My 2023 in Books
My annual journey across the dozens of books I read this year. If you’re looking for a good read (or things to avoid) then dive in!
Good morning! This is the final Dispatch of the year, and I'm happy to share that next issue will be the 100th. Thank you for the gift of your attention over the last 99 weeks.
Note: Since this week’s issue is longer than most, your email might truncate it, particularly if you use gmail. At the truncation, just click “View entire message” (particularly if you use gmail) to read the whole thing.
This is the tenth year that I’ve kept a running list of every book that I’ve completed for the first time (or a re-read after many years or with a new context) and then shared that list as the first thing I post for the new year. It’s the second time I’ve done so in this newsletter, though, because I only launched The Dispatch at the end of January, 2022.
One reason I do this is that it helps me chart the course of a yearlong intellectual and emotional journey. I also read a lot of things that aren't books: newspapers, magazines, newsletters, reports, and comic books, but books are different. Reading a book is a sustained dance with another mind that feeds my soul.
I listened to more audiobooks this year, as you'll see in what follows. I've found that I enjoy listening to capacious biographies (like those of J. Robert Oppenheimer and Elon Musk) and it can also be pleasant and instructive to bounce back-and-forth between an audio version and a printed version of the same book.
If you're curious about previous lists, then you can see the 2022 list here, the combined 2021 and 2020 lists here, the 2019 list here, 2018 list here, the 2017 list here, the 2016 list here, the 2015 list here, and the 2014 list here.
As always, thanks to my lifelong friend David Daniel for the inspiration to do this.
The links out to buy the books are typically to Bookshop.org for paper books and Libro.fm for audiobooks. Amazon gets enough of our money, and Bookshop donates a slice of every purchase to a local bookstore of your choice.
I read 42 books in 2023, which is a good amount but not exceptional.
It's always a pleasure to discover a new series of books that I didn't know about for long enough that there are several installments waiting for me. In 2022, that was David Weber's Honor Harrington series (a new one is coming out in 2024 after several years, which is exciting). In 2023, the series I inhaled was Warren C. Easley's Cal Claxton mystery series—I'm now caught up, darn it, and the man just can't write fast enough. If the Oregon Tourism Board isn't funding this series, then it should because, despite there being a lot of crime in the stories, the books make it easy to long for a weekend in Willamette Valley Wine Country, wander around the shops of Portland, and enjoy myriad coffee drinks.
My top three books of the year, in alphabetical order by author. These are the ones that I think you should read:
Bird, Kai and Martin J. Sherwin. American Prometheus: the Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer.
Giblin, Rebecca and Cory Doctorow. Chokepoint Capitalism: How Big Tech and Big Content Captured Creative Labor Markets and How We'll Win Them Back.
Robinson, Kim Stanley. The Ministry For The Future.
Here's the efficient list (the one with notes is below).
1. Agrawal, Ajay, Joshua Gans, and Avi Goldfarb. Prediction Machines.
2. Wells, Martha. The Edge of Worlds (Volume 4 of the Books of the Raksura).
3. Herron, Mick. Spook Street (Slough House, Book 4).
4. Easley, Warren C. Matters of Doubt: a Cal Claxton Mystery.
5. Patterson, James and Brian Sitts. The Perfect Assassin: a Doc Savage Thriller.
6. Easley, Warren C. Dead Float: a Cal Claxton Mystery.
7. Easley, Warren C. Never Look Down: a Cal Claxton Mystery.
8. Easley, Warren C. Not Dead Enough: a Cal Claxton Mystery.
9. Easley, Warren C. Blood for Wine: a Cal Claxton Mystery.
10. Easley, Warren C. Moving Targets: a Cal Claxton Mystery.
11. Easley, Warren C. No Way to Die: a Cal Claxton Mystery.
12. Easley, Warren C. No Witness a Cal Claxton Mystery.
13. Sax, David The Future is Analog: How to Create a More Human World.
14. Horowitz, Anthony. A Line to Kill: A Novel (Hawthorne and Horowitz #3).
15. Berns, Matt. The Boys: Deeper and Deeper.
16. Giblin, Rebecca and Cory Doctorow. Chokepoint Capitalism.
17. Herron, Mick. London Rules (Slough House Book 5).
18. Jamieson, Victoria and Omar Mohamed. When Stars Are Scattered.
19. Hill, Jonathan. Odessa.
20. Easley, Warren C. Fatal Flaw: a Cal Claxton Mystery.
21. Ashton, Edward. Mickey 7.
22. Scalzi, John. The Kaiju Preservation Society.
23. Herron, Mick. Joe Country (Slough House 6).
24. Durkee, Lee. Stalking Shakespeare.
25. Hiaasen, Carl. Squeeze Me.
26. Robinson, Kim Stanley. The Ministry For The Future.
27. Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice.
