5 Books and TV Shows I’ve Been Loving this Year So Far
Photo by Enayet Raheem on Unsplash
Below is my quarterly roundup of the best of what I’ve been taking in so far this year. I’ve actually read twenty books so far, so this is a very abbreviated list - but a bunch of those are part of a course I’m taking, published by Gemma Media, a nonprofit publisher that focuses on books that help those on the path to English literacy, whether teens, adults, or speakers of English as a second language.
These are short, compelling books by top-level authors – fiction, memoir, biography, travel, YA... and I’m learning a lot just from reading them. Some of my favorites so far include David Elliott’s Forever and Ever, Marta Maretich’s The Bear Suit, Laurie Foos’ The Giant Baby, Mark Edwards’ Pirates on Dinosaur Island, Roddy Doyle’s Not Just for Christmas, and Rebecca Rolland’s Velocity. If you know of any organizations teaching literacy, or reluctant readers, hook them up with these books. They’re also great for writers to deconstruct and learn things like setting, pace, dialogue, and characterization, since the stories are not too dense and complex.
I loved Robert Gottlieb’s memoir, Avid Reader as well. He spent his life in publishing, as an editor at Knopf, Simon & Schuster, and The New Yorker, and worked with many of those considered some of the greatest writers of the last 50 years – Toni Morrison, Joseph Heller, John Cheever, Salman Rushdie, John Gardner, Doris Lessing, Barbara Tuchman, Norah Ephron, and a host of others, including my favorite, Dorothy Dunnett. It’s a deep dive into the New York publishing world that’s a fascinating read for anyone interested in the development of fiction or nonfiction over the past half-century. Next I want to check out the documentary Turn Every Page, about his editorial relationship with the historian Robert Caro.
Last week I wrote about Oliver Burkeman’s Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, which I recommend for anyone who wants a philosophical, humorous, pointed, and practical discussion of the uses of time, time “management,” and making meaning in the face of the finitude we must confront in our lives. It’s about making choices, and embracing the present moment, since that is, of course, the only one that we really have. I found it echoed a lot of Buddhist thinking, and quoted Buddhist writers as well as many others who have had profound things to say about time.
The Greatest Invention: A History of the World in Nine Mysterious Scripts by Silvia Ferrara is for those of us who geek out over language, writing, and communication in general. It explores the reasons why writing developed and the ways it emerged in various cultures around the world, from Mesopotamia, to Egypt, Crete, China, the Incan, Mayan, and Easter Island cultures... the scripts that have been translated and those that remain mysterious, and all the attempts to break those codes. I will say the author’s style isn’t going to be to everyone’s taste – there are times when I thought things could be clearer and more focused on her point – but worthwhile if, as I mentioned, you geek out over these things as I do.
TV shows can be a great (and fun) way to learn about character and plot development (see my post “How Watching Films & TV Can Improve Your Writing”). I’ve clearly been on an antihero kick in the when it comes to watching serialized shows. These are some of the hardest characters to get right. They have more than just a “flaw,” in fact they would be the villain in anyone else’s story, but they have to tug at our sympathies and fascinate us, and keep us guessing what they will do next.
You (Netflix) is a psychological thriller series about a guy who gets a little too obsessed with his woman-of-the-moment. At first it seems like a meet-cute: bookstore owner Joe meets gorgeous wannabe writer Beck, romance ensues. But all is definitely not as it seems, as Joe turns creepier and deadlier – and still manages to be capable of kindness, especially to his neglected-kid neighbor. It’s a masterful study in character building. We don’t hate Joe, and we absolutely should. We’re not rooting for him, exactly, but we understand the weird logic – and the desire for love – that drives him, and keep watching partly to see what he’ll get away with next.
Resident Alien is very different in tone – a comedy about an alien who crash-lands on a mission to Earth. He immediately kills a human man and takes his form so he can blend in long enough to repair his spaceship – oh, yeah, and find the device he plans to set off that will destroy humanity. The lead actor, Alan Tudyk, does a terrific job of being an alien navigating a human world, developing relationships with the people around him that help him become more – gasp – human, despite himself. The viewer won’t always like him or what he does, but he manages to gain our sympathy and interest even as we wonder if he’ll actually go through with his original mission.
Any recent favorites you want to share? Let us know in the chat!
If you liked this, head on over to the Contact Page and sign up to get my weekly email featuring tips on creativity, productivity, and the writer’s craft.
