Some books I read in 2019:
Clive Cussler: Treasure (1988) – a beach novel about finding the lost books of the Library of Alexandria. I have always wondered what it was like to read a Clive Cussler novel – they are all so uniformly thick! Now I know.
Martin Day: Doctor Who: Wooden Heart (2007) – Martha and the Doctor find a dead prison starship with a simulated peasant village. As good if not better than the television show.
Alistair Reynolds: Troika (2011) – I am a sucker for books about discovering a mysterious artefact from another world, like “Sphere” (1987) and “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968), but each time I am let down. It seems like no one can write a good ending to these kind of books. Ugh.
Mary Shelley: Frankenstein (1818) – still one of the best science fiction novels ever.
Anne Bronte: Agnes Grey (1847) – A clergyman’s daughter discovers how wealth is wasted on the rich – and falls in love.
Michiko Kakutani: The Death of Truth (2018) – an anti-Trump rant that is not even a glorified Slate article. I was hoping to learn something about filter bubbles, the totalitarian use of language and so on. Hah! Few insights, heavily padded – but a quick read.
John Fea: Believe Me (2018) – how White Evangelical Protestants have been fearmongering about the moral decline of the US for hundreds of years – and yet voted for Trump in huge numbers!
H.G. Wells: The First Men in the Moon (1901) – they discover a vast insect civilization underground – thus the “in” of the title. It was “no arid waste of minerals”.
Anne Berest, et al: How to be Parisian (2014) – not just food, fashion and dating, but sarcasm, snobbery and paradox. It is both description and specimen at the same time.
Gospel of Thomas (by 200): the sayings of Jesus, some well-known, others not, presented without context. A gnostic gospel that seems drunken and mishmashy.
Elaine Pagels: Beyond Belief (2003) – the rise and fall of the Gospel of Thomas as viewed through Pagels’s Protestant lens.
Joan Didion: Salvador (1983) – her White paternalistic take on El Salvador after spending two weeks there in elite circles in June 1982 during the civil war. I read it for her writing.
Norah Vincent: Self-Made Man (2006) – passes as a man for 18 months.
Nancy Mitford: Love in a Cold Climate (1949) – Jane Austen updated, satirized. Wealth is once again wasted on the rich, now more decadent than ever.
Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) – a White feminist “1984” that reads like a slave narrative. Red is the new Black.
Daphne du Maurier: Rebecca (1938) – the daydream of marrying a rich man turned into a living nightmare. A grim but perfect ending – which I had not seen coming despite the massive hints that were dropped.
Zadie Smith: Swing Time (2016) – two mixed-race girls grow up in London wanting to be dancers. One goes to West Africa for a time – but seems to gain little from the experience except pessimism. Surprise tear-jerker ending.
Timeline:
- before 1950: 6
- 1950s:
- 1960s:
- 1970s:
- 1980s: 3
- 1990s:
- 2000s: 3
- 2010s: 5
– Abagond, 2019, 2020.
See also:
- books
- Books I wish I had read sooner
- Library of Alexandria
- American abolitionists
- Doctor Who
- Freema Agyeman – played Martha Jones
- Gnosticism
- also by Elaine Pagels: The Gnostic Gospels
- White paternalism
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I’m just happy whenever I see your posts. I’m always low-key afraid that you’ll stop before I’m ready! Keep at it I really do appreciate you.
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@Abagond
I read “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” in high school, in two versions (modern abridged and original). Very good book.
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Very impressive. By the way, what do you consider to be a good ending to books about mysterious artefacts?
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@abagond
If you like books about artifacts, try this:
http://www.davidbrin.com/existence.html
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Added: Mary Shelley: Frankenstein (1818)
Added: Anne Bronte: Agnes Grey (1847)
Added: Michiko Kakutani: The Death of Truth (2018)
Added: John Fea: Believe Me (2018)
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@Abagond: I would like to recommend Haitian-American writer Edwidge Danticat. I just finished her book The Dew Breaker. I will be reading more of her books the rest of the Summer.
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On the John Fea thread Mary Burrell recommended;
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@ Mary
Thank you! I need essays by women.
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Added: H.G. Wells: The First Men in the Moon (1901)
Added: Anne Berest, et al: How to be Parisian (2014)
Added: Gospel of Thomas (by 200)
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Added: Elaine Pagels: Beyond Belief (2003)
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Added: Joan Didion: Salvador (1983)
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Added: Norah Vincent: Self-Made Man (2006)
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Added: Nancy Mitford: Love in a Cold Climate (1949)
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Added: Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid’s Tale (1985)
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Removed: Uncle Tom’s Cabin, since I did not finish it.
Added: Daphne du Maurier: Rebecca (1938)
Added: Zadie Smith: Swing Time (2016)
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@Abagond
“Removed: Uncle Tom’s Cabin, since I did not finish it.”
I see it’s not on your 2020 list either so I assume you didn’t finish it because you disliked it?
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