28. Myracle, Lauren. Under the Moon: A Catwoman Tale.
29. Martine, Arkady. A Memory Called Empire.
30. Martine, Arkady. A Desolation Called Peace.
31. Sittenfeld, Curtis. Romantic Comedy.
32. Shapiro, James. Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare?
33. Gladstone, Max. Empress of Forever.
34. Grace, Sina. Superman: The Harvests of Youth.
35. Lewis, Michael. Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon.
36. Baldree, Travis. Legends and Lattes.
37. Bird, Kai and Martin J. Sherwin. American Prometheus.
38. Shakespeare, William. Othello.
39. Connelly, Michael. Resurrection Walk: a Lincoln Lawyer Novel.
40. Qiufan, Chen. (Translated by Ken Liu.) Waste Tide.
41. Leonard, Elmore. Raylan.
42. Isaacson, Walter. Elon Musk.
The longer list with notes:
1. Agrawal, Ajay, Joshua Gans, and Avi Goldfarb. Prediction Machines: the Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence. Finished 1/2/23.
Fascinating and enabling book lent to me by La Profesora. The central conceit is that what AI does best is lower the cost of predicting things, and everything else is a result. I took many pages of notes and bought the sequel/followup book, which is on deck for 2024.
2. Wells, Martha. The Edge of Worlds (Volume 4 of the Books of the Raksura). Finished 1/8/23.
I adore Wells' Murderbot series so much that I read the first three of this other series in 2022, and had some momentum into this one in early 2024. Raksura is fantasy rather than science fiction, and although I read both I have more patience with science fiction. This installment feels like a bit of an addendum to the first three, and I haven't bothered with #5.
3. Herron, Mick. Spook Street (Slough House, Book 4). Finished 1/13/23.
The good news is that I keep on reading these high-speed thrillers, swallowing them whole much of the time. The bad news is that I was preoccupied when I finished this one and didn't write down an account of what I liked and didn't like about it. Then, months later as I came to prepare this end-of-year account, I have no memory of it at all.
Most of the time, I think the book is better than the movie or TV show, but with this series I think that the Slow Horses adaptation on AppleTV+ improves on the books because the actors flesh out the characters.
4. Easley, Warren C. Matters of Doubt: a Cal Claxton Mystery. Finished 1/15/23.
The first in a thoughtful, sharp, and colorful legal thriller/mystery series recommended by Peter Horan. The characters (particularly Cal Claxton but also the sidekick Nando, love interest Anna, and even the dog Archie) are all well-drawn. Set in present-day Portland, there was an eerie quality while reading since I know many of the places where scenes are set. I've experienced this in Los Angeles-set books, too. Got this one out of the library (an e-book) and it was good enough that I've already grabbed the second.
5. Patterson, James and Brian Sitts. The Perfect Assassin: a Doc Savage Thriller. Finished 1/20/23.
Patterson's characteristic high-velocity plots with minimal character development style meets the 1930s pulp hero's great grandson. I read the book in one sitting. It's like watching an action movie with lots of explosions and not a lot of emotions. Fun. I like plot. But this was a little too contact lens thin in the character development department for me.
6. Easley, Warren C. Dead Float: a Cal Claxton Mystery. Finished 1/22/23.
#2 in the series. It continues to be well-paced with great characters. Like Bond, Claxton seems to have a new girlfriend each book, which is oddly disappointing. The appearance of his adult daughter, Claire, is welcome.
7. Easley, Warren C. Never Look Down: a Cal Claxton Mystery. Finished 1/25/23.
#3 in the series, which I got digitally from the library and inhaled because I had lots of waiting time in various places over a couple days. I was worried that this series would be too formulaic, but the two-protagonists structure of this one was an inventive departure. The delightful double awareness of reading scenes set in Oregon locations I know well continues.
