ISSUE #99 - December 19th, 2019

The 15 Most Memorable Books I Read in 2019

Why most memorable?  Because “best” and “top” in my opinion aren’t really helpful when it comes to book recommendations. Some books make an impact. Some don’t. These did.  As you’ll see, some of these books were not published this year. A few were holdovers from last year that I never got to and a few more were books that I’ve always wanted to read that I finally made time for.  I started several more books than you’ll see here but I didn’t finish them (if a book hasn’t hooked me in 50-100 pages, I’m out). I also finished other books but for one reason or another they were forgettable. These books, as the title reads, are memorable. If you’re interested, CLICK HERE for my 2018 list and CLICK HERE for my 2017 list and CLICK HERE for my 2016 list.  Without further adieu, here are the 15 Most Memorable Books I Read in 2019:   Range By: David Epstein  Last year I recommended David Epsteins' fantastic book, The Sports Gene and many of you wrote me that you got it and enjoyed it also. One of the cool parts about this e-mail is that publishers and PR people often hit me up to send me books to potentially review or recommend. (Was that a flex on behalf of the growing power of the FF5? Yes, yes it was. Ha.)  I turn down at least 75% of the offers for review copies and of the ones I receive, I choose very few to write about. That being said, when Epstein's publisher reached out to send me a copy of his new book, Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, I jumped at the chance to get it because Epstein is one of the very best writers/researchers we have and I planned on buying it anyway. And it's no surprise that this book is thought-provoking and brilliant. From comparing the upbringings of Tiger Wood and Roger Federer to a guy hell bent on raising chess masters to understanding 'the outsider advantage' and 'lateral thinking', this book is outstanding. You'll start to reassess how/why you do what you do by about page 20. It’s also a sneaky-great book for parents to help them navigate the awful, hyper-specialized sports culture that has popped up. Check it out here.  The Library Book By: Susan Orlean  Not only is The Library Book by Susan Orlean the most perfectly named and cleverly-named book of the last ten years, it's also one of the best.  My introduction to Orlean came from the uniquely excellent movie Adaptation, starring Nic Cage playing Charlie Kaufman (and his twin) as a screenwriter trying to adopt Orlean's book The Orchid Thief into a movie. I picked up Orlean's new book because I loved the title and in about 10 pages I found myself totally fascinated and invested in the inner workings of a library, which is no small feat. She somehow turns the day-to-day operation of the main hub of the Los Angeles Library system into feeling like an exciting, Mission: Impossible-type spy headquarters. Also, she's a towering literary talent, which I know sound snobby as if I'm some major critic, but it's the phrase that comes to mind. I won't try to explain the book other than to say just give it five pages and you'll be in.  ADRIFT: Seventy-six Days Lost at Sea by: Steven Callahan  I had this book on my radar for a while and bought it to tackle this summer. It is a true story and first-person account of suffering, loneliness, genius, courage, will and a flat out refusal to die from a man stranded on a life raft at sea, by himself, for over two months. The book is riveting, fast-paced and will have you thinking about it long after you finish (especially the next time you think you're "starving" or "hot" or "uncomfortable").  Here's the official description: On the night of January 29, 1982, Steven Callahan set sail in his small sloop from the Canary Islands bound for the Caribbean. Thus began one of the most remarkable sea adventures of all time. Six days out, the sloop sank, and Callahan found himself adrift in the Atlantic in a five-and-a-half-foot inflatable raft with only three pounds of food and eight pints of water. He would drift for seventy-six days over eighteen hundred miles of ocean before he reached land and rescue. Buy it here.  The Last Black Unicorn By: Tiffany Haddish  I knew about Tiffany Haddish the same as you probably did, via her movies and comedy specials, but after listening to her talk about her past in a few interviews, I decided to pick up her book…because her life story is extraordinary. She grew up in foster care in South Central, Los Angeles and survived by using her wit and humor. She took odd jobs (even as a Bar Mitzvah emcee), tried to stay on the right side of the kids in her school who could help her and somehow developed an unstoppable work ethic. She is also a heartwarming and inspiring philanthropist so yes, I’d recommend this book for fans of hers but also for anyone looking for a little kick in the ass about what is possible if you work hard enough and think big enough. Also, obviously... she's funny. Buy it here.  Teddy Roosevelt for the Defense By: Dan Abrams  Imagine if right now Barack Obama was being sued for millions of dollars in a personal lawsuit. Now imagine further that he basically decided to represent himself and spent over a week on the witness stand. Can you fathom the media/political circus this would create? It would be the trial of the century.  Well, this actually happened to Teddy Roosevelt in 1915. Nearly six years after leaving office, a former political rival, William Barnes, sued Roosevelt for libel after TR claimed Barnes was corrupt. The lawsuit was for $50,000 ($1.2 million today) and if Barnes won, it would have demolished Roosevelt's reputation and ruined him financially. The book, Theodore Roosevelt for the Defense, by Dan Abrams and David Fisher chronicles the trial and if you're at all a fan of Roosevelt, it's awesome. Also, TR reveals a lot of political tricks and shady dealings that are absolutely still pertinent today.  Chicago By: David Mamet  Where do you stand on David Mamet? If you thoroughly enjoyed The Edge and Glengarry Glen Ross and State & Main, then you're a Mamet fan like me. You're enthralled with the dialogue and the characters and the unrelenting swearing...all of it.  I knew Mamet wrote a few novels and I came across his most recent one, Chicago, at the book store and decided to buy it. As expected, the book is very heavy on conversation and talking and more talking.... But I like it. I honestly don't know if it's even a good book... or just a lot of really good dialogue set in 1920s Chicago. Either way, it has all the hallmarks of his other work, just in book form, which I have read some people don't like. If you want to decide for yourself, here it is.  