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| Photo by Ed Robertson on Unsplash |
Since our library keeps a record of everything we've checked out, it's pretty much a cinch to see a catalog of the movies you've seen and books you've checked out. Usually you know what you've finished and what you've enjoyed. Those I myself have most enjoyed often get written about here on my blog, so I'm including links to reviews about or insights gained from what I've been reading.
I should note that I consider listening to audio books to be the same as reading. Nearly any time I'm in the car a book is playing. Since most are from the library, some have tracks in which there are skips or even full stops, and the more popular the author, the more times you will experience this annoyances. For example, Agatha Christie is popular and though I took out 11 of her whodunnits, I may have only read eight or nine. I also got into a John Sandford binge and took out 20 of his novels, but read only 14 or 15 due to excessive scratches, jumps, stutters, skips and stops. Alas.
My 2020 reading included Steinbeck's Travels with Charley, Jim Collins' How the Mighty Fall, Knut Hamsun's Dreamers, Henry Louis Gates' 100 Amazing Facts about the Negro, books on Ida Wells, Sojourner Truth and other African American women during Black History Month. finally finished James Joyce's Dubliners, a short book by Marquez titled I'm Not Here to Give a Speech, early stories by Philip K. Dick, and Stuart Woods' Skin Game, which I found preposterous and seriously inferior to Sandford's stories.
Having said all that, here are my favorite reads of 2020.
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1. Lord of the Rings Trilogy
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| My year started with this. |
J.R.R. Tolkien
During my second year in college a friend encouraged me to read this series. He said I would find them inspiring and they seemed like something I would enjoy. The quantity of pages felt imposing at the time. When the movies came out in 2001-2002 I was a captive audience, and when I saw the audiobooks in our library at the beginning of the year, I began the journey that I should have started long ago.
Here's a blog post inspired during my trek through these great stories.
A Dream, and Writing Tips from Tolkien's Lord of the Rings Trilogy
2. August 1914
First volume of The Red Wheel series
Aleksandr Solzhentisyn
Midyear I read Solzhenitsyn's World Communism--A Critical Review, which led me to pick up other writings by this 20th century prophet. I purchased August 1914 to. gain a new perspective not only on the Russian Revolution, but also on the story of the Eastern Front during WWI. Many of us have watched movies (eg. Paths of Glory) and read books about the Western Front, trench warfare, the horrors of Somme, the Ardennes, the Marne and other travesties. Solzhenitsyn gives a broader context for not only understanding the fall of Russian monarchy, but broader insights into the global upheaval that occured a century ago.
At the bottom of the page 846, the last page of this book we read:
UNTRUTH DID NOT START WITH US AND IT WILL NOT END WITH US
Here's a blog post inspired during my trek through these pages.
Solzhenitsyn on the Magical Power of Art
3. Midnight In Chernobyl
Adam Higginbotham
I'm always impressed when writers go the extra mile to dig up so much information that has been outside the public eye, talking with witnesses, acquiring documents that have lain buried and dormant for decades. This was an event of major significance with enormous potential consequences. The meltdown in Chernobyl was Mikhail Gorbachev's first major test as regards his commitment to becoming a more transparent nation. His advisors were saying he had to cover it up, but he knew that the U.S. probably knew about what happened before Moscow did, and with radioactive rain falling in Sweden it would be useless to pretend that nothing had happened.
Here's a blog post with details, hoping to whet your appetite for more.
Midnight In Chernobyl: Adam Higginbotham's Explosive Story About What Really Happened
4. Good Strategy, Bad Strategy
Richard Rumelt
This is one of my recommended business books for 2020. It's one of the best books about marketing that I have ever read, or more specifically, about marketing strategy. During my 30 year career in advertising I've seen a lot of confusion when it comes to marketing. For example, marketers often discuss tactics as if they were strategy. I have rarely seen a company produce a truly integrated marketing strategy. Can you imagine if a car were dismantled and all the different parts--engine block, wheels, drivetrain, gas tank, pistons--each were free to do whatever they wanted? The car only moves forward when all these parts are assembled and work together. And even then, only when there is fuel in the tank.
If you are in business management, especially marketing, this book is a must read.
Bad Luck? or Bad Strategy?
Lord Nelson, the Battle of Trafalgar and a Lesson in Strategy
5. Never Let Me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro
I can't say enough about Kazuo Ishiguro, winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize for Literature. The best films aren't the ones we enjoy in the theater, but the ones we carry out of the theater in our minds and hearts, discussing with friends and considering their broader implications. All of Ishiguro's books have had this effect on me, especially The Unconsoled and this one. The narrator is looking back at her life, viewing it through the lens of new insights gained in the later part of her short life. The result for me as a reader has been to reconsider my own life journey.
Ishiguro Again Shows His Mastery: Never Let Me Go
Ishiguro's The Unconsoled is an Achievement of the First Order
Bonus Track
Experiencing the Trinity
Darrel W. Johnson
For Christians who want to have a clearer understanding of the Trinity, a unique feature of the Christian faith, or for spiritual seekers who desire to better understand a central concept regarding the nature of God, Darrell W. Johnson's slim volume is superb.
My attempts to write about this book have been coming up short. Here's where you will find some good Amazon reviews.
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Encores
The Attention Merchants by Tim Wu
and
Baseball Haiku: The Best Haiku Ever Written About the Game
Nanae Tamura, editor
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What books were especially meaningful to you this year?
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