The main reason I am doing this is to avoid shopping and to keep cobwebs from gathering in my brain and on this blog. There is also a public service component involved, in that you may have discovered that it is difficult to find a list of good books for which to shop. I plan to help. Plus, reading even whatever I am about to write is better than going to the mall and it is warmer here.
Blind Reviewing
I realize that you have probably seen many, many "Good Books For Christmas" lists, but typically they include only books that are "topical" and the approved topics these days are very limited. The lists are also somewhat restricted in that it appears that they are carefully curated to include only certain types of authors and their inclusion is not necessarily related to the ability to write. I am offering here, a book list for readers who are interested in a variety of subjects, not just the popular or designated ones. I think there would be more of them (lists not readers) if there was more "blind reviewing", particularly of the "double-blind" type, where the reviewers don't know who the authors are. The appearance of such lists would likely change if the reviewer did not see the name of the author or what they looked like.
Books For Those Interested in History
I have done this before. In 2017, I offered "Christmas Shopping For Historians," and that was followed in 2019 by "The Cundill History Prize," and after that I discussed "F. Peter Cundill" last year. I know that you think these self-citations are simply a way for me to promote my work. That is not the case. Those posts and the lists within them are a way for you to locate older works which are cheaper. If you don't wish to appear cheap, the latest, more expensive hardbacks will be found at McGill on The Cundill History Prize website. The book pictured was not the winner of the Cundill Prize, but it was one of the finalists for which the author received $10,000. The winning book was not shown because the winner won $75,000 and was also a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, which is worth even more. She does not need my help. It is also the case that you will likely have already seen the book on one of those other lists because it is covers one of the preferred topics and the author passes muster.
Books For Serious Readers
You are now introduced to a series that will appeal to those who appreciate heavier tomes, or perhaps to those who are looking for a book that could be safely given to the grandchildren if they are of indeterminate gender, which they likely are. Although the books are ancient, they are not necessarily useless and this one has a recognizable utility for our times:
There are some titles that should not be considered for those who are university bound.
All of these books and more are to be found in the series, "Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers," presented by the Princeton University Press.
Readers of MM will have seen many posts about "University Presses" and all of them will have links to books bearing the imprimatur of a university, which will impress the recipient of such a book, even if the book itself does not. If this PUP series appeals, see also the one about "MIT Press - Additional Aids for Autodidacts." If you are interested in the environment see the University of Washington Press. Shop around.
Some Books For the Rest of Us
I think at the beginning of this post I suggested that book recommendations these days seemed to be based more on the identity of the authors than the content of the books produced. Now, to contradict myself, I will promote some books because of the author, not the books, none of which I have read - nor do I know much about the author. He has been chosen, not because of his identity, however, but because of the effort he has expended to produce the books he has written. He apparently does not sit alone in a loft gnawing on his pencil.
The author is Ted Conover and I learned of him when I read a review of his new book, Cheap Land Colorado: Off-Gridders at America's Edge. He went off the grid himself and joined the outcasts who live in the remote San Luis Valley. He practices "immersion journalism" and this is not the first time he has done so, as the reviewer noted:
"For a book about modern-day hoboes (Rolling Nowhere), he learned to hop freight trains and spent months riding the rails; for a book about undocumented immigrants (Coyotes), he lived with Mexicans on both sides of the border, picking fruit in citrus orchards and travelling across the Sonoran Desert and the Rio Grande; for a book about the New York State prison system (Newjack), he got a job as a corrections officer and worked for a year inside Sing Sing.
She does not mention there, The Routes of Man... where,
"In Peru, he traces the journey of a load of rare mahogany over the Andes to its origin, an untracked part of the Amazon basin soon to be traversed by a new east-west route across South America. In East Africa, he visits truckers whose travels have been linked to the worldwide spread of AIDS. In the West Bank, he monitors highway checkpoints with Israeli soldiers and then passes through them with Palestinians, witnessing the injustices and danger borne by both sides. He shuffles down a frozen riverbed with teenagers escaping their Himalayan valley to see how a new road will affect the now-isolated Indian region of Ladakh. From the passenger seat of a new Hyundai piling up the miles, he describes the exuberant upsurge in car culture as highways proliferate across China. And from inside an ambulance, he offers an apocalyptic but precise vision of Lagos, Nigeria, where congestion and chaos on freeways signal the rise of the global megacity."
A lot of subjects are covered in that one book and I think it is highly likely to be an interesting one. Even if it and the others are not, such dedication and hard work deserves our attention and that is why he has been chosen, not because of his identity.
Source:
The very interesting review of Conover's latest book is found here: "The Pitfalls of Immersive Journalism," Kathryn Schulz, The New Yorker, Nov. 28, 2022.
For more about Conover and his books see: Penguin Random House. For more about him and "immersion journalism", just see the Wikipedia entry. Or, go directly to his website.
The Bonus:
If you are not satisfied with the selection so far, you will be glad to know that there is a new history of the ass out: Butts: A Backstory, by Heather Radke. I may have to do a new "History of Everything", which contains a 28 pp list of books about, well everything. You will find some more book shopping ideas there.
