Thread by @mrianleslie

Thread of books I read in 2020, in the order I read them. I had a pretty good hit rate this year: only a few failures (of the book or reader) here, so plenty to recommend.

First up Rings of Saturn, W.G. Sebald. A walk around Suffolk full of stories and reflections on history, apparently rambling but actually tightly controlled. Beautiful, sad, mysterious.

The Cello Suites, Eric Siblin. An exploration of Bach's masterpieces via the story of Pablo Casals. It's easy-mode non-fiction, I learnt a lot about Bach's life, & about Casals, that to me is a win.

Handel In London, Jane Glover. Next I read a book about Bach's close contemporary. Very good guide to Handel's life and music. Striking that both B and H were genius workaholics: the sheer volume of very high level work is astonishing.

Though otherwise very different - H was an acclaimed, successful & glamorous figure at the centre of a great court and city. By comparison Bach was a toiling provincial figure whose true greatness wasn't acknowledged till after his death. Hope for all of us.

Albert Speer: His Battle With Truth, Gitta Sereny. Not just the best book I read this year but one of the best I've ever read. History on an awesome scale & at same time intimate. Speer endlessly fascinating & via him an up-close portrait of Hitler too.

The Shortest History of Europe, John Hirst. Pretty much delivers what it promises, very good & readable overview.

The Saturday Caller, George Simenon. My first Maigret. I enjoyed it. Will be back for more, I would like to get to know this world better.

The Sleepwalkers, Arthur Koestler. Magisterial, eccentric (a term we learn about here) & rich history of pre-Newtonian astronomy via Copernicus, Kepler, Brahe, Galileo. Koestler's erudition is astonishing even if he's all over the place.

He's vg on how history of discovery is non-linear, lots of sideways movement followed by big leaps forward, often made by accident, scientists making breakthroughs they don't fully understand (hence title). And he's very personal, likes or loathes figures.

Science and Government, CP Snow. Different approaches to science in government told through stories of two friends/rivals involved in British WWII effort. Like being invited for a sherry with elderly don who tells a good yarn.

One Nation Under a Groove: Motown & US Culture, Gerald Early. Really good short history, not so much on music as sociology; US black culture and politics. One thing I took from it - how many of the leading figures of Motown & R&B learned music at school...

...in other words, Early is stresses that soul/R&B didn't just well up organically from the church or folk forms, but came in part through the spread of formal training. Lessons for us here.

Quack This Way: David Foster Wallace and Bryan Garner. A transcription of a conversation about writing and words between two word obsessives. Mildly interesting with one or two great bits.

Believe In People: The Essential Karel Čapek. Early 20c Czech journalist and essayist - funny, warm, wise, humane insights into life and culture & the meaning of democracy. A great companion.

The Driver's Seat, Muriel Spark. Jagged, weird, uncompromisingly original short novel. Not sure I enjoyed it but I admired it, as I do pretty much everything by her.

Isaac Newton, James Gleick. JG is a master of non-fiction narrative and science writing in particular. He tells Newton's life & ideas in context of English history yet it's a short book - every sentence & para a masterpiece of clarity & compression.

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, Murakami. Charming, companionable read about the author's life and work. As much about writing and the achievement of excellence as it is about running.

The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald. Astonished anew at his sheer technical command, the ability to summon up a scene, an argument or a party, and make it live. So many gorgeous passages. I had some questions too, it's not a perfect book.

The Girls of Slender Means, Muriel Spark. This one more straightforwardly enjoyable than TDS. She writes with incredible economy, leaves out so much that other writers would put in, what's left is pure insight & savage wit.

Lady Sings The Blues, Billie Holiday. One of my books of the year. Deserves to be seen as one of the great American books of the 20c. Horrifying insights into black lives under Jim Crow. Fiercely candid, unsentimental, often funny.

Billie Holiday: The Musician & the Myth, John Szwed. So then I read this, partly about LSTB, filling in what she left out, much of which is utterly astonishing. Only increases one's admiration for her as does his analysis of her artistry.

For Esmé, With Love and Squalor, J.D. Salinger. Haven't read this since I was a teen and I was just blown away by it this time. Nearly every one of these 9 stories a knock-down masterpiece. Fitzgerald-level command of scene. Playful, funny, achingly sad.

Just Kids, Patti Smith. A lovely, tender memoir of her intimate friendship with Robert Mapplethorpe & being an artist in 1960s/70s New York, Chelsea Hotel and all. Very enjoyable.

The Evolution of Everything, Matt Ridley. An argument that all human society is best seen as series of bottom-up, emergent processes. Impressively wide ranging & lots to learn, even if I felt like he was hitting me on the head with one point.

A King Condemned: The Trial and Execution of Charles I, C.V. Wedgwood. Written in the 1960s, this is utterly gripping, in-the-room narrative history. A thriller.

No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention, Erin Meyer and Reed Hastings. I thought this was unusually interesting for a business book (& it chimed with themes of my new book, CONFLICTED). I've written a long review of it for the New Statesman.

The Smile Revolution: In Eighteenth Century Paris, Colin Jones. I've been lucky with history books this year - this is another banger. Fascinating history of the smile in revolutionary France. Politics, social life, dentistry. Brilliant.

The Undoing Project, Michael Lewis. Incredible portrait of Kahneman-Tversky friendship, as close to Lennon-McCartney as I've seen for its emotional intensity, inspiration & productivity. Superb on the ideas and just fascinating on Israeli society.

The Fire of Joy, Clive James. His parting gift - a series of short reflections on canonical poems he thinks we should commit to heart. A beautiful book, marred only slightly by his persistent squaring up to great poets as if he wants a fight.

That's it, though I'm still reading. Currently dipping in and out of The English by Robert Tombs, it's great. A history of St Paul by Karen Armstrong, which isn't as entertaining as Carrère on same. Just starting Tinker Tailor by Le Carré...