Neil's Monthly Book Club is my oldest and most popular email newsletter. Click here to subscribe.
Hey everyone,
I didn’t devour books this month. They devoured me. Partly because I’m gearing up for my new podcast all about books. You'll see some teases on Facebook and I'm excited to share more with you guys soon. And if you’d like to see some new writing from me check out this or this.
Happy reading,
Neil
–
The Sympathizerby Viet Thanh Nguyen. What do you call that moment when you’re jussssssst about to quit a book and half-looking for a reason to keep going? You’re in the quicksand. You’re on page 36 and you want to chuck it but your arms are frantically flailing for jungle vines. Looking for some reason to keep going. Well, thank goodness I found a jungle vine just as I was about to quit this debut novel about Vietnamese refugees coming to America after the Vietnam War. The vine was this New York Times Op-Ed called “Our Vietnam War Never Ended” by the author. Go read it! So much emotion and anger and pain. And it made me understand what was below the surface of this absurdist, urgent, and tragic tale. Once the curtains of The Sympathizer are pulled back it opens into one of the sharpest, funniest, and most epic literary masterpieces I have read. My "East of Eden" for 2018 so far. And I guess I'm not alone since it has the most book trophies I've ever seen slapped inside a cover including Pulitzer Prize, Carnegie Medal, NYT Top 100 Notable Books, the Edgar Award, and a finalist for the PEN / Faulkner.
Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigueby Ryan Holiday. I always tell people Ryan Holiday is the hardest working writer I know. He’s 30 years old with a half dozen bestsellers under his belt already. And his pace seems to be quickening. How does he do it? Well, here’s a story. Last year he was in Toronto and showed up late to our dinner plans because he was writing. After dinner our group walked down the street to grab ice cream. He was already calling an Uber. “Writing quota,” he said. “Gotta hit my wordcount.” That’s how. Pure prioritization and dedication to the craft. Conspiracy is about a whole lot of things I care nothing about in my head and yet I somehow couldn’t put it down. Gripping saga of how a giant online media site irked billionaire Peter Thiel by outing him as gay and then the resulting decade-long conspiracy plot he put together to eventually bankrupt them. Told in hypnotic play-by-play with insider access to all the key players. Ryan Holiday is a writer to keep watching and I recommend his monthly book list as well.
The Chrysalidsby John Wyndham. A post-apocalyptic sci-fi epic which takes place in… Newfoundland! Can’t say that about many books. A group of telepathic kids are forced to hide their genetic mutation from the intolerant community they live in. I read this book as a kid and it was just as resonant today.
Improving Ourselves To Deathby Alexandra Schwartz. Little interlude from books. This hilarious New Yorker piece felt like a breath of fresh air.
Why We Get Fat … And What To Do About Itby Gary Taubes. I can’t believe I’m saying this but this book actually delivers. My cynical sunglasses are deeply shaded on the entire health and fitness section of the bookstore. What type of oil am I supposed to gargle this week again? Not my bag. But this book was written by an editor for Science magazine and it’s a fairly dense summary of the past century in nutrition science – complete with how everything fell off the rails after World War II resulting in such blasphemy as national food guides recommending 6-12 grain servings a day. Ultimately, it’s all about insulin and a complete shattering of the “calories-in-calories-out” ethos. I’ve suddenly become the guy picking around his mashed potatoes and chomping turkey sticks and olives for snacks. Sure, you have to live, but something about this book gets under your skin. Highly recommend it.
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Hypnotic autobiographical description of growing up in rural Wisconsin in the late 1800s. From shooting panthers to smoking meat in hollow tree trunks to playing catch with pig bladders. There is no plot. There is no crisis. There’s just 238 pages in 18-point font of vivid memories weaved into a captivating tableau that makes you feel like you’re living another life. Truly masterful escapism and the first book in the famous “Little House” series. Originally written in 1937 and still perfect for 12-year-old girls and 38-year-old men the world over!
If It’s Not Funny It’s Artby Demetri Martin. Do you remember how last month I went on a rant about how I was obsessed with Demetri Martin? Well, I still am! Here are one, two, three, four, five more of his cartoons if you’re still not convinced. (PS for the nerds: If you’re addicted to the “View Image” button in Google Image Search like I am, and noticed Google just silently removed it, then try the “View Image” Plugin for Chrome or Firefox which I’m using and loving.)
Man’s Search For Meaningby Viktor E. Frankl. Viktor Frankl was an Austrian psychiatrist who narrated his own journey through the Nazi death camps of World War II. He loses his parents, brothers, and pregnant wife, and yet somehow finds that we can’t avoid suffering but can always choose how to cope with it. Three big teachings: life is not a quest for pleasure but for meaning, you always control your reaction in any situation, and his famous quote that “he who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” Haunting. I feel like I’ll keep this on my shelf forever to add context and humility whenever I face a massive struggle or challenge.
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklinby Benjamin Franklin. Dude was an author, printer, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, humorist, activist, statesman, and diplomat. Killer LinkedIn profile. He wrote this autobiography over the last twenty years of his life (from about 1770 – 1790) though it wasn’t published until 1818 by his grandson. Apparently, this is the first American book taken seriously by the European intelligentsia and it’s easy to see why. It's the OG self-help book with part “story of my life” twisted together with key principles, virtues, and strategies for constantly getting better with the limited time we’ve got. I originally read this book ten years ago in a Business History and it was fun to revisit.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegasby Hunter S. Thompson. I learned a new phrase. Roman à clef. Have you heard of it? I was confused because the back of this book labels the book “non-fiction / journalism” and online it’s most often described as a novel. But then I was turned onto this new phrase. A roman à clef! A French term for a novel… with a key. About real life but overlaid with fiction. Similar to gonzo journalism, I suppose, which is described as journalism in first-person without claims of objectivity. Either way, this is a completely gripping, hallucination-filled drug trip written in a foot-on-the-gas style that I found almost too frenzied to even take in.
Their Eyes Were Watching Godby Zora Neale Hurston. Zora Neale was born in Alabama in 1891 and her saga of a Southern black woman’s journey to independence was published in 1937. Born from a rape and raised by her grandmother who was a slave it’s an incredibly epic tale of her life which (I promise) ultimately rewards you at the end. Three things about this fascinating book: One, it was a lost book, meaning completely out of print and forgotten for years, until an essay about the author appeared in 1972 and raised interest again. Makes you wonder how many gems are out there waiting to be rediscovered. Two, it’s written exactly as people spoke. I’m not sure if the right word is a patois or a pidgin maybe (help me out here) but a sample phrase from the book is “They’s jes lak uh pack uh hawgs, when dey see uh full trough.” The whole book is written like that. And lastly, if the books sounds remotely interesting to you, give it a few chapters to get into the rhythm and let your brain fall into reading the words. At least that’s how long it took for me. If you loved books such as A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, I feel like you’ll love this too.
