Books
This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff
This was my favorite book of the year. I’d heard about Tobias Wolff before, from two incredible writers who are huge fans, George Saunders and David Sedaris, but based solely on the name I figured he was Old and Boring. Boy was I wrong. I picked this up and couldn’t put it down. It’s essentially a memoir of his childhood with his single mother and eventually a step-father that did not treat him very well, to say the least. He also spends plenty of time talking about all the trouble he caused as a kid and it was vividly familiar. His writing is beautiful, funny, and honest, and I couldn’t recommend this book highly enough.
Theft By Finding: Diaries 1977-2002 by David Sedaris
I got into David Sedaris in 2016 and read even more of his books this year. He released a large collection of his diaries in March and as an avid journaler I loved it. He’s one of the funniest writers I’ve ever read and seeing his raw diaries be that funny was both inspiring and exasperating. What struck me most about it though was the casual harshness he encountered throughout the late 70’s and 80’s. Sedaris is a gay man growing up in these times and he routinely witnessed or was the victim of constant harassment, where you could get mugged, be called a faggot, or have something thrown at you from a car all in the same month. While we clearly still have a long way to go, the misogyny, racism, and homophobia all seemed to be so much more out in the open and blatant back then, ready to greet you at any street corner. And this wasn’t the 1950’s, this was all happening in the decade or so before I was born. While the shitstorm of the last year has revealed how much more we still need to reckon with as a society, it’s important to recognize the ways life has gotten better, but even more importantly, that we’re always going to have to work to make it better and uphold the good, even if it is hard, often demoralizing fucking work.
(My other favorite by Sedaris that I read this year was Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls. Yup, that’s the title. But you’re not gonna go wrong picking up any of his essay collections, they’re all hilarious.)
How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia & Discontent and its Civilizations by Moshin Hamid
The first a novel, the second a collection of non-fiction essays, both show the incredible strength, intelligence, and versatility of the writer Moshin Hamid. I learned more about Pakistan than I’d ever known and about a culture that was completely foreign to me, but at the same time Hamid expertly shows all of the striking similarities of desires and conflicts that they share with all people regardless of location. ‘Immigrant’ and ‘minority’ is a word thrown around so often but so few of us who aren’t ones ever actually learn what the experience is like. These two books have the same power and affection that Americanah, The Sympathizer, and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao gave me the year before.
Seeking Wisdom by Peter Bevelin
The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant
Principles by Ray Dalio
These three were my favorite “intellectual” reads of the year. I set out not to finish these books, but to get what I thought was interesting and useful from them, and in that I succeeded. All three give you a better understanding of the world we live in and why the way things are the way they are. Seeking Wisdom is one of the best books on cognitive biases I’ve read, and uses great examples from Charles Darwin all the way to Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger to show you the ways human beings trick themselves.
The Story of Philosophy was very interesting and really readable thanks to the great Will Durant (check out him and his wife’s short book, the Lessons of History. They are beasts.) I learned many of the most important philosophers’ thoughts and ideas about society, religion, science and government, and on that last point, it was somewhat reassuring to see people trying to figure out how the hell to organize society and running into the same problems for millennia.
Finally, Principles was extraordinary, with a ton of useful, practical, yet mind-blowing principles you can apply in your own life. I’d recommend checking out Ray Dalio on the Tim Ferriss podcast where they go over some of the book and his story. Dalio seems like an incredibly intelligent, humble, caring guy who’s also massively successful. The best thing about these books is that I’ll be picking them up and learning from them again and again in the years to come.
The Night of the Gun by David Carr
I read a few memoirs on addiction and recovery this year, but this one gobsmacked me. David Carr was a highly respected journalist for the New York Times (he passed away in 2015). But before that he had been an abusive crack addict. With this book he not only writes about his past, but investigates it, just as he would with any other piece of reporting, going back and interviewing the people he ran with at the time and researching and fact checking. The book is about addiction and recovery, but even more so about memory, what we choose to remember, and what we don’t, and how the way we see ourselves often lines up with a view that allows us to move on and live our lives as best we can.
Killing Floor by Lee Child
The first Jack Reacher novel in the series and the first I’d ever read. It was a great, pulpy tough guy novel and a blast to read.
Comics
These comics all blew me away and showed me just how wide-ranging and powerful a comic could be. I’d put these selections up there with any book I read this year.
X-Men Grand Design by Ed Piskor
I’ve been excited for this book as soon it was announced. I wanted to get into the old school X-Men mythos earlier this year but all the books I picked up felt dated and too convoluted. Then I heard about this project by Ed Piskor, a one man cartoonist who writes, draws, colors, and letters the whole dang comic. He was going to streamline the entire early history of the X-Men in how own style for a modern read. This was exactly what I was looking for. I read his previous work (mentioned below) and loved it. I had high expectations awaiting the first issue, which finally came out on December 20th. It wildly exceeded my hopes. The first issue goes over both Professor X and Magneto’s early lives and how they became who we know them as, and wraps up with the recruitment of the original X-Men. I expected it to look dope and be cool, but I did not expect the trauma and pathos each character goes through on their way to becoming the heroes we’re familiar with. Piskor doesn’t shy away from these harrowing trials and tribulations and each one is conveyed with simple but powerful visuals. The pace is breakneck and I can’t wait to re-read it again before the next issue comes out in just a few days on January 3rd. If you’re into the X-Men at all go out and grab this book!
Hip Hop Family Tree by Ed Piskor
My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris
I wrote about these two earlier in the year. Click the links for my thoughts and praise of HHFT and MFTIM.
Uncanny X-Force by Rick Remender
This book is so badass. I was lucky enough to borrow the omnibus from a friend in 2016 (shoutout to Kyle!) and took my time with it, finishing it early this year. It’s basically Wolverine leading a team of assassins against any threats the X-Men wouldn’t necessarily have the stomach to handle. The team includes Deadpool, Psylocke, Archangel, and Phantomex (some sort of robot/artificial assassin James Bond-type that I still don’t fully understand but was instantly memorable). It’s a brutal book and puts each character through the ringer, all for a sprawling look at what it means to take life and death into your own hands.
