Suspended Sentences by Patrick Modiano
Modiano’s Suspended Sentences captures each narrator’s confusion, solitude, and memory in three subtle mysteries. Although little actually happens in any of the novellas, the collection is well worth reading. I found myself drawn so close to these characters that a strange power haunted my own sense of being. I understand why Patrick Modiano won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Interior Circuit by Francisco Goldman
Interior Circuit by Francisco Goldman is an extraordinary memoir. I particularly loved the way he wove the loss of his wife throughout the book, which made that loss even more poignant. Goldman’s insight into Mexican politics is riveting. I now understand how difficult it is for the country to get its act together when one of its major parties is so corrupt.
Cover by Peter Mendelsund
How Peter Mendelsund, with little design experience, was hired by Knopf is one of the most amazing success stories I’ve ever read. Mendelsund’s Cover is more than a book about design; it’s a meditation on the creative process and the love of books by a genius designer. A book worth owning.
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
I thought Angelina Jolie did a good job turning Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand into a movie, but, as they say, the book is better. It’s an extraordinary story that tests the limits of human suffering, endurance, and courage. Unbroken grips you from beginning to end.
Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell
Homage to Catalonia is one of George Orwell’s most important works. Nothing, of course, can compare to the impact of Nineteen Eighty-Four, but without Orwell’s experiences in the Spanish Civil War, there probably would be no Nineteen Eighty-Four. This is how Orwell became, in my view, the most important writer of the 20th century. Homage to Catalonia remains a necessary book.
A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
A brilliant essay brimming with intellect as it explores women, writing, and the sexism of Woolf’s era. Every lover of literature would benefit from reading A Room of One’s Own.
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The Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood
Isherwood’s insightful and poignant The Berlin Stories gives us a peek into German attitudes as Hitler and the Nazi Party come to power. A great book about a crucial time in history.
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates blew me away. It’s a profound and powerful polemic on the Black experience, past and present. Definitely worth a read.
Chronicles: Volume One by Bob Dylan
By turns revealing, poetic, passionate, and witty, Chronicles: Volume One is a mesmerizing window into Bob Dylan’s influences. I’m reading it now, and it really gets behind the facade. It’s a real joy and offers rare insight into Dylan’s inner thoughts.
NonZero by Robert Wright
Zero-sum and non-zero-sum games are two crucial concepts that everyone, particularly those in government, should always consider. I loved Nonzero by Robert Wright for making those two concepts clear in my mind.
The Life of Galileo by Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht, the creative German writer who fought fascism and the lies of Hitler’s Germany, exposes the Catholic Church’s lies in an entertaining, educational, and intelligent play about Galileo.
Fascism A Warning by Madeleine Albright
A fascist, observes Madeleine Albright, “is someone who claims to speak for a whole nation or group, is utterly unconcerned with the rights of others, and is willing to use violence and whatever other means are necessary to achieve the goals he or she might have.”
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