Ghostbuster's Daughter By: Violet Ramis Stiel  Did you love Harold Ramis? Of course you did. We all did. On the director side his comedy legacy is untouchable: Caddyshack, Vacation, Groundhog Day, a dozen others and a few episodes of The Office to top it off.  As an actor, his small roles and starring roles were equally awesome. He passed away in 2014 but his daughter wrote a heartfelt book titled, of course: Ghostbuster's Daughter and it’s an exceptional look into his life, career and influences. It’s even more timely now that the incredible Ghostbusters: Afterlife is due out next year. Check it out here.  Hustler Days By: RA Dickey  I've always been fascinated with the gambling, hustler and underground pool scene from the 60s and 70s when guys like Minnesota Fats and Wimpy Lassiter were kings.  I picked up RA Dickey's book Hustler Days about America's Great Age of Pool in a used book pile outside our library and I was immediately hooked. I love the backdrop of the pool halls, the ludicrous amount of pressure these guys played under, the money they bet on games and trick shots and most of all, I'm obsessed with their awesome nicknames, which are usually the combination of a state/region plus a body part, disposition, outstanding feature, etc..... I've decided that when I make my foray into back-alley, high-stakes pool, I'd like to be called Big Nose Boston. Until then, check out Hustler Days here. Because Internet By: Gretchen McCulloch  My favorite thing about Gretchen is that she has not only dedicated her career to language as a linguistics expert, but she’s used that knowledge to do deep dives on the difference between 'LOL' and 'lol' and where sayings like "on brand" came from. And right out of the gate, her analysis of what a typical keysmash looks like (when you just randomly bang on your keyboard out of frustration) is fascinating. She’s a terrific writer and has the unique ability to let you know she’s spent A LOT of time on this topic and yet, even when using words like ‘dialectology’ you can tell she’s having fun. If you’re looking to understand internet culture better, or really, just culture better, I highly recommend you read this.   The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West by: David McCullough  At this point, every book that Pulitzer Prize-winner McCullough puts out is an event and this one is right in his wheelhouse. Newly discovered journals... adventure... US history... This is tried and true McCullough territory and he delivers, as always. Especially cool is the guest appearances of George Washington, Ben Franklin and other luminaries and presidents who played a role in the mass expansion of the United States. Buy it here.  The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini By: Joe Posnanski  Pop Quiz, Hot Shot: Who is the most famous escape artist of all time? I'm guessing 95% of you immediately thought of Harry Houdini (and I'd be curious who the other 5% thought of....David Blaine, maybe?). Anyway, one of the best sportswriters around, Joe Posnanski, tackled a biography of Houdini called The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini (great title) which is a near-perfect mix of subject and author. Posnanski even gets an inside look into David Copperfield's top secret Houdini memorabilia stash and it's beyond cool. It's hard to imagine now, but during his prime, Houdini was arguably one of the two or three most famous people on EARTH. Full stop. Not too many humans can say that. I absolutely loved this book.  Movies & Other Things By: Shea Serrano  If you're on Twitter regularly and you follow sports and/or pop culture then the chances you've come across New York Times bestselling author Shea Serrano are the same as if he's tweeting right this very second, which means it's an absolute certainty.  The 6' 3" Serrano is a writer for The Ringer and his new book, the 2nd installment in the 'In Other Things' planned trilogy is "Movies (And Other Things)" which is a series of essays that tackle the greatest, most important questions in the history of cinema, like: "Were the Jurassic Park Raptors Just Misunderstood" or "Is this movie better, the same, or worse with The Rock in it" and "Was Andy Dufresne's time in prison worth it or no?"... And about 30 other critical thought exercises involving the silver screen that Leonard Malkin wished he thought of. The book is a flat out delight if you love movies. Go buy it right this second.  Double Feature By: Owen King  In my never-ending effort to balance out my reading between mostly non-fiction to a nice sprinkling of fiction, I picked up the novel Double Feature by Owen King for three reasons and it was awesome.  Reason #1: Bill Hader raved about it. Reason #2: Dave Barry wrote an extended review of how much he loved it. Reason #3: Karen Russell who wrote Swamplandia! has a cover blurb. And reason #s 4 & 5 are that it's about movies and filmmaking and also I picked it up at Barnes & Noble and started flipping through it and found myself standing there, 15 minutes later, well into the book. The writing and storytelling are whip smart and one of the main characters, Booth Dolan, a washed up B-movie actor is original and brilliant. Check it out here.  Bitcoin Billionaires By: Ben Mezrich  What if I told you there is a sequel to The Social Network movie in book form that follows the supposed bad guys in the movie (the Winklevoss Twins) after the events of the film, and that within the first 40 pages, you'd realize that Mark Zuckerberg was/is the true villain of the Facebook story and did, in fact, completely rip off the twins.  If you didn't know, the Social Network movie was actually based on Ben Mezrich's book, The Accidental Billionaires, and now Mezrich is back with a follow-up of sorts called Bitcoin Billionaires, which picks up where the film left off and then follows the Winklevii (as Zuckerberg calls them in the movie) on their road to potential redemption and respect in the bitcoin world. Side note: You might find yourself wanting to delete Facebook on about page 15. Check it out here.  Nights in White Castle By: Steve Rushin  I used to call legendary Sports Illustrated writer Steve Rushin "Wordsmith Von Wordsmithson" because he plays with words in his sentences and paragraphs like he's Hendrix on the guitar, riffing and jamming and taking wordplay to another level.  His memoir, Sting-Ray Afternoons came out two years ago (it was outstanding) and the follow up to that book, Nights In White Castle came out this year. If you love Rushin, or just enjoy well-told, funny, heartwarming and uniquely-written memoirs, I highly encourage you to give this one a read.

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