2019 was the year I finally wrapped up my online M.A. in English with SNHU. When doing the M.A. I realized I didn't have much time to read anything else besides the assigned reading. But as luck had it, my Capstone professor allowed us to pick our own books for our final thesis and I had the pleasure of analyzing Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch trilogy as it also helped me get my head around questions about Artificial Intelligence, Robots and the emerging forms of slavery. I don't know when I started reading Leckie but this year was all about her for me and I have been recommending her space operas to everyone. I also re-read Dune as my daughter was "forced" to read it for school. Dune as she knows is one of my favorite books period.
Otherwise 2019 has been mostly about non-fiction for me. I read the long awaited William Dalrymple's book Anarchy about the East India Company. It felt like reading a novel and gave me new insights about 300 year old multinational corporations and mercenary armies. Incidentally, this book made President Obama's list for 2019. My favorite read for this year though was Chernow's biography of Ulysses. S. Grant simply called Grant. What a work and what a man! I had no clue about the reconstruction period in America and this book told me how much Grant did to maintain Lincoln's legacy. He is a flawed man, definitely naive but his achievements and his moral compass on many issues are to be admired. This book was also recommended by my other favorite writer Ta Nehsi Coates for educating oneself about the Civil War, Slavery, and Black America. As I wrapped up my English I re-watched Shakespeare's plays on the War of the Roses (The Hollow Crown series by the BBC) and this led me to read Dan Jones' War of the Roses. Once again a historical work that reads like a gripping novel.
On the science side, I read The Evolution of Beauty by Richard O Prum which talks about Darwin's theory of sexual selection and how beauty can be selected simply for the sake of beauty. I have been taught to believe that everything in nature was selected for its utility so this was a very different perspective for me. Also made me think about art for the sake of art and why it is essential. Finally got to Cynthia Moss' Portraits of the Wild where she talks about her African experience. Though not as engaging a writer as say Jane Goodall, it is still a great read. On the philosophical front I read At the Existentialist Cafe by Sarah Bakewell whose previous book on Montaigne I really enjoyed. She is a terrific writer who has the skill to translate complicated ideas (especially Heidegger's) into simple terms.
Finally I read two amazing books to wrap up 2019. Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Perez which won the Royal Science Society prize and Gina Rippon's The Gendered Brain. While the former argues that treating the default as male and ignoring the data about the "other" 50% of the population affects every aspect of our lives (Government, Health, Transportation, Technology, Medicine, Safety) the latter argues that there is no fundamental difference between the male and the female brain. The differences we see come from cultural conditioning from as early as the first days of life. Everyone should read these two books maybe in parallel as together they offer a complete picture of gender and "othering". Those were some of my highlights of 2019 and now what am I looking forward to in 2020.
2020 Books:
On the fiction front, Hilary Mantel's Mirror and Light is the most anticipated novel which will wrap up the Wolf Hall trilogy. I know Cromwell is going to die and I didn't know that I could be affected by it but here I am. The next book for me will be David Mitchell's Utopia Avenue. I've read almost everything he has written so I know I will pick this up right away. I don't know if Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton will be published in 2020. If it is I will be pre-ordering it and staying up to finish it, just like I did her last book The Luminaries.
On the non-fiction side, I plan to read We the Corporations by Adam Winkler as I liked his interview on Democracy Now. Bill Gates recommended Prepared for all parents of high schoolers. So will give that a go. As someone who is afraid of the water I am intrigued by The Boundless Sea. It is a 1000 page heavyweight, but I might try it. I also plan to read Wendy Donniger's The Hindus: An Alternative History to see what the hooplah is all about. I also have on my queue The World Undone a single volume history of World War I. Another book I've wanted to read is Laura Dassow Walls' biography of Thoreau. I plan to visit Walden before 2020 ends and it is always great to read Thoreau and read about him. If after all this I have the time I will pick up Casey Cep's work on Harper Lee's true crime work called Furious Hours.
This is my plan anyway. I am sure some will get dropped along the way and others will get picked up. But with my M.A. now done I hope to not fill up that time with Netflix or Amazon and actually get to all these and more!
Otherwise 2019 has been mostly about non-fiction for me. I read the long awaited William Dalrymple's book Anarchy about the East India Company. It felt like reading a novel and gave me new insights about 300 year old multinational corporations and mercenary armies. Incidentally, this book made President Obama's list for 2019. My favorite read for this year though was Chernow's biography of Ulysses. S. Grant simply called Grant. What a work and what a man! I had no clue about the reconstruction period in America and this book told me how much Grant did to maintain Lincoln's legacy. He is a flawed man, definitely naive but his achievements and his moral compass on many issues are to be admired. This book was also recommended by my other favorite writer Ta Nehsi Coates for educating oneself about the Civil War, Slavery, and Black America. As I wrapped up my English I re-watched Shakespeare's plays on the War of the Roses (The Hollow Crown series by the BBC) and this led me to read Dan Jones' War of the Roses. Once again a historical work that reads like a gripping novel.
On the science side, I read The Evolution of Beauty by Richard O Prum which talks about Darwin's theory of sexual selection and how beauty can be selected simply for the sake of beauty. I have been taught to believe that everything in nature was selected for its utility so this was a very different perspective for me. Also made me think about art for the sake of art and why it is essential. Finally got to Cynthia Moss' Portraits of the Wild where she talks about her African experience. Though not as engaging a writer as say Jane Goodall, it is still a great read. On the philosophical front I read At the Existentialist Cafe by Sarah Bakewell whose previous book on Montaigne I really enjoyed. She is a terrific writer who has the skill to translate complicated ideas (especially Heidegger's) into simple terms.
Finally I read two amazing books to wrap up 2019. Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Perez which won the Royal Science Society prize and Gina Rippon's The Gendered Brain. While the former argues that treating the default as male and ignoring the data about the "other" 50% of the population affects every aspect of our lives (Government, Health, Transportation, Technology, Medicine, Safety) the latter argues that there is no fundamental difference between the male and the female brain. The differences we see come from cultural conditioning from as early as the first days of life. Everyone should read these two books maybe in parallel as together they offer a complete picture of gender and "othering". Those were some of my highlights of 2019 and now what am I looking forward to in 2020.
2020 Books:
On the fiction front, Hilary Mantel's Mirror and Light is the most anticipated novel which will wrap up the Wolf Hall trilogy. I know Cromwell is going to die and I didn't know that I could be affected by it but here I am. The next book for me will be David Mitchell's Utopia Avenue. I've read almost everything he has written so I know I will pick this up right away. I don't know if Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton will be published in 2020. If it is I will be pre-ordering it and staying up to finish it, just like I did her last book The Luminaries.
On the non-fiction side, I plan to read We the Corporations by Adam Winkler as I liked his interview on Democracy Now. Bill Gates recommended Prepared for all parents of high schoolers. So will give that a go. As someone who is afraid of the water I am intrigued by The Boundless Sea. It is a 1000 page heavyweight, but I might try it. I also plan to read Wendy Donniger's The Hindus: An Alternative History to see what the hooplah is all about. I also have on my queue The World Undone a single volume history of World War I. Another book I've wanted to read is Laura Dassow Walls' biography of Thoreau. I plan to visit Walden before 2020 ends and it is always great to read Thoreau and read about him. If after all this I have the time I will pick up Casey Cep's work on Harper Lee's true crime work called Furious Hours.
This is my plan anyway. I am sure some will get dropped along the way and others will get picked up. But with my M.A. now done I hope to not fill up that time with Netflix or Amazon and actually get to all these and more!