8. Easley, Warren C. Not Dead Enough: a Cal Claxton Mystery. Finished 2/4/23.
I'm inhaling these. This one jumps back in time to when Claxton first moved to Oregon from Los Angeles, which was a pleasant surprise. Like the third, it also toggles between Claxton and one of the bad guys, although much less so than in the more evenly split #3.
9. Easley, Warren C. Blood for Wine: a Cal Claxton Mystery. Finished 2/7/23.
#5 in the series… since there are only 8 I’ll run out soon. Formally, this one is a step back without the inventive changes in perspective of #3 & #4, but the plot is solid—set in the interconnected Willamette Valley wine growing community with a murder on the second page that doesn’t unravel until nearly the last. This one is more cinematic, with visual set pieces and a dramatic conclusion on the Oregon Coast. I wonder if any studio has option this series? It could be a nice prestige drama like “Slow Horses” on AppleTV+…
10. Easley, Warren C. Moving Targets: a Cal Claxton Mystery. Finished 2/10/23.
#6 in this consistently, entertaining, well, plotted, nicely character, driven series. This one, like number five, is simpler in terms of its formula. There are no multi protagonists to switch back-and-forth between. On the other hand, it’s filled with action and well drawn characters. It’s not quite as operatic as the previous one, but it would make for a hell of a season on a streamer.
11. Easley, Warren C. No Way to Die: a Cal Claxton Mystery. Finished 2/12/23.
Another fine exploit in this terrific series. One of the things I like so much about this series is that recurring characters get a chance to change and grow. In this case, Claxton's adult daughter, Claire, and his best friend, Nando, both experience big, life-changing events over the course of the investigation that they stumble into while on vacation. I also think that the Oregon tourism board should be paying the author, easily, some kind of a commission, because the book is some of the best writing to describe the natural beauties in cultural riches of Oregon. Some of the places he's talking about, include my former hangouts, and some are majestic, Oregon coast, destinations, and the like.
12. Easley, Warren C. No Witness a Cal Claxton Mystery. Finished 2/15/23.
#8 in the series… and now I’m caught up and have to wait for a new one to come out… Which won’t be long because the author’s Facebook page says April 1st is when the next one becomes available. This one, #8, was one of the best mysteries in the series: it kept me guessing until the end. It also introduced some new characters (Timoteo, Zoe) who are likely to stick around and deepened some older ones (Gertie). Less formally inventive than 3, 4, and 5, this is still a tightly plotted story. Satisfying. I’ll miss this story world while I’m waiting for the next one, but I have plenty of other books to read … and the last three were perfect for a post-op time when I couldn’t do much after my hand surgery on 2/9.
13. Sax, David The Future is Analog: How to Create a More Human World. Finished 2/23/23.
I read and liked Sax's previous book, The Revenge of Analog, back in 2018 on a trip to give a talk in Sydney. This one is even better because it's a meditation about what we lost during COVID lockdown, how our abrupt dislocation into a world where our analog lives were trapped in our homes but our digital lives roamed free, and what happened when we got to go back outside.
14. Horowitz, Anthony. A Line to Kill: A Novel (Hawthorne and Horowitz #3). Finished 3/3/23.
I got the audiobook of this one through my Wall Street Journal subscription: a perk of membership that the publication has since abandoned to my ongoing dismay. I was so caught up in the story that I stayed up late (nearly 1am) and almost finished it, then finished it the following day.
Two memorable things about this story—which I realized was the third in a series only after I was already committed—are, first, that Horowitz, the author, is also a character and the author of the book series of which this is the third installment. Second, it's a modern day Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson partnership with Horowitz as Watson.
15. Berns, Matt. The Boys: Deeper and Deeper. Finished 4/2/23.
Interesting, bizarre, and short (70 minute) "Audible Original" audiobook set in Season 3 of the Prime Video Series, The Boys, which is based on a comic book I adored. Since I've transitioned to Libro.fm from Audible (see next entry), I no longer have access to these Audible Originals, but I'll survive.
