Positive note #10: book reading (non-fiction edition)

I’m going to end this little series of positive notes I started ten days ago with sharing several excellent nonfiction books I read in 2020. Last year, my goal was to read 52 books. A year ago I had set as my goal for 2020 60 books, not because I knew we’d all be experiencing a lockdown, but because I was supposed to be on sabbatical in the fall and figured I’d be able to make more time for it. (I was indeed on sabbatical this past fall, but I did not “go” on sabbatical in that I just stayed in Zurich rather than my original plan of spending it at my alma mater Smith College in a special visiting position. Fortunately, we were able to reschedule that for fall ’23.) It turns out, during lockdown March-May I didn’t read any books at all. I can’t explain it, but it’s not how I coped. Fortunately, during the rest of the year I caught up. I already posted separately my resulting fiction recommendations, now for the rest.

I started 2020 with a tough, but very important and well-written book: Know My Name by Chanel Miller. This is the story of the woman who had been sexually assaulted by Brock Turner on Stanford’s campus. She goes through so much of what happened in the aftermath including lots of discussion of the crazy legal system that lets people like Turner move on with their lives while the lives they assault are forever changed. I believe this should be required reading on university campuses. It would be very hard for 18-year-olds to process (it’s hard to process at any age), but valuable.

 

While we are on the topic of sexual assault, I found both She Said (2019) by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey as well as Catch and Kill (2019) by Ronan Farrow interesting and informative. While both are inspired by and explore Harvey Weinstein’s sexual harassment and abuse of women, the former goes well beyond that one case including details about the allegations against Brett Kavanaugh. This broader focus was appealing to me and valuable beyond the one case. What you get more of in the Farrow book is details of the Weinstein case, especially the media’s role in covering it up for way too long. In many ways, the book is an indictment of NBC and a props to the New Yorker. On the whole, however, while the author mentions several times that this is not about him, it’s about the women, he is still rather front and center in the story, which was not particularly appealing. Overall, then, I rate She Said higher and if you were to read just one of the two, that’s the one I’d read.

On the topic of monsters who get away with way too much (and the media’s role in all that), I thought Mary Trump’s Too Much and Never Enough (2020) about how Donald Trump came to be who he is was very insightful. It must have been a hard book to write, there is a lot of dirty laundry in that family and a lot of it is very painful for several members. While nothing justifies all the revolting behaviors over the years, the book did help me feel a bit less bewildered by where all of that would come from. Again, not as a justification, but as an origins question.

Aaand one more on the world giving a pass to some people for way too long concerned the story of Elizabeth Holmes as told by John Carreyrou in Bad Blood (2018). (The twist here is that it concerns a young woman.) If this was a fictional account, I suspect the book would be critiqued for being far too out there. But no, it all happened. Fairly early on (as in not even close to halfway into the book) I was already thinking that there was enough evidence to see the issues and was not sure what could be the topic of the remainder of the book, but the crazy just continued. And continued. It’s a very engaging read.

 

In the summer, I read several books on racial justice as I hope others did as well. I was rather late to Between the World and Me (2015) by Ta-Nehisi Coates. It deserves all the praise it has gotten. It’s beautiful and raw and an absolute must-read. Another quick read while also engaging is Austin Channing Brown’s I’m Still Here (2018). The author shares personal experiences that are helpful in getting a glimpse of the exhaustion and exasperation that Black people endure day in and day out while simply going about their everyday lives.

To understand the calls for defunding the police, I read The End of Policing (2017) by Alex Vitale. It was extremely informative while also immensely depressing. There is helpful background in how the system came about and has evolved. In addition to racial discrimination, the book has chapters dedicated to LGBTQ issues, people with mental illness, immigration and border control, to name a few. The author quotes lots of helpful statistics. I’ve always been disgusted by the private prison system in the US, this book clarifies why it is so problematic (e.g., how pouring a fraction of the cost into social services for people in need would be much more meaningful).

 

I enjoy reading memoirs especially of people whose lives are very different from mine. I give high marks to both Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes (2016) and Over the Top (2019) by Jonathan Van Ness. I very much appreciate just how much of a feminist Rhimes is and how this is reflected in her life. I was not at all familiar with Van Ness (but I understand now that he has quite a following) having never seen Queer Eye (I simply have no interest in the reality TV genre), nonetheless I found this book interesting to learn about how he ended up in Hollywood from a small Midwestern town. I most appreciated the love he shows for his mother and her support along the way. (In case anyone is wondering, I did end up watching one episode of the show out of curiosity. That was more than plenty for me.)

 

Shifting gears, I read two helpful books about book publishing. Thinking Like Your Editor (2003) by Susan Rabiner came highly recommended and I understand why. It is very helpful for thinking through your writing even if you’re not in the midst of trying to get a contract for a book or working on your manuscript. It is especially relevant for those looking to publish nonfiction work beyond the university press world. That is not my current goal, but I still found it educational. So You Want to Publish a Book? (2020) by Anne Trubek is a short read by an independent publisher. The author describes several parts of the book publishing process that don’t get talked about much so it was interesting to learn about certain behind-the-scenes processes (as applied to an independent press at least).

I was fascinated by the material (pun intended) in Stuff Matters (2014) by Mark Miodownik. Who knew materials science could be so engaging? The author has a great sense of humor that he applies to describing a wide range of materials from cement to chocolate to diamonds.

 

I’ll finish with two books related to my various hobbies. Art Matters (2018) by Neil Gaiman is a too-short (meaning that I wish it had gone on longer) love letter to libraries and the importance of creativity. Leave Only Footprints (2020) by Conor Knighton is a fantastic engagement with US national park. Beyond telling the wonders of the parks based on his visit to all of them during the course of one year, the author does not shy away from difficult topics like how Native Americans were ousted from their lands and why it’s important that Americans of all backgrounds feel welcomed at the parks including African Americans who have too long been discriminated against. It’s a nice and thoughtful 21st century reflection on the parks.

I read a few dozen other books (over 60 in total, which I was happy with, but it doesn’t come close to Doug K’s 200, not that it’s a competition;-) and liked several others among them. The list above includes the ones I recommend the most. What nonfiction did you enjoy this year?