jia Tolentino
- Very honest essays on currently relevant topics written with a depth of insight and language that makes them spellbinding.
Jennifer L. Eberhardt, PhD
- Must read. Stanford University psychology professor explores the widespread implicit bias we still share.
- Cogent discussion by renowned law professor.
- Well done. Strong Omani women in difficult places. Man Booker International Prize winner, 2019.
Alienated America: Why Some Places Thrive While Others Collapse Timothy P Carney
- Makes the case that "localized erosion of civil society" is a fundamental problem in our country today; and that the best fix is a return to regular attendance at a house of worship. Let's all start/keep going to Church!
- Superior story telling!
- Happy, sad, hopeful, real page turner!
- Excellent review and analysis.
Grand Union Zadie Smith
- Good stories. Quite a variety.
- Wonderful way to tell a story.
- Brilliant masterwork! Israeli Palestinian conflict up close and personal. End the Occupation!
- Important read for parents and youth. Emphasizes the positive ways we can use our digital tools. See Cyber Civics and Cyberwise.
- Well done. Very thorough, detailed picture of a terrifying event and its continuing aftermath.
- Twenty fine stories.
Last of Her Name Jessica Khoury
- Imaginative YA sci-fi thriller staring a charming princess heroine.
- Very well done. Trying to find a mental path to life and love through major immigrant/exile angst.
- Good read. Humorous but serious look at race.
- Pleasant read. A story told in stories.
Postcolonial Love Poem Natalia Diaz
- Strong words, sung from a Native American heart and soul.
- Twenty fine stories.
- Sweet. Sensitive.
- Colorful coming of age survival stories.
- Nice collection.
- Sweet.
- Full of good, detailed Ohio area history. Let's protect our beautiful natural gift.
- Lots of useful info from an expert. See Fly-Rite.com.
Milkman Anna Burns
- Very well done. Unique, memorable way to see and feel a troubled Northern Ireland. 2018 Man Booker Prize winner.
- Fine piece of historical fiction. A few determined Turtle Mountain Chippewa successfully defeat a disgraceful government Termination Program designed to displace them and steal their land.
- Very well written and referenced with lots of good primary sources.
Doris Kearns Goodwin
- Pulitzer Prize winning masterwork! Up close and personal look based on a wealth of primary sources.
I Am Malala, The Girl Who Stood Up For Education And Was Shot By The Taliban
Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb
- Inside look at Taliban terror in Pakistan and young hero Malala's narrow escape from death. Well done.
- 2019 Man Booker Prize winner. "Astonishing, moving, controversial, original."
- Intermittent fasting explanation and inspiration.
- Strong debut novel. Amelia struggles to survive, growing up during the terrible Irish Troubles.
The Far Field Madhuri Vijay
- A rather powerful and intelligent debut novel.
- Informative, cogent, inspirational. Let's turn back the dangerous rising socialist tide in our country.
- Well done. Yes, we all must go.
- Challenging, fun who-done-what-exactly mystery story. Newbery Medal winner.
- A must-read. Has the growth of identity politics helped make America a super-group of often aggressive, terminally intolerant sub-groups? We need to re-discover and/or re-invent an American common ground.
- Impressive debut novel. Essential elements of our history told in a series of poignant, insightful portraits of members of several generations of descendants of two sisters.
Candace Owens
- Intelligently, cogently argued. Black Americans are rightly refusing to identify with the victimhood encouraged by Democrats, instead becoming independent victors, in charge of their own destiny. See the BLEXIT Foundation
Creating Innovators, The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World (2012) Tony Wagner
- All too often, our schools have slowed or blocked the progress of our young innovators. Wagner reviews the field, discusses the different paths taken by several successful young innovators and presents some guidelines.
- 2008 with update added in 2014. Subtitled: Why even our best schools don't teach the new survival skills our children need - and what we can do about it. Let's motivate our students with more play, passion and purpose to learn critical thinking and problem solving. collaboration across networks and leading by influence, agility and adaptability, initiative and entrepreneurialism, effective oral and written communication, accessing and analyzing information, and curiosity and imagination.
- Enchanting, mysterious, lambent, poetry by our new (2020) Nobel laureate in literature.
- Totally awesome, irresistible page turner, with indelible after effects! PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel award winner, 2020.
Two Fables Roald Dahl
- Two tasty little fairy tales.
- Fun romp with surprise twists.
- This third in Mantel's brilliant, masterful trilogy of Thomas Cromwell sets a new gold standard for historical fiction!
- Very sweet, magical little memento.
- Mysterious DeLillo dystopia will leave you wondering. Could it be?
Martin J. Sherwin
- Excellent, very detailed and thoroughly referenced analysis. "The real lesson of the Cuban missal crisis - the lesson that is consistently resisted because it marginalizes the value of nuclear weapons - is that nuclear armaments create the perils they are deployed to prevent, but are of little use in resolving them. Avoiding nuclear war depends on the judgment of the national leaders who control nuclear arsenals, which is to say that it is contingent on the world's dwindling reservoir of good luck."
Manazuru Hiromi Kawakami, translated (Japanese) by Michael Emmerich
- Wonderful, sensitive, thoughtful story of love, loss, family, life.
- Three imaginative, dreamy, sometimes creepy fantasies.
- Fictional memoir of a cross-cultural love relationship.
- Good review of President Trump's administration. Very well annotated with an extensive bibliography.
- Powerfully gut-wrenching, heart-breaking, irresistible page-turner. Brilliant first (autobiographical) novel. Well-deserved 2020 Booker Prize winner.
- Wild, wonderful, uplifting adventure with a profoundly moving finale.
- Zimbabwean culture creates real challenges for women trying to advance, especially one, Tambudzai, with underlying psychological difficulties. Well told.
- Classic tale. Escape from a colorless world without feeling or love.
- Thoughtful images, delicious presented.
Books I Read, by Year:
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 All
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 All