A faux podcast interview with "The Deep" (the dim-witted Aquaman equivalent and former member of "The Seven," a Justice League-like team) who was kicked off the team, found himself in a Scientology-like cult, and wrote a memoir after leaving the cult.
This was a transmedia exercise that wouldn't make a lot of sense to people who weren't already fans of the show. Like a Robert Browning poetic monolog (e.g. "My Last Duchess") or a Randy Newman song, The Deep reveals himself to be a narcissist with the depth of a crepe throughout this exercise in dramatic irony. An enjoyable listen, but only if you know the show.
16. Giblin, Rebecca and Cory Doctorow. Chokepoint Capitalism: How Big Tech and Big Content Captured Creative Labor Markets and How We'll Win Them Back. Finished 4/9/23.
A top three book, about which I wrote extensively earlier this year.
The short version: If you care even a little bit about art, culture, writers, musicians, filmmakers, actors, and how the people who make the entertainment you like can make a living doing so, then you should read this book.
17. Herron, Mick. London Rules (Slough House Book 5). Finished 4/13/23.
The next in the "Slow Horses" series (I finished #4 back in January) that I first discovered with the excellent AppleTV+ series. This one was, as usual, a brisk read (meaning I inhaled it), laugh-out-loud funnier than usual, but also with more plot holes (one character's dead brother was secretly alive, but how does that resolve anything?) and one crazy coincidence upon which the whole story turned... unconvincingly.
On the down side, some of the characters feel stale. River Cartwright, who has been the closest thing to a reader's proxy, is still immobilized in Slough House, still despairing of getting back to HQ, and I care less. Like a lot of crime fiction, the detectives become collections of tics whose jobs are to move the plot along, thank you, but at a certain point, like Sherlock Holmes, they can descend into self-caricature. This doesn't mean I'm giving up: as soon as I finish this entry I'll put the next one on hold at the library, but I am one step closer to giving up.
18. Jamieson, Victoria and Omar Mohamed. When Stars Are Scattered. Finished 4/14/23.
Magnificent YA graphic novel recommended by Raman Sehgal about two young Somali refugees who grow up in a camp in Kenya. Moving, beautifully drawn, and instructive. The right call to read during Ramadan.
19. Hill, Jonathan. Odessa. Finished 4/29/23.
Another great YA graphic novel recommended by Raman, blurbed by Jeff Smith of Bone fame, and published by Oni Press right here in Portland. In a post-apocalyptic American West where the big earthquake has shattered civilization, a young woman and her two brothers go on a quest to find their long-missing mother. Fast plot, distinctive artwork, and well-thought out characters. It's the first volume, so there's a bit of a cliffhanger, but well worth it. (Oddly, I couldn't find this one on Bookshop, so I've linked to the author's website.)
20. Easley, Warren C. Fatal Flaw: a Cal Claxton Mystery. Finished 5/09/23.
#9 in this addictive series, and now—darn it—I have to wait until the man writes the next one. This one is about what looks to be a suicide of an inventor who might have created a better device to identify viruses. Easley sets his stories in contemporary Portland and Willamette Wine Country, so it's not a surprise that he wrote a COVID era book. As always, I inhaled this one, but I just don't find COVID stories entertaining for my pleasure reading, so this was a smidge less fun than his usual.
21. Ashton, Edward. Mickey 7. Finished 5/27/23.
I wish I'd liked this book more than I did. The central conceit—about an "expendable" whose consciousness is uploaded so that he can go on all the suicide missions for a space colony and have a new version printed out later—was interesting and reminded me of David Brin's The Kiln People (only without the re-integration later), but the plot wandered around, the characters weren't that interesting, and the resolution was a bit SF cliché. A sequel came out in March of this year, but I don't think I'll bother.
22. Scalzi, John. The Kaiju Preservation Society. Finished 6/24/23.
An enjoyable meringue. The plot of this book is that the narrator, a guy named Jamie, winds up, taking a job during the lockdown that takes him literally into another universe, where he is part of a team, dedicated to preserving, gigantic, Godzilla-like creatures. It’s a lot of fun and a brisk read.
Oddly, the conceit around the protagonist here is virtually identical to the conceit around the protagonist in Mickey 7, the book I most recently finished before this one. Both Mickey and Jamie are down on their luck former English majors who happen into jobs because they are in the right place at the right time. I don’t know what to do with this other than state it.
