Best New Reads
- Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher (2014)
Synopsis: Professor Jay T. Fitger finds that since most of his time is spent writing letters of recommendation, he has no other outlet to talk about his underfunded department, his failed marriage and flailing attempts at romance, his flagging writing career, and his increasingly downtrodden prodigy.
A superb example of the epistolary format, Dear Committee Members fails as a satire only insofar as it succeeds as an accurate portrayal of academia. The protagonist is reminiscent of Stephen Fry’s eccentric and pompous Professor Donald Trefusis, if not as immediately charming. That we may eventually come to sympathize with Fitger is a testament to Schumacher’s skill, as are the copious laughs to be had along the way. - Illuminations: Essays and Reflections by Walter Benjamin, ed. by Hannah Arendt, trans. by Harry Zohn (2007, orig. 1969)
Synopsis: Essays from German literary critic and philosopher Walter Benjamin.
Although I had read a few individual essays for school, this was the first time I sat down and read the whole thing cover to cover. Benjamin’s unique combination of esoteric Marxism and literary criticism is fascinating. Though getting through some of the denser passages is like panning for gold, the reward is well worth the work. - Kraken by China Miéville (2010)
Synopsis: The giant squid in London’s Natural History Museum has gone missing and it’s caretaker, Billy Harrow, rather unexpectedly finds himself in charge of keeping the world from ending. Also, it turns out magic is real, the sea can talk, and the Union of Magical Familiars is on strike.
Miéville’s prose is dynamic and delightfully idiosyncratic, while his world-building is brilliantly inventive; his characters are sharply rendered and his plot is engaging and expertly executed. Many of the reviews (at least of those quoted on the book itself) describe Kraken as a comedy, and I strongly disagree with that characterization. Yes, there are comedic moments, and yes there are fundamentally ridiculous elements (e.g. Chaos Nazis). Miéville renders everything with such conviction and believability, however, that I never found myself reading it as a comedy, and there are too many emotionally effective moments for me to think that the author intended it as such.
Just to belabor the point a little more: Miéville never pokes fun at his creations, and so the reader comes to care for them just as he does. Furthermore, he only highlights the ridiculousness of a situation or piece of the world insofar as a character (usually Billy, the protagonist) sees it as ridiculous. Billy, though, very quickly stops seeing things as ridiculous and accepts the new reality he has been thrust into, and since we’re mostly experiencing things from his point of view, we as the reader have the same evolution. In that way, it has a tone more similar to Neil Gaiman’s American Gods than to Douglas Adams. - Poetic Scientifica by Leah Noble Davidson (2013)
Synopsis: A collection of poetry in which the author proposes that “it is possible to give a poem deeper meaning by abstractly defining the dialect of the words of which it is composed,” and in which the table of contents is itself a poem.
This book of poems is not collected so much as constructed, each piece adding to the whole. That in and of itself is an impressive feat, but don’t think that the structure overshadows the talent on display in the poems themselves. Davidson has a versatile voice that is wholly her own, marrying a keen sense of observation with a powerful grasp of language. - The Salmon of Doubt by Douglas Adams (2002)
Synopsis: Though the title comes from the working title for an unpublished third Dirk Gently novel (the surviving scraps of which are contained herein), the bulk of the book is composed of various non-fiction essays, interviews, etc. on, as you might expect, life, the universe, and a lot of other stuff.
Adams’s non-fiction writing is just as enjoyable as his fiction. His tech geekery is especially charming, and it’s astounding how perceptive he was about the potential of technology, predicting everything from Bluetooth to the iPhone. - We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy by Ta-Nehisi Coates (2017)
Synopsis: Eight essays (+ prologue and epilogue) on the Black experience in America and how racism is ingrained in the very fabric of our democracy, framed by autobiographical reflections on the eight years of Barack Obama’s Presidency (during which these essays were written).
More than just a collection of essays around a theme, the book functions as a cohesive argument for the centrality of race in the story of America, culminating in the election of “the first white President.” Each essay builds on the one before, either directly by referencing and expanding ideas or indirectly in the growth of Coates’s abilities.
Though the last four essays (beginning with the explicitly persuasive “The Case for Reparations”) contain his best writing and, not coincidentally, make the strongest arguments, their full effect derives from the buildup of the preceding essays; for example, you can’t fully understand Coates’s final analysis of Obama’s tenure in “My President Was Black” without having read “Regarding Good Negro Government,” “This is How We Lost to the White Man,” or “Fear of a Black President.” This also true of reading the final essay. More than just another thinkpiece, the epilogue on Trump makes the strongest argument I’ve yet read that his win was more about race than it was about the frustrations of the poor, the machinations of the rich, or the interference of the Russians.
The book is also instructive to aspiring writers—the chronological progression and the segments of memoir that introduce each essay show a writer learning his craft, seeking out new knowledge and points of view, and never being content with what he thinks he knows. - The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon (2007)
Synopsis: In an alternate timeline in which the state of Israel collapsed in 1948, homicide detective Meyer Landsman has one more case to solve before control of the Alaskan district of Sitka, which for the last 60 years has been a Jewish safe haven, reverts back to the United States. Getting in the way of him doing his job (which at this point is the only thing he has going for him) is a powerful Yiddish mob, his ex-wife, and his own crippling alcoholism and depression.
A story of wandering, of darkness, of humor in the face of possibly insurmountable doom, with just a hint of the supernatural. In other words, Jewish noir. You didn’t even know you wanted it and now you have it and it’s great.
Best Re-Reads
- Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams (1991, orig. 1987)
Synopsis: A tech mogul gets murdered, a couch gets stuck in a corner, and half a cat goes missing—but Dirk Gently is on the case.
Adams’s lesser-known property is no less clever, and slightly less dark. - In the House Upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods by Matt Bell (2013)
Synopsis: A newly-wed couple start to see their relationship and their lives fall apart as they repeatedly fail have a child. Both take drastic measures to try to save the life they built together, but in doing so they may destroy it.
A story about transformation and reiteration that is itself a retelling of one of the oldest fairy tales there is. Bell’s prose is rhythmic and visceral, pulling the reader along even when the plot, at times, gets a little muddled. A thematically rich novel that rewards re-reading. - The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Volume 1 ed. by Robert Silverberg (2005, orig. 1970)
Synopsis: Sci-fi short stories that predate the Nebula award, as voted on by members of the Science Fiction Writers of America.
A must-read for any sci-fi buff. Though you may be drawn in by the classic “Flowers For Algernon” and the Twilight Zone-inspiring “It’s a Good Life,” as well as stories from Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, and Ray Bradbury, the real highlights are the stories by authors you might not know. Because the stories are organized chronologically, you also get a sense for how the genre developed between the 1920s and 50s.
Certain of Eventual Failure 