So it's that time of year again. Unfortunately my reading has been light this year. In no particular order, the 10 best books I read this past year. I know I'm missing a few, but I can't seem to find the list I started keeping in January so maybe I should change the title of this list to, of the books I can remember reading, these are the 10 best.
An almost unbelievable journey through the hobo counterculture and criminal underground. Could very well be in my top ten books of all time. Pick it up. You won't want to put it down.
Also a true account, this time examining the Weather Underground from an academic perspective. Dan Berger conducted tons of interviews and has written a wonderful account of the SDS dissolution into the the Weathermen, and the subsequent transformation into the Weather Underground. This one was a gift from Sherbs, and it took some time to get through, but was definitely worth it.
This is essentially a transcript of the trial of the 8 people who were tried in connection with the riots outside of the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Sidenote: The defendants were represented by NLG attorneys.
This book is incredible. Take a jar full of jelly beans and have 100 people guess how many are in the jar. More often than not, no one will guess the number,
and the average will be closer than any one guess alone. This book gives many more examples of this same thing, and tries to explain why and how it can be used to our benefit.
Granted, the baby hasn't arrived, but I don't think a book can fully prepare you for pregnancy, childbirth, or parenting. That being said, this book helped us make educated choices for our child and for ourselves. It's a series of previously published articles so it seems repetitive, but overall, I think the information was invaluable.
I can't say enough about this book. On one hand, foreign policy for many, many years never seemed to be partisan. After reading this book, you'll see to a greater degree that the reason foreign policy never seemed partisan is because it was always driven by capitalism and greed. Many of these stories I'd never read, but sadly, didn't surprise me.
While I didn't think this book was written as well as it could've been, I enjoyed that the author was able to give the Gay Rights Movement names, faces and personalities. Duberman tells their stories from childhood to activist. It was interesting to see how the events unfolded to create change. Unfortunately, we're still waging these battles.
While in Mexico for spring break we found a lending library of random novels. I borrowed this book and was struck by the way the author changed narrator. The entire first section is told to you, as if you are one of the characters. Then he changes for the second section, and you get a different perspective on the same events, from a different character in a different voice. Luckily, it makes more sense in the book, and I think he pulls it off quite well, in the end.
This book gave us a great week by week of what to expect as Laura progressed through the pregnancy. Believe me, there are a lot (no really
a LOT) of crappy pregnancy books out there.
What to Expect When You're Expecting being at the top. This one was good because it did not assume you would be using a doctor as opposed to a midwife, and gave us other a short explanation of just about everything that could happen. Again, no book can fully prepare you, but this one was nice to have on hand.
Laura and I are actually in the middle of this one now. The premise is, humans disappear. What happens next? How soon will the cities and homes fall into ruin? Surprisingly quickly, it turns out.
