#2024 New books and reading lists – September
- Love the first day of September!
- Time enjoy one of my favorite times of the year
- …Indian Summer.
- I’ve a new rule: no more wasting good reading time!
- I’ve decided to post my monthly planning with
- …links to my short reviews on Goodreads.
- It saves time and there are so many reviews of books
- …on other blogs.
- I’ll keep mine KISS (keep it short stupid).
- I found a great list on the New York Times (dd. 30.08.2024)
- …Best books about Politics chosen by the readers.
- I would like to see if I can finish this list.
- I”ve read a few and have ordered Robert Caro’s book. (…BTW, expensive, ouch!)
- I’m old enough to remember the name of Robert Moses
- in the 1960s…but have no idea…what all the commotion was around him.
- Time to find out!
- Another yearly favorite of mine is: Australian Political Book of the Year!
- The Judges are busy reading, and will determine a
- ….longlist of 10 books to be announced in October!
- #AusPolBookAward
Reading Lists: Best books about Politics
- READ – “All the King’s Men,” Robert Penn Warren (1946): OK. You guys love this book, which is a fictional tale of a populist governor in the Deep South inspired by Huey Long. EXCELLENT
- READ – “The Last Hurrah,” Edwin O’Connor (1956): This book about the political machine, as told through a fictional mayor of a city that seems a little like Boston, is “a reminder that everything old is new again.” EXCELLENT
- READING – “The Making of the President 1960,” Theodore H. White (1961): This account of the 1960 presidential campaign shaped political coverage for decades to come. I have an original hardcover edition from a 2nd hand bookstore! Collector’s item!
- ORDERED – “The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York,” Robert Caro (1974) – READ
- “The Hunger Games” trilogy, Suzanne Collins (2008-2010): Look, if this is not a series about politics, I don’t know what is — though it’s not one that will make you feel good about them. “The books show that those who seek power are often the worst people for the job, whether they know it or not,”
- “Wolf Hall,” Hilary Mantel (2009): It’s the first novel in a trilogy about the rise and fall of Oliver Cromwell.
- READ – “The Sympathizer,” Viet Thanh Nguyen (2015): This book is about a nameless mole spying on South Vietnam’s secret police. REVIEW – Good…but not great.
- READ – “Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right,” Jane Mayer (2016): Is it too soon to call an eight-year-old book a classic? Mayer’s searing look at the billionaires who have reshaped American politics….and it is all true! EXCELLENT!!
- READ – “Caste,” Isabel Wilkerson (2020). – REVIEW – Good…but not great.
- “A Fever in the Heartland,” Timothy Egan (2023): A story of the expansion of the Ku Klux Klan across the country in the 1920s. The manner in which the Klan won the public over with patriotism and religion. Similarities to our political climate today were striking.
- ORDERED – “An Unfinished Love Story,” Doris Kearns Goodwin (2024): Many of you have found this book, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian’s personal history of the 1960s, to be deeply touching.
- Another list I’d like to finish is Obama’s Summer Reading 2024.
- I don’t always agree with the 44th President…but we’ll see what happens this year!
Fiction
- READ – “James” by Percival Everett — Inspired by “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: by Mark Twain, Everett’s novel follows Jim, the character in the original story who is escaping slavery. – REVIEW – Somewhat disappointed…. “Erasure” was better.
- “Headshot” by Rita Bullwinkel — This debut novel follows eight teenage girls who take part in a boxing competition in Reno, Nevada.
- “The God Of The Woods” by Liz Moore — Barbara Van Laar’s disappearance from her family’s summer camp eerily mirrors her brother’s disappearance 14 years earlier. As the search intensifies, the seems of the Van Laar family’s tightly woven secrets begin to unravel.
- “Beautiful Days” by Zach Williams — A couple wakes up in a remote cabin, rapidly aging, while their toddler stays the same. Across ten stories, Williams explores different characters who struggle with nightmare scenarios.
- “Martyr!” by Kaveh Akbar — A troubled poet explores the mysteries of his past in order to discover the truths of his family’s dark history.
- “Memory Piece” by Lisa Ko—Set in the 1980s, Ko’s novel follows three teens — Giselle, Jackie, and Ellen — who find solace in their shared alienation and dreams of the future. Later, as adults, their friendship faces turns and challenges.
- “The Ministry Of Time” by Kaliane Bradley — In the near future, a civil servant is hired by a government ministry that determines if time travel is possible. Tasked with living and working alongside Commander Graham Gore, a man who died in 1845, she doesn’t expect their relationship to grow deeper.
- “Help Wanted” by Adelle Waldman — A group of low-wage employees at a big-box store in upstate New York tough it out through exhausting shifts, all the while hoping for better opportunities.
Nonfiction
- READ– “There’s Always This Year: On Basketball And Ascension” by Hanif Abdurraqib — From the author of “Little Devil in America,” “There’s Always This Year” explores the pinnacle of success through the lens of basketball’s prime era, focusing on the rise of players like LeBron James. – REVIEW – EXCELLENT
- READ – “Everyone Who Is Gone Here: The United States, Central America, And The Making Of A Crisis” by Jonathan Blitzer —Blitzer explores the decades of flawed policies and corruption that have fueled this crisis of Central American migrants seeking safety at the US-Mexico border. – REVIEW – EXCELLENT
- “The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook” by Hampton Sides — The novel explores British explorer Captain James Cook’s fatal encounter with Indigenous Hawaiians and the broader impact of the Age of Exploration.
- “When The Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, And How America Cracked Up In The Early 1990s” by John Ganz — John Ganz dives into the heated era of the early 1990s, following the fall of Reagan. He explores the rise of domestic upheaval.
- “Reading Genesis” by Marilynne Robinson — In her new book, Marilynne Robinson challenges traditional and fundamentalist interpretations of Genesis.
- “Of Boys And Men: Why The Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, And What To Do About It” by Richard Reeves — Reeves shares his take on the future of masculinity and what it can look like in an equal world.
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NancyElin.blog 
Wolf Hall, and the whole trilogy, is amazing. Great lit
Looking forward to reading the trilogy!
‘The Power Broker’ by Robert Caro is a fascinating read.
The book is hard to come by…no paperback, no Kindle so the hardcover is an investment for my library! I’ve read ALL of Caro’s books about LBJ and still waiting for the last book in the series! The Power Broker arrives today….so just have to be patient and start it tonight! Not many people mention this book…I’m curious how did you learn about it…and read it?
An American friend mentioned to me many years ago, and I bought a paperback copy via Amazon. I was fascinated and now I think I should look at Caro’s books on LBJ.
Jennifer, Caro’s series on LBJ is and will be a document for the ages! The books are long and also an excellent suggestion is the audio versions. I listened to them during my walks!
Nancy, here’s what I wrote back in 2019:
The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert A. Caro
I found your review in Goodreads, thanks!
The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert A. Caro