Note: I’m a bit disappointed in how little I’ve been reading lately.
23. Herron, Mick. Joe Country (Slough House 6). Finished 7/7/23.
This series continues not to disappoint. It is a bit recherché after five other books, all with the same tone, and a lot of the same narrative tics. Jackson lamb, the primary character (played by Gary Oldman of the TV series) is a Sherlock Holmes-like narrative engine without a lot of interiority. No spoilers here, but there’s a development in the final pages of the book that makes me think I might stick around for the next one.
24. Durkee, Lee. Stalking Shakespeare : a memoir of madness, murder, and my search for the poet beneath the paint. Finished 7/21/23.
Dreadful. A Gonzo journalism exercise (I quipped to La Profesora that it's like the love child of Hunter S. Thompson and I.A. Richards) that bears the same resemblance to serious thinking about Shakespeare that Barney the purple dinosaur has to Paleontology. Don't bother.
25. Hiaasen, Carl. Squeeze Me. Finished 7/27/23.
H/T Peter and Pam Horan for the suggestion. I read this as an audiobook, narrated by Scott Brick, who did an excellent job. I’ve never read a book by Hiaasen before, and I enjoyed this immensely. It’s like a combination of the Tiger King series on Netflix and the writing of P.G. Wodehouse.
26. Robinson, Kim Stanley. The Ministry For The Future. Finished 7/28/23.
A top three book, this is an epic climate Science Fiction book that I've been trying to read for years. It starts off in a depressing way, but gets more and more optimistic after the first... act? Robinson writes sprawling, multi-character explorations of how the world might change that are fascinating but heavy. I first read his Mars trilogy back in grad school and loved it, but as Mark Rose, who recommended it to me, said at the time, "it's a commitment." According to Kathi, this book was required reading at the U.N. at one point, and President Obama loved it. I can see why.
27. Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Finished 7/31/23.
A re-read, of course, and while I don’t ordinarily include such in this list I am this time for two reasons. First, I flitted among an audiobook version (read by Rosamund Pike in an Audible exclusive), the Kindle edition that was already in my ebook library, and a lovely illustrated Oxford print edition. That was a new experience, which I enjoyed and which brought forward Austen's inimitable mastery of free indirect discourse in different ways. Second, for the first time in several years I'm toying with an idea for a new novel, one that would only work with free indirect discourse, so I paid attention to Austen in a different way than in my many previous readings.
28. Myracle, Lauren. Under the Moon: A Catwoman Tale. Finished 8/9/23.
A delightful YA graphic novel written by Myracle and illustrated by Isaac Goodhart. An excerpt was part of Free Comic Book Day, which I enjoyed. I then found the whole thing on DC Universe. I read it in one sitting. This is a retelling of how Selina Kyle becomes Catwoman, starting from an abusive home, leading to her being a runaway who leaves high school and becomes a talented thief. One of the more interesting side notes is that Selina and Bruce Wayne were childhood friends because they went to the same day care... their relationship is nicely drawn.
29. Martine, Arkady. A Memory Called Empire. Finished 8/15/23.
Fantastic, gripping recommendation from Molly Wood. I need to think more about this and read the sequel. It's one of the best views of human-but-now-alien cultures (because it is set so far in the future) where the cultures are a compelling fusion of ancient Byzantium and ancient Mexico. For fans of Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan saga, this is like reading in that series from the point of view of the adversarial Cetagandan empire. I flirted with making this one of the top three books of the year, but while I think most people would enjoy reading it, I don’t think that most people necessarily should read it.
30. Martine, Arkady. A Desolation Called Peace. Finished 8/26/23.
Wow! An admirable, witty, and muscular sequel to the first. I hope she writes more in this world, but if she doesn’t this is enough. I read both of these substantial books in about two weeks because they were compelling.
31. Sittenfeld, Curtis. Romantic Comedy. Finished 8/28/23.
Thoughtful and smart novel about Sally, a female writer for an SNL clone, and her relationship with Noah, a famous rock star. I’m impressed by the author’s ability to write from a female POV, but maybe I should cross-check that with a female. (I wrote a novel with a female protagonist, although Redcrosse was free indirect discourse rather than first person.) Sittenfeld also uses the COVID pandemic as a key plot feature in an effective way. I enjoyed this book.
Hmmm, just read the bio, and Curtis Sittenfeld is a woman! Is it unusual for a woman to have that name? A quick search suggests "yes, kind of"—it's more popular are a name for a girl in France, per BabyCenter.
Right after writing the first paragraph, above, I did another search and found a snarky New York Times review of this book. The reviewer, Scaachi Koul, didn't buy the premise and found the rock star unbelievable:
You can’t help rooting for these crazy kids, and there’s deep freudenfreude whenever they flirt or touch. Sally’s heart goes aflutter when Noah gazes at her while rehearsing for the show, and yours might too. He’s a dreamboat, a manic pixie dream boy for straight white women of a certain age.
I appreciate Koul introducing me to the word "freudenfreude," which sounds like the name of a particularly cerebral man/woman/woman rock trio (think Human League meets Gary Numan... if you're of a certain age), but I didn't find Noah particularly unbelievable. Indeed, I think that both Koul and I projected a lot onto the book based on our presumptions of the author's gender: I thought it was a man and Koul knew it was a woman. Thinking about this book again, it's a solid romantic comedy that's begging for an adaption, although made for streaming rather than a theatrical release.
32. Shapiro, James. Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare? Finished 10/6/23.
I’ve had this book for a couple years, but what prompted me finally to dig into it was when—within weeks—two otherwise sensible friends shared wild “William Shakespeare didn’t write the plays” conspiracy theories. (The dismal Lee Durkee book, #24 on this list, also devolved into the authorship nonsense towards the end.)
The short version is that William Shakespeare, a glove maker’s son from a rural town a few hours away from London, absolutely wrote the plays that people associate with his name. We have as much evidence that he wrote the plays as we have that anybody wrote anything a few centuries ago.
The longer version, which Shapiro digs into in engaging detail, is that for a variety of political and cultural reasons, it has been fashionable for hundreds of years to doubt Shakespeare’s authorship. Since it is impossible to prove a negative (e.g. “Shakespeare did not write the plays”), there’s no way to resolve this outside of pointing at evidence. Doing so requires that the people with whom you’re speaking believe in evidence, which in an era of “alternative facts” is less presumptive than in the past. Shapiro goes through the different candidates, why the evidence does not support them, and why people should care.
Shapiro’s should be the last word on this, but, alas, it isn’t.
33. Gladstone, Max. Empress of Forever. Finished 10/24/23.
Spoiler alert: I’ll talk about one aspect of the plot in the next paragraph, so skip down to #34 if you want to avoid it. Last year, I read This Is How You Lose The Time War, a co-authored SF novel by Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar, which I liked but did not love. Arkady Martine spoke lovingly of Empress of Forever in the acknowledgments to one of her novels, so I promptly picked it up at Powell’s. It’s a solid, journeyman space opera in a complex new story universe with a surprise twist.
One thing that irked me about the book (and here’s the mild spoiler) is that about two thirds of the way through I realized that the narrative structure is quite similar to The Wizard of Oz, only science fiction space opera rather than a children’s book fantasy. Once I noticed the parallel, it distracted me for the rest of the book.
34. Grace, Sina. Superman: The Harvests of Youth. Finished 11/8/23.
I don't include most of the comics I read in this list, but this one is more substantial and worthier of commentary. Grace does a lovely job of using Superman's teen years in Smallville as a way of thinking through both a coming of age story as well as grappling with some of the issues that plague teens in 2023, like depression, suicidality, and online radicalization and misinformation. If the early 2000s TV show Smallville (which I enjoyed for the first few seasons) were relaunched today with a commitment to digging into the challenges of today's teens, it would look like this.
35. Lewis, Michael. Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon. Finished 11/11/23.
Coincidentally, I finished reading this magnificent book exactly one year to the day after Sam Bankman Fried (SBF) declared bankruptcy for his cryptocurrency exchange, FTX. Lewis is a magical writer, so this book is worthwhile on its own merits. Additionally, a week earlier, I heard him interviewed at the Portland Book Fair. La Profesora bought me a fancy ticket that included a copy of the book (initialed by Lewis), and the interview was so fascinating that I started the book that day. In addition, the interview happened less than two days after SBF was convicted in NY; he is now facing up to 120 years in prison. Lewis' remarkable timing and the alacrity with which his publisher, W. W. Norton, got the book into print (the speed is frankly stunning) all combine to give this book eventness in both the customary as well as the Bakhtinian senses. Wow.
36. Baldree, Travis. Legends and Lattes. Finished 11/11/23.
Yep, I finished two books this Saturday morning, after waking up preternaturally early for no particular reason. I had a digital copy of the Baldree book out of the library, and my loan period was about to end, so I dug in and finished it. This is the first book in a series that started as a self-pub and then got picked up by TOR, which is increasingly a way that traditional publishers de-risk acquisitions. It's a sweet, optimistic fantasy story about an orc named Viv who leaves being a mercenary to open a coffee shop in a small town after falling in love with coffee during her adventures. Baldree lives in Washington State, which like Oregon has almost as many coffee shops as there are people... so this is a very Pacific Northwest (PNW) endeavor. It's great fun, and I'll eventually read more in the series.
37. Bird, Kai and Martin J. Sherwin. American Prometheus: the Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer. Finished 11/16/23.
A top three book: I listened to this magnificent biography as an audiobook that was 26 1/2 hours long and worth it. This is the biography that won the Pulitzer Prize and also was the basis for the Oppenheimer movie that came out last summer. I was so enthralled by the movie that I both bought a physical copy of the book, and then downloaded the audiobook, which has been my constant companion for the last several weeks. I can’t recommend it highly enough. I now want to see the movie again because I will understand more of it having listened to this biography.
38. Shakespeare, William. Othello. Finished 11/21/23.
This was, of course, a re-read. However, I’ve decided to include it because of the reason why I re-read it, which was in service of the microfiction “The Only Living Boy” that I shared in this newsletter earlier this month.
Going through Shakespeare’s tragedy with a fresh intent, with the purpose of figuring out how the microfiction would work logically, was a different experience than reading, listening to, or seeing the play out of my love of Shakespeare. I noticed different things this time (in particular how seldom Iago touches other characters, a key point in the microfiction), and I feel closer to the play than I have in years.
39. Connelly, Michael. Resurrection Walk: a Lincoln Lawyer Novel. Finished 11/28/23.
Connelly consistent provokes literary apnea: I find myself holding my breath as I quickly turn to the next chapter. It’s not fair to call this a Lincoln Lawyer novel since Harry Bosch is also a prominent character, and Renee Ballard makes a cameo. (Connelly is increasingly like Trollope with a shared universe of characters.) I didn’t even know this book was out until I stumbled across it in Target (!) in L.A. on Saturday, started reading it on the plane home Sunday, and finished it last night. If only I could read non-fiction this way!
40. Qiufan, Chen. (Translated by Ken Liu.) Waste Tide. Finished 12/6/23.
A fascinating Chinese near-future dystopian science fiction novel that examines the implications of e-waste, and particularly America's practice of sending its e-waste to China. On "Silicon Isle" a population of "waste people" has a hardscrabble existence recycling e-waste, pulling rare earth metals out of it, and getting exposed to toxic substances in the process. Three competitive clans control Silicon Isle and the waste people. Into this environment come representatives of an American recycling technology company that wants to change things for the islanders. The results are explosive.
I came to this book because Qiufan co-authored another book—A.I. 2041—with Kai-Fu Lee, whose A.I. Superpowers I admired a few years back (it's on the 2018 book list). The A.I. 2041 book which I haven't read yet, is a fusion of analysis and fiction, which intrigues me given the microfictions I have started doing with subsequent analysis here in The Dispatch.
41. Leonard, Elmore. Raylan. Finished 12/28/23.
My friend Benjamin Karney got me hooked on Justified, the 2010s FX TV series based on "Fire in the Hole," a short story by Leonard in the short story collection of the same name about the adventures of U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens. (You can stream the series on Hulu.) Near as I can tell, after the series launched Leonard then wrote Raylan, a novel that is a series of interlocking and overlapping stories set in the same world as the short story. The short story and novel are similar but distinct from the TV series. I got both a print copy and an audio copy of Raylan out of my local library, and bounced between the two as I read and listened to it.
Leonard's writing is crisp and compelling. He toggles between diverse character points of view and never trips. His characters are eloquent even when they're talking about dire things. I haven't read much Leonard, and I will read more, but it's because of his style rather than his substance. So far, and again I haven't read much, the stakes of the stories seem pretty low: it's a modern day Western with a good guy doling out justice in Kentucky. There are more desperately poor characters than rich ones, more bad people than good people, and racism, sexism, child abuse, and addiction are abundant. But change in this world seems unlikely if not impossible, which if I stop to think about it for very long feels hopeless. Leonard's narrative velocity makes such pauses unlikely.
Bonus: I re-read Leonard's 10 Rules for Writing, which is padded at 96 pages (you can read the original New York Times article or Maria Popova's account in her Marginalian newsletter instead), although it looks like a nice physical book. This was one of the first books I ever read on a Kindle, long ago. I read the entire article/book out loud to La Profesora and Helena, our writer daughter, the other day at the kitchen table. It's as terse and productive a guide for fiction writers as Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" is for non-fiction writers, which is as high praise as I can dispense.
42. Isaacson, Walter. Elon Musk. Finished 12/30/23.
I’m a bit bummed that this is the last book I’ll complete this year because Musk already takes up enough of my headspace rent free. I bought a print copy, discovered that it was available quasi-free as part of my Spotify membership, and found myself listening to the audiobook for most of it. Today, I got impatient with listening and read the last 100 pages or so in the print edition. (As I mentioned above, I’m finding myself leaning into audiobooks for big biographies.)
I’m glad I jumped into the print version because it brought into focus the James Patterson-like qualities of this biography. Isaacson’s chapters are short (there are a whopping 95 of them in this big book, plus a prologue), flitting from topic to topic and company to company.
This frenetic narrative structure is appropriate because it reflects Musk’s life. By the end of the book (which goes up to April of 2023; the publisher, Simon & Schuster, moved fast and got the book out six months later) Musk is the CEO or owner of Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, The Boring Company, X.ai, and Twitter. He has 11 children with three women. Musk hyperactively jumps from project to project, company to company, family to family, sleeping little, rarely alone, and given to abrupt mood swings.
Isaacson does not agree with my take that Musk’s purchase of Twitter was entirely in the service of selling more cars. Instead, he is sympathetic to Musk’s stated motivations, although he is also straightforward about the man’s deficiencies and alive to his complexities. Many folks have argued that Musk is a net positive for society, with the positive contributions outweighing the negative ones, if perhaps by a nose. Isaacson’s biography conveys both.
One great example of Musk’s hubris is the hardback dust jacket that imitates Isaacson’s 2011 Steve Jobs. Back then, one friend described the Jobs biography as the most hotly anticipated biography since the New Testament, and the only thing that Jobs wanted to control about the book was the dust jacket, which was an iconic black and white portrait of Jobs wearing his trademark black turtleneck and starting at the reader from a white background. The Musk biography has a color photograph and a black background, but the headshot and design are unmistakable references to the Jobs cover. In the Elon Musk cover, which I suspect but do not know that Musk influenced, Musk lays claim to being a peer to Steve Jobs. That might be fair given all Musk has accomplished, but it ain’t particularly modest.
In 2024, here are some of the books I look forward to reading:
AI books:
Power and Prediction by Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, and Avi Goldfarb.
Artificial: A Love Story by Amy Kurzweil.
AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future by Kai-Fu Lee and Chen Qiufan..
The Worlds I See by Fei Fei Li. (I'm deep into this one already and digging it.)
The Coming Wave by Mustafa Suleyman.
Fiction:
NSFW by Michael Estrin.
The World We Make by N.K. Jemisin.
Toll of Honor (Honor Harrington Book 20) by David Weber.
System Collapse: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin.
Nonfiction:
Hidden Potential by Adam Grant.
Visual Thinking by Temple Grandin.
Your Brain on Art by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross.
The Making of Shakespeare's First Folio by Emma Smith.
Thanks for reading and Happy New Year!
See you next Sunday.
Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for giving us something each week to look forward to; and thank you particularly for keeping up this tradition. I’m always inspired. Happy New Year!