Enough

Cassidy Hutchinson's book carried few surprises, despite all the hype it generated. I kept wondering about the overly long sections on her childhood and adolescence, but when you're 25 if you don't include your childhood the book probably comes in at under 100 pages. The sad message here is that we have arrived at a place where when a political operative eventually is persuaded to tell the truth, she is counted as a "hero."

Not Funny

Jena Friedman first came to my attention with her TV series Indefensible, about the manifold failures of the justice system. Her book is sharp and occasionally funny.

Bartlelby and Me

Gay Talese is the finest living prose stylist. His deceptively simple, crystalline sentences are a perfect match for his ordered and ruthlessly observant mind. All three of the sections in Batlelby are winning, but the account of the Upper East Side townhouse that was destroyed by its owner is the most gripping.

Dictatorship

Sarah Kendzior and Andrea Chalupa's graphic novel primer on how dictatorships are fueled, born and thrive is exceptionally relevant. The work by artist Kasia Babis is superb.

Close to Home

The North Irish writer Michael Magee's debut novel was widely praised, but I found it hopelessly dark. Too often reading it felt like being hit in the head with a hammer. As a picture of a ruinous drug culture I suppose it has its place.

Cannery Row

Catching up on books I read months ago is a good test of their staying power. Steinbeck's Cannery Row is wise and wistful, and invites a further re-exploration of this deeply humane writer.

The Scoreless Thai

With Lawrence Block and his funny punny titles, you know what to expect, and he usually delivers. This time the sleepless spy Tanner is off to the jungles of Southeast Asia for a ripping adventure.

Slowness

Milan Kundera's short novel was published some 30 years ago but is remarkably prescient in its critique of speed, which has become not just an aesthetic threat but possibly a moral one too. Unconventional with its time jumps and multiple points of view, Slowness is in fact a very conservative and traditional appeal to stop rushing around to no purpose.

Mile Marker Zero

William McKeen delivers an entertaining survey of artists and other weird characters in Key West, focusing on the 1970s. Hunter Thompson, Jimmy Buffett, Thomas McGuane, and lesser known but no less colorful figures enliven the text.

Look at the Lights, My Love

I will read anything by Annie Ernaux that I can get my hands on, but this one feels half-assed.

The Liberation of Lord Byron Jones

This mid-60s novel by Jesse Hill Ford will be in the running for my best book read in 2023. It is a racial story loaded with vivid and believable characters, and it pulls no punches in finding fault in all concerned.

Chain-Gang All-Stars

This is a novel set in the near future in which prisoners battle each other to the death in a televised gladiatorial spectacle. It puts one in mind of dystopian films like Rollerball or The Running Man, and I'm guessing it was written with an eye to the film rights. The characters don't convince, however.

The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece

Tom Hanks' first time out as a novelist is a qualified success. His writing style is no worse than Stephen King's, and this book has the advantage of giving the reader a step-by-step behind-the-scenes account of how movies are made. 

Poverty, by America

Matthew Desmond makes a strong case for the proposition that poverty exists in America because most Americans are comfortable with it. He marshals figures showing how the poor are taxed more heavily than the rich, how banks take advantage of the poor, and why poverty programs are undersubscribed (hint: that's how we the people want it).

Ignorance: A Global History

 Peter Burke's survey of ignorance reveals where it can be helpful as well as harmful. 

Incident at Vichy

Arthur Miller's one-act play is especially relevant today, a time of rising fascism. Every citizen must stand and be counted.

The Pornography Wars

Kelsy Burke's history of porn is evenhanded to a fault and gives good historical context for the current debate on sex workers and exploitation.

Getting Past the Past

While it is much too vaporous in many spots, this account by Lewis Hyde of the uses of forgetting nevertheless makes a strong case for why it's often best to just let things go.

Conquest of the Useless

Werner Herzog's diaries of his making of Fitzcarraldo provide a vivid picture of the monomania of the film director.

Unscripted

Unscripted tells the tawdry tale of Sumner Redstone and Les Moonves. Redstone was virtually held captive by sleazy gold-diggers as he approached death, and Moonves is revealed as a sick, slick pig.