TheCareerBeat Blog

Some of the best.

I beat my goal of reading 24 books this year, thanks in part to my time in the Jobless Zone. Reading good books is a great way to pass time when you’re unemployed!

I have pasted the whole list — with brief reviews and ratings — but the Top 10 list will give you the highlights.

The Top 10 List:

1. Zeitoun, Dave Eggers
2. The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri
3. Say You’re One of Them, Uwem Akpan
4. Rabbit at Rest, John Updike
5. The Nine, Jeffrey Toobin
6. The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Martin McDonagh
7. A Mercy, Toni Morrison
8. Spoon Fed, Kim Severson
9. Rabbit Is Rich, John Updike
10. Remembering Denny, Calvin Trillin

1. A Little Tour in France, by Henry James

This was a different sort of classic to start the new year – a travel book written by an old master. I chose this because I am going to Provence in February. I enjoyed much of Henry James’ windy descriptions. He does have a unique (and rather antiquated) turn of phrase, and it’s worth it to wade through his huge, rambling paragraphs for distinct pleasures. I’m not sure if this prepared me at all for my trip, but it goosed my anticipation. (7)

2. Say You’re One of Them, by Uwem Akpan

This collection of five stories stunned me. Each one explores violent episodes in Africa, told from the perspective of a child in the midst of the dangers.  So much of the violence stems from racial, religious, or tribal identity, and the experiences of these kids are told with heart-rending clarity and suspense. The last two stories, in particular, are both shocking and masterful. (9.5)

3. Black Swan Green, David Mitchell

It took a while to get into this novel, but the effort paid off.  It’s a delightful novel that’s been called Britain’s “Catcher in the Rye.” The narrator is a bright, witty, and surprisingly insightful 13-year-old boy who suffers from a stammer that makes his social life difficult. The story takes place in the course of a year (1982) that includes the slow crumbling of his family life. (8)

4. The Whistling Season, by Ivan Doig

I read this novel for our book club, and I often wondered if this is what it felt like to read a “Little House on the Prairie” book by Laura Ingalls Wilder. (I never read a book in that series, but saw the TV show plenty.) If not for the last 40 pages, I would have basically written this off as a mildly entertaining, lightweight coming-of-age tale. The ending added nobility, but not enough to match the superlatives all over the back cover. (7)

5. Zeitoun, by Dave Eggers

I devoured this shocking account of one family’s ordeal during and after Hurricane Katrina. I was fascinated, horrified, and inspired by this book; it touches on so many problems and challenges that permeate our society while focusing on a remarkable American immigrant and his family. (10)

6. A Mercy, by Toni Morrison

As usual, it takes a while for me to get into the groove of Morrison’s narrative style, but then I was in for a fascinating ride. This tale of 1680′s America reveals a rather undefined social and racial milieu, before slavery became a major institution. But the characters and their rough stories are unveiled with grit, beauty, and power. The unusual, layered storytelling style is remarkable and comes together at the end. (9)

7. Scottsboro, by Ellen Feldman

While I expected more of a historical novel, this book is more of a mélange, with lots of courtroom/detective elements thrown in and a weird second narrator who pops up mostly in the second half. The story focuses on the racially tense Scottsboro trials of nine black men in the 1930s, as seen through the eyes of a feisty female reporter. Overall the novel feels like situational reporting, without much depth or revelation of the characters. (6)

8. Confessions of an Advertising Man, by David Ogilvy

This book is supposedly an important work by a pillar in advertising, but much of it feels dated. Many of the author’s insights – particularly in the first half – are valuable in business beyond advertising, and I was thankful for them. It was also interesting to compare his experiences and rules to what has been depicted in the ad world of “Mad Men.” Confession: I also read this because I was being considered for a job at an ad agency. (4)

9. Rabbit Is Rich, by John Updike

The third of four novels about this life of an ordinary guy in Pennsylvania nicknamed Rabbit, this is the best so far. Nothing truly unusual happens as Rabbit settles into middle age (he is only one year older than me at 46!), but it makes the novel more believable as he struggles with family, job, aging, and regrets. The novel itself feels rich, building on a fullness provided by the first two works. (9)

10. The Coast of Utopia, Part 1: Voyage, by Tom Stoppard

This reminded me a lot of reading a Chekhov play, partly because it’s set in czarist Russia (1833). And the characters often cry or rage at the drop of the hat talking about love and purpose in life. The layering of scenes is a bit hard to understand, but there are several amusing moments that kept the play moving and kept me interested. (8)

11. The Coast of Utopia, Part 2: Shipwreck, by Tom Stoppard

The main characters engage in a lot of intellectual puffery, and a few dabble in fomenting revolutions across Europe. But it doesn’t mean much, it seems, until family members die. (6)

12. The Coast of Utopia, Part 3: Salvage, by Tom Stoppard

The dreamers – several are historical figures and writers – continue to bungle their way through 1850s and 60s Europe, trying out flawed, contradictory ideas and philosophies while searching for the perfect political society that allows freedom and happiness to thrive for the common man. (7)

