Well, 2020 was weird for all the reasons you know. But in spite of having a lot of time on my hands, I read about the same number of books as last year (45 vs 41 in 2019). Guess I spent that extra time working.
Still, it was a great reading year, I’m happy with the quality of what I read. A lot of classic works, and only a small smattering of “comfort food”, thrillers and such. If you want see the complete list, it is here.
If I had to point to one book this year, it would be 1984, which I read on Bookship with my good friend Thomas. I’d not read it since high school 40 years ago, so for all intents I might as well not have read it. It’s devastating. It is a truly disturbing polemic wrapped inside a heartbreaking love story. Given the insanity of our election year, and the simultaneity of our truth-challenged President together with the frank and unrepentant censorship by his opponents, our high tech / media overlords, 1984 really hit home. Orwell nailed it, although he failed to see the rise of big media and that censorship might not (only) come from the State, but might also come from the private sector. (yes, yes, I know, technically only the government can “censor” – but Facebook and Twitter are the closest thing we have to a public square now – they must be held to a different standard than random/small private enterprises).
I love this quote from Orwell: “The enemy is the gramophone mind, whether or not one agrees with the record that is being played at the moment.”
I read deeply in the Homeric world this year, reading The Odyssey for the first time (in the new Emily Miller translation which is wonderful, and again reading socially with Thomas), and followed that An Odyssey by Daniel Mendelsohn. Mendelsohn is an Homeric scholar who took a history-based Homer sailing tour with his late father. What a wonderful story. I then moved to Ransom by David Malouf, a short, poetic retelling of the encounter of Achilles and Priam from The Iliad. The Odyssey was such great fun. And lastly, I read The Lost Books of The Odyssey by Zachary Mason, which is a series of “outtakes” – short stories – fake episodes from The Odyssey. These are often laugh out loud funny, and a real treat after finishing these other works.
Let me share a creepy excerpt from the “real” Odyssey, where Odysseus conjures the dead (Miller translation):
I drew my sword and dug a hole, a cubit
widthways and lengthways, and I poured libations
for all the dead: first honey-mix, sweet wine,
and lastly, water. On the top, I sprinkled
barley, and made a solemn vow that if
I reached my homeland, I would sacrifice
my best young heifer, still uncalved, and pile
the altar high with offerings for the dead.
I promised for Tiresias as well
a pure black sheep, the best in all my flock.
So with these vows, I called upon the dead.
I took the sheep and slit their throats above
the pit. Black blood flowed out. The spirits came
up out of Erebus and gathered round.
As you may know I live in Hawaii, and I read a number of great books about, or set in, Hawaii. In the Time Before Light by Ian MacMillan is excellent. It is historical fiction set around the time of first contact in Hawaii, and follows the life of Pono, a kanaka maoli, a native Hawaiian. It is by turns riveting, brutal, romantic and educational, especially about old Hawaii. Wonderful storytelling that doesn’t sugar-coat anything. The book club I am in also read a modern sci-fi novel called Bones of Time, by Kathleen Ann Goonan, which is mostly set in Hawaii, and we read Reclaiming Kalakaua, a reconsideration of the life and reputation of David Kalakaua, the last king of Hawaii, based on contemporary accounts from Hawaiian sources.
During our time back east, we did a lot of road-tripping around the country. During one trip we visited Michelle’s folks, who live near Mt. Vernon, and I’d never been, so off we went. It was fascinating, and that together with it being an election year caused me to want to read more about our country’s founding, and Washington in particular. This led me to David McCullough’s 1776, which was equally fascinating and highly recommended. Then we went on a road trip to Chicago to see my son. During that trip Michelle and I listened to the audiobook for 1776, and followed it with John Adams. Boy were our founders interesting people! We combined all of this into some fun visits to Revolutionary war sites, including an inspiring visit to Valley Forge (in this COVID year it was a great reminder that persistence is rewarded), and Fort Lee in New York, which factored heavily in the early days of the War. This led me to George Washington’s Secret Six by Brian Kilmeade, a recounting of Washington’s spy ring (yes, he had one). And from there, I read Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, which surprised me in how well and literately it was written, in addition to being passionate about the War cause.
Speaking of spies, sadly, we lost John Le Carré (David Cornwell) this year. While I found his politics sometimes tiresome, his writing never was, and I re-read (for the nth time), his masterpieces A Perfect Spy and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Read them if you have not.
Also as part of the book club I am in, we have been making an effort to read more works by women and by authors from under-represented communities. In the spy genre, I *loved* American Spy, I felt (in a very small way), a taste of what is like to be a minority. I loved this quote from Jennifer Wilson in her review:
As such, Wilkinson does not graft the matter of race onto the spy novel but rather asks us to think about how being a minority is, in a sense, an act of espionage, a precarious state marked by shifting identities, competing loyalties, and a constant threat of violence.
We also read Americanah, which had a similar revelatory aspect, as well as often being laugh-out-loud funny.
At the beginning of the year, I finished up one last piece of Iceland reading, from my trip to Iceland: Smile of the Wolf, by Tim Leach. The early parts of Smile of the Wolf capture the grim beauty that is both the Icelandic terrain and the pagan northern world view. It mirrors the classic Icelandic sagas in many ways, but where the saga characters are usually pretty opaque, we get inside the heads of the characters and get a detail and color the sagas don’t provide, yet the cadence and speaking voices can be suitably terse or blunt. It’s transporting. Like a time machine to 10th century Iceland. Full review here: https://www.viking2917.com/smile-of-the-wolf-review/. The Half-Drowned King by Linnea Hartsuyker, a late December read, is also one of the better Viking novels I have read, and I’ve read more than a few….
Some books I really enjoyed this year: The Last Good Kiss, a darkly funny thriller by James Crumley. The Good Shepherd (and associated Tom Hanks movie!) by C.S. Forester, which I read socially with my friends Thomas and Lynn on Bookship – which then led to reading the first book in the HornBlower saga, Mr. Midshipman Hornblower. Which then led us to read The Game of Birds and Wolves about the female sub hunters in England during WWII. Really good fun all around.
Lastly I re-read a number of science fiction classics this year: Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan (who is in our Meet the Author program on Bookship!!!), The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Leguin, and (in anticipation of the not-yet-forthcoming movie), Dune. All of them amazing books even on a 3rd or 4th re-read.
OK What’s up for this year? Really excited for the new Steven Pressfield book!