Harry's 2023 Top 10 Books

“If you cannot read all your books…fondle them — peer into them, let them fall open where they will, read from the first sentence that arrests the eye, set them back on the shelves with your own hands, arrange them on your own plan so that you at least know where they are. Let them be your friends; let them, at any rate, be your acquaintances.” - - Winston Churchill.

I am definitely reading less than the height of the pandemic. But it is such a pleasure and an escape! With a new job, a new company and budget season, I trailed off in the Autumn! But I did get to ten (mostly:-). Here are the ten that stood out to me, in order of what made the biggest impact on me. I am hoping the casual and serious readers (among you David Phelps, Melissa Beck, John Dittig, Pat Coleman, Phil Eliopoulos and Anthony Prince will enjoy!) There is still time on holiday week to curl up with one! Happy New Year to all!

1) The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions by Jonathan Rosen (Non-Fiction)

I grew up in New Rochelle, NY. The author, Jonathan, and his friend / rival, Michael, also did, but they were a few years older than me. Both sons of professors, this is the their coming-of-age story of assimilation in the suburbs, following to their time at Yale and beyond. But the relationship evolved in many different ways as one succumbed to mental illness. A gripping, fascinating but tragic tale of their friendship and descent into madness.

2) Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy by Henry Kissinger (Non-Fiction)

Peak Henry Kissinger was a little before my time in his world of "shuttle diplomacy" and detente of the early 1970s. Nevertheless, written at the age of 99, I found his recent work on strategy absolutely enlightening. The introduction section on strategy is worth it for the book alone, but the profile of six leaders he deeply interacted with, focusing on specific strategy or attribute tells the tale of his long career and beyond. For example, in Konrad Adenauer, the first chancellor of post World War II West Germany, we find the Strategy of "Humility." In Charles DeGaulle, it's the Strategy of Will, showing his rise to lead and remake the French State. These are six deeply written case studies that will apply to your own strategic pursuits, wherever they may lay.

3) Retail Gangster: The Insane Real Life Story of Crazy Eddie by Gary Weiss (Non-Fiction)

Growing up in the New York area in the 1970s, one could not escape the ubiquitous Crazy Eddie commercials hawking electronics at "insane" prices. Well, the prices may have been insane, but many of the business practices were downright illegal! For example if they had flood damage at one place, they'd bring unsold-hard-to-sell inventory from other stores to it, and then "hose it down" to write it off. Learn more about the rise and fall of Eddie Antar, and the many hilarious deceptions in this speed read.

4) Be Mine, A Frank Bascombe Novel, by Richard Ford (Fiction)

As you can see from my book shelf up above, I am a huge Richard Ford fan, and he is my favorite contemporary fiction author. In the fifth and last? of his "Frank Bascombe novels," starting with "The Sportswriter," and including Pulizer Prize winning "Independence Day," we find Ford's alter ego Frank in his late seventies taking his son on a final road trip to Mount Rushmore, as his son's ALS increasingly worsens. All of these novels take place on holidays, this one is Valentine's Day. You read Richard Ford for the sentences and the deep musings on life, and this one delivers again. Two examples:

I’ve reached the point in life at which no woman I’m ever going to be attracted to is ever going to be attracted to me—so the sky’s the limit? That for much longer than my son’s been sick, I’ve occasionally waked—as always, at 2:46 a.m., the precise hour of my birth—and wondered: How do you stand it, these dismal facts of life, without some durable fantasy or deception or dissembling?”

“What I wanted them to know, though, was that understanding, making sense, knowing the meaning of anything had to do with fitting together loose pieces of life that don’t fit together, then making a new whole out of the newly unified shards. The white whale meant what you could marshal evidence and make it mean. This was what all scientific discoveries, all philosophy, all great novels do—I believed. Making sense is everlastingly a process of jiggering and re-jiggering and re-re-rejiggering. It’s by nature provisional, and pretty soon you trade it in on something better.”

Moving, hilarious and poignant.

5) Dangerous Rhythms: Jazz and the Underworld by T.J. English (Non-Fiction)

Two of my interests are the mob and Jazz, and this one marries both. Written by the author of the excellent "Havana Nocturne," this one traces the intertwined business arrangement of organized crime and jazz. They're all there, from Duke and Louis Armstrong to Frank Sinatra and "Lucky" Luciano.

6) Recessional: The Death of Free Speech and the Cost of a Free Lunch,  by David Mamet  (Non-Fiction)

You've probably read or seen something from David Mamet from "About Last Night" [original title: Sexual Perversity in Chicago] or Glengarry Glen Ross, and the iconic Alec Baldwin speech (which wasn't in the original play.)

Coming to more conservative principles later in life, Mamet shares a number of interesting and witty essays on Free Speech, the pandemic and more.

7) Two Nights In Lisbon: A Novel by Chris Pavone

A Hitchcockian novel about a strange disappearance of a partner in a foreign town, and trying to understand who to trust. Well-written with great tension.

8) The Deluge by Stephen Markley (Fiction)

Mr. Markley delivered a massive opus with Ohio (2019), a multi-levered tale of wonderfully drawn characters from war veterans to drug addled, who reunite in their small town of Ohio accidentally and purposely, after some distance from their high school years (and selves). It was one of those books where the characters stayed with you quite a long time

He has no less an ambitious novel with The Deluge, set partially in the past and present and much in the future, all centered around climate change. He is still a powerful writer, but this one missed the mark for me.

9) The Dice Man by Luke Rhinehart (Fiction)

I'm not sure how I found this but it's a funny tale of a psychiatrist in 1968 NYC who has little regard of personal and professional ethics. Some of the humor may be a bit dated for sensitive palates:-)

10) Kairos by Jenny Erpenback (in process)

I just started this translated novel of a romance that spans generations, but starts before the reunification of East and West Germany. So far, so good!

Honorable Mention: County Highway “A magazine about America in the form of a 19th Century Newspaper.”

I discovered this magazine through the writing of Walter Kirn, who wrote the novel "Up in Air," later a movie with George Clooney.

As stated, it is a magazine in the form of a newspaper, only published bi-monthy in print format, with articles and viewpoints on diverse topics such as UFO, farm machinery and WAGs (Wives and Girlfriends) of athletes. It's a cerebral read but well worth the time and investment.

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On Immediate Deck for 2024:

The Celebrants: A Read with Jenna Pick (A Novel) by Stephen Rowley

The Bronx River in History & Folklore by Stephen Paul Devillo