13. Spoon Fed, by Kim Severson

Part of why I enjoyed this memoir so much is that I’ve known Kim for years. Her humor and talent shine as she discusses her life’s journey and the important female cooks who have helped shape that journey. Clever, moving, and insightful – a real treat. (9)

14. A Far Cry from Kensington, by Muriel Spark

Mrs. Hawkins, the tart, advice-giving narrator of this novel, is the main attraction here. She may be one of the most eccentric, proud, and enjoyable narrators I can remember since reading “The Confederacy of Dunces.”  While some of the plot developments are quite serious, the novel provided considerable entertainment. (8)

15. The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood

This Booker Prize-winning novel took a while to hook me, but the last 50 pages or so made the effort worthwhile. An elderly narrator looks back on her scandal-rocked life, and her story is interlaced with a novel-within-a-novel – called “The Blind Assassin” — that has some sci-fi elements that weren’t all that interesting. (8)

16. The Beauty Queen of Leenane, by Martin McDonagh

This play is a fantastic read, and I can only imagine how much more powerful it is to see in performance. A lonely woman lives with her ailing, manipulative mother in rural Ireland, where desperation can lead to negligence and violence. (9)

17. Sprout, by Dale Peck

Dale Peck is a talented writer who is worth paying attention to. (He would never end a sentence with a preposition.) But his novel’s smartypants narrator makes a lot of those sorts of asides that become more annoying than revelatory. When he focuses in many of the scenes in the book, the writing really draws you in and reveals a lot of heart in this coming-of-age tale. (7)

18. The Zookeeper’s Wife, by Diane Ackerman

Diane Ackerman is another writer I always pay attention to, and I wanted to like this book more than I did. It’s a fascinating tale of how a brave woman hid Jews in the Warsaw zoo while her husband fought with Polish resistance forces in World War II. The account has many riveting moments, but overall I was disappointed with the lack of suspense and personal danger that must have pervaded those years at the zoo. Something feels missing. (7)

19. Super Sad True Love Story, by Gary Shteyngart

This was Dave Full’s pick for our book club. The novel is a satiric view of the future breakdown of U.S. society as experienced by an unlikely couple. Their “love story” is told through their diary entries or text messages, which I think remove the reader from much of the action. Too much “reporting” took away from some serious dramatic action, and I didn’t feel much love in this strange coupling. The book was best when the main character, Lenny, created scenes in his diary about the frightening developments in society. (6)

20. The Nine, by Jeffrey Toobin

Wow, can this guy write. I’m pleasantly surprised by how interested I was in this account of recent history (20-ish years) of the Supreme Court. This brought back memories of historic moments (Clarence Thomas hearings, Bush v. Gore) and historic rulings (Lawrence v. Texas) that became even more vivid because of the reporting and artful arranging by Toobin. The other standout: So much of this book is a tribute to Sandra Day O’Connor. Fascinating. (9)

21. Rabbit at Rest, by John Updike

This finale made reading the first three books worth it (only the second had big weaknesses, in my opinion). But having traveled through the adult life of this ordinary, man, there’s something extraordinary in sharing such intimacy with this character. And as he fights so many battles in this novel, it’s the lack of self-discipline about his health that is so powerful, especially in the way he’s presented as the American Everyman. Looking back, there are multi-faceted riches for reflection; this novel deserved the Pulitzer. (9)

22. Remembering Denny, by Calvin Trillin

Part memoir and part investigation, this book probes the mystery of Roger “Denny” Hansen, Trillin’s friend and classmate at Yale who was the “golden boy” and then committed suicide decades after graduating in 1957. Turns out he may have crumbled under the high expectations for his post-college career or the harmful “therapy” from psychiatrists dealing with Hansen’s homosexual struggles. A really sad look at harmful social pressures and how one privileged generation couldn’t handle the rules changing. (8)

23. The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri

What a surprise. I had always felt like Lahiri was an author I “should” read because her debut story collection won the Pulitzer. But my sense of duty switched to delight after the first chapter of this finely observed novel. (Now I can’t wait to read that story collection.) Many times I marveled at what she could accomplish in a single paragraph. It all starts with an arranged marriage in India and a move to America, where the young family’s domestic adventures over decades are unexpectedly moving. It’s also a fascinating twist on the question, “What’s in a name?” (10)

24. Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson

The heap of hype and accolades did not deliver. The novel has many fine moments, and the courtroom drama aspect kept me interested. But there were so many flashbacks and asides; sometimes I felt distracted and a little resentful that I was being diverted from the really interesting stuff toward back stories that were sometimes melodramatic and history lesson-ish. (8)

25. War Horse, by Michael Morpurgo

This was a book-club selection, a young-adult novel that has been turned into an acclaimed play and a major movie. It’s a very sentimental tale about a horse sold into the British military to help in World War I, as told by the horse. I really couldn’t suspend disbelief, even though some of the schmaltzy sentimental moments got me a little. (4)

26. The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy

I had a hard time staying interested in roughly the first half of this novel; the narration skips around a lot and I just couldn’t focus well. But the last half caught my attention much better, and many of the elements come together in subtle and tragic ways. I think this novel about an Indian family’s struggles with identity, class, and loss is best read when you can devote long periods of attention, because it’s easy to forget details between readings. (7)