🎵 It’s the most…wonderful time…of the year… 🎵
Once again, it’s time to review the books I’ve read over the past year and share my favorites with fellow readers. Plus with my memory in gradual decline,1 it’s a nice opportunity to revisit ideas that may have slipped my mind over the course of life.
This year the tally is 58 books, keeping up with my average of about 50 a year. In terms of content, I found myself reading more memoirs than usual and I caught up on some “classics” that everyone seems to recognize and reference but few have bothered to read.
This is not a comprehensive list of all the books I read, nor is this a ranking of these books as the “best” of anything; they’re roughly listed in chronological order of reading. Instead, I prefer to share the books I enjoyed reading in hopes that someone will find and enjoy something they otherwise might not have encountered. Enjoyment does not imply agreement with or an endorsement of their arguments, only that I found their content stimulating and engaging.
The Romance of American Communism – Vivian Gornick
I know it’s a rhetorical cliché at this point, but in reading the experiences of American Communists recounted in Gornick’s book, it’s hard not to notice parallels between the American communist party and religious sects. Some traits may be found in other ideological movements such as proselytization and expulsions, though the Communists held formal trials. But an underappreciated component of Marxism is its underlying eschatology: the inevitable workers’ revolution that will usher in a glorious utopia. The parallels of “Messianic Marxism” have not gone completely unnoticed; see, for example, WalterBenjamin’s “On the Concept of History.”
Just as the Messianic undertones of Marxism undoubtedly contribute to its appeal to the oppressed masses, its failures just as easily lead to disillusionment. The narratives portrayed in Gornick’s book parallel erstwhile religionists whose Messianic dreams had been shattered by the revelation of Stallin’s crimes.
The Social Animal – Elliot Aronson
This is a classic of sociology I finally got around to reading in full, and glad I did. A must read for anyone with even a passing interest in the field.
The ‘Am ha-Aretz: A Study in the Social History of the Jewish People in the Hellenistic-Roman Period – Aharon Oppenheimer
There used to be an elegant simplicity to Rabbinic scholarship of examining what a single term meant in different eras and tracking its changes along the way. This is a wonderful study on the evolution of the “Am ha-Aretz,” often attributed to the ignorant or those lax in observance, and the Sages’ turbulent relationship with them.
Becoming an Ex: The Process of Role Exit – Helen Rose Fuchs Ebaugh
What happens when someone leaves a group that has defined their identity?
My Effin’ Life – Geddy Lee
Aside from being a must-read for any Rush fan, I was most captivated by Lee’s Jewish upbringing as a child of survivors and the familiar unfortunate tale of being pushed away from religion. I’d like to think we’ve learned some lessons since then.
The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism – Naoki Higashida
Like many parents, I often wonder how my child processes the world, but at least my child is somewhat communicative even at a young age. Not everyone is as fortunate. With the obvious disclaimer that every child is different, even those with autism, it is rare to encounter anyone with such self-awareness and expressiveness, let alone a young teenager and certainly one with severe autism.
Seduction of the Innocent: The Influence of Comic Books on Today’s Youth – Fredric Wertham
This is another of those classic books I mentioned that many people recognize, but few have read. Seduction of the Innocent is not only a wonderful historical artifact of mid-20th-century popular thought, but it’s also a brilliant case study in moral panics. The discerning reader will find parallels in contemporary political discourse emanating from all partisan affiliations.
Lessons for Living: What Only Adversity Can Teach You – Phil Stutz
I found this book via the Netflix special with Jonah Hill. While Stutz has been accused of appropriating ideas from dialectical behavior therapy, the substance of the newsletter essays in this book are concise, accessible ideas that some readers might find helpful.
Sid Meier’s Memoir!: A Life in Computer Games – Sid Meier
I’ve never been much of a gamer, but like many of my generation, I got addicted to Sid Meir’s Civilization. Initially released in 1991, Civilization spawned many sequels (which I have not touched) and regularly ranks on lists of the greatest games of all time to this day. The story behind it is just as engaging as the game itself.
Not to brag or anything, but here’s the best I’ve ever done.2
I Can Help
Let’s Go to the Farm
I Go Visiting
Rikki Benenfeld
A niece gave my toddler Let’s Go to the Park for his first birthday and it quickly became one of my favorite Jewish children’s books. This year I picked up a few more by the same author and can easily recommend these to any Jewish parent.
Little Blue Truck – Alice Schertle, Jill McElmurry
Easily my favorite children’s book (so far). People I know who have worked in children’s publishing tell me that rhyming books are the most difficult to pull off. In my opinion, Little Blue Truck is the gold standard by which other rhyming books ought to be measured.
What Is Art? – Leo Tolstoy
I freely admit I’ve never understood art except superficially. Another book I read this year, The $12 Million Stuff Shark goes into the convoluted economics of art collectors, but Tolstoy offers his own criteria not only for what makes art, “art” but how we define what is truly valuable.
Honorable Mentions
All of the Marvels: A Journey to the Ends of the Biggest Story Ever Told – Douglas Wolk
As the author notes, this book isn’t one that is best read cover-to-cover which might be a turnoff for potential readers. Nevertheless, one cannot help but be impressed at the scope of the research which rivals many PhD dissertations.
My First Tanakh Stories Set (4v): Avraham, Miriam, Eliyahu, Ruth – Shira Greenspan / Rinat Gilboa
The Big Book of Jewish Holidays with Bina, Benny & Chaggai HaYonah – Yaffa Ganz
Aside from Jewish children’s books that emphasize middot (character traits, behavior), we’ve also been looking into educational books that also teach substantive Jewish content.3 The problem, or more specifically my problem, is that I’m often hyper-critical about how things are presented.4 I was pleasantly surprised by both of these books as doing a perfectly good job at presenting substance without anything to which I found objectionable.
The First Tanakh Stories set is wonderfully done. Although the rhymes can be a bit awkward at times, they’re still enjoyable and accurate reads with vibrant, engaging artwork.5
The Big Book of Jewish Holidays provides wonderful summaries of holidays with scattered references to frequently-cited rabbinic midrashim. Both are easy recommendations for any Jewish library.
Most importantly, my toddler approves and in the end, that’s what really counts.
Notes
- It is, after all, the second thing to go.
- It’s possible I used a hexeditor called “civcheat.exe” that modified save files for maximum gold and bulbs. Possible.
- There is often an overlap in which traits are derived from narratives or rituals.
- I used to say that much of my time in the rabbinate wasn’t education as much as re-education in correcting misconceptions. Regarding correcting previously taught errors, see Bava Batra 21a-b.
- For some reason it reminds me of Eric Carle, who parents will undoubtedly know from The Very Hungry Caterpillar and the Